With paramedics, polyclinics and plastic bone banks everybody gets free care in the USSR.
In the 1919 when the newly launched Soviet Union was threatened by a plague of louse-borne typhus, Vladimir Illyich Lenin bluntly warned his countrymen: “Either the lice defeat socialism or socialism defeats the lice.” The USSR survived the lice and in the half century since has built to most massive system of the national health care ever known, still based on Lenin’s logical, if unsentimental premise: Russia needs her workers, and a sick worker cannot work.
From birth do death the Soviet citizen is followed by a dossier of his health history. He may get production line preventive treatment without leaving his post at school, factory, farm or office. If he is sick but can walk, he goes to a polyclinic, one of thousands of free, all-purpose infirmaries. At least in the cities there are doctors aplenty. Of the world’s 2.5 million physicians, 500,000 – or one in five – are Russians. (The U.S. by comparison has 309,000 M.D.s, for a population 85% as large. Another half million trained medical assistants called feldshers supplement the doctors, particularly in the vast, thinly settled rural outlands.
The system has flaws. To achieve quantity, the quality of treatment often suffers. Hospital sanitation is spotty at best. Anesthetics and modern equipment are often unavailable and most advanced drugs have to be imported. Dentistry is painfully old-fashioned. Medical education considered as a whole, is not up to U.S. standards (I would argue with that. M.V). But the Soviet goal is a lifetime health care for everyone, and any enterprise that ambitious is bound to have failings.
I was going to write a reply to the discussion about the Jews and Christmas trees, but then I thought that there is no point in doing so: everyone who wants a tree in their house probably will have one, and all others will probably find a reason why they won’t. My only contribution is that you haven’t lived until you smelled a real pine tree inside your house. Just call it a winter tree, New Year’s Tree or a wreath and bring one into your living room.
During the first half of my life, we always had a tree for the New Year holiday. My Jewish Father, who spent a part of his childhood in the ghetto, made sure to find the biggest tree to fit through the door. Having a tree doesn’t make you any less Jewish, and, for certain, it doesn’t reduce the amount of antisemitism directed at you. Not the “someone looked at me funny” antisemitism, but a real, hardcore, state-sponsored harassment.
The tree of my childhood wasn’t associated with anything religious (definitely not for me), but it still had lights, presents and a five-point red star on top.
Every year an ever-expanding group of morons gathers to celebrate Stalin’s birthday and reminisce about the greatness of the Stalin’s years in the Russian history. Considering that a person born in 1953 when Stalin died is quickly approaching the age of 60, not too many people in the crowd actually remember the life under Stalin but that doesn’t stop them from marching around, dreaming about going back in time. The irony is in the fact that during Stalin’s times marching around or expressing disregard for the current regime would be a sure-fire way to get shot or be sent to labor camps.
Russian communists stand in line in Red square to attend a wreath laying ceremony at the tomb of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin marking the 130th anniversary of his birthday at the Kremlin wall in Moscow, December 21, 2009.
And here we see a group kids whose parents could use a few months of labor camps themselves.
Members of the youth wing of the Russian Communist party march along Red Square to lay flowers at Soviet dictator Josef Stalin's grave to mark the 130th anniversary of his birth in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Dec. 21, 2009.Russian Communists hold red flags as they queue to lay flowers at the grave of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin to mark the 130th anniversary of his birth, as they walk along the Red Square in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Dec. 21, 2009. St Basil's Cathedral is seen at left and Lenin's mausoleum is at right.Russian communists attend a wreath laying ceremony at the tomb of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, marking the 130th anniversary of his birthday, at the Kremlin wall in Moscow December 21, 2009.A Russian communist walks along Red Square after attending a wreath laying ceremony at the grave of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin marking the 130th anniversary of his birthday at the Kremlin wall in Moscow, December 21, 2009.Russian Communists leader Gennady Zyuganov, 2nd left, smiles as others hold portraits of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin after laying flowers at his grave to mark the 130th anniversary of Stalin's birth Red Square in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Dec. 21, 2009.Russian communists laugh in front of a McDonald's restaurant after attending a wreath laying ceremony at the grave of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, marking the 130th anniversary of his birthday, at the Kremlin wall in Moscow December 21, 2009.
With a statue, background, and portrait, foreground, of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, Georgians attend a rally marking his 130th birthday anniversary in Stalin's home town of Gori, 80 km (50 miles) west of the Georgian capital Tbilisi, Monday, Dec. 21, 2009.Georgians carry portraits of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin during a rally marking his 130th birthday anniversary in Stalin's home town of Gori, 80 km (50 miles) west of the Georgian capital Tbilisi, Monday, Dec. 21, 2009.Continue reading →
Trans World Airlines has a special place in American History. On October 21, 1992 a special anniversary flight from Moscow to New York (via Brussels) brought my family and me to this country, full of hopes, dreams and dressed up in full-blown winter attire on a nice 70F fall day. TWA is now a fading memory but some photos from the Life Magazine Archives may remind you of the olden days when the word “stewardess” wasn’t frowned upon, smoking was cool and the sexism was a solid corporate policy.
Sorry for two billboard posts in a row, but what can I do – they are putting them up faster than I can stop and take a picture.
A thought about making this one into a caption contest but I don’t think you can beat mine (see the title of this post). If you manage to do better than I did, I might come up with a prize – a beer or a magazine subscription – something. Good luck and remember to lock up your jewelry stash or someone will get paid to party!
