What Was Socialism And What Comes Next Analysis

Many of us grew up with fathers or a father-like figure. Some good. Some bad. We loved them some days. We hated them other days. However, no matter whether or not they were a good father, the ideal father or father figure was able to provide for us as children. They housed us, fed us, clothed us, took care of us when we were sick, and helped us with our problems. Our fathers provided for us and, for the most part, knew what the best was for us in regards to care and other personal matters.
The Soviet government strived to be this ideal father-like figure for its citizens. According to Katherine Verdery in her book, What Was Socialism and What Comes Next?, “socialist paternalism” was the claim that “the Party would take care of everyone’s needs by collecting the total social product and then making available whatever people needed” (Verdery 24-25). The Socialist Party also claimed that they were …show more content…
It was also present in the social class, specifically the differences between men and women. With a paternally lead society, women were often regarded to as much lesser of a person than that of her husband or male counterpart according to The Surrogate Proletariat written by Gregory J. Massell. Massell also writes about how women activists were also frowned upon and often publically shamed (Massell 121). This public shaming discouraged many women to do nothing about their equality to man and would then go about their everyday lives, working around the house and having little public communication, especially with other males. In the later years of Socialism, many women began to enter the workforce. However, this did not solve many of their equality issues. Many of them were still very much mistreated in the workplace and very much underpaid. Any sort of leadership role for women was unheard of. Many of them were underpaid and were forced to do the hard jobs that the males did not want to