ABSTRACT
Millions of Indians who have remained poor and neglected for ages, rose to dizzy heights of euphoric delight accompanying India’s independence of August 15, 1947. Expectations were high also among the millions of jobless youths who braved the untold misery and repressive measures, let loose by the British government in the wake of the 1942 movement. Urban middle class hoped for quick achievement of a standard of living comparable to that of Western Europe. Farmers looked forward at least for a life free from famines, floods and landlords. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was one such nation. An altogether different path for progress chartered by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin following the October 1917 revolution did achieve a highly educated society and almost full employment in a rather short time and also generated a trend reducing the gap between USSR and the developed capitalist nations of the world.
