: What did Khrushchev get when he left office? He supplemented his meager pension by growing potatoes in his garden...That story about Krushchev is very poignant, and I have to say I don't know much about teh Soviet union, you're probably right. i do know, however, that Maoist China certainly did have an elite which enjoyed a standard of living way above that of the Chinese people. Chairman Mao ate pork when millions of Chinese didn't have enough rice to eat; he used women as sex objects, while promotinbg strict sexual ethics for everyone else; he insisted on scientific medicine for himself, while advocating acupuncture and other unproven practices for other people; etcetera. Chairman Mao was a bastard, a wolf in socialist clothing, and I think the sooner we realize that the better. Mao was far worse than Stalin.
Your argument that socialist states don't ahve class is interesting, and might be true- I don't know enough to comment. If so, then that would actually weaken your point about private property; because there have been MANY socialist societies which tolerated small amounts of private property, yet would be by your definition 'classless'.
