I was born right before the fall of the Soviet Union but my parents have told me plenty about it.
The pros were free education (admission to college was on pure merit, didn’t need to worry about finding money for tuition), plenty of free clubs in school, good natural food, decently safe streets. It was normal for young childen to be out on their own.
The cons were long lines and deficit of goods. They would have to spend many hours in lines for groceries, clothing, and other household supplies, and there would barely be a selection to choose from.
I experienced the last decade of the USSR as a child in Leningrad. It was a mostly happy childhood. My grandparents lived with us and helped care for me, which was extremely common. In the summers, we went to the dacha (summer cottage in the country) where I was allowed to run around unsupervised all day. My parents did a great job introducing me to culture at a young age… ballet, classic literature, Hermitage.
The bad stuff, as I remember it…When I started school, my parents warned me not to repeat the anti Soviet stuff they said at home–that could get us all in trouble at school and work. I really wanted a Barbie, but there were no Western toys to be found. Bananas were an extremely rare and special treat. The rare western magazine (I think the German equivalent of Good Housekeeping) seemed magical and colorful in ways that Soviet publications just weren’t. Teachers could be mean and harsh in ways that are entirely unacceptable in the US.
Until came to the US, I was unaware that technology like VCRs and remote controls existed. I was also surprised that people went to church, no one that we knew in Russia attended church, it was considered acceptable only for very old ladies. The variety of snack food and processed food in the US totally blew me away, in a good way. I think that’s all I ate for my first few years here. Hey, I was a kid.
doubt your gonna find many people who grew up in the soviet union on MassimoL
Not me but I used to know a guy named Sash (probably mispelled). He wasin his 60s when I knew him, came to the US in the early 2000s. He didn’t talk about it much except to say that he was horrified to find that there were actually people in the US who support communism or socialism, and how foolish and dangerous they were.
My parents are from there. There’s a reason they came to the US as soon as leaving was feasible.