Thread: Russian Oligarchs

Originally Posted by Hanna

Thanks for the explanation. I knew some of what you said - it's just hard to keep the terminology perfect Private property was too broad a term.

One thing occurred to me; what about inheritance in Soviet times? For example, if somebody lived in a nice flat or had a dacha or owned a nice car: could their children or other relatives inherit?

And what about in the 1990s when they started giving back land to the original owners in some parts of Eastern Europe? Did that happen at all in Russia?

First. Yes, there was inheritance in the USSR. In the early years of the Soviet power there was a limit on the cost of property that could be inherited. This limit was canceled in 1926. The rules of inheritance changed few times during the Soviet period, mainly towards widening of the rights of testators and their heirs, simplification of the procedure of inheritance. The last edition for the inheritance law was made in the 60s and this law was in act till 2002. You can read about the history of inheritance in the Soviet Union here 6.
Second. No, there was no such thing as giving back the properties of the pre-Soviet owners. There was a lot of talk about it but the state didn't do anything as far as I know.

Originally Posted by SergeMak

First. Yes, there was inheritance in the USSR. In the early years of the Soviet power there was a limit on the cost of property that could be inherited. This limit was canceled in 1926. The rules of inheritance changed few times during the Soviet period, mainly towards widening of the rights of testators and their heirs, simplification of the procedure of inheritance. The last edition for the inheritance law was made in the 60s and this law was in act till 2002. You can read about the history of inheritance in the Soviet Union here 6.
Second. No, there was no such thing as giving back the properties of the pre-Soviet owners. There was a lot of talk about it but the state didn't do anything as far as I know.

Thanks for explaining all that!
What about taxes then? Did people pay taxes in the USSR, or were the "taxes" already taken off the salary before the employee recieved it?
Were there things like VAT? (value added tax)

And who decided the prices, and what was the pricing based on? Based on my limited experience from there, most things were very, very cheap - and I was a kid/teenager so did not come with a lot of money. A few things on the other hand seemed disproportionately expensive. So what were the Soviet prices actually based on? Or perhaps, in a truly socialist economy it didn't actually matter very much what things cost? But there must have been some logic to what prices they set, even if I didn't notice what it could have been.

Belarus has some remnants of this system left, although I think most of it is gone. But if you go into a department store there, you can find a Belarussian swimming costume for $10, perfectly nice one. On the next rack, one from another nearby country, nothing special but costing $100 despite being of identical quality, material and cut. Unless there was a really compelling reason not to, you'd be a fool not to buy the first swimming costume... Obviously $10 cannot be the real price, at the very most it could be material + labour with no profit margin. Probably not even that. But who set the price that low... I bought such a bargain swimming costume and am very pleased with it, used it recently. Also, in Belarus they sell gorgeous icecream for 0.30 EUR. A similar but less tasty icecream in the UK costs 3-4 EUR at least.

Sorry Antonio, I can't write something this complicated in Russian. I actually wrote my long response, because I just assumed you wanted a response in English. If you preferred a response in Russian, lots of people here could have written something much better than me. Apologies, I didn't spot that you mentioned it...