What can be said about the quality of consumer products in the Soviet Union after World War II?
1) They were of superior quality compared to Western capitalist countries.
2) They were inferior in quality to Western capitalist countries.
3) They were of equal quality to Western capitalist countries.
4) They were non-existent.

2

The correct answer is Option 2 - 2

They were inferior in quality to Western capitalist countries.

Consumer products in the Soviet Union after World War II were generally of inferior quality compared to those in Western capitalist countries.

The Soviet Union became a great power after the Second World War. The Soviet economy was then more developed than the rest of the world except for the US. It had a complex communications network, vast energy resources including oil, iron and steel, machinery production, and a transport sector that connected its remotest areas with efficiency. It had a domestic consumer industry that produced everything from pins to cars, though their quality did not match that of the Western capitalist countries. The Soviet state ensured a minimum standard of living for all citizens, and the government subsidised basic necessities including health, education, childcare and other welfare schemes. There was no unemployment. State ownership was the dominant form of ownership: land and productive assets were owned and controlled by the Soviet state.