Given the misery and violence that we see around us it is not surprising that many people find it easier to imagine the end of the world and much harder to imagine the realization of a better world, where human needs come first, where human potential is realized, and where human happiness is a reality for all. This week Back in the USSR is also about the October Revolution of 1917 and the Soviet Union, but this time I focus on what it meant for the downtrodden peoples of the Russian Empire who now were able to take control over their own destiny for the first time: peasants became political leaders and generals, factory workers became doctors and scientists, women became engineers, cosmonauts, and aviators. Everywhere people were achieving their potential in life and together were building a better world with their own hands, their own minds, and their own hearts. This is what socialism does. This is what can be achieved (program beings 10 minutes in).
With music by Billy Bragg, Lev Lichenko, Georgy Sviridov, Marxman, and Lee Reed.