Ordinary workers and peasants (two-thirds of them) did not enjoy their work, did not regard their jobs as having prestige, and said they were underpaid.

The peasant expressed "inexorable opposition to the regimentation" of the of the collective farm; "he wants more time to work on his private garden plot, but beyond that he wants passionately to return to a system of private farming."

For some citizens, especially among the upper classes, their work became an "inner migration" from the hard facts of Soviet life. They lost themselves in their work.

The overwhelming majority of all groups reported that the attitude of their co-workers was friendly and "friendly personal relations were one of the rewarding and alleviating features of Soviet life."

Friendship

Despite the satisfaction the refugees said they got from warm, friendly relations with people around them, there were constant complaints "about mutual suspicion and protestations that 'you couldn't trust anybody.'"

"The desire to express pent-up feelings impels the individual to seek out confidants. The fear of talking makes him less likely to talk. The result is not a cessation of confidences, but rather the development of techniques of screening and assessing people."

Schooling

"The upper classes get a great deal of direct satisfaction from their school experiences...and see the schools as training them for a specific life career."

"The lower classes are less sanguine than the upper classes about their opportunities for education. To some extent, their optimism on this score seems to be increasing with the expansion of the Soviet educational system.

"It remains to be seen, however. whether apparent trends toward more rigid social stratification will not make it even more difficult for the lower classes to get higher education."

Family Life

Family life is to some extent for everyone "the final refuge from hardships of Soviet life and from Soviet politics."

"The chief sources of frustration in the enjoyment of family life are: conflict between parents and children over the political beliefs of one or another member of the family; lack of privacy because of inadequate housing; irritability of family members because of poor material conditions and anxiety over situations outside the family; lack of time to spend together because of excessive fatigue or because of the amount of time spent at work and shopping. Thus, the family is, to some extent, a refuge from these external events, but these events in themselves put a strain on family life."

"The Tempo"