1. Soviet Union was first to introduce eight-hour work days. First ever in current mankind history.

2. Another major advancement was a right to give every working person one month of free  leave each year. In fact, now in Russia some categories of people enjoying even more longer vacations each year. And yes, they get compensated with their normal salary for all this time they spend away from their work.



3. People couldn't be fired without the consent of the professional unions.



4. State guaranteed to ANY college graduate that he will get a job right after he gets his diploma.



5. Also, any person in USSR (and in modern Russia too in fact) can go to a college or university of their choice absolutely for free (of course if they can pass the entry exams or have good grades at their high school final year). This was made first in the world in Soviet country.



6. Soviet Union was first to offer absolutely free pre-schools and kindergartens to all who needed.



7. Soviet citizens were first in the world to get absolutely free professional medical help. Anytime. Anywhere. Absolutely free. Unlimited. No lines, no long waiting lists. Every city had tens of "poliklinikas" - places that any person can walk in and get to a doctor of his choice, get diagnosed, xray scanned, etc etc, get his teeth fixed - all for free. Even still in Russia this system continues to work.



8. Every citizen of Soviet Union could go to his manager and ask for a trip to a resort of his choice - either to the sea shores or any other kind of resort and he had a right to get this trip for free each year.



9. Every citizen of USSR was having a right to get a free apartment. Yes, absolutely free, no need to pay, gets under your name forever, you could own it, give to your kids later etc. Of course, they were waiting lists, sometimes they were pretty long, but every month tens or even hundreds thousands of people were receiving free apartments from the Soviet state. Thanks to this even now there are plenty of homeowners in Russia. This was made first in the world ever.



10. Every Soviet person could get free transportation to place of his work from the place he lived. He could get bus vouchers, rail road tickets etc. etc. First in the world.



11. Every new mom had a right of three year maternity leave. She got paid for some time first year in full, then received a welfare for the next year, then she still had her job reserved for her to return at any time for next three years.

12. Also any mom could receive free milk for her baby until he get three years old. A whole network of "milk kitchens" was established where every parent could walk in and grab a bottle of prepared and sterile milk for their new born. FOR FREE. Anytime.



Many of those benefits were unknown to Western people before the WW2. After the war, some  started to adopt some similar practices in order to keep the workers movement protests low.















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