A. The working class was not living in "penury." Lots of them are are living in penury NOW, not then. In fact miners wre one of the most highly-paid Soviet professions. This is a nice fantasy anti-Soviets evangelicals whipped up for themselves. B. The restitution of the market seems like a preferable alternative to the minority of the population. As a matter of fact, unless you have been living in a cave, you know that the people who reintrouced the market are despised and loathed, though some of them seem to be living quite comfotably in the United Kingdom. C. The deportation of the Ingush, Chechens, and Cherkess had very little to do with Russian Chauvism and a lot to do with their Nazi ties. Were the Ossetes, Chuvash, Dargins, Avars, etc. etc. etc. deported? No. The USSR had umpteen-billion ethnic groups. Why just those? D. I hate to break this to you, but the majority of the population was pretty content under the "mockery" of socialism, and most would like to have it back. E. I am not a fan of the Soviet system, but I am not about to start twisting its reality for my own political and ideological purposes, as seems to be the norm in the West. Frankly, you obviously have little idea about what life in the Soviet Union was actually like. How ordinary many ex-Soviets have you actually met?
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