To clarify - did you grow up in the USSR? Or moved there when you were young?
I don't mean to be too critical - but the content that you wrote is fairly bland. And I am fairly sure is widely available from most non-USSRists. In actual fact, after reading your article I felt that you are an American writing about your "skin-deep" Russian experience.
If I got the wrong impression - I apologise. However, people who were growing up in the USSR during the 80s certainly never would say - "Everybody had the same." That is simply not true. Depending on your station and rank in the communist party you could have more, ALOT more than everyone else. That is one of the chief reasons why it all collapsed.
Anyway raymondspeak - looking forward to your response :)
I lived in Russia from when I was one years old - which I can remember nothing, to the age of five from which I only remember a few details - so I tried my best to curate my experiences but they weren't from a totally "aware" perspective. So I apologise for my "skin deep" experience, but I can't elaborate anymore - I could ask my Mother, but that wouldn't be from my perspective.
Oh, we all had the same - because I never met anyone from higher in Society, I do know about it, and I understand why the USSR fell - but that simply wasn't my experience, so I left it out - I was five years old, I had no ideas about totalitarianism and the Oligarchy at the time.
I'm British - and I try to be as real as I can :)
Fair enough.
Your article isn't super-clear on how some of your experiences may not be reflective of the life in the 80s in the USSR. Perhaps a suggestion would be to rename the article to something that lets the reader know that you were a child of a British expat.