They must have been high up in the party ranks to not be hungry...or peasant farmers stashing aside some state-owned produce...
The people questioned were pensioners on the street. They mentioned the good and the bad. Some things were better now, some worse. Such questions were on maybe 3 different videos from different people. Food wasn't an issue. Not as much variety as now.
I watched one on religion. Lots of ups and downs. Khrushchev was very anti religious. Commies mostly left Muslims alone because too much relied on it. One doc was on commie youth groups.
Being a skeptic I have to believe these are rural folks closer to the source than urban serfs...
One video was from Moscow.
Maybe we were fed a lot of crap in our news. All said they had a happy childhood in USSR. Many mentioned summer vacations mostly paid for by workplaces or youth organizations. I saw a BBC special on life in the USSR. Not a lot of material wealth. Lots of videos.
Of course these people were not alive in 1920s or 1930s. The 1940s were very hard even if not in the military. A recall a million died/starved in the siege of Leningrad. The Finns helped with that. Some Russians wanted payback. USSR settled on a treaty "in perpetuity" to not join any military block.
I saw one video with now abandoned small spartan cottages on the black sea. Basically free for people from various organizations in USSR. Things were very structured, whether you liked it or not. Not all bad. I recall jobs were picked for you. Khrushchev built the commie block apts starting in 1950s. Ugly but functional and put up quick. Prefab slabs.
After the revolution lots of big buildings were divided up into communal apts with shared bathrooms and kitchens. I recall We the Living by Ayn Rand in mansions where commies allowed the owners to have one room with the rest given out. They still exist in St. Petersburg for people who want to live like that for cheap. The rooms now have deeds and are sold to people. Fascinating.
I recall the USSR kept lots of German POWs a long time for construction work.
Amateur video blogs are fascinating. I believe them now more than any news. Some NZ guy hitch hiked through Iran. Nice people. People asked about the old USSR give varied answers partly depending on location. In some the new govts realized there were no limits on what they could loot. In the USSR there were limits and structure. Oppression and protection.
https://youtu.be/OGyUuSZGKPI94,144 views Sep 22, 2016
16 families sharing one apartment - the days of the Kommunalkas seem to be back in St. Petersburg. Communal apartments in older buildings are a relic of the Soviet era and starkly out of step with the grandeur of the world-famous Venice of the North.