bengalviking

free education, almost free housing and free health care

Education was indeed free. Lots of mandatory Marxism-Leninism classes from high school onwards, but overall can't complain too much. Kids did study.

Some of the housing was (almost free) BUT completely up to the party buerocrats as for when, if ever, you would be provided with one. Officially there was a 10-20+ year waiting list, factually housing was provided to whoever the party deemed it should be provided. Plentiful corruption oportunities, too. My parents had to actually forge some documents a bit to be granted an apartment, by removing the "not" from "housing not provided" in some document. Nevertheless, they got an apartment from a housing cooperative, where they paid for the apartment for 20 years, just like a mortgage.

Health care was free. As it should be. I used to be at hospitals a lot as a kid, it was really boring and.. spartan? Nonetheless, maintaining public health was a priority, which was good.

Personally, I think everyday life was incredibly similar to that of low security prison. Very similar to say Orange Is The New Black, say. You didn't have freedom, you were completely at the mercy of powers that be, you couldn't leave, but you could expect to be taken care of, at the most basic level. Some people do prefer that to life in freedom.

It's as if there is literally a war between Russia and Ukraine, and Russia is occupying parts of the latter.

I have never heard of a starving artist.

Of course people wouldn't have heard of it back then, but life of artists, subjects, repertoires and such were quite tightly controlled. The popular musicians, say, that you might have grown up with had to report to KGB all the time. If the party/KGB didn't like what you were doing, you definitely weren't earning a living doing what you do, if not worse.