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Pretty much nobody did private business. But farmers were allowed to sell their produce, so that was a considered private business. My great grandfather owned a house, but the land was given by the state. So he was considered a house owner. However, the land officially belonged to the government. People did own cars, because my grandfather owned a motorcycle. I think that during Stalin's rule, it was really strict, but became a lot more lenient after Stalin. As for school, you just went and applied. If you were an enemy of the state, you were isolated. My father's family was a little German, so they were sent to Uzbekistan.
This is according to my parents, who lived in Soviet Russia.
Go to Amazon.com and you can probably find some good reviews on some books. The books I have right now to research Soviet Propaganda are "The Soviet Colossus" by Michael Kort, which is a general overview of the Soviet Union. Didn't find too much in there about propaganda, but if might work for you. "The World Almanac of the Soviet Union from 1905 to the Present" by Warren Shaw and David Pryce might be helpful for you. These are just books I found in the local libraries. "Russia: Broken Idols, Solemn Dreams" by David K Shipler is an entertaining, outside perspective on a more modern Soviet Union:
"One a collective farm in Kazakhstan one summer, where the local party newspaper is used for toilet paper, a cocky reporter from that paper arrived in a rakish Stetson hat, wandered around taking ostentatious notes, and then gathered a group of university students working there for the summer to ask, disingenuously, for suggestions on how the newspaper could be improved. 'Use lighter ink,' one student said.
'What?'
'Use lighter ink.' The crowd began to titter.
'Why?' asked the reporter.
'Because we all have black asses.'"
Lol.
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