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a.) In 1919 Russia was not nearly as advanced as the US or Europe.

b.) Unlike the US, Soviet Union came out of WW2 with cities destroyed, and 20% of its population killed, most of them able-bodied men in their prime.

Yet, by 1984, the USSR had:

- free universal healthcare

- largely egalitarian society with very little inequality

- free, excellent education system, from K through PhD

- women treated equally in the workforce unlike the West

- walkable cities with very good public transit

What the free world had:

- Start of Reagonomics and Thatcherism era

- Plenty of cheap consumer goods to buy and waste

- Fantastic entertainment industry

- White flight and suburban sprawl

- Beginning of War on Drugs, sponsorship of Islamic extremism in Afghanistan

I guess my point is that one should probably define "advanced" before proceeding to discuss it.




>Equal Pay Act 1970

>National Health Service 1946-1948

>Defining Thatcherism as bad

All before 1984.

You can't take all the bad parts of the 'West', however you define it, and compare it with a single country.




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