It's funny because one of the first looks in to communism I got was from a Hungarian professor who grew up in Hungary in the 80s and was basically teaching us about the time just before the fall of the USSR and the time just after. And the jist of her thesis was "Some good stuff happened, some bad stuff happened, life was mostly normal, and people got by the best they could." No exaggerations about the horrors of communism, no upselling communism as this magical thing, just explaining a different, but relatable society.

One of the books we read was about a baby-food plant and how the plant workers ran their plant and how that changed with privatization. One thing I remember distinctly is that the plant produced different products based on what produce was available. If they had potatoes they'd make potatoes baby food. If they had carrots they'd use carrots. If they couldn't get any of the usual ingredients they'd reconfigure the plant equipment and make juice. The story wasn't about shortages in the late communist period, it was about how the plant workers had a great deal of ownership and understanding of their plant, and how they could configure it to do all sorts of things to respond to changing circumstances. And the story was also about how privatization changed that, changed the relationship of the workers to the plant, and how everything sort of fell apart in the chaos of privatization. I wish I could remember what it was called.