Even in the US, there are limits on the difference in monetary compensation. Because of that, for the most prestigious/lucrative positions, non-monetary compensation is offered. At the lowest rungs, it was health insurance. When you start talking higher, then there are company cars and so forth. And for CEOs, you get equity in the form of stock options, personal assistants, etc.
The Soviets had all of these for the highest positions, just like everywhere else. The only thing different is that they made the pay difference limitation explicit and lower.
They rose to their positions through their work.
No. I think higher in the thread you mentioned how Brezhnev came from a family of metalworkers. When he became General Secretary, it wasn’t because he was the best metalworker at the foundry. It wasn’t because he was the best manager of metalworkers at the foundry. That wasn’t how anyone rose to high positions in the Soviet Union.
Like elsewhere, there is a social game. And people who play it well rise high, those who play it perfectly rise higher still. Those who can’t or won’t play it, those who are bad at it, or who are visibly bitter about it, don’t rise at all.
None of it has to do with anything resembling actual work.
The Soviets had all of these for the highest positions, just like everywhere else. The only thing different is that they made the pay difference limitation explicit and lower.
It’s completely absurd to argue that inequality in USSR was in any way comparable to that in US. People like Musk or Bezos simply didn’t exist.
No. I think higher in the thread you mentioned how Brezhnev came from a family of metalworkers. When he became General Secretary, it wasn’t because he was the best metalworker at the foundry.
That’s a nonsensical argument. USSR wasn’t some guild based society where children simply learned the craft of their parents. Everyone had access to the same kind of education and same opportunity. A son of a metalworker would have roughly the same opportunity as the son of the chairman of the Politburo. That’s what allowed people born in far flung regions of USSR to rise to positions of power.
Like elsewhere, there is a social game. And people who play it well rise high, those who play it perfectly rise higher still.
That’s a factually incorrect statement. Success in US can literally be determined by your zip code. Those born rich have far more opportunity available to them, and thus are far more likely to rise to positions of power.
They did. The numbers just weren’t counted, and the climb to the top was slightly different. There were people in control of comparable industries, who were in control of comparable economic force. They just didn’t have “billions in stock valuations” because the economic system didn’t actually count such things.
These people experienced a far more luxurious life experience than the common Soviet citizen, in the same way Bezos experiences a far more luxurious life experience than myself.
Everyone had access to the same kind of education
No, they didn’t. Ever heard of “coffin problems”? They were a sort of entrance exam that kept “certain people” out of the most prestigious universities while allowing others in without even bothering with the tests. Sort of like the literacy voting tests they had in the Jim Crow south. Impossible to pass if you were the wrong sort of human.
A son of a metalworker would have roughly the same opportunity as the son of the chairman of the Politburo.
Because Soviet Scientist eliminated nepotism with advanced knowledge of applied phrenology! Wtf.
Even in the US, there are limits on the difference in monetary compensation. Because of that, for the most prestigious/lucrative positions, non-monetary compensation is offered. At the lowest rungs, it was health insurance. When you start talking higher, then there are company cars and so forth. And for CEOs, you get equity in the form of stock options, personal assistants, etc.
The Soviets had all of these for the highest positions, just like everywhere else. The only thing different is that they made the pay difference limitation explicit and lower.
No. I think higher in the thread you mentioned how Brezhnev came from a family of metalworkers. When he became General Secretary, it wasn’t because he was the best metalworker at the foundry. It wasn’t because he was the best manager of metalworkers at the foundry. That wasn’t how anyone rose to high positions in the Soviet Union.
Like elsewhere, there is a social game. And people who play it well rise high, those who play it perfectly rise higher still. Those who can’t or won’t play it, those who are bad at it, or who are visibly bitter about it, don’t rise at all.
None of it has to do with anything resembling actual work.
It’s completely absurd to argue that inequality in USSR was in any way comparable to that in US. People like Musk or Bezos simply didn’t exist.
That’s a nonsensical argument. USSR wasn’t some guild based society where children simply learned the craft of their parents. Everyone had access to the same kind of education and same opportunity. A son of a metalworker would have roughly the same opportunity as the son of the chairman of the Politburo. That’s what allowed people born in far flung regions of USSR to rise to positions of power.
That’s a factually incorrect statement. Success in US can literally be determined by your zip code. Those born rich have far more opportunity available to them, and thus are far more likely to rise to positions of power.
They did. The numbers just weren’t counted, and the climb to the top was slightly different. There were people in control of comparable industries, who were in control of comparable economic force. They just didn’t have “billions in stock valuations” because the economic system didn’t actually count such things.
These people experienced a far more luxurious life experience than the common Soviet citizen, in the same way Bezos experiences a far more luxurious life experience than myself.
No, they didn’t. Ever heard of “coffin problems”? They were a sort of entrance exam that kept “certain people” out of the most prestigious universities while allowing others in without even bothering with the tests. Sort of like the literacy voting tests they had in the Jim Crow south. Impossible to pass if you were the wrong sort of human.
Because Soviet Scientist eliminated nepotism with advanced knowledge of applied phrenology! Wtf.