“It was hard to force people to give up their rights to apartments, and predictably, this radical Utopian ideal failed. But it does illustrate how the concept of social injustice in a communist society works: those who have are exceptions, and they should feel guilty and ashamed - the others are entitled to have, too, because it has been promised to them.” PovertyInjusticeSocialismInequalityRadicalCommunismSharingHousingUtopianApartments Book:Café Europa: Life After Communism Source: Café Europa: Life After Communism
“Even at his age he knew that there are basically two categories of people in a society: those who have, and those who have not. But according to the egalitarian principles of any communist society, those 'haves' should share with the 'have nots.' And because there is not much to share anyway, in the end that egalitarianism boils down to the equal distribution of poverty.” PovertySocialismCommunismSharingDistribution Of WealthEgalitarian Book:Café Europa: Life After Communism Source: Café Europa: Life After Communism
“To say it's the poor quality of the paint under socialism is correct, but it is not enough. To say it's soft-coal exploitation and air pollution, bad gasoline and bad cars, or lack of money - that again would be correct. But not the whole story. All these reasons (and probably many more) are not enough to explain the decrepitude. I think the reason is in us. The cities have been killed by our decades of indifference, by our conviction that somebody else - the government, the party, those 'above' - is in charge of it. Not us. How can it be us, if we are not in charge of our own lives?” CitiesResponsibilityPaintSocialismCommunismDecayCity LifeUrban DecayCommonsEnvironmental Psychology Book:How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed Source: How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed