--- Michael Dawson <MDawson at pdx.edu> wrote:
>
> In the USSR, the subway was a showpiece for the
> Stalinists, as well as one
> obvious place to spend labor in a full-employment
> economy. It probably
> remains a showpiece (deservedly so!), and also gives
> the Russian
> command-comprador state a place to justify some
> public employment in a new
> situation. (Correct, Mr. Doss?)
>
>
When the first line was laid in 1935 it was trumpeted as a Triumph of Soclism like the skyscrapers, sure. Stalin only took the metro once if I remember correctly -- it started a stampede to glimpse the Vozhd and some people got trampled to death. I wuldn't call the Russian state "command-comprador," but anyway the metro is essential for Moscow to function. Moscow is not built for cars. There are no big parking areas, for one thing, and only a handful of big roads. There are at least 10 million people in Moscow, plus 2-3 million commuting into the city every day. Without the metro, the city would die.
I forgot the wall decorations. It's Leninland!:
http://www.beeflowers.com/Metro/Komsomolskaya/Kom1/imagepages/image2.htm
http://www.beeflowers.com/Metro/ProspektMira/imagepages/image19.htm
http://www.beeflowers.com/Metro/Komsomolskaya/Kom1/imagepages/image8.htm
http://www.beeflowers.com/Metro/Mayakovskaya/imagepages/image2.htm
http://www.beeflowers.com/Metro/Komsomolskaya/Kom1/imagepages/image10.htm
http://www.beeflowers.com/Metro/Komsomolskaya/Kom1/imagepages/image12.htm
http://www.beeflowers.com/Metro/Komsomolskaya/Kom1/imagepages/image2.htm
http://www.beeflowers.com/Metro/Mayakovskaya/imagepages/image6.htm http://www.beeflowers.com/Metro/Semionovskaya/semion1/imagepages/image2.htm
http://www.beeflowers.com/Metro/Oktiabrskaya/imagepages/image3.htm
http://www.beeflowers.com/Metro/Oktiabrskaya/imagepages/image5.htm
http://www.beeflowers.com/Metro/Dobrininskaya/imagepages/image2.htm
http://www.beeflowers.com/Metro/Dobrininskaya/imagepages/image1.htm
Nu, zayats, pogodi!
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