In Soviet Union you were expected to do both and for lousy pay. The joke about women was that they were expected to with in male fields and be there traditional housekeeper at the same time.
The great success of the soviets was getting people from farms to factories (big gain in income and opportunities). The great failure was not getting them any further. It's sort of interesting looking at the stats from Stalin's time. He took the USSR from a feudal society to industrial society. I think this is an under appreciated ability of communism (the same thing has happened in China, Vietnam, Cuba etc). The problem is communism cannot get you any further than that (or so it seems). Hence countries stating "communist" and embracing private industry and free markets (Vietnam and China).
It makes me wonder what we will do next. Is the service economy the final form? Will we need different political/economic models to move to whatever the next form is?
> The great success of the soviets was getting people from farms to factories
People working at farms ("колхоз") got their passports in the 70s. You have no right to leave without a passport, that's a criminal offence. Not to mention you must be registered at a specific address ("прописка", "регистрация") or you'd be detained by the first police patrol. And they got their first salaries in the 50s. Farmers in the USSR were effectively serfs for the most part of history. Slogans aside, no one got them anywhere.
> He took the USSR from a feudal society to industrial society.
Thanks, american taxpayers and spiness commie sympathizing administrations for sponsoring and building the "soviet" industry.
It makes me wonder what we will do next. Is the service economy the final form? Will we need different political/economic models to move to whatever the next form is?