Read an interesting article this morning. Apparently the Soviet Union introduced paid time off well before other industrialized countries.
Interestingly, but not unexpectedly, the state determined how and with whom you spent that vacation.
As members of a collective, citizens were expected to spend their free time in a manner the government and its leading theorists considered beneficial to society as whole, regardless of an individual’s preferences.
Ever since the 1930s, it had been customary for Soviet citizens to travel in groups of 25 to 40 people randomly put together by their trade unions. When adults relaxed at resorts or embarked on tours, their children were sent to summer camps managed by state-run youth groups like the Young Pioneers or the Komsomol.
This reveals the dedication to the collective rather than the family.
Soviet vacations served as teambuilding exercises that fostered group cohesion. The closer people got with their family, the further they removed themselves from their neighbors, colleagues, and government.
It seems unthinkable to not be in control of your own vacation to me, born in the West in 1990. Communism, the Soviet Union, and totalitarian regimes, somehow always seem to spark my interest. It is one way of organizing a society, and in some ways it seems like an attractive one. I think it has to do with the sense of purpose that living in such a society might give you. The Collective is most important, and that’s what you live for. In theory it is a selfless way of living. But history shows that it has always failed up until now.
I’m planning this year’s vacation at this moment, I’ll be returning to my beloved Norway for three weeks in September. And I’m so glad that I can decide to go there alone, instead of having to go with a group of 40 strangers.
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