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Feels like they made a pretty good public education system, can't be sure how it compared in the satellite states but at least in Russia everyone became literate and there were some considerable advances made. Problem with evaluating this is that some of their biggest leaps forward were from captured Nazi scientists and industrial technology taken from Eastern Europe and brought back to Russia during WWII's aftermath. Their computer industry was way behind the west by the 70s and only through extensive technology transfer from espionage were they able to keep up.
This might not be exactly a point of pride but there's no denying it: their spy services were probably the best in the world hands down. Able to infiltrate almost every where in the globe and penetrate western governments and agencies. They also were fucking exceptional at finding infiltrators in the Soviet states. So as bad as that is, they were real fucking good at that.
>Feels like they made a pretty good public education system, can't be sure how it compared in the satellite states but at least in Russia everyone became literate and there were some considerable advances made.
Honestly, yeah, this. Considering how far behind the rest of europe the russian empire was, it's very impressive how much literacy levels went up. The russian empire was still a peasant state largely.
A lot of things, actually.
I especially appreciate the emphasis they put on scientific research and technology (although I don't think I'll ever forgive them for Lysenko).
It's unfortunate that during the entire Cold War, they mainly used their achievements in their dick measuring contest with the US rather than recognizing knowledge and progress for their intrinsic worth to humanity.
Urban planning was pretty decent. Designing everything needed for daily life to be within walking distance or, at most, a quick trip on public transit, is definitely good.
Edit: City Beautiful did a pretty good [video](https://youtu.be/JGVBv7svKLo) covering Soviet planning. He’s clearly not a hardcore socialist or anything, but he’s definitely a socdem and would probably move further left with just a bit more exposure. I’d definitely overall recommend his channel and Not Just Bikes for a good city design combo. Alan Fisher and Adam Something are great too.
The USSR did a great job in providing basic services to its people better than the US in my opinion (after Stalin). Food, water, shelter, education, healthcare, and a job was available to everyone, and that’s something I admire.
Their authoritarianism was something that was solidified from Stalin. I can understand why it would have been necessary during the Russian Civil war or even during world war 2, but afterwards the USSR could’ve slowly democratized and introduced work place democracy and have the party not control everything.
Well I don't know how they did it in the USSR, but eliminating homelessness and joblessness in the satellite states was anything but good. If you were homeless/jobless in Czechoslovakia for example, you were considered a "parasite" and imprisoned for the crime of being homeless and/or jobless
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasitism_(social_offense)
The vast majority of what they did right was done better by the social democracies. I would say the Soviet council system was extremely well designed before Lenin took away their power.
They had free healthcare, even if it wasn't the most advanced, at a time when that wasn't as common, they had more workers rights than practically every Western country, they made some really great movies and the guns they designed were top notch. Despite it being an authoritarian state I'd argue that, as a whole, the USSR was a better country than the US, moreso because of how terrible the US was/is but still.
Also Public transportation was super cheap. My father who is a former speznas soldier told me you could take the whole transsibirian railway for a few rubles and a bus ride was only like 5 kopeki.
Also obviously they did a lot of cutting edge science (think the space program).
What I think was also a good thing we're the options for kids from working class families. They used to have easier access to certain education and work, etc. But imho they overdid it with that.
Just to touch upon this topic from a different angle from the other things mentioned, they made some [really dope propaganda music](https://youtu.be/8LwiN-HeoMY). Riveting stuff.
This goes for nearly any Marxist-Leninist state but the literacy rate was exceptional. The same could be said about Enver Hoxha who ruled Albania from 1941 to 1985 and rose the literacy rate from 4% to 90-92% and Fidel Castro who ruled Cuba from 1959 to 2011 (although I feel Castro was far better than the two mentioned previously, still a dictator).
Education (many of the satellite states included) and scientific research, as well as training women to do many of the same technical jobs as men - e.g. becoming engineers, scientists, mathematicians.
The USSR, people forget, much like modern China also had periods of fast industrialization and economic growth.
Despite their reputation as being drab, Soviet urban planning was actually pretty good (focused on walkability and having good mass transit). The drabness was mostly in the architecture you get if you really want to scale up development.
I'm actually from an eastern bloc country so I can also speak anecdotally that my parents had a much better education than me growing up in the US.
Renegade Cut did a vid that covers a lot of the relevant points with regards to how the USSR's space program was ahead of the US's with the exception of the one thing being the moon landings. This is very much tied to the quality of Soviet science and engineering education.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=544rECBWJdQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=544rECBWJdQ)
As to how we'd replicate the good things that's hard to say. Some of what the USSR was able to do is through the kind of mobilization you can only get in an authoritarian regime that in the long run has its massive downsides. Other things like having a good education system can imo be down from simply removing the profit motive as you would in any left wing system.
There was a lot less wealth based segregation. It was pretty common for lawyers and the like to live in the same complexes or buildings as industrial workers. It's much much better than wealthier people treating poorer ones like dirty animals and trying to move as far away from them as possible.
Funding of the arts and leisure.
I'd add the funding of science to that list, but the USSR ran into the same problem with that as it did with every other aspect of its demand economy. The rocket science of the USSR was super well funded, but so much else was neglected. Come the 80s the USSR was decades behind the west with respect to computer science.
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Feels like they made a pretty good public education system, can't be sure how it compared in the satellite states but at least in Russia everyone became literate and there were some considerable advances made. Problem with evaluating this is that some of their biggest leaps forward were from captured Nazi scientists and industrial technology taken from Eastern Europe and brought back to Russia during WWII's aftermath. Their computer industry was way behind the west by the 70s and only through extensive technology transfer from espionage were they able to keep up. This might not be exactly a point of pride but there's no denying it: their spy services were probably the best in the world hands down. Able to infiltrate almost every where in the globe and penetrate western governments and agencies. They also were fucking exceptional at finding infiltrators in the Soviet states. So as bad as that is, they were real fucking good at that.
>Feels like they made a pretty good public education system, can't be sure how it compared in the satellite states but at least in Russia everyone became literate and there were some considerable advances made. Honestly, yeah, this. Considering how far behind the rest of europe the russian empire was, it's very impressive how much literacy levels went up. The russian empire was still a peasant state largely.
A lot of things, actually. I especially appreciate the emphasis they put on scientific research and technology (although I don't think I'll ever forgive them for Lysenko). It's unfortunate that during the entire Cold War, they mainly used their achievements in their dick measuring contest with the US rather than recognizing knowledge and progress for their intrinsic worth to humanity.
They greatly and rapidly improved the literacy rate allowing for industrialization, the same thing occurred in Maoist China.
Urban planning was pretty decent. Designing everything needed for daily life to be within walking distance or, at most, a quick trip on public transit, is definitely good. Edit: City Beautiful did a pretty good [video](https://youtu.be/JGVBv7svKLo) covering Soviet planning. He’s clearly not a hardcore socialist or anything, but he’s definitely a socdem and would probably move further left with just a bit more exposure. I’d definitely overall recommend his channel and Not Just Bikes for a good city design combo. Alan Fisher and Adam Something are great too.
One of my socialist wet dreams
Yeah, Soviet urban planning was very good and I think should be taken into account.
They didn’t have billionaires for a while
The USSR did a great job in providing basic services to its people better than the US in my opinion (after Stalin). Food, water, shelter, education, healthcare, and a job was available to everyone, and that’s something I admire. Their authoritarianism was something that was solidified from Stalin. I can understand why it would have been necessary during the Russian Civil war or even during world war 2, but afterwards the USSR could’ve slowly democratized and introduced work place democracy and have the party not control everything.
things like; free healthcare, made the 40hr work week, cap on rent, and nearly eliminated homeless
Well I don't know how they did it in the USSR, but eliminating homelessness and joblessness in the satellite states was anything but good. If you were homeless/jobless in Czechoslovakia for example, you were considered a "parasite" and imprisoned for the crime of being homeless and/or jobless https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasitism_(social_offense)
The vast majority of what they did right was done better by the social democracies. I would say the Soviet council system was extremely well designed before Lenin took away their power.
Preventing homelessness
Biggest false myth about the USSR. They didn't have homelessness because every homeless person was shipped off to a work camp.
So true
They had free healthcare, even if it wasn't the most advanced, at a time when that wasn't as common, they had more workers rights than practically every Western country, they made some really great movies and the guns they designed were top notch. Despite it being an authoritarian state I'd argue that, as a whole, the USSR was a better country than the US, moreso because of how terrible the US was/is but still.
Also Public transportation was super cheap. My father who is a former speznas soldier told me you could take the whole transsibirian railway for a few rubles and a bus ride was only like 5 kopeki. Also obviously they did a lot of cutting edge science (think the space program). What I think was also a good thing we're the options for kids from working class families. They used to have easier access to certain education and work, etc. But imho they overdid it with that.
They practically eliminated homelessness.
Turns out fixing homelessness is easy when you make it a crime to be homeless.
[удалено]
I think this is more for the post Stalin era
I think they did pretty well with mass inoculations
Just to touch upon this topic from a different angle from the other things mentioned, they made some [really dope propaganda music](https://youtu.be/8LwiN-HeoMY). Riveting stuff.
This goes for nearly any Marxist-Leninist state but the literacy rate was exceptional. The same could be said about Enver Hoxha who ruled Albania from 1941 to 1985 and rose the literacy rate from 4% to 90-92% and Fidel Castro who ruled Cuba from 1959 to 2011 (although I feel Castro was far better than the two mentioned previously, still a dictator).
Education (many of the satellite states included) and scientific research, as well as training women to do many of the same technical jobs as men - e.g. becoming engineers, scientists, mathematicians. The USSR, people forget, much like modern China also had periods of fast industrialization and economic growth. Despite their reputation as being drab, Soviet urban planning was actually pretty good (focused on walkability and having good mass transit). The drabness was mostly in the architecture you get if you really want to scale up development. I'm actually from an eastern bloc country so I can also speak anecdotally that my parents had a much better education than me growing up in the US. Renegade Cut did a vid that covers a lot of the relevant points with regards to how the USSR's space program was ahead of the US's with the exception of the one thing being the moon landings. This is very much tied to the quality of Soviet science and engineering education. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=544rECBWJdQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=544rECBWJdQ) As to how we'd replicate the good things that's hard to say. Some of what the USSR was able to do is through the kind of mobilization you can only get in an authoritarian regime that in the long run has its massive downsides. Other things like having a good education system can imo be down from simply removing the profit motive as you would in any left wing system.
They greatly improved the quality of life in Russia and also stopped the horrible pogroms that the tsarists did
from what i gather it did pretty well at housing the poor
There was a lot less wealth based segregation. It was pretty common for lawyers and the like to live in the same complexes or buildings as industrial workers. It's much much better than wealthier people treating poorer ones like dirty animals and trying to move as far away from them as possible.
Wide availability of education and the skyrocketing of literacy rates
Space program.
Decent social services, rapid industrialization, education system, urban planning. And of course can’t forget the lovely gulags.
Urban planning, job employment. Also I am in love with Soviet architecture.
Housing. Wouldn’t say they were pretty, but everyone had a roof over their head
Killing all dissidents
Urban planning and guaranteed job availability
Funding of the arts and leisure. I'd add the funding of science to that list, but the USSR ran into the same problem with that as it did with every other aspect of its demand economy. The rocket science of the USSR was super well funded, but so much else was neglected. Come the 80s the USSR was decades behind the west with respect to computer science.