Under Communism, no one was supposed to be rich. Likewise, though ordinary Muscovites enjoyed few luxuries, they did not think of themselves as poor because their neighbors lived no better or worse than they did. The Communist philosophy stressed the importance of working together and sharing everything through good times and bad. However, few of those living under Communism believed that the low standard of living of average citizens was really being shared by all. Because Muscovites, living as they did in the nation's capital, saw for themselves the comings and goings of party leaders, it was apparent to them that high-ranking members of the Communist Party were living better than everyone else. This elite class, or nomenklatura , had access to cars, large apartments, country estates, private stores filled with imported goods, and other luxuries forbidden to or otherwise out of the reach of...