Soviet Union: Getting Everyone on the Wagon

The Kremlin tries for high—and dry—economic growth

A Soviet woman who is freezing in her new apartment discovers that shreds from a quilted workman's jacket and some cigarette butts have been stuffed into the walls instead of insulation. A laborer falls from scaffolding because someone has, in exchange for a bottle of vodka, sold the wooden planks that he should be standing on and replaced them with rotting boards. A drunkard who is supposed to be demoted for causing an uproar in the factory holds on to his job because the boss fears he might walk out and leave the...

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