I think the biggest difference between the two universes is that in Russia, people were assigned to jobs they may or may not enjoy – in Roddenberry’s universe, everybody is doing what they love.
From: Allan Mills Sent: Tuesday, October 04, 2011 10:20 PM To: feistfans-l Subject: Re: Audiobooks I'm not 100% sure there was no money in the Star Trek universe. Rather it was a post scarcity economy where goods could be had for free due to replicators. DS9 had gold pressed latinum as currency, although admittedly that was primarily for the benefit of the Ferengi who were still profit motive. There was Next Generation episode where Picard (well, a copy of him) bought everyone a round of drinks in the bar they have on the Enterprise. It would require some massive social and probably psychological changes in humanity for such a thing to work though. The Soviet Union was probably the closest to try that kind of thing with state property and the state providing jobs for everyone etc. It failed in the end, because most people just aren't motivated when a crappy effort pays the same as a good effort. Allan
