The USSR had mass starvations and resource shortages in times of peace (before WWI). It also collapsed from civil war and military coups, not economic collapse. It also had much more restraint than modern welfare systems, as it didn't pull resources from the void, but instead only allocated those that currently existed. There was no democracy to vote money out of nowhere like we currently do.
[–] daskapitalist 1 point -1 points 0 points (+0|-1) ago
ZANU, which has controlled Zimbabwe for decades, is both nominally and de facto socialist in their policies (capital redistribution, state industries, massive unions, extensive price controls, and so on).
[–] theoldguy 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
Years of waiting in lines around the block to get a couple of cucumbers to eat didn't help either. Government planning, you know.
[–] daskapitalist 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
Cucumber? In Soviet Russia, there no cucumber. No potato either. Only cold. And sadness.
[–] theoldguy 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
You must have been one of the last in the line.
[–] nomenimion 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
No, indeed. The Soviet economy was a basket case.