[lubernator]

Society was saturated with a paranoia of not appearing to think or act the wrong way. Any accusation of having ideas that could qualify of being outside the acceptable boundaries was very dangerous. The accusations were often pulled out of thin air to neutralise intellectuals, political opponents, or disliked people in general. Effectively. That type of mentality is partly what inspired wrongthink in Orwel's "1984".

If you would like to experience what the atmosphere was like living in the Soviet Union, a good book to read is Peterson's often recommended "The Gulag archipelago".