PTO = Paid time off, apparently.
also known as personal time off in some regions
Side note, but personal time off is not always paid(even in the US).
Vacations in the Soviet Union
251–260 of 422 posts
Re: Vacations in the Soviet Union
#252I lived half of my life in Soviet Union and would say that this article is simplification with sources more from instate propaganda than from reality. The article basically describes russian upper middle class (yes, there were classes within soviet society) after WWII. Most of people couldn't even dream about Sochi. Soviet Union was huge and differences between regions, classes, nationalities etc were very much there…
> there were classes within soviet society Karl Marx's definition of communism was literally "a classless society"
That’s why soviet union had communism written on the facade and caste system inside. Party members had every luxury westerners had. And stupid dissidents silently disappeared to some far far away places behind Arctic circle.
Re: Vacations in the Soviet Union
#253Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is something that is somewhat common in Frankfurt, Germany. I got to meet some interesting people this way when I visited a couple of times.
funny that you say that. i just noticed that twice today in a cafe. why frankfurt of all towns? munich makes sense for this to develop because of their biergarten culture with long benches and long tables
I used to live in Berlin and in my experience it wasn't really a thing there. For some reason it's just part of the restaurant culture in Frankfurt.
Re: Vacations in the Soviet Union
#254>It encouraged workers to vacation with groups of relative strangers as opposed to their friends and families. This can actually work out well. I experienced something similar in the US while on vacation. I was traveling with someone from Glenwood Springs, CO to Denver, CO via Amtrak. We went to the dining car for lunch an since there were two of us and space is at a premium, the Amtrak policy was to seat us with one…
I recently experienced this in a bachelor party where I only knew one person well. Great time.
Same deal for work-conference trips where I met coworkers for the first time then proceeded to get irresponsibly drunk with them.
Re: Vacations in the Soviet Union
#255>It encouraged workers to vacation with groups of relative strangers as opposed to their friends and families. This can actually work out well. I experienced something similar in the US while on vacation. I was traveling with someone from Glenwood Springs, CO to Denver, CO via Amtrak. We went to the dining car for lunch an since there were two of us and space is at a premium, the Amtrak policy was to seat us with one…
This is a very good idea for teenagers and younger adults to break them out of the online world. For working class though, its probably best not to force people to socialize. The thing that doesn't get talked enough about in socialization is that its not all positive, and people have different tolerance to each others bullshit.
It can go either way in practice. If you force someone to socialize with people they don't really like, you risk conditioning them to hate socialization in general.
Re: Vacations in the Soviet Union
#256Earlier quoted context omitted.
Did the Soviet government actually follow the Constitution of The USSR? I believe it also mentioned freedom of expression, freedom of religion and freedom of assembly, all of which seemed to be ignored.
Many many cultures do not share the US's "unfettered freedom of speech". Even within the US, we talk a big game but - have you ever felt it wise to "exercise free speech" with law enforcement? So yeah, it's complicated.
freedom of speech in the US isn't perfect and the rest of the West is worse so the USSR really did have freedom of speech after all
i am very smart!
Re: Vacations in the Soviet Union
#257It's fascinating how the ideology of Marxism–Leninism (Communism) today is more popular than ever among young people in former capitalist heartlands like the US, Canada and UK. A simple European-style welfare state with universal healthcare is all you need to satisfy 90% of people but the elites in the US and the UK refuse to provide that.
I have a theory to explain this. Prior to Boomers, the public was very left wing. Unionization was high. Communist and Socialist parties had huge support. Until the 50s, a lot of towns had socialist mayors including Milwaukee. US had a top tax rate of 90%. But Boomers and Gen X are very conservative. Gen Z and A are again more left wing.
My theory is Boomers and Gen X have had a huge amounts of lead poisoning from leaded gasoline. This shifted their politics to be more conservative. The 'culture war' we are fighting now is really a generational war. One with people who have lead poisoning and another without.
Re: Vacations in the Soviet Union
#258Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know all of these things sound nice. But in the real world a lot of businesses aren't making the kind of profit that allows workers to just take time off and not generate any revenue for the company. Sure there are some that could pull it off. But most small businesses aren't making that kind of profit. Unless you are assuming workers are supposed to take unpaid time off. But then how are they going to afford to ta…
If your business can't pay its bills without forgoing its legal and moral responsibilities, it has failed.
If it can't for any reason, it's failed. The problem is the more things you pile on, the harder it gets. The main point of a business, and the main good it does, is not employing people. It's what goods or services it provides its customers, at a lower price.
If you moralise and add more things for a business to do, the big ones will do some performative stuff and spend their vast marketing budgets on it, and the small ones will go under, and we all lose because we get less choice and higher prices.
Re: Vacations in the Soviet Union
#259Earlier quoted context omitted.
One explanation I've found pretty accurate: When the young start to become educated (late teens, early 20's) they face the realization that they will be entering the world on the bottom of the economic totem pole. There are two primary responses to this: 1. Realize that the real world is competitive and difficult and much self-improvement and hard work will be needed to thrive. These people put their heads down and g…
There were an estimated 7 to 12 million casualties during the war, mostly civilians ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Civil_War ). A total of 1,053,829 people died in the Gulag not including labor colonies ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excess_mortality_in_the_Soviet... ). The Communists didn't prey in some vaguely psychological sense, they physically exterminated anyone who disagreed.
1. 1,053,829 is from https://sovietinfo.tripod.com/GTY-Penal_System.pdf. Which has no source on the claimed number.
2. USSR had no extermination camps (unlike the NAZIs), GULAG was a prison system no different from the US Prison system today.
Re: Vacations in the Soviet Union
#260I worked for Olivetti in Milan and Ivrea the mid/late 80s. In particular, that was before the wall came down. When I landed at Malpensa in Milan for the first time, I noticed there was an Aeroflot airliner parked on the tarmac. This seemed odd to me. Why would someone want to fly from Milan to the USSR? Olivetti was a massive (at the time) paternal Italian company. It had a department called Gestione Varie , miscella…
Did you read the Misterious Affair at Olivetti? What did you think about it?
I don't buy the conspiracy part but liked the rest.
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/544552/the-mysterio...