[failuser]

What do you mean people were not allowed to have material things? Joining the party and becoming a part of nomenklatura so you can get western stuff and a Volga was a dream of Soviet citizens. Getting anything, often even food in USSR required a personal connection (blat).

[AlbertCory]

You're right; I should have said, "not allowed unless you have the connections."

Of course, as I understand it, if your background was too bourgeois, then your application for Party membership was rejected.