This video gives some indication of what it was like.
First, see how many new cars are on the road. Two decades ago, there were nothing but large Soviet cars for officials. There were few cars. It took years to get one if you had the money, plus bribes.
Second, see how many people own webcams, or dashcams. The images are very clear. None of this technology existed a decade ago. Now, they are so cheap that Russians can afford them.
Did socialism work? No. The USSR was dirt poor. Russia is not.
Third, meteorites are scary.
Click the link.
The USSR may have been dirt poor, but nobody was unemployed and everybody had medical care and education. That's no longer the case. As for being imprisoned indefinitely without charge or having all your phone calls and e-mails logged and examined… Coming soon to an imperial homeland near you.
It's long overdue to junk the Soviet lie of a "workers' paradise" along with the American Cold War mentality that "the Russkies are coming to get ya". Elements in both governments long for the glory days when their respective peoples would give unquestioned obedience in exchange for stopping the boogeyman on the other side of the world. That's why Russia and China are being demonized anew and Washington wants to start World War III.
Russians have dashcams because they're cheaper than having to pay bribes to corrupt cops.
We'll need them here soon too.
A lady that I penpal with says that 1 in 4 Russians have a car. Which is about the same as us at 1 in 3. A larger amount has snow mobiles and jet ski's. A tractor is still used a bigger extent than pickups. Hardly afford both. Thier tractors will go around 40 MPH. So is used for hauling pretty regular. She comes to the US. every two years and buys a 1200 Suzuki motorcycle. She had done it for years. We met through motorcycling.
I love a good smuggling story.
The Religious Russians though it was the end of the world!
Kinda like people now.
Is that surprising? It's amazing what a few years of capitalism can do to reverse a century of communism.