
The Refuseniks - wallflower
http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2017/11/09/in-the-magazine/the-refuseniks.html
======
trhway
USSR, night, 4am, door bell ring in Rabinovich apartment.

Rabinovich : "Who is there?"

From outside of the door : "Just postmen. Rabinovich, would you agree that
USSR is the best country in the world for people to live in?"

Rabinovich : "Yes, i agree."

From outside of the door: "Then why do you want to leave this best country?"

Rabinovich : "Because in the other country there are no postmen coming to your
apartment at 4am."

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googamooga
Nice story, but as somebody who lived in 1982 in the USSR, I should note that
there was no first class on flights between Moscow and Leningrad
(St.Petersburg), incoming and outgoing international calls did not work in
automatic mode - all calls were switched through operator, only Beriozka
stores accepted foreign currency, GUM was local currency only.

~~~
ikonst
Yeah, I was somewhat surprised by those. "Classes" on domestic flights in the
USSR?! And yeah, GUM was (and still is) a department store for Soviet citizens
-
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUM_(department_store)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUM_\(department_store\)).

~~~
thriftwy
Actually I won't be surprised about classes, given that railway trains had up
to 5 different classes of carriages.

~~~
googamooga
No, long-distance trains had four classes: SV (two beds per cabin), Coupe
(four beds per cabin), Platzkart (six beds per cabin) and Sitting (no beds,
just benches). This classification goes back to Tzar (pre-revolution) times.

It has nothing to do with air transportation which has been developed in
Soviet era, where everebody was equal.

edit: minor mistakes.

~~~
thriftwy
Weren't there also Soft ("мягкий", two posh beds per cabin)?

~~~
googamooga
This is exactly SV ("спальный вагон").

[https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A1%D0%BF%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C...](https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A1%D0%BF%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B9_%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%B3%D0%BE%D0%BD)

~~~
thriftwy
Apparently it's a different thing:

[https://www.ozon.travel/help/railway/preparation/trains/](https://www.ozon.travel/help/railway/preparation/trains/)

As far as I understand, М has private bathroom but СВ doesn't. It's confusing
but I'm sure I saw them sold at different prices.

~~~
googamooga
Are we discussing 1982 or 2017? :-)

There were no bathtubs on the trains in 1980-s in Soviet Union...

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andreiw
Nice story, but the USSR has been gone for more than twenty years. What value
does this add to HN’s audience, beyond stoking more russophobe hysteria? There
are plenty of other awful things that could be covered - ranging from
lynchings to police brutality...and all of this is largely irrelevant to the
tech community.

~~~
toomuchtodo
So many downvotes but no explanation.

This story is important from both a historical as well as philosophical
standpoint. Historical, so as to understand what those in the STEM field
endured in the Soviet Union. Philosophical, in that there are those who thirst
for knowledge and may not have the luxury others do of unlimited information
(for a variety of reasons, whether that be logistical or political).

I hope this helps! Knowing history helps us prevent repeating it. Think of
growing wiser as hacking yourself ;)

