Quote Originally Posted by Johanna
Following from the above, can I ask something? Why do people say that everything made in the USSR was bad quality?
I know that such opinions exist but don't really share them. The main reason for them is the fact that Soviet goods lacked the style as you pointed out, and we didn't know that good advertisement can help to sell a total cr@p to innocents Soviet goods looked crude and tasteless compared to their western counterparts. There are some things that Russia can't do well even now - light automobiles, for example, or electronics. While Russian Kamazes have just won the Paris-Dakkar rally for yet another time, our Ladas and Volgas are terrible. 60% of the Soviet GDP was spent on defense, therefore to meet the civilian demands many factories were 'dual-purpose enterprises'.
The goods they produced were of 'army style' and of course weren't the masterpieces of design. Still they were intended for heavy duty service for prolonged periods. Apart from Ladas, Volgas and electronics, everything else was of a very good quality.
There's another reason. Soviet people seldom saw imported goods and all imports was of highest quality (China wasn't a world's factory back then and we didn't know that poor quality goods existed in the West too). Of course, compared to the imports we saw, Soviet goods failed the competition.