The idea of a politician owning practical, inexpensive things, the same that the working class have access to, and also not valuing those material things a great deal, is something that seems alien to a lot of Western folks, but if you think about it, does just feel right. Like, if you are representing working class people in a government assembly, you should be living in the same standards as the average of the people you represent.
this post was submitted on 05 Sep 2025
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chapotraphouse
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$14 could buy a two bedroom in walking distance to public transit in 1959
$14 in 1959 is equivalent to about $152 today.
(This is assuming the $14 worth was 1959 and isn't already adjusted)
So it was a nice watch, but not stupidly ostentatious. That's about what I'd expect from a socialist head of state, tbh. Not enriching himself at the cost of his people, but still wearing decently nice things when traveling out of country on official business, because that's the geopolitical game when capitalist nations are involved.
A nickel will buy you a steak and kidney pie, a cup of coffee, a slice of cheesecake and a newsreel, with enough change left over to ride the trolley from Battery park to the polo grounds.
never forget what they took from us
most there dont seem to get this is a good thing lol
You need to remember the Western cultural mindset can't fathom leaders who don't rob them to decorate themselves and their homes or to enrich themelves; a leader who doesn't exploit his position is seen as an oddity and untrustworthy or even incompetent, a NON-WESTERN leader who DOES exploit his position is seen as a reflection of non-Western society. In pigeons, when they do something and get a positive result, they tend to repeat the same action even if it doesn't produce a positive result because the pigeon's brain assumes that's how it works, and if it should happen to work again, then it cements to the pigeon that this does indeed work; the Western cultural mindset in regards to leadership is very similar. Breaking this mold is unfortunately very difficult and further studies indicate Western leadership may be perpetuating this cultural mindset for their own benefit; they are not free of the effects of such a mindset but they are benefited by it.
Strategic reeducation and culling may be needed to steer these populations to a more desirable outcome; they should NOT be allowed to govern themselves in the meantime!!!
If I don't wear fancy clothes and jewelry made with the blood of child workers how will people know that God has blessed me with success, and am thus deserving of your vote?
hold on what, death 2 amerikkka and all but what exactly do you mean by culling
It's more a joke to mirror the language used by racists but honestly I wouldn't mind not wasting time trying to reeducate literal 'blood and soil'/'the Jews will not replace us' neonazis.
in any scenario where we have enough power to be deciding who gets reeducated and who gets culled, all the nazis have either died in the fighting or fled the country
Surely that was not true of Germany at the end of WW2.
That was so not the case at the end of WWII that Nazis wound up running NATO
no reason to make the same mistake again though
Oh, absolutely. But it's not a foregone conclusion.
dekulakization but for amerikkka. A deseppoization if you will.
Weren't cigars back then worth even less than $14 and were frequently given to children as prizes for winning a carnival game?
Hard to know for sure but this considering was a 50's steel plant I'm going to guess that the quality was less Cuban and more swisher sweet, which google tell me are currently $1.19 for two although it was pre-cuban revolution so hq cigars were probably more available back then but I don't think they would have exceeded $155.42(adjusted for inflation) individually
So yeah educated guess it was maybe a couple of dollars probably much less
So, the worker absolutely came out ahead. Which is how an interaction like that should go. Also, irrespective of the monetary value, the thing the worker got was a practical item with a use value, which is what really matters.
wonder if that watch still exists and how much it would actually be appraised for (by someone other than an insurance company). Hell, I'd buy it for quite a lot xD
It's listed for $104 on Zazzle
Oh, would you look at the time!
That's funny, actually. I'd wear something like that, if I actually liked Khrushchev enough to make the jokes that go with it. Or if it was the end of the Cold War and jokes about him were still topical.
Now, why would a principled communist want anything that belonged to that revisionist nutjob?
(Tbf, there is a piece of communist history of a similar nature (the teddy bear that East Germany gave to Fidel Castro) I'd like to know what happened to, so I can't be too critical, at least of the wanting to know what happened to the watch.)
art of the deal
Wait, is this where the joke at the end of the movie Red Heat comes from?