ABSTRACT
At the outset of the Soviet regime, social mobility was the rule, not the exception. The slogan "he who was nothing will become everything" said it all: not only were the old ruling social classes dispossessed, but their children were barred from all advancement. The proverbial "son of a charwoman and four handymen" was to be the man of the future. Beginning with the postwar years, everything began to change. First of all, social origin gradually lost its importance, to the point that today even an old Russian title is a plus rather than a minus as far as employment is concerned. Gorbachev inherited a society whose social mobility is no longer higher than in advanced capitalist countries, and may be even lower than in the United States. The result is the self- perpetuation of the managerial class, with some middle-class upward mobility, and less opportunity for advancement for those from worker or peasant backgrounds.
