Objectivists know in principle why dictatorships are evil, why they come into existence, why nothing but misery is possible in a dictatorship, and what is necessary for a free society. While such a person may be familiar with the principles, he is lacking the concretes — he does not have a feel for what it is like to live in a dictatorship — and, consequently, his knowledge is somewhat “floating.” This work- shop provided the concretes necessary to paint a picture of life in what was the world’s largest concentration camp, the Soviet Union. 

Several areas of Soviet life were examined, including housing, lack of privacy, production (or lack thereof), the state of medicine, and the psychology of the Soviet man.