Were things free in the Soviet Union
What this page covers
Were things free in the Soviet Union
From the outside, the Soviet Union is sometimes imagined as a place where people enjoyed free goods and services. The Red New Deal describes something very different: a system where prices were often low on paper, but real access to everyday items was limited by chronic shortages and control.
Instead of walking into a store and taking what they needed, families spent time searching for basics and standing in long lines. Daily life, including how parents cared for young children, was organized around what was missing, not around a world of free and abundant products.
In brief
- The Red New Deal explains that while some services were state-funded, people did not experience life as “everything is free.” Many goods were rationed, scarce, or simply unavailable, so access was the real problem.
- Families adjusted their habits to cope with shortages. Parents hunted for baby food, toilet paper, and other basics, and relied on workarounds instead of convenient consumer products that many Americans take for granted.
- The book contrasts the idealized promise of socialism with the reality of queues, limited choice, and political control, showing that when the state claims to make things free, citizens often pay in other ways, including time, freedom, and opportunity.
What to do
The Red New Deal offers a first-hand look at what “free” meant in the Soviet Union. Officially, the state subsidized housing, education, and healthcare, and many prices were tightly controlled. In practice, people remember not a land of plenty, but a constant struggle to find basic goods. Shelves were often empty, and the real currency became connections, time in line, and willingness to accept whatever was available.
Everyday parenting shows how this worked. In the Soviet Union, most children were potty-trained very early, often by around ten months. This was not because children developed faster, but because disposable diapers were rare or nonexistent for most families. Parents washed and even ironed cloth diapers, planning their days around laundry and access to hot water instead of relying on convenient, store-bought products.
The book also shows how privilege shaped who could escape the worst of these limits. The author’s parents, both elite athletes, received better access to goods and travel because sports served the regime’s propaganda goals. Their relative comfort, compared with ordinary citizens waiting in long lines for items like butter or meat, underlines that the system did not deliver equal, free access. Instead, status and loyalty often determined who enjoyed better living conditions.
What to keep in mind
Personal stories in The Red New Deal make clear that shortages, not free abundance, defined Soviet consumer life. People did not simply pick up what they wanted. They checked rumors about deliveries, rushed to stores when something appeared, and stood in lines without knowing if anything would be left when they reached the counter.
These conditions shaped family routines in very concrete ways. Without disposable diapers or a wide range of baby products, parents invested hours into washing, drying, and ironing cloth. Early potty training became a practical response to scarcity, not a parenting trend. The author notes that this did not rely on harsh discipline, but it did show how even intimate parts of family life were dictated by what the system failed to provide.
The narrative also highlights how control and hierarchy replaced genuine freedom. Sports and other favored sectors opened doors to better stores, travel, and small comforts, while most people navigated a rigid “vertical of power” with little say over their own lives. The book argues that when a state promises to make things free, it often shifts the real cost onto citizens’ time, choices, and freedoms instead of eliminating it.