[lbo-talk] Black (and Asian) in the USSR

[Wojtek Sokolowski]

Doug:
> 
> Compared with the U.S., where a third of the population has serious 
> housing affordability problems? Compared with Kenya? This seems like 
> where you're exactly wrong - the USSR's strength was providing basic 
> needs. Its weakness was consumer gadgetry and services (and tampons).
> 

Exactly.  Housing shortages in EE resulted almost exclusively form the
country to city migration which accounted for the lion share of urban
growth in the 1950s and 1960s.  In that respect, the housing situation
should be compared to a similar phenomenon elsewhere (e.g. cities in
Asia, Africa,or Latin America) - rather than to the developed countries.
> From that point of view, central planning performed beautifully - it
provided basic and affordable housing and practically eliminated
homelessness, where the "market" systems created slums and "favelas."  

Wojtek