Freedom of Speech (USSR/USA) During the soviet era many Westerners doubted the freedom of expression given to citizens of Soviet Union, so a journalist set out to interview people from the USA and USSR to see how things compared. One American said "I am completely free to say whatever I think. For example I can walk into any public space and criticize the president." To this the Soviet responded "We too have freedom of speech - we can go to any public square at any time and criticize the pr…

Eastern Europe - 1989 "If we leave the Soviet Union, we might have to get visas to visit Siberia and turnips will be more expensive"

Cold War So at the height of the cold war, the US and the Soviet Union competed against each other during the Space Race. However, both countries were soon faced with a serious dilemma: how could astronauts write report in space, floating in zero-g? The Americans invested 100 million dollars into a research project that lasted for two years and monopolized the best and the brightest of the American scientists. They created a pen that could write in space, under extreme temperatures, under the se…

'What Will Communism Be Like?'- A Russian Joke One day, as a young man, Ivan asked a member of the Party, ""What will it be like once we have built communism?"". The Party man replied, ""The shops will be full of goods, and we will have no money"". Four decades passed, and the Soviet Union fell. After the fall of the USSR, Ivan found himself walking the streets of Moscow. He looked at the shops, and he felt in his pockets, and smiled. ""Comrades"", he said, ""We have built communism at last!""