As Annemarie noted in her post about post-war cars, the Soviet people expected and deserved tangible benefits from their victory in World War II.   We will talk about the “Big Deal” in class (and you can decide for yourselves about the benefits and drawbacks of that particular system), but in cyberspace, the reward for having worked so diligently and well is a blogging holiday.  No guidelines this week. If you’d like to post, we’ll be happy to read and comment.  Otherwise, stay tuned for new guidelines on Wednesday,  Oct. 30.