Bernie Sanders and his wife honeymooned in the USSR


Of the many interesting details in The Guardian's big profile of Sen. Bernie Sanders, the self-proclaimed socialist running a dark horse presidential primary campaign against Hillary Clinton, this one stuck out: Sanders' 1988 honeymoon with his wife Jane in the former Soviet Union. The honeymoon doubled as a diplomatic trip that Sanders made to the city of Yaroslavl, 160 miles northwest of Moscow, when he was the mayor of Burlington, Vermont. According to audio that survived the trip:
After receiving a rundown of central planning, Soviet-style, from Yaroslavl's mayor, Alexander Riabkov, Sanders notes how the quality of both housing and healthcare in America appeared to be "significantly better" than in the communist state. "However," he added, "the cost of both services is much, much, higher in the United States." [The Guardian]
Another highlight of Sanders' mayoralty was the ode to socialism that was written for him by poet Allen Ginsberg.
Entitled Burlington Snow, it begins with lines about “Socialist snow on the streets" and "Socialist kids sucking socialist lollipops" and ends: "Isn't this poem socialist? It doesn't belong to me anymore." [The Guardian]
Read the whole profile at The Guardian.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Ryu Spaeth is deputy editor at TheWeek.com. Follow him on Twitter.
-
Ukraine: Trump's mixed messages
Feature Trump reverses a Pentagon freeze on Patriot missiles to Ukraine as Russia ramps up air attacks
-
Diddy: An abuser who escaped justice?
Feature The jury cleared Sean Combs of major charges but found him guilty of lesser offenses
-
Death from above: Drones upend rules of war in Ukraine
Feature The world's militaries are paying close attention to drone use in the Russia-Ukraine war
-
Secret Service 'failures' on Trump shooting
Speed Read Two new reports detail security breakdowns that led to attempts on the president's life
-
Trump set to hit Canada with 35% tariffs
Speed Read The president accused Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney of failing to stop the cross-border flow of fentanyl
-
Mahmoud Khalil files $20M claim over ICE detention
Speed Read This is the 'first damages complaint' brought by an individual targeted by the Trump's administration's 'crackdown' on Gaza war protesters
-
Trump threatens Brazil with 50% tariffs
Speed Read He accused Brazil's current president of leading a 'witch hunt' against far-right former leader Jair Bolsonaro
-
AI scammer fakes Rubio messages to top officials
Speed Read The unknown individual mimicked Rubio in voice and text messages sent to multiple government officials
-
SCOTUS greenlights Trump's federal firings
speed read The Trump administration can conduct mass federal firings without Congress' permission, the Supreme Court ruled
-
New tariffs set on 14 trading partners
Speed Read A new slate of tariffs will begin August 1 on imports from Japan, South Korea, Thailand and more
-
Elon Musk launching 'America Party'
Speed Read The tech mogul promised to form a new political party if Trump's megabill passed Congress