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Section 2

[1] Shpotov, B. (2011). Stalin’s Industrialization, Great Depression, and Western business: Peculiarities of Russia’s international economic relations in the 1930s. Unpublished manuscript. Institute of World History, Russian Academy of Sciences. “At a glance, so simple idea was convincing and logical. And the news about Great Depression sounded like a funeral melody for capitalism: the sudden panic at the New York Stock Exchange in October 1929, then the waves of bankruptcies and losses in financial and industrial spheres, distressed people standing in lines before the labor exchange offices, marches of unemployed, losing property bought in credit and money on bank accounts. Nothing of the kind happened in the Soviet Union.” (p. 2)

[2] Shpotov, B. (2011). Stalin’s Industrialization, Great Depression, and Western business: Peculiarities of Russia’s international economic relations in the 1930s.Unpublished manuscript. Institute of World History, Russian Academy of Sciences. “As there were no private property, stock exchange, stock-jobbing, and notable cash savings in the USSR, plain Russians had nothing very much to lose.” (p. 6)

[3] Shpotov, B. (2011). Stalin’s Industrialization, Great Depression, and Western business: Peculiarities of Russia’s international economic relations in the 1930s.Unpublished manuscript. Institute of World History, Russian Academy of Sciences.“The First Five-Year plan (1929– 1933) became the hardest and most tense in the Soviet history.” (p. 4)

[4] Shpotov, B. (2011). Stalin’s Industrialization, Great Depression, and Western business: Peculiarities of Russia’s international economic relations in the 1930s.Unpublished manuscript. Institute of World History, Russian Academy of Sciences. “Thereby appeared a stimulus for self-supporting work without foreign assistants and advisors. Politically, it permitted the Soviet leaders to boast of achieving such industrial might, which made further assistance unnecessary. It was partially true – the Soviet men roughly mastered the advanced construction and manufacturing methods, assembly line, oil cracking, etc., installed new equipment, gained basic professional skills. However, it was the first, vacillating steps. Launching new enterprises dragged out of the schedule, some were stopped for a while to cope with unexpected problems. They achieved full capacity too slowly, after long delay – more than a year. It was one of the causes of unfulfilling of the First and next Five-year plans. Had the technical assistance went on in accordance with the terms of the agreements, the imperfections and defects within the plants could be eliminated with the expertise and under supervision of specialists from the partner companies.” (p. 11)

[5] Allen, R. C. (2003). Farm to factory: A reinterpretation of the Soviet industrial revolution. Princeton University Press. “About one-fifth of investment went into agriculture. Otherwise, the emphasis was on heavy industry —56 percent of investment went to metals, machinery, construction materials, chemicals, and fuels.” (p. 95)

[6] Allen, R. C. (2003). Farm to factory: A reinterpretation of the Soviet industrial revolution. Princeton University Press. “In the event, 70 percent of the iron and steel and 86 percent of the machinery were attributed to investment in the 1930s. In contrast, the products of agriculture and light industry were used for consumption. These assignments are not surprising. What is less expected is that little electric power or petroleum was used in the accumulation process. Most of that was consumed as well. Likewise, most transportation involved shipping grain. The up-shot was that 23 percent of investment, by this reckoning, went into producer goods and 77 percent into consumer goods despite the favored position of heavy industry in the investment plan.” (p. 96)

[7] Soviet Union: Facts, descriptions, statistics. (1929). Soviet Information Bureau. (Original work published 1929). Marxists Internet Archive. (Digital reproduction by Einde O’Callaghan, n.d.). Retrieved June 17, 2025, from https://www.marxists.org/history/ussr/government/1928/sufds/index.htm.  "Despite the steady rise of industry and the attendant increases in the labor force, unemployment remains at a high figure because of the rapid increase of population and the constant influx of young peasants to the industrial centers. Of the 1,352,800 registered unemployed at the beginning of 1928, 263,900, or nearly 20 per cent, were men seeking jobs in industry who had never before been employed in industrial work. There is little unemployment among skilled workers."

[8] Soviet Union: Facts, descriptions, statistics. (1929). Soviet Information Bureau. (Original work published 1929). Marxists Internet Archive. (Digital reproduction by Einde O’Callaghan, n.d.). Retrieved June 17, 2025, from https://www.marxists.org/history/ussr/government/1928/sufds/index.htm.  "Unemployment figures vary with the seasons. It reaches its peak in the winter and early spring and declines by 300,000,000 to 500,000 during the summer months, when irrigation and reclamation work gives much temporary employment and many of the jobless ones of the city can be absorbed in the agricultural field."

[9] Markus, B. (1936). The abolition of unemployment in the U.S.S.R. International Labour Review, 33(3), 356–390. "The abolition of unemployment has exercised a profound influence on the economic development of the U.S.S.R. and is still continuing to do so. To analyse fully its manifold effects would lead far beyond the scope of the present article, for they touch on a wide range of problems. Thus, the disappearance of unemployment, besides leading to a rise in the standard of living of the working classes, has given them a sense of social security, which binds them more closely to the Socialist system of organising work. To the young it has opened up fresh opportunities." (p. 382)

[10] Markus, B. (1936). The abolition of unemployment in the U.S.S.R. International Labour Review, 33(3), 356–390. "In the course of the first Five-Year Plan the number of workers and salaried employees in the U.S.S.R. doubled. Taking into account the filling up of gaps due to death, invalidity, or departures to training schools, the number of new workers and salaried employees absorbed by economic activity from 1928 to 1932 was 12,500,000, of whom 8,600,000 had come from the land." (p. 385)

[11] Markus, B. (1936). The abolition of unemployment in the U.S.S.R. International Labour Review, 33(3), 356–390. "One of the effects of the abolition of unemployment has been to change the composition of the labour employed. There has been a greatly increased use of female and juvenile labour in all economic branches. During the four years of the first Five-Year Plan, nearly 3,500,000 women found employment as workers, salaried employees, or experts in the various branches of activity, a development which greatly promoted the economic emancipation of women. The proportion of women employed in all economic branches together rose from 28.3 per cent, on 1 January 1929 to 32.5 per cent, on 1 January 1933. The increase was most marked in industry, where out of every hundred workers 28.7 were women on 1 January 1928, and 36.5 on 1 January 1934.A specially noteworthy feature is that the number of women in skilled occupations has risen from year to year, thanks to the methodical application of the special measures taken by the Soviet Government." (p. 386)

[12] Markus, B. (1936). The abolition of unemployment in the U.S.S.R. International Labour Review, 33(3), 356–390. "This account of the present state of the labour market in the U.S.S.R. may be summed up in the statement that the daily experience of the past five years has definitely proved that not only has unemployment completely disappeared from the country, but its underlying causes have also been removed. After abolishing unemployment and checking the spontaneous flow of labour from the villages to the towns Soviet economy has created its own planned system of recruiting and distributing labour. To meet the enormous demand for labour of a country in the full tide of economic development, recourse has been had, under the new conditions, to the methodical training of specialists and the organised recruiting of labour from the land. By systematically improving its methods of training and steadily raising the standard of skill and the quality of its workers, the U.S.S.R. is in process of solving the fundamental problem of labour supply with which it is confronted at the present stage of its development." (p. 390)

[13] Cereseto, S., & Waitzkin, H. (1986). Capitalism, socialism, and the physical quality of life. International Journal of Health Services, 16 (4), 643–658. “Our analysis of the World Bank's data supports the conclusion that the socialist countries generally have achieved more favorable PQL outcomes than have capitalist countries a t equivalent levels of economic development. ” (p. 654)

[14] Cereseto, S., & Waitzkin, H. (1986). Capitalism, socialism, and the physical quality of life. International Journal of Health Services, 16 (4), 643–658. “The statistical information published by the World Bank represents probably the most comprehensive and accurate body of data on PQL that is available from Western sources. These statistics tend to b e conservative estimations that benefit from critical appraisal and corrections performed b y the World Bank's technical staff. The primary tabulations are readily available i n published form for scholarly inspection and reanalysis. Data collection and reporting from the socialist countries are likely to be a t least as accurate as i n the capitalist countries. All the socialist countries maintain statistical bureaus that gather and publish these data as one phase o f planning and policy formulation. These efforts periodically lead to findings that are not necessary favorable. For example, infant mortality, crude death rate, and cardiovascular mortality in the Soviet Union worsened during the 1970s (16, 17). In Cuba, reported mortality rates rose during the early 1960s and later improved rapidly; the temporary increase in reported mortality reflected improved data gathering, as the Ministry of Public Health expanded its efforts after the Cuban Revolution. Health statistics from the capitalist countries sometimes suffer from rather serious inaccuracies, even in the United States, where some national mortality rates recently have been underreported. More serious problems in underreporting morbidity and mortality statistics frequently arise in the low-income and lower-middle-income capitalist countries. Better reporting from these countries, which would tend to increase morbidity and mortality rates, would strengthen the finding of more favorable outcomes in the socialist countries. Our work with the World Bank's raw data has included cross-tabulations, analysis of variance, and regression techniques, which all have confirmed the same conclusions.” (p. 654)

[15] Cereseto, S., & Waitzkin, H. (1986). Capitalism, socialism, and the physical quality of life. International Journal of Health Services, 16 (4), 643–658. “Historically, there is some evidence that the discrepancies between capitalist and socialist nations have emerged since World War II and have reflected varying social policies. All the socialist countries have initiated major public health efforts. These initiatives have aimed toward improved sanitation, immunization, maternal and child care, nutrition, and housing. In every case, the socialist countries also have reorganized their health care systems, to create national health services based on the principle of universal entitlement t o care. These policies have led to greater accessibility of preventive and curative services for previously deprived groups. Expanded educational opportunity also has been a major priority o f the socialist nations, as publicly subsidized education has become more widely available. Literacy campaigns in these countries have brought educational benefits t o sectors of the population that earlier had not gone to school. While capitalist countries at higher levels of economic development have enjoyed similar fruits of public health and educational improvements, poorer capitalist countries seldom have succeeded in implementing such drastic changes in policy. Even in the wealthier capitalist countries, public health and educational policies have not achieved equitable access for low-income groups, racial minorities, and geographically isolated communities.” (p. 654-655)

[16] Cereseto, S., & Waitzkin, H. (1986). Capitalism, socialism, and the physical quality of life. International Journal of Health Services, 16 (4), 643–658. “Profound differences in PQL between the capitalist and socialist systems have arisen in the less developed countries. There, the options in public health and education that a socialist political-economic system provides seem to overcome some of the grueling deprivations of poverty.” (p. 655)

[17] Hickel, J., & Sullivan, D. (2024). How much growth is required to achieve good lives for all? Insights from needs-based analysis. World Development Perspectives, 35, Article 100612. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wdp.2024.100612. “It is worth highlighting that the World Bank’s approach to poverty is convenient, from the perspective of capitalism, because it celebrates any increase in any form of production as a “solution” to poverty. Of course, for capital, the primary objective of production is not to meet human needs, or to achieve social progress, but to maximize profit, including by constantly increasing commodity production. According to the World Bank method, this will“reduce poverty” even if human needs remain unmet, and indeed even if people’s access to essential goods is sabotaged through processes of enclosure and privatization. In this sense, the World Bank’s method is aligned with the general ideology of capitalism– the narrative that capitalist growth is always good and always delivers progress. Needs-based approaches raise substantial questions about the efficacy of capitalist growth and draw attention to the power of public provisioning. It is important to note here that increasing”

[18] Ghosh, M., & Whalley, J. (2004). Are price controls necessarily bad? The case of rice in Vietnam. Journal of Development Economics, 73(1), 215–232. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2003.03.004.

“In low income economies with a large agricultural sector and a limited set of feasible options for taxation, price controls can be used as a revenue raising device by the government as a substitute for broadening the tax base beyond the manufacturing. With a controlled producer price set below consumer prices, buying and reselling rice raises revenue for the government per unit transacted (i.e., price controls are akin to a consumption tax). Our results suggest that if an optimal policy-mix of manufacturing level taxes and price controls were to be designed (including rice price controls as part of the mix) may well make sense.”

[19] Ghosh, M., & Whalley, J. (2004). Are price controls necessarily bad? The case of rice in Vietnam. Journal of Development Economics, 73(1), 215–232. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2003.03.004.

“Secondly, we show that having price controls can also make sense in the presence of stochastic external shocks that involve adjustment costs. If shocks hit the economy, under myopic behaviour these will generate behavioural responses, which have adjustment costs (as labour moves between crops in the event of rice price changes and land is redeployed). A price control regime can have the effect of insulating domestic markets from external fluctuations, and reducing (or in the limit eliminating) transactions costs. These two features of price controls may more than compensate for their traditional price distorting costs.”

[20] Ghosh, M., & Whalley, J. (2004). Are price controls necessarily bad? The case of rice in Vietnam. Journal of Development Economics, 73(1), 215–232. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2003.03.004.

“Rice comprises a substantial part of average Vietnamese food consumption, accounting for three quarters of the caloric intake of Vietnamese households (World Bank, 1995). ”

[21] FasterCapital. (2025, June 18). Achieving economic efficiency through price control policies. https://fastercapital.com/content/Achieving-Economic-Efficient-Control-Policies.html#Successful-Price-Control-Policies. “Singapore has successfully implemented price control policies for public housing. The government regulates the prices of public housing units to ensure affordability for its citizens. This has helped Singapore maintain social stability and provide affordable housing options for its population.”

[22] FasterCapital. (2025, June 18). Achieving economic efficiency through price control policies. https://fastercapital.com/content/Achieving-Economic-Efficient-Control-Policies.html#Successful-Price-Control-Policies. “India has implemented price controls on essential medicines to ensure affordable access to healthcare. The government sets maximum selling prices for various drugs, thereby curbing excessive pricing by pharmaceutical companies. This policy has significantly reduced the cost of essential medicines, making them more accessible to a larger section of the population. However, critics argue that price controls may discourage innovation and hinder the growth of the pharmaceutical industry. Balancing affordability and innovation remains a key challenge in implementing price control policies in the healthcare sector.”

[23] Empty store shelves, mass layoffs, and a surge in 'For Lease' signs spark fears that a full-blown recession is just weeks away. (2025, June 18). The Economic Times. Retrieved June 18, 2025, from https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/us/empty-store-shelves-mass-layoffs-and-a-surge-in-for-lease-signs-spark-fears-that-a-full-blown-recession-is-just-weeks-away/articleshow/121036220.cms?from=mdr. “Empty shelves and job layoffs are warning signs that the U.S. economy could slide into a recession by summer 2025. With container ships from China running below normal capacity, retailers like Walmart and Target are seeing shortages. Over 275,000 U.S. jobs were cut in March, including massive layoffs in the federal government. As trade tensions with China continue, small businesses are closing, and spending is falling.”

[24] Hickel, J., & Sullivan, D. (2024). How much growth is required to achieve good lives for all? Insights from needs-based analysis. World Development Perspectives, 35, Article 100612. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wdp.2024.100612

“With this approach, good lives can be achieved for all without requiring large increases in total global throughput and output. Provisioning decent living standards (DLS) for 8.5 billion people would require only 30% of current global resource and energy use... Such a future requires planning to provision public services, to deploy efficient technology, and to build sovereign industrial capacity in the global South.” (p. 1)

[25] Hickel, J., & Sullivan, D. (2024). How much growth is required to achieve good lives for all? Insights from needs-based analysis. World Development Perspectives, 35, Article 100612. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wdp.2024.100612

“Furthermore, under capitalism, decisions about production are made by wealthy investors with the primary goal of maximizing private profits, rather than meeting social and ecological goals. Necessary goods and services that are not profitable are often underproduced. Post-capitalist approaches are therefore needed, including public finance for urgently necessary forms of production... establishing universal public services to ensure access to necessary goods, planning to reduce less-necessary output in a just and equitable way...” (p. 7)

[26] Hill, M. H. (2024, March 14). Under the red banner: Socialism, physical quality of life, and development. Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS), Nashville, TN, United States. https://repository.belmont.edu/burs/399.

“Cereseto and Waitzkin found that socialist countries tended to have better physical quality of life outcomes, when compared with capitalist countries at similar levels of economic development... 'Profound differences in PQL (physical quality of life) between the capitalist and socialist systems have arisen in the less developed countries.'” (p. 2)

[27] Hill, M. H. (2024, March 14). Under the red banner: Socialism, physical quality of life, and development. Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS), Nashville, TN, United States. https://repository.belmont.edu/burs/399.

“In a different study, Cereseto and Waitzkin found that, 'Socialist countries consistently showed higher numbers of health professionals per population than capitalist countries at equivalent levels of economic development.'” (p. 4)

[28] Hickel, J., & Sullivan, D. (2024). How much growth is required to achieve good lives for all? Insights from needs-based analysis. World Development Perspectives, 35, Article 100612. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wdp.2024.100612

“To reclaim productive capacities for national development, governments need to use progressive industrial and fiscal policy, public works programmes, and public investment in innovation to plan production of necessary goods, services and technologies.” (p. 7)

Section 3

[29] Kazatchkine, M. D., & Shishkin, S. (2017). Health in the Soviet Union and in the post-Soviet space: from utopia to collapse and arduous recovery//How history shaped the health system in Russia. The Lancet,  390 (10101), 1611–1612. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32383-8.

“The Soviet Constitution of 1936 stated that citizens of the Soviet Union have the right to health protection ensured by free, qualified medical care in state institutions. In the years after the 1917 revolution, Russia created a centralised and integrated state health-care system based on concepts introduced by Nicolaï Semashko, the People’s Commissar for Public Health from 1918 to 1930.1 The health-care system relied on an extensive network of primary care clinics and specialised hospitals staffed by large numbers of doctors and health-care workers, and it provided universal coverage, accessible to everyone, even in the most remote parts of the country. The improvements in health care during the first half of the 20th century were quite remarkable, with life expectancy in the Soviet Union in the 1960s similar to that in the USA.”

[30] Brainerd, E. (2006). Reassessing the standard of living in the Soviet Union: An analysis using archival and anthropometric data (IZA Discussion Paper No. 1958). Institute of Labor Economics (IZA). https://docs.iza.org/dp1958.pdf.

“Four different measures of population health show a consistent and large improvement between approximately 1940 and 1969: child height, birth weight, adult height and infant mortality all improved significantly during this period. These four biological measures of the standard of living also corroborate the evidence of some deterioration in living conditions beginning around 1970, when infant and adult mortality was rising and child height and birth weight stopped increasing and in some regions began to decline. While the Soviet experiment of the twentieth century undoubtedly failed and in countless ways harmed the lives of Soviet citizens, the record of Soviet health achievement prior to 1970 remains an impressive one.”

[31] Brainerd, E. (2006). Reassessing the standard of living in the Soviet Union: An analysis using archival and anthropometric data (IZA Discussion Paper No. 1958). Institute of Labor Economics (IZA). https://docs.iza.org/dp1958.pdf. “The significant improvements in population well-being before 1970 may in part be related to the expansion of the national health care system, public education, and improved caloric and protein supply during this period. Moreover, these improvements occurred during a period of rapid industrialization, indicating that the Soviet Union managed to avoid the decline in adult stature that occurred in some other countries during their industrialization phases. While the Soviet experiment of the twentieth century undoubtedly failed and in countless ways harmed the lives of Soviet citizens, the record of Soviet health achievement prior to 1970 remains an impressive one.”

[32] Pineo, R. (2019). Cuban public healthcare: A model of success for developing nations. Journal of Developing Societies, 35(1), 16–61. https://doi.org/10.1177/0169796X19826731.

“In Cuba, health is regarded as a basic human right, not as a purchasable commodity.” (p. 33)

[33] Pineo, R. (2019). Cuban public healthcare: A model of success for developing nations. Journal of Developing Societies, 35(1), 16–61. https://doi.org/10.1177/0169796X19826731.

“While Cuba spends about one-twentieth per capita on healthcare compared to the USA, and roughly one-tenth of what Mexico and Brazil spend per capita, people in Cuba nevertheless enjoy longer life expectancy (79 years) than do people in the USA (78 years), in Mexico (77 years), in Brazil (75 years), in Latin America as a whole (75 years), and in the developing world as a whole (66 years). Cuba also has a superior childhood mortality rate (the number of deaths to age 5 per 1,000 live births per year) of six, compared to eight in the USA.” (p. 16)

[34] Pineo, R. (2019). Cuban public healthcare: A model of success for developing nations. Journal of Developing Societies, 35(1), 16–61. https://doi.org/10.1177/0169796X19826731.

“Cuba practices social medicine, dealing more with the conditions that lead to poor health—nutrition, potable water, sanitation, vaccination, mosquito control—giving less focus to expensive curativetreatments.” (p. 33)

[35] Pineo, R. (2019). Cuban public healthcare: A model of success for developing nations. Journal of Developing Societies, 35(1), 16–61. https://doi.org/10.1177/0169796X19826731.

“Rather than waiting for people to get sick and come into doctors’ offices—the common practice elsewhere in the world—the Cuban doctor/nurse/public healthcare worker groups spend their afternoons walking about their assigned districts, medical bags in hand, dropping in unannounced on the homes of those living in their catchment zones.” (p. 34)

[36] Pineo, R. (2019). Cuban public healthcare: A model of success for developing nations. Journal of Developing Societies, 35(1), 16–61. https://doi.org/10.1177/0169796X19826731.

“By the late 1980s and into the early 1990s, Cuba’s public health and vaccination efforts had brought great victories, with the elimination of polio (which previously had afflicted 1,162 in the decade 1957–1967), tetanus (eliminated in 1972), diphtheria (eradication in 1979), measles (eliminated in 1993, even as thousands still contract the disease each year in Latin America), whooping cough (over a thousand cases in Cuba in 1970 but near-total eradication in 1996), rubella (the last case in 1995), and the near eradication of typhoid fever. Before the Revolution, more than one in ten Cubans suffered from tuberculosis, but today TB has been all but eliminated (because the BCG tuberculosis vaccination is only partially effective, Cuba still suffers 35–40 deaths from the disease each year). Cuban vaccine coverage is stronger than most other regions in the world. Today, the USA has an overall childhood vaccination rate of 70 percent, while in Cuba, it is 99 percent.” (p. 38)

[37] Pineo, R. (2019). Cuban public healthcare: A model of success for developing nations. Journal of Developing Societies, 35(1), 16–61. https://doi.org/10.1177/0169796X19826731.

“Cuba makes an oversized contribution in this regard, its international medical assistance greater than that offered by all the developed nations of the world combined. Cuba has posted over 130,000 medical personnel in 107 nations. By 2011, one of every 241 Cubans was serving abroad in a foreign aid program, either in medical or in other social outreach initiatives. By way of comparison, in the same year, one of every 23,372 Americans was so involved. Estimates place the number of lives saved by Cuban medical internationalism at over two million people.” (p. 45)

[38] Soviet Union: Facts, descriptions, statistics. (1929). Soviet Information Bureau. (Original work published 1929). Marxists Internet Archive. (Digital reproduction by Einde O’Callaghan, n.d.). Retrieved June 17, 2025, from https://www.marxists.org/history/ussr/government/1928/sufds/index.htm. ”In the beginning of the 20th century, only about 22 percent of Russians were literate.”

[39] Soviet Union: Facts, descriptions, statistics. (1929). Soviet Information Bureau. (Original work published 1929). Marxists Internet Archive. (Digital reproduction by Einde O’Callaghan, n.d.). Retrieved June 17, 2025, from https://www.marxists.org/history/ussr/government/1928/sufds/index.htm.

“By 1939, the USSR literacy rate had reached 81.2 percent. Since then, literacy efforts have been concentrated in rural areas.”

[40] Soviet Union: Facts, descriptions, statistics. (1929). Soviet Information Bureau. (Original work published 1929). Marxists Internet Archive. (Digital reproduction by Einde O’Callaghan, n.d.). Retrieved June 17, 2025, from https://www.marxists.org/history/ussr/government/1928/sufds/index.htm.

“Newly literate people received guidance as to what to read and how to take notes.”

[41] Martuza, V. (Ed.). (1981). A special issue of JR on education and literacy in Cuba today. Journal of Reading, 25(3), 197–200. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4002902. ”According to the 1953 census data , among the population 10 years of age or older: 25% had never enrolled in school. 50% had dropped out of school before completing their primary education. Only about 20% had gone on to further schooling. In addition, less than 0.5% of the total population possessed a university degree, a large majority of these having specialized in areas largely irrelevant to the economic, technological and scientific needs of the country. As Paulston (1971 , p. 383) notes, "schooling functioned principally to dispense Cultura or status. It was divorced from life and rooted in transcendental values stressing the Pensador 'man of letters' tradition."”

[42] Martuza, V. (Ed.). (1981). A special issue of JR on education and literacy in Cuba today. Journal of Reading, 25(3), 197–200. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4002902. “In 1961, just two years after the successful Revolution in Cuba against the Batista dictatorship, one of the most remarkable educational events in history occurred on that island the National Literacy Campaign. Between January 1 and December 22 of that year, the people of Cuba (approximately 7 million in number) conducted the first successful national campaign aimed at the eradication of illiteracy as a social phenomenon. This event is all the more remarkable when evaluated within the political, social, and economic context in which it took place.””

[43] Supko, R. A. (1998, September 24–26). Perspectives on the Cuban National Literacy Campaign. Meeting of the Latin American Studies Association, Chicago, IL, United States. “By the end of the summer of 1961, the Cuban "literacy army" was fully mobilized, with 178,000 alfabetizadores populares (adult literacy workers teaching primarily in urban areas), 30,000 brigadistas obreros (factory and other workers who received their regular salaries while doing literacy work), and 100,000 Conrado Benítez brigadistas (students). While most of the literacy teachers from the student and worker groups were living with families in the countryside, the remaining adult teachers did not leave home and volunteered their time outside of their normal working and family responsibilities. During the middle of the year, the help of other revolutionary and mass organizations was recruited, and groups such as the Confederation of Cuban Workers, the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, the Association of Small Farmers, and the Federation of Cuban Women joined in the effort”

[44] Supko, R. A. (1998, September 24–26). Perspectives on the Cuban National Literacy Campaign. Meeting of the Latin American Studies Association, Chicago, IL, United States. “During the year-long, massive national effort that was to be the result of Castro's daring declaration, 707,212 people became literate, or achieved a level of reading and writing equivalent to that of a first-grader. Cuba's overall illiteracy rate was reduced from over 20 percent, according to the last census taken before the Revolution, to 3.9 percent, a rate far lower than that of any other Latin American country.”

Section 4

[45] Pace, S., Frost, G., Lachow, I., Frelinger, D., Fossum, D., Wassem, D., & Pinto, M. M. (1995). Global Positioning System: History, chronology, and budgets. In The Global Positioning System: Assessing National Policies (pp. 239–270). RAND Corporation. https://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR614.html. “The Global Positioning System is a 24-satellite constellation that can tell you where you are in three dimensions. GPS navigation and position determination is based on measuring the distance from the user position to the precise locations of the GPS satellites as they orbit. By measuring the distance to four GPS satellites, it is possible to establish three coordinates of a user’s position (latitude, longitude, and altitude) as well as GPS time.” (p. 237)

[46] Pace, S., Frost, G., Lachow, I., Frelinger, D., Fossum, D., Wassem, D., & Pinto, M. M. (1995). Global Positioning System: History, chronology, and budgets. In The Global Positioning System: Assessing National Policies (pp. 239–270). RAND Corporation. https://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR614.html. “The birth of one of the first GPS markets—surveying—was influenced by a 1984 decision by the Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)42 to publish the first draft standards in the Federal Register that allowed for the use of GPS data. This seal of approval of GPS data by a civil government agency helped jump start the expansion of the surveying market even while the GPS system was still in development. By the mid-1980s, commercial GPS equipment aimed at the surveying profession appeared on the market even though only a small number of operating GPS satellites were in orbit. ” (p. 248)

[47] Pace, S., Frost, G., Lachow, I., Frelinger, D., Fossum, D., Wassem, D., & Pinto, M. M. (1995). Global Positioning System: History, chronology, and budgets. In The Global Positioning System: Assessing National Policies (pp. 239–270). RAND Corporation. https://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR614.html. “Thus the U.S. government is now involved in striking a balance between military and civil requirements and providing channels for both sectors to offer input to GPS management and policymaking.” (p. 252)

[48] Pace, S., Frost, G., Lachow, I., Frelinger, D., Fossum, D., Wassem, D., & Pinto, M. M. (1995). Global Positioning System: History, chronology, and budgets. In The Global Positioning System: Assessing National Policies (pp. 239–270). RAND Corporation. https://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR614.html. “The various estimates for the cost of GPS that have appeared in GPS-related literature often fail to specify clearly what is included in the cost figure. A recent estimate by DoD puts the total GPS program cost at $14 billion (in 1995 dollars). This figure is based on data from the Selected Acquisition Report (SAR), the primary means by which DoD reports the status of major DoD acquisition programs to Congress. This estimate includes costs associated with the development and deployment of all planned GPS satellites through Block IIF and with the development and acquisition of military user equipment, from program inception in FY 1974 through FY 2016.”

[49] Pace, S., Frost, G., Lachow, I., Frelinger, D., Fossum, D., Wassem, D., & Pinto, M. M. (1995). Global Positioning System: History, chronology, and budgets. In The Global Positioning System: Assessing National Policies (pp. 239–270). RAND Corporation. https://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR614.html. “By including launcher and NDS costs, the total cost of the GPS program rises to almost $22 billion through 2016. ”(p. 268)

[50] Council on Foreign Relations. (2023, January 31). The Origins of the Internet. CFR Education. https://education.cfr.org/learn/timeline/origins-internet. “1962-During the Cold War, the United States worried about an attack on its communication networks. Washington was primarily concerned with protecting phone lines, which were exposed and vulnerable. To address those concerns, the Department of Defense and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) began to develop a closed computer network. This network, called Arpanet, was decentralized and safe from attack. But as the network expanded, to more places with more users, it became more difficult to maintain security.”

[51] Council on Foreign Relations. (2023, January 31). The Origins of the Internet. CFR Education. https://education.cfr.org/learn/timeline/origins-internet.  “1990-One year after CompuServe released the first commercial dial-up service provider, Arpanet was decommissioned. Taking a step toward a worldwide internet, the military handed over administration to the National Science Foundation Network (NSFNET) to promote the development of this research and higher education network”

[52] Council on Foreign Relations. (2023, January 31). The Origins of the Internet. CFR Education. https://education.cfr.org/learn/timeline/origins-internet. “1991-An English computer programmer named Tim Berners-Lee, at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), introduced the World Wide Web. It allowed the internet to be a web of information rather than simply a network to send and receive files. To achieve this, he developed the technology behind hypertext markup language (HTML), uniform resource identifier/universal resource locator (URI or URL), and hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP). All of these innovations exist in the current internet structure today. Berners-Lee turned over the technology to the public domain in 1993”

[53] Press, L. (1996). Seeding networks: The federal role. Communications of the ACM, 39(10), 11–18. http://som.csudh.edu/fac/lpress/articles/govt.htm. “Table 3. Cost estimates for projects mentioned in this article.-$124.5 million”

[54] Guardian News and Media. (2010, February 1). NASA budgets: US spending on space travel since 1958 UPDATED. theguardian.com. https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2010/feb/01/nasa-budgets-us-spending-space-travel. “Data Summary: NASA Spending since 1958”

[55] Polyakov, M. (2024, October 30). Marketing Space, Part 3. How Space Became a Tool of Propaganda. Max Polyakov Space News. https://maxpolyakov.com/marketing-space-part-3-how-space-became-a-tool-of-propaganda/.  “According to a memo from KGB head Vladimir Semichastny, titled “On the Attitudes of G. K. Zhukov,” Yuri Gagarin’s journey into space alone cost 4 billion rubles, and the USSR’s total expenditures on various space projects between 1955 and 1964 amounted to nearly 120 billion rubles. On average, spending on the space sector accounted for 0.2-0.37% of the Soviet state’s total budget, peaking in 1956.”

[56] Encyclopædia Britannica. (2025, June 13). Timeline of the Space Race, 1957–69. Retrieved June 20, 2025, from https://www.britannica.com/story/timeline-of-the-space-race. “On October 4, 1957, the U.S.S.R. launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite.”

[57] Encyclopædia Britannica. (2025, June 13). Timeline of the Space Race, 1957–69. Retrieved June 20, 2025, from https://www.britannica.com/story/timeline-of-the-space-race. “On November 3, 1957, the U.S.S.R. placed the first animal in a spacecraft, the dog Laika aboard Sputnik 2.”

[58] Encyclopædia Britannica. (2025, June 13). Timeline of the Space Race, 1957–69. Retrieved June 20, 2025, from https://www.britannica.com/story/timeline-of-the-space-race. “On April 12, 1961, the U.S.S.R. launched the first human into orbit, Yuri Gagarin, on Vostok 1.”

[59] Encyclopædia Britannica. (2025, June 13). Timeline of the Space Race, 1957–69. Retrieved June 20, 2025, from https://www.britannica.com/story/timeline-of-the-space-race. “Between June 16 and June 19, 1963, Valentina Tereshkova, on Vostok 6, became the first woman in space.”

[60] Encyclopædia Britannica. (2025, June 13). Timeline of the Space Race, 1957–69. Retrieved June 20, 2025, from https://www.britannica.com/story/timeline-of-the-space-race. “On October 12, 1964, the U.S.S.R. launched the first multi-person spacecraft, Voskhod 1, with cosmonauts Vladimir Komarov, Konstantin Feoktistov, and Boris Yegorov.”

Section 5

[61] Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular. (2009, January 22). Ley No. 105 de Seguridad Social [Law No. 105 of Social Security]. Gaceta Oficial de la República de Cuba, 4(Extraordinaria), 15–25. “ARTICULO 18.-Los subsidios y pensiones pueden alcanzar hasta el 90 % del salario promedio del trabajador.” [Subsidies and pensions can reach up to 90% of a worker's average salary.]

[62] Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular. (2009, January 22). Ley No. 105 de Seguridad Social [Law No. 105 of Social Security]. Gaceta Oficial de la República de Cuba, 4(Extraordinaria), 15–25. “ARTICULO 26.-La cuantía de la pensión por edad se determina sobre el salario promedio que resulte de los mayores salarios devengados por el trabajador durante los cinco años naturales, seleccionados de entre los últimos quince años igualmente naturales, anteriores a la solicitud de la pensión. El Reglamento de la Ley establece el procedimiento para determinar la base de cálculo.” [The amount of the age pension is determined based on the average salary resulting from the highest salaries earned by the worker during the five calendar years, selected from the last fifteen calendar years prior to the pension application. The Law's Regulations establish the procedure for determining the calculation basis.]

[63] Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular. (2009, January 22). Ley No. 105 de Seguridad Social [Law No. 105 of Social Security]. Gaceta Oficial de la República de Cuba, 4(Extraordinaria), 15–25. “ARTICULO 28.-La cuantía de la pensión extraordinaria por edad se determina de acuerdo con las reglas siguientes: a) por los primeros 20 años de servicios, se aplica el 40 % sobre el salario promedio; y b) por cada año de servicios que exceda de 20, se incrementa en el 2 % el porcentaje a aplicar.” [The amount of the extraordinary age pension is determined according to the following rules: a) for the first 20 years of service, 40% of the average salary is applied; and b) for each year of service exceeding 20, the percentage to be applied is increased by 2%.]

[64] Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular. (2009, January 22). Ley No. 105 de Seguridad Social [Law No. 105 of Social Security]. Gaceta Oficial de la República de Cuba, 4(Extraordinaria), 15–25. “ARTICULO 65.-“Cuando la Comisión de Peritaje Médico Laboral dictamina que el pensionado por invalidez total requiere de la asistencia de otra persona para realizar los actos esenciales de la vida, la cuantía de la pensión se incrementa en un 20% de su importe.” [When the Medical Occupational Assessment Commission determines that a total disability pensioner requires the assistance of another person to perform essential life activities, the pension amount is increased by 20%.]

[65] Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular. (2009, January 22). Ley No. 105 de Seguridad Social [Law No. 105 of Social Security]. Gaceta Oficial de la República de Cuba, 4(Extraordinaria), 15–25. “ARTICULO 41.-La cuantía del subsidio no puede ser inferior al 50 % del salario mínimo vigente.” [The amount of the subsidy cannot be less than 50% of the current minimum wage.]

[66] Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular. (2009, January 22). Ley No. 105 de Seguridad Social [Law No. 105 of Social Security]. Gaceta Oficial de la República de Cuba, 4(Extraordinaria), 15–25. “ARTICULO 40.-Durante el período de incapacidad se concede al trabajador enfermo o accidentado un subsidio diario, excluyendo los días de descanso semanal, el que equivale a un porcentaje del salario promedio, de acuerdo con las normas siguientes:

Si está hospitalizado y la enfermedad o accidente es de origen común, el subsidio equivale al 50 % del salario promedio; si está hospitalizado y la enfermedad es profesional o el accidente de trabajo, equivale al 70 %. Si no está hospitalizado y la enfermedad o accidente es de origen común, el subsidio equivale al 60 % del salario promedio; si no está hospitalizado y la enfermedad es profesional o el accidente de trabajo, equivale al 80 %.” [During the period of disability, sick or injured workers are granted a daily allowance, excluding weekly rest days, equivalent to a percentage of the average salary, according to the following rules:

If the worker is hospitalized and the illness or accident is of common origin, the allowance is equal to 50% of the average salary; if the worker is hospitalized and the illness or accident is occupational or work-related, it is equal to 70%. If the worker is not hospitalized and the illness or accident is of common origin, the allowance is equal to 60% of the average salary; if the worker is not hospitalized and the illness or accident is occupational or work-related, it is equal to 80%.]

[67] Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular. (2009, January 22). Ley No. 105 de Seguridad Social [Law No. 105 of Social Security]. Gaceta Oficial de la República de Cuba, 4(Extraordinaria), 15–25. “ARTICULO 87.-Si la enfermedad, la lesión o la muerte del trabajador se producen al ejecutar un acto heroico, la cuantía del subsidio o la pensión se incrementa en un 20 % a los porcentajes que corresponda aplicar sobre su salario promedio, dentro del límite del 90 %. El Reglamento de la Ley regula el procedimiento correspondiente.” [If the worker's illness, injury, or death occurs while performing a heroic act, the amount of the subsidy or pension is increased by 20% to the percentages applicable to the worker's average salary, within a limit of 90%. The Law's Regulations govern the corresponding procedure.]

[68] Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular. (2009, January 22). Ley No. 105 de Seguridad Social [Law No. 105 of Social Security]. Gaceta Oficial de la República de Cuba, 4(Extraordinaria), 15–25. “ARTICULO 88.-Se considera como acto heroico la participación relevante del trabajador en cualquiera de los hechos siguientes: a) desarrollando una acción en defensa de la patria; b) salvando vidas humanas; c) protegiendo la propiedad social, en particular su centro de trabajo; e d) impidiendo la comisión de actos que atenten contra la integridad física de las personas.

Igual beneficio se otorga a los trabajadores que se enferman o accidentan o a sus familiares en caso de fallecimiento de estos, al ejecutar un acto heroico en alguna de las circunstancias anteriormente señaladas durante el cumplimiento de misiones internacionalistas.” [A worker's significant participation in any of the following acts is considered a heroic act: a) carrying out an action in defense of the homeland; b) saving human lives; c) protecting social property, particularly the workplace; and d) preventing the commission of acts that threaten the physical integrity of persons.

The same benefit is granted to workers who become ill or have an accident, or to their families in the event of their death, when performing a heroic act in any of the aforementioned circumstances during the fulfillment of internationalist missions.]

[69] Viet An Law Firm. (2025, June 22). Unemployment insurance benefits in Vietnam. Retrieved June 22, 2025, from https://vietanlaw.com/unemployment-insurance-benefits-in-vietnam/. “Pursuant to the provisions of Clause 4, Article 3 of the 2013 Employment Law, the unemployment insurance regime is a regime aimed at compensating part of an employee’s income when losing a job, supporting vocational training, finding a new job based on salary deductions paid into the unemployment insurance fund during they worked. The Employment Law stipulates 4 unemployment insurance regimes: Including: Unemployment benefits.; Consulting support and job introduction.; Vocational Training Support.; Support training, fostering, and improving vocational skills to maintain jobs for workers. Accordingly, unemployment insurance is one of four unemployment insurance regimes. This is a subsidy deducted from the unemployment insurance fund to pay employees who lose their jobs based on the employee’s previous unemployment insurance payment process.”

[70] Viet An Law Firm. (2025, June 22). Unemployment insurance benefits in Vietnam. Retrieved June 22, 2025, from https://vietanlaw.com/unemployment-insurance-benefits-in-vietnam/. “For people implementing the salary regime prescribed by the State. The maximum level of unemployment benefits cannot exceed 5 times the base salary. For those implementing the salary regime, the salary is decided by the employer. The maximum level of unemployment benefits must not exceed 5 times the regional minimum wage.”

[71] Vernadsky, P. (2018, August 24). Soviets, workers' democracy, and workers' control. Workers' Liberty. Retrieved June 23, 2025, from https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2018-08-24/soviets-workers-democracy-and-workers-control. "On returning to their workbenches, workers proceeding to dismantle the autocratic structure of management in the factories. They demanded the “constitutional factory” in parallel with demands for liberty in politics as a whole.”

[72] Vernadsky, P. (2018, August 24). Soviets, workers' democracy, and workers' control. Workers' Liberty. Retrieved June 23, 2025, from https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2018-08-24/soviets-workers-democracy-and-workers-control. "According, to historian Steve Smith, democratisation of factory relations assumed a variety of forms. Hated foreman and administrators fled or were expelled. At the Putilov works, “workers thrust the one-time leader of the factory Black Hundreds, Puzanov, into a wheelbarrow, poured red lead over his head, and trundled him off to a nearby canal, into which they threatened to deposit him in punishment for his past misdemeanours”. Factory rule books, with their punitive fines and humiliating searches, were torn up. Most importantly, factory committees were created to represent the interests of workers to management.”

[73] Vernadsky, P. (2018, August 24). Soviets, workers' democracy, and workers' control. Workers' Liberty. Retrieved June 23, 2025, from https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2018-08-24/soviets-workers-democracy-and-workers-control. "As early as 5 March, the Petrograd soviet called for formation of such committees, and on 10 March the soviet and the employers agreed on introduction of the eight-hour day and formation of “elders’ councils” in the factories."

[74] Vernadsky, P. (2018, August 24). Soviets, workers' democracy, and workers' control. Workers' Liberty. Retrieved June 23, 2025, from https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2018-08-24/soviets-workers-democracy-and-workers-control. "Over the eight-month span from March to October 1917, no less than 2.4 million workers went on strike to press claims for better wages, better working conditions, changes in work rules, dignified treatment and, less frequently, political change."

[75] Vernadsky, P. (2018, August 24). Soviets, workers' democracy, and workers' control. Workers' Liberty. Retrieved June 23, 2025, from https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2018-08-24/soviets-workers-democracy-and-workers-control. "Koenker and Rosenberg argue that the strike movement played an important role in the evolution of both class formations and social identities during 1917 in several ways. For many workers, “the very act of participating in strikes was a means of identifying with a broader collective based on the relationship to the means of production. To be a ‘worker’ took on an important social and political meaning, even if one worked as a waiter in a Petrograd café or a cab driver in Piatigorsk”."

[76] Vernadsky, P. (2018, August 24). Soviets, workers' democracy, and workers' control. Workers' Liberty. Retrieved June 23, 2025, from https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2018-08-24/soviets-workers-democracy-and-workers-control. "By October 1917, 289,000 workers, or 74% of Petrograd’s industrial workforce, worked in enterprises under some form of workers’ control."

[77] South China Morning Post. (2024, October 5). China’s public transport serves 90% of urban residents, leaving US cities in the dust. Retrieved June 22, 2025, from https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3281149/chinas-public-transport-serves-90-urban-residents-leaving-us-cities-dust. 

"China’s sprawling public transport networks now serve 90 per cent of the country’s urban population, far more than those in major cities in the United States, Australia and Africa."

[78] HROne. (2025, March 26). Public transportation in China: An efficient journey. HROne Blog. Retrieved June 22, 2025, from https://hrone.com/blog/public-transportation-in-china-an-efficient-journey/. 

"According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, public transit systems served approximately 12 billion passengers in 2022, highlighting a growing dependence on public transportation." 

[79] HROne. (2025, March 26). Public transportation in China: An efficient journey. HROne Blog. Retrieved June 22, 2025, from https://hrone.com/blog/public-transportation-in-china-an-efficient-journey/. 

"According to a PWC report, China’s high-speed rail network is the largest globally, spanning over 40,000 kilometers." 

[80] Sawe, B. E. (2017, April 25). What is the circumference of the Earth? WorldAtlas.https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-is-the-circumference-of-the-earth.html. “The circumference of the Earth is 40,075 km, and the Greek geographer Erastosthenes was the first person to estimate the Earth's circumference nearly accurately.”

[81] HROne. (2025, March 26). Public transportation in China: An efficient journey. HROne Blog. Retrieved June 22, 2025, from https://hrone.com/blog/public-transportation-in-china-an-efficient-journey/. 

"Buses represent a widely used mode of transport, with over 1.5 million buses operating nationwide, according to the National Bureau of Statistics of China. They are affordable and cover comprehensive routes, making them accessible to most citizens. Subways have also been rapidly expanding; as of 2023, more than 50 cities feature subway systems, transporting approximately 10 billion passengers annually (China Daily)." 

[82] South China Morning Post. (2024, October 5). China’s public transport serves 90% of urban residents, leaving US cities in the dust. Retrieved June 22, 2025, from https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3281149/chinas-public-transport-serves-90-urban-residents-leaving-us-cities-dust. 

"Meanwhile, for most US cities with populations over 1 million, the share of urban residents with easy public transport access was between 20 and 40 per cent, including less than 38 per cent in New York, according to the research team."

[83] HROne. (2025, March 26). Public transportation in China: An efficient journey. HROne Blog. Retrieved June 22, 2025, from https://hrone.com/blog/public-transportation-in-china-an-efficient-journey/. 

"A recent report by the China Academy of Transport Sciences notes that public transit has significantly reduced carbon emissions, achieving a 30% decrease over the last five years."

[84] HROne. (2025, March 26). Public transportation in China: An efficient journey. HROne Blog. Retrieved June 22, 2025, from https://hrone.com/blog/public-transportation-in-china-an-efficient-journey/. 

"Beyond environmental benefits, utilizing public transport is cost-effective. A study from Deloitte reveals that households can save up to 25% of their monthly budget by opting for public transit instead of car ownership."

Section 6

[85] Kats, A. (2021, August 11). In socialist Yugoslavia, mass housing wasn't just ugly tower blocks. Jacobin.

https://jacobin.com/2021/08/yugoslavia-architecture-socialism-angola-soviet-housing. “The IMS Žeželj system, developed in socialist Yugoslavia, revolutionized mass housing by utilizing a prestressed skeletal prefabrication technology. This system allowed for diverse interior floor plans and exterior facades, enabling architects to design socially nuanced and versatile housing for the masses. The system’s flexibility and cost-effectiveness made it an attractive export product, used to build over 150,000 apartments in various countries worldwide.”

[86] Kats, A. (2021, August 11). In socialist Yugoslavia, mass housing wasn’t just ugly tower blocks.  Jacobin . https://jacobin.com/2021/08/yugoslavia-architecture-socialism-angola-soviet-housing. “The system’s iterative skeletal units have no bearing on floor plan and façade design, allowing architects to experiment with open layouts, demountable central kitchen and bathroom core to maximize living space in compact apartments.”

[87] Kats, A. (2021, August 11). In socialist Yugoslavia, mass housing wasn’t just ugly tower blocks.  Jacobin . https://jacobin.com/2021/08/yugoslavia-architecture-socialism-angola-soviet-housing. “Residents received flexible and transformable apartments — open-plan spaces that could be modified or rearranged to account for changes to family size and number of inhabitants, and to accommodate wide-ranging activities. Spatial flexibility was supposed to enable a culture of self-management. Citing Milenija Marušić, one of the designers of the residential community, Kulić notes the originality of the architects’ open-plan solutions for small apartments. ‘They had a very clear awareness of an apartment’s psychological impact,’ he explains, ‘you open a door and you need to see a window at the end, or it feels constrained.’ Long views across multiple areas of the apartment are aligned with windows at either exposure to ensure consistent access to natural light throughout the interior; yet the apartment plans developed for Cerak Vinogradi inventively avoid tight entryways and narrow corridors. In New Belgrade, economical apartments for the working class often came with an airy sense of spaciousness and views, qualities now marketed as the purview of exclusive condos. There is a potent irony to the fact that, during the peak of construction between the late 1950s and the mid-’80s, New Belgrade’s socialist apartments were designed around qualities now associated with the luxury real estate of transnational capital. Yugoslav apartment blocks were often funded by worker-owned cooperative enterprises that pooled funds among several such organizations to build employee housing at large scale.”

[88] Kats, A. (2021, August 11). In socialist Yugoslavia, mass housing wasn’t just ugly tower blocks.  Jacobin . https://jacobin.com/2021/08/yugoslavia-architecture-socialism-angola-soviet-housing.  “New Belgrade blocks famously cultivated socioeconomic diversity among residents — a university professor might live next door to factory workers, for example, such that the formal variety of mass housing blocks reflected the heterogeneity of dwellers in a single such entity. IMS Žeželj technology thus enabled not just mass customization but also alleviation of class differences by affording generous living conditions.”

[89] Kats, A. (2021, August 11). In socialist Yugoslavia, mass housing wasn’t just ugly tower blocks.  Jacobin . https://jacobin.com/2021/08/yugoslavia-architecture-socialism-angola-soviet-housing. “An essential component of the drive to redress Yugoslavia’s housing shortage when it was first developed, even today IMS Žeželj construction remains an impressive case study in low-cost, dignifying public housing.”

[90] Rodrigues, I. L., Shach-Pinsly, D., Tsiambaos, K., & Korobar, V. P. (Eds.). (2023). Working Group 1 MCMH Atlas: European Middle-Class Mass Housing—Past and Present of the Modern Community. COST Action CA18137. https://www.cost.eu/. 

“As a result of World War II around 62,000 homes, or one-quarter of the country’s total housing stock, were destroyed in Albania. As a result, in the 1950s the Albanian government began to supply housing by demolishing existing urban areas and erecting brand-new, three to four-storey apartment buildings.” (p. 25)

[91] Rodrigues, I. L., Shach-Pinsly, D., Tsiambaos, K., & Korobar, V. P. (Eds.). (2023). Working Group 1 MCMH Atlas: European Middle-Class Mass Housing—Past and Present of the Modern Community. COST Action CA18137. https://www.cost.eu/. 

“Housing planning and development in Albania was closely controlled by the state and centralised, and the development of “typical” housing projects was adopted. The Labor Party congress decided on the housing planning, over a five-year development plan.” (p. 25)

[92] Rodrigues, I. L., Shach-Pinsly, D., Tsiambaos, K., & Korobar, V. P. (Eds.). (2023). Working Group 1 MCMH Atlas: European Middle-Class Mass Housing—Past and Present of the Modern Community. COST Action CA18137. https://www.cost.eu/. 

“The third was based on a Chinese model of prefabricated panel housing adapted for satellite towns close to the factories. This approach developed based on the close relationships with China in the years of 1960 to 1978, which subsidised the country’s industrialisation.” (p. 25)

[93] Rodrigues, I. L., Shach-Pinsly, D., Tsiambaos, K., & Korobar, V. P. (Eds.). (2023). Working Group 1 MCMH Atlas: European Middle-Class Mass Housing—Past and Present of the Modern Community. COST Action CA18137. https://www.cost.eu/. 

“The use of this technology aimed to be time-saving and provide cost-efficient housing blocks, and the capacity of the factory was to produce 2000 apartments per year.” (p. 26)

[94] Rodrigues, I. L., Shach-Pinsly, D., Tsiambaos, K., & Korobar, V. P. (Eds.). (2023). Working Group 1 MCMH Atlas: European Middle-Class Mass Housing—Past and Present of the Modern Community. COST Action CA18137. https://www.cost.eu/. 

“This housing typology was adopted in nine different residential areas, which mostly served as homes for the working class, in the vicinity of industrial plants. These neighbourhoods were located beyond the “Middle Ring’’ zone of Tirana including Allias, Oxhaku, Mother Tereza Hospital, Varri i Bamit, Uzina e Autotraktoreve, Ali Demi, Shkolla Teknologjike, Ex-Uzina Mekanike - 21 Dhjetori and Lapraka” (p. 26)

[99] Wright, J. (2012). The little-studied success story of post-crisis food security in Cuba: Does lack of international interest signify lack of political will? International Journal of Cuban Studies, 4(2), 130–153. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41945973 

“The abrupt changes of 1989 hit Cuban agriculture particularly hard for four reasons. First, its agricultural system was highly industrialised, to the degree that it was using more tractors and applying more nitrogen fertiliser per hectare (192kg/ha) than similar production systems in the USA (Hamilton 2003), with mechanised irrigation covering over one quarter of cropped land. Second, Cuba was importing the majority of the inputs and foodstuffs it required for survival: in 1988, for example, 90 per cent of fertilisers and pesticides, and 57 per cent of calorific food intake were reportedly being imported, whereas farms controlled by the Ministry of Agriculture were producing just 28 per cent of nationally consumed calories. Third, just as Cuba was forced to enter the global sugar market, international commodity prices plummeted. Fourth, the country had developed very little in the way of diversified agricultural products or light industry over the previous 30 years, either for export or for domestic consumption... Resultantly, average caloric intake dropped by as much as 30 per cent compared to levels in the 1980s (Rosset 2000). By 1993, the nation was on the brink of a huge food crisis.” (pp. 132-133)

[100] Wright, J. (2012). The little-studied success story of post-crisis food security in Cuba: Does lack of international interest signify lack of political will? International Journal of Cuban Studies, 4(2), 130–153. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41945973 

“Within a decade, the country had recovered sufficiently to double agricultural production, increase calorific availability by 25 per cent, and maintain a consistent and equitable social food programme.” (p. 130)

[101] Wright, J. (2012). The little-studied success story of post-crisis food security in Cuba: Does lack of international interest signify lack of political will? International Journal of Cuban Studies, 4(2), 130–153. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41945973 

“The Cuban food system showed exceptional resilience to the crisis of the 1990s compared to other countries in crisis. This was largely due to the State prioritising equitable access to food over private gain, as far as possible on a n” (p. 147)

[102] Wright, J. (2012). The little-studied success story of post-crisis food security in Cuba: Does lack of international interest signify lack of political will? International Journal of Cuban Studies, 4(2), 130–153. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41945973 

“The main lesson to draw from this is that achieving food security was not so much dependent on a specific set of husbandry practices as on the political will to obtain food and ensure that it reached the population in an equitable manner.” (p. 147)

[103] Серебряный, Р. С. (2024). Питание населения СССР в послевоенные годы (1949—1954). Проблемы социальной гигиены, здравоохранения и истории медицины, 32(5), 1025–1032. https://doi.org/10.32687/0869-866X-2024-32-5-1025-1032
“Можно констатировать, что, введя сначала карточную систему на приобретение основных продуктов питания и добившись нужных результатов, обеспечив минимальные потребности людей, затем отменив ее, осуществив денежную реформу и снизив цены, одновременно подняв зарплаты трудящимся, правительство создало к 1949 г. основу для проведения мероприятий для удовлетворения нужд населения в нормальной пище.” (p. 1026)

[“It can be stated that, having first introduced a rationing system for the purchase of basic food products and having achieved the necessary results, having provided for the minimum needs of people, then having abolished it, having carried out a monetary reform and reduced prices, while simultaneously raising the wages of workers, the government created by 1949 the basis for carrying out measures to meet the needs of the population for normal food.”]

[104] Серебряный, Р. С. (2024). Питание населения СССР в послевоенные годы (1949—1954). Проблемы социальной гигиены, здравоохранения и истории медицины, 32(5), 1025–1032. https://doi.org/10.32687/0869-866X-2024-32-5-1025-1032
“Ее выводы свидетельствует о ежегодном увеличении норм рационального потребления мясомолочной продукции, овощей, рыбы и сахара в 1950-е годы. В то же время уменьшались доля хлеба, картофеля, круп, макаронных изделий. Она подчеркивает большую скорость роста норм мясомолочной продукции, что, по мнению большинства исследователей, является доказательством повышения уровня жизни народа (22—24).” (p. 1030)

[“Her findings indicate an annual increase in the norms of rational consumption of meat and dairy products, vegetables, fish and sugar in the 1950s. At the same time, the share of bread, potatoes, cereals and pasta decreased. She emphasizes the high rate of growth of meat and dairy product norms, which, according to most researchers, is evidence of an increase in the standard of living of the people (22—24).” (p. 1030)]

[105] World Bank. (2015). Vietnam rural water development challenge (OBA Lessons Learned Series, Note No. 7). Global Partnership on Output-Based Aid. Retrieved from https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/829011468121483290/pdf/953800BRI0OBA000Box385362B00PUBLIC0.pdf. “The project provided access to affordable, clean water supply to 35,065 households; 32,875 were operating in a satisfactory manner after six months of operation. The project reached approximately 180,000 beneficiaries.”

[106] World Bank. (2015). Vietnam rural water development challenge (OBA Lessons Learned Series, Note No. 7). Global Partnership on Output-Based Aid. Retrieved from https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/829011468121483290/pdf/953800BRI0OBA000Box385362B00PUBLIC0.pdf. “In the Central Provinces, EMWF constructed 41 water systems in poor rural villages, serving approximately 115,000 people. The beneficiaries paid about $300,000 in connection charges and contributed free labor by digging trenches. Local communes provided land valued at $50,000.”

[107] World Bank. (2015). Vietnam rural water development challenge (OBA Lessons Learned Series, Note No. 7). Global Partnership on Output-Based Aid. Retrieved from https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/829011468121483290/pdf/953800BRI0OBA000Box385362B00PUBLIC0.pdf. “In the Mekong Delta, private contractors constructed 41 systems, serving approximately 65,000 people. The operators raised almost $1.4 million of capital to pre-finance the schemes and invested $550,000 to be recuperated from tariffs; users paid around $250,000 in connection fees.”

[108] World Bank. (2015). Vietnam rural water development challenge (OBA Lessons Learned Series, Note No. 7). Global Partnership on Output-Based Aid. Retrieved from https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/829011468121483290/pdf/953800BRI0OBA000Box385362B00PUBLIC0.pdf. “The subsidies lowered connection fees from between $47–$117 per household to $14–$38 per household, and contributed towards the cost of upstream system improvement and extension. After six months of operation, 72 of the 82 schemes were found to be satisfactorily operating and supplying water to 93% of the targeted households.”

[109] Pérez, L. A., Jr. (2006). Cuba: Between reform and revolution (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. “Rural Cuba enjoyed few of the amenities and services that characterized urban Cuba. On the contrary, the rural population suffered abject poverty and persistent neglect. Only 15 percent of rural inhabitants possessed running water as compared with 80 percent of the urban residents.” (p. 229) Context: 1950s, pre-revolution.

[110] Pérez, L. A., Jr. (2006). Cuba: Between reform and revolution (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. “Vast new housing projects were completed, including Ciudad José Martí in Santiago de Cuba, housing 50,000 residents, and Alamar East outside of Havana, accommodating more than 100,000 residents. Other projects included the construction of low-cost one- and two-story housing in rural communities, sugar mill towns, government farms, small towns and villages, and the suburban areas of larger cities. Urban projects concentrated on four- and five-story walk-ups and high-rise elevator buildings. By the 1970s, housing construction had again reached an annual level of 17,000 new units.” (p. 280)

[111] The State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China. (2021). 

Moderate prosperity in all respects: Another milestone achieved in China’s human rights. 

http://www.scio.gov.cn/zfbps/ndhf/2021n_2242/202207/t20220704_130692.html  “Enhancing the rural living environment. To improve the living environment in rural areas, proper facilities have been created for treating household waste and domestic sewage, and solid efforts have been made to enhance toilet sanitation through the “toilet revolution”. As of 2020, more than 95 percent of villages had taken action for a cleaner environment. In 2019 and 2020, the government allocated RMB14.4 billion from central finance to subsidize the “toilet revolution” in villages, and RMB6 billion from the central budget to support programs for improving the rural living environment in the counties of central and western provinces. Monetary incentives were given to the 39 best-performing counties.”

[112] State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China. (2021, September). China’s epic journey from poverty to prosperity. “The incomes and welfare of the registered poor in rural areas have improved substantially. Adequate food and clothing, and access to compulsory education, basic medical services and safe housing have been guaranteed for them. Improvements in education, health care, housing, and access to safe drinking water and other amenities have met their basic needs and also laid the foundations for their future development.”

[113] State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China. (2021, September). China’s epic journey from poverty to prosperity. “Access to safe drinking water has been ensured. An upgraded program to improve drinking water safety has been launched in rural areas, providing adequate supplies of drinking water that meet the relevant standards to 382 million people, including 28.9 million formerly living in poverty. Tap water coverage in poor areas increased from 70 percent in 2015 to 83 percent in 2020.”

Section 7

[114] U.S. Government Accountability Office. (1995). U.S. Vietnam relations: Issues and implications (GAO/NSIAD-95-42). U.S. Government Printing Office. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-95-42/html/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-95-42.htm. “During the 1980s and early 1990s, U.S.  policy focused on pressuring the Vietnamese for cooperation in addressing a limited number of concerns.  These included (1) clarifying the fate of U.S.  POW/MIAs still officially unaccounted for; (2) obtaining Vietnam's cooperation in bringing about a peaceful settlement in Cambodia, which Vietnam had invaded in 1978; and (3) resolving issues related to emigration from Vietnam. To obtain Vietnamese cooperation on these issues, the United States withheld diplomatic relations, enforced a complete bilateral trade embargo, and continued to block access to frozen Vietnamese assets held in the United States or under U.S.  jurisdiction since 1975.  Other countries, including the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN),\2 Japan, China, as well as the United States, cooperated in isolating Vietnam, primarily to express their opposition to Vietnamese aggression in Cambodia.  Among other consequences, this internationally supported isolation policy resulted in Vietnam's being barred from access to credit from IFIs.  (See fig.  1 for a map of the Asia-Pacific region.)”

[115] U.S. Government Accountability Office. (1995). U.S. Vietnam relations: Issues and implications (GAO/NSIAD-95-42). U.S. Government Printing Office. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-95-42/html/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-95-42.htm. “This resumption of operations, coupled with the end of the U.S.  trade embargo in February 1994, has brought a surge of foreign public and private sector interest in the Vietnamese economy.  According to the government of Vietnam, total foreign assistance disbursed to Vietnam in 1993 approached $500 million, compared with an average of about $75 million annually during the last half of the 1980s.  In the fall of 1993, multilateral and bilateral donors combined pledged nearly $1.9 billion in development assistance at the first international donors conference on Vietnam.  The World Bank pledged to provide approximately $400 million a year for the next 5 to 10 years, the Asian Development Bank pledged about $300 million for 1993, and the International Monetary Fund granted Vietnam access to credits in excess of $200 million for the initial year of lending.\4  Vietnam's international trade (imports and exports combined) increased from about $3.6 billion in 1988 to $8.2 billion in 1993,\5 while the stock of foreign investment commitments rose from about $364 million in 1988 to nearly $11 billion as of December 1994.  In line with Vietnam's stated foreign policy orientation, Asian countries dominate Vietnam's trade and investment statistics.  In addition to being by far the largest supplier of foreign assistance with over $1 billion in development loan commitments (focused primarily on infrastructure projects), Japan is Vietnam's largest trade partner, followed closely by Singapore.  Table 1 lists Vietnam's five largest trade partners for 1993.  Table 2 lists Vietnam's largest sources of foreign investment.”

[116] Freeman, N. J. (1993). United States's economic sanctions against Vietnam: International business and development repercussions. The Columbia Journal of World Business, 28 (2), 13–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-5428(93)90038-Q. “Just as there are two central issues behind Washington's economic censure of Hanoi, there are two basic constituent elements to the economic sanctions imposed by the United States on Vietnam. The first is the Foreign Assets Control Regulations pertaining to Vietnam, as authorized under the 1917 Trading With the Enemy Act, commonly termed the U.S. trade embargo. With a few exceptions, all commercial transactions between Vietnam and "U.S. citizens and permanent residents wherever they are located, all people and organizations physically in the United States, and all branches and subsidiaries of U.S. organizations throughout the world" are illegal under the regulations.> Maximum penalties for violating the sanctions are 12 years imprisonment, $500,000 in corporate fines and $250,000 in individual fines. The trade embargo prevents not only direct and indirect trade between the United States and Vietnam, but also investment by U.S. companies in Vietnam's burgeoning economy. It also has major ripple effects beyond the United States; for example, any product with over 10% U.S.-manufactured content also falls under the embargo restrictions. Consequently, ostensibly non-U.S. multinational firms must also consider the likely consequences that commercial relations with Vietnam may have on their market and operations in America, and a few allied governments - most notably Tokyo - have, at least until recently, tacitly followed the United States ban on private investment in Vietnam. The second basic element of Washington's economic sanctions is its veto on lending by the international financial institutions. Despite the opposition of the secretariats and other member countries, Washington has used its veto to prevent the World Bank, IMF and Asian Development Bank (ADB) from providing financial support on almost all developmental projects in Vietnam. The infra structural inadequacies of the country in particular are in urgent need of remedy if the country is to improve domestic production, increase and diversify foreign trade, and attract foreign investment. However, most large-scale infrastructure projects are beyond the capabilities of private capital and need the support of international lending. In the case of the ADB,at the recent 25th annual meeting in Hong Kong, the United States stood alone in blocking the resumption of loans, " despite the alleged earmarking of $800 million in proposed projects for fund support."” (p. 14)

[117] Freeman, N. J. (1993). United States's economic sanctions against Vietnam: International business and development repercussions. The Columbia Journal of World Business, 28 (2), 13–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-5428(93)90038-Q. “In addition to Washington's trade (and investment) embargo and lending veto, a number of other economic sanctions have been imposed. For instance, in 1975 Washington froze assets in the United States belonging to the Saigon regime, valued at approximately $80 million.l'' Allowing for interest, the assets were valued at $150.3 million in 1983 (and around $200 million today), sufficient for Hanoi to repay its debt arrears with the IMF in full.! However, this is further complicated by private U.S. claims for compensation from losses incurred by forced expropriation in 1975, valued by the U.S. Foreign Claims Settlement Commission at almost $100 million.t- Other sanctions include Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls (COCOM) restrictions, and prevention from enjoying the rewards of most-favored-nation status and the generalized system of preferences (GSP).” (p. 15)

[118] Freeman, N. J. (1993). United States's economic sanctions against Vietnam: International business and development repercussions. The Columbia Journal of World Business, 28 (2), 13–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-5428(93)90038-Q. “In recent years, President Bush had discreetly issued successive presidential determinations to extend the trade embargo by 12 months, followed by seasonal speculation that each year might be the last.P The president's policy was thought to have the support of the majority of u.s. citizens, but had come under concerted criticism from sizeable elements within the business community and Senate. One of the most vocal critics of the U.S. sanction against Vietnam has been Senator Richard Lugar, whose objections are essentially twofold. First, the embargo is preventing U.S. companies from competing with European and Pacific Asian firms for a market share in Vietnam's burgeoning economy. Secondly, the sanctions are inappropriate to both Washington's foreign policy aims in Indochina and the changed international world order, as evidenced by Western business activity in Eastern Europe which accelerated the demise of centrally planned economies and was able to subvert Communist control. In contrast, U.S. sanctions against Vietnam now amount to economic and political self-denial.!" In a 1990 letter to the president, eight senators commented that Vietnam's military withdrawal from Cambodia, recent progress on the MIA/POW issue, and Hanoi's adoption of market principles should be rewarded with a "significant U.S. response." The U.S. embargo had "outlived its usefulness" and was resulting in Washington forfeiting a market to our competitors. In specific relation to Cambodia, the eight senators warned that normalization of relations between Washington and Hanoi should "not be held hostage" to the "prolonged end game of Cambodian peace negotiations." ” (p. 15)

[119] Freeman, N. J. (1993). United States's economic sanctions against Vietnam: International business and development repercussions. The Columbia Journal of World Business, 28 (2), 13–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-5428(93)90038-Q. “Numerous U.S. companies have also expressed dissatisfaction with the economic sanctions, of which the oil companies have probably been most prominent. Somewhat ironically, U.S. oil firms were the first to discover Vietnam's offshore oil potential, during the final years of the South Vietnam regime, and yet it was a Soviet-Vietnamese joint venture that began to extract the crude in the mid-1980s.16 Now that (non-U.S.) Western oil firms have also signed production sharing contracts with Vietnam, the U.S. oil companies have been left to stand back and watch while European - and in the 1992 wave of blocks, Pacific Asian - firms have commenced exploratory drilling. And, it would be true to say, the Vietnamese have wasted no opportunity to taunt the U.S. oil firms on this lost opportunity, in order to bring further domestic leverage on Washington to lift the sanctions.l" Similarly, in downstream petroleum marketing, U.S. firms like Caltex and Exxon have witnessed their dominant positions in South Vietnam prior to 1975 being currently replaced by such companies as Shell and British Petroleum. In other industrial sectors, United States firms have been denied licenses to trade and invest, while rival companies in Europe and Pacific Asia have set up permanent offices, established market positions, gathered market data, and built up contacts within Vietnam's private and state sectors. This has led to great impatience among those U.S. firms that perceive a market opportunity to exist in Vietnam, yet remained restrained by home country legislation” (p. 15)

[120] Freeman, N. J. (1993). United States's economic sanctions against Vietnam: International business and development repercussions. The Columbia Journal of World Business, 28 (2), 13–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-5428(93)90038-Q. “However, the local desire, particularly in the south of the country, to see a return of U.S. companies to Vietnam is likely to facilitate American attempts at catching up for lost time. But regardless of local pro-Ll.S, prejudice, Japanese inflows of yen are likely to dwarf the inflow of dollars, in this author's opinion. Using the bridgehead provided by the substantial presence of almost all the major trading companies, Japanese compa- nies are well poised to react decisively to Tokyo's lifting of its official investment ban. Companies like Jve and Sanyo already have plans for electronic assembly joint venture projects in Vietnam, both for domestic consumption and exports throughout Southeast Asia.” (p.19-20)

[121] Freeman, N. J. (1993). United States's economic sanctions against Vietnam: International business and development repercussions. The Columbia Journal of World Business, 28 (2), 13–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-5428(93)90038-Q. “An indication of the likely consequences derived from lifting the U.S. economic sanctions was recently provided by Singapore's decision in November 1991 to lift its own investment ban on Vietnam. Within one month of the ban being lifted, Singapore companies signed agreements for over $30 million in capital investment. It also emerged that at least five companies had invested in Vietnam before November 1991, contrary to home country regulations. Singaporean investment in Vietnam now exceeds $100 million, and individual joint venture projects capitalized at up to $50 million are currently being negotiated. Singapore's Keppel Corporation has also established a Vietnam investment fund. Furthermore, Hanoi has declared that the speed of Singapore's burgeoning economic links with Vietnam is unrivalled, thereby supporting the notion that a lifting of the investment ban rapidly releases any bottled-up investment desires.v Clearly, if Singapore's post-investment ban phenomenon -likened to opening a champagne bottle - is replicated with Japan and the United States, then the consequences for Vietnam will be seismic. But perhaps more crucially, the withdrawal of Washington's veto on international financial lending will result in significant capital inflows to fund much-needed infrastructure projects. This, in turn, will provide a conduit for Western firms to bring technology, expertise and further private capital investment into Vietnam, amidst a more stable and confident host country business environment. However, care will need to be taken in order to ensure that this is done in a balanced manner, and at a scale appropriate to Vietnam's needs and abilities” (p. 20)

[122] Freeman, N. J. (1993). United States's economic sanctions against Vietnam: International business and development repercussions. The Columbia Journal of World Business, 28 (2), 13–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-5428(93)90038-Q. “Questions have also been raised as to the utility of the U.S. economic sanctions against Vietnam - to what extent have they helped achieve the stated goal of pressuring Hanoi to end its war against South Vietnam, and later withdraw from Cambodia and cooperate on the MIA issue? In 1990, the Institute for International Economics in Washington published a comparative analysis of economic sanctions around the globe. The U.S. economic sanctions against Vietnam were judged to have failed in their policy result and to have been an "outright failure" in their level of success. Not a good assessment for a set of sanctions that are almost 30 years old. While Washington's act of economic censure against Hanoi is having the desired effect of adversely affecting international investment and trade with Vietnam, it has also provided a window of opportunity for Pacific Asia and European companies to enter the burgeoning Vietnam market. Should Vietnam's economic development succeed - which seems likely, given the support of a surrounding region enjoying rapid and sustained economic growth - then Washington may come to regret its arguably dated policy towards Hanoi.”

[123] Gronow, J., & Zhuravlev, S. (2016). Fashion meets socialism: Fashion industry in the Soviet Union after the Second World War (ISBN 978-952-222-665-5). Helsinki University Press. https://doi.org/10.21435/sfh.20. “Despite these heavy losses, the recovery of the Soviet economy after the war was rapid in some sectors. By the early 1950s pre-war levels of production had been reached in most areas of industry. The growth in the consumer durables sector was particularly speedy partly because many of the factories which had produced armaments and munitions now turned to peacetime production. As Davies concluded, “by the end of the fourth five-year-plan (1946–1950) industrial production considerably exceeded, and agricultural production slightly exceeded, the pre-war level.”” (p. 58)

[124] Gronow, J., & Zhuravlev, S. (2016). Fashion meets socialism: Fashion industry in the Soviet Union after the Second World War (ISBN 978-952-222-665-5). Helsinki University Press. https://doi.org/10.21435/sfh.20. “According to statistics collected by the CIA, hosiery and knitwear production increased from 17.74 million pieces and pairs in 1950s to 103.77 million in 1970. The production of socks and stockings increased from about 500 million pairs in 1950 to 1,338 million pairs in 1970.129 The amount of leather footwear increased from 272 million pairs in 1955 to 456 million pairs in 1962.” (p. 65)

[125] Gronow, J., & Zhuravlev, S. (2016). Fashion meets socialism: Fashion industry in the Soviet Union after the Second World War (ISBN 978-952-222-665-5). Helsinki University Press. https://doi.org/10.21435/sfh.20. “In the late 1960s and 1970s some consumer durables and items of home technology that belonged to any standard household in the West, like sewing machines, TV sets, radio receivers, refrigerators and washing machines, had also become quite common in Soviet households. In 1973 the USSR had, per thousand people, 216 radios, 295 TV sets, 142 refrigerators and 173 washing machines.” (p. 65-66)

[126] Gronow, J., & Zhuravlev, S. (2016). Fashion meets socialism: Fashion industry in the Soviet Union after the Second World War (ISBN 978-952-222-665-5). Helsinki University Press. https://doi.org/10.21435/sfh.20. “By the beginning of the 1960s the standard of living of most of the population, both urban and rural, had reached such levels that access to daily necessities, basic food items and clothing included, was more or less certain. The improvement was most rapid among the rural population since the starting conditions had been the lowest.” (p. 73)

Section 8

[127] Werlau, M. C. (2022, January 28). World Health Organization approval for Cuba’s COVID vaccines would greatly strengthen the Cuban dictatorship. CubaArchive. https://www.cubaarchive.org. “Cuba has a biotechnology industry that already produces ten vaccines for export and claims that 3 of 5 of its vaccines candidates —named Abdala, Soberana 02, and Soberana Plus— are over 90% effective. Cuba’s Ministry of Health reports that it has already applied 33.9 million doses of the Abdala and two Soberana vaccines on the Cuban population of 11 million as of January 26, 2022.4 Three doses are required for “full vaccination” and the reported vaccination rate is 93% (for a fully vaccinated rate of 86.7%) as of 1/25/2022.”

[128] Hanoi Times. (2021, August 23). Today’s Covid News: Vietnam deploys armed forces to Ho Chi Minh City. https://hanoitimes.vn/todays-covid-news-vietnam-deploys-armed-forces-to-ho-chi-minh-city-318452.html  “Once the city imposes the stay-at-home order from August 23, residents will receive essential goods at home delivered by military personnel. People with financial difficulties will receive free-of-charge food packages.”

[129] Hanoi Times. (2021, August 23). Today’s Covid News: Vietnam deploys armed forces to Ho Chi Minh City. https://hanoitimes.vn/todays-covid-news-vietnam-deploys-armed-forces-to-ho-chi-minh-city-318452.html  ““The army including military medics are tasked with providing healthcare and treatment in quarantine centers and medical facilities and distributing essential goods to residents in their home,” Lieutenant General Ngo Minh Tien, Deputy Chief of the General Staff, the Vietnam People's Army.”

[130] Hanoi Times. (2021, August 23). Today’s Covid News: Vietnam deploys armed forces to Ho Chi Minh City. https://hanoitimes.vn/todays-covid-news-vietnam-deploys-armed-forces-to-ho-chi-minh-city-318452.html  “Meanwhile, policemen will support local authorities in promoting vaccination in affected areas and enforcing anti-pandemic rules. “Pushing up the application of citizen management software in hotspots and the vaccination campaign becomes the key mission”, said Lieutenant General To Van Hue from the Ministry of Public Security.”

[131] Hanoi Times. (2021, August 23). Today’s Covid News: Vietnam deploys armed forces to Ho Chi Minh City. https://hanoitimes.vn/todays-covid-news-vietnam-deploys-armed-forces-to-ho-chi-minh-city-318452.html  “It’s estimated that about 2,000 military medics, military mobile testing labs, and ambulances from Hanoi are deployed in HCMC to assist a force of 30,000 militia in the fight against Covid-19.”

[132] Hanoi Times. (2021, August 23). Today’s Covid News: Vietnam deploys armed forces to Ho Chi Minh City. https://hanoitimes.vn/todays-covid-news-vietnam-deploys-armed-forces-to-ho-chi-minh-city-318452.html  “Ho Chi Minh City’s neighbor of Binh Duong today reported 3,795 infections. The province has imposed the shelter-in-place order for 15 days in the most affected areas from August. To support residents, it will offer free-of-charge rice and food to people in 11 wards of Thuan An City and Tan Uyen Town. The authorities will provide 720,000 residents with 5,700 tons of rice and VND540 billion (US$23.5 million). Each resident will receive eight kg of rice and VND50,000 ($2.2)/day.”

[133] Hanoi Times. (2021, August 23). Today’s Covid News: Vietnam deploys armed forces to Ho Chi Minh City. https://hanoitimes.vn/todays-covid-news-vietnam-deploys-armed-forces-to-ho-chi-minh-city-318452.html  “During the partial lockdown, the city has launched different welfare package to support vulnerable groups. Tran Dang Nam, head of the Hanoi Young Entrepreneur Association, said they have joined hands in different charity campaigns, including free-of-charge meals to those in need.”

[134] World Bank. (2022, April 1). Lifting 800 million people out of poverty: New report looks at lessons from China's experience . https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2022/04/01/lifting-800-million-people-out-of-poverty-new-report-looks-at-lessons-from-china-s-experience. ““China’s battle against poverty has benefited the largest number of people in human history,” said Minister Ma Jiantang, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group of the DRC. “To sustain poverty reduction gains, China will focus more on achieving endogenous development in areas that have been lifted out of poverty and introduce vigorous measures to support rural revitalization. Our goal is to achieve common prosperity and high-quality development including through the rural revitalization strategy with a focus in five key areas: industry development, human capital, culture, ecological environment and local governance.””

[135] World Bank. (2022, April 1). Lifting 800 million people out of poverty: New report looks at lessons from China's experience . https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2022/04/01/lifting-800-million-people-out-of-poverty-new-report-looks-at-lessons-from-china-s-experience. “Over the past 40 years, the number of people in China with incomes below $1.90 per day – the International Poverty Line as defined by the World Bank to track global extreme poverty– has fallen by close to 800 million. With this, China has contributed close to three-quarters of the global reduction in the number of people living in extreme poverty.”

[136] World Bank. (2022, April 1). Lifting 800 million people out of poverty: New report looks at lessons from China's experience . https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2022/04/01/lifting-800-million-people-out-of-poverty-new-report-looks-at-lessons-from-china-s-experience. “China’s approach to poverty reduction has been based on two pillars, according to the report. The first was broad-based economic transformation to open new economic opportunities and raise average incomes. The second was the recognition that targeted support was needed to alleviate persistent poverty; support was initially provided to areas disadvantaged by geography and the lack of opportunities and later to individual households.”

[137] World Bank. (2022, April 1). Lifting 800 million people out of poverty: New report looks at lessons from China's experience . https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2022/04/01/lifting-800-million-people-out-of-poverty-new-report-looks-at-lessons-from-china-s-experience. “China’s approach to poverty reduction has been based on two pillars, according to the report. The first was broad-based economic transformation to open new economic opportunities and raise average incomes. The second was the recognition that targeted support was needed to alleviate persistent poverty; support was initially provided to areas disadvantaged by geography and the lack of opportunities and later to individual households.”

[138] State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China. (2021, September). China’s epic journey from poverty to prosperity. “Since China launched reform and opening up, 770 million rural Chinese have crossed China’s current poverty line and moved out of poverty. According to the World Bank’s poverty line, poverty reduction in China represents 70 percent of the global total, achieving the target set by the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 10 years ahead of schedule. This transformation is unprecedented in human history. In recent years, global poverty reduction had been regressing, with more and more people falling under the poverty line. Against this backdrop, China’s historic success in poverty reduction has boosted the confidence and strength of other peoples who are fighting to eliminate poverty.”

[139] Hickel, J., & Sullivan, D. (2024). How much growth is required to achieve good lives for all? Insights from needs-based analysis. World Development Perspectives, 35, Article 100612. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wdp.2024.100612. “Poverty is not an intractable problem that requires complex solutions, long timeframes and large increases in production and throughput that conflict with ecological objectives. The solution is straightforward. We need to actively plan to shift productive capacities away from capital accumulation and elite consumption in order to focus instead on the goods and services that are necessary to meet human needs and enable decent living for all, while ensuring universal access through public provisioning systems. We have framed this work around the concept of human needs, following the recent literature. However it is important to underscore that this approach is ultimately about far more than just satisfying material requirements for human well-being. Achieving decent-living for all is critical to enabling broader human capabilities, individual and collective self-realisation, full participation in society and politics and, ultimately, freedom.”