The Most Privileged Class

For any nation, its children are its most valuable resource. For this reason, Russian Life asked Yelena Utenkova, on the occasion of International Children’s Day, to look at the state of children in Russia today. She returns with a picture at once sobering and revealing.

Of the many myths the Soviet propaganda machine spun for its people and the whole world, at least one was hard to argue with: “the Soviet childhood is the most cloudless in the world.” Judge for yourself: free education, free summer vacations, free sports, free health care, free libraries, free everything. The Soviet state did its utmost to prove that its motto — “all the best for children” — was more than just empty words.