Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
We are often told that the Soviet Union was a completely equal society where the wealthy were eliminated and everyone shared the exact same status. The Bolsheviks promised a working-class utopia where social classes were abolished and anyone, from a peasant to a factory worker, could reach the very top. While it is true that early Soviet history saw an unprecedented rise of the working class, this utopian equality did not last forever. We dive into how the Soviet "social elevators" broke down, giving rise to an untouchable elite that passed their privileges down to their children. So, by the 1970s, climbing the social ladder became nearly impossible without the right party connections, VIP recommendations, or a system of favors known as blat. In this video, we explore the truth behind Soviet social mobility, the reality of the blat system, and whether true equality ever existed in the socialist country.
00:00 - Introduction
01:38 - What is "Social Mobility"?
03:32 - Early USSR - From Rags to Riches?
07:24 - The Golden Age
09:51 - When Everything started to crumble
13:05 - Was Party Membership enough?
17:00 - But is it really better nowadays?
Special thanks to my Patrons:
Kirill Klimuk, Ravenghast, Yelizaveta Zakharova, Devon Hodgson, Sarah, Simon Böse, Niels Dowgwillo, Jordan LaMothe, Petar Ilic, Bruce Eternick, Matei, Gabriel Tami, Rodrigo Santos, Martin Velkov, Eric, James Thompson, Lyudmila Ilyanova, Scorpion_doll, Alfy Ryan, Sean Lis, Jonathan Schulze, dirteater82
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Twitter - twitter.com/SetarkoYT
Hey there. Somehow you found my video and decided to watch it. So let me introduce myself. I'm Sergei and I'm from Russia. My channel is about my native country. I want to tell English-speaking viewers about the real Russia, about its past and present. Unfortunately, you can find a lot of propaganda about Russia on the Internet, both from the Russian media and from the Western ones. I want to tell you about Russia, as it really is, the country in which I was born, grew up, and lived all my life.
Free Stock Footage provided by Videvo.net and Videezy.com.
We are often told that the Soviet Union was a completely equal society where the wealthy were eliminated and everyone shared the exact same status. The Bolsheviks promised a working-class utopia where social classes were abolished and anyone, from a peasant to a factory worker, could reach the very top. While it is true that early Soviet history saw an unprecedented rise of the working class, this utopian equality did not last forever. We dive into how the Soviet "social elevators" broke down, giving rise to an untouchable elite that passed their privileges down to their children. So, by the 1970s, climbing the social ladder became nearly impossible without the right party connections, VIP recommendations, or a system of favors known as blat. In this video, we explore the truth behind Soviet social mobility, the reality of the blat system, and whether true equality ever existed in the socialist country.
00:00 - Introduction
01:38 - What is "Social Mobility"?
03:32 - Early USSR - From Rags to Riches?
07:24 - The Golden Age
09:51 - When Everything started to crumble
13:05 - Was Party Membership enough?
17:00 - But is it really better nowadays?
Special thanks to my Patrons:
Kirill Klimuk, Ravenghast, Yelizaveta Zakharova, Devon Hodgson, Sarah, Simon Böse, Niels Dowgwillo, Jordan LaMothe, Petar Ilic, Bruce Eternick, Matei, Gabriel Tami, Rodrigo Santos, Martin Velkov, Eric, James Thompson, Lyudmila Ilyanova, Scorpion_doll, Alfy Ryan, Sean Lis, Jonathan Schulze, dirteater82
If you'd like to support the channel:
💵 Patreon (early access to videos) - patreon.com/setarko
🪙 BTC - bc1qh8szz62crxu9ylg2jx9dz3t6vzzjdw2rheft2m
🪙 ETH - 0x19F11A86adf1ec4DDebEC0f27982805B1d1aba67
🪙 USDT (TRC20) - TYG76yndvrDD8WM9TtkBGauT7682esKZfu
🪙 Other crypto - nowpayments.io/donation/setarko
Links:
Discord - discord.gg/R3j9rKczRm
Twitter - twitter.com/SetarkoYT
Hey there. Somehow you found my video and decided to watch it. So let me introduce myself. I'm Sergei and I'm from Russia. My channel is about my native country. I want to tell English-speaking viewers about the real Russia, about its past and present. Unfortunately, you can find a lot of propaganda about Russia on the Internet, both from the Russian media and from the Western ones. I want to tell you about Russia, as it really is, the country in which I was born, grew up, and lived all my life.
Free Stock Footage provided by Videvo.net and Videezy.com.
