Did “business” exist or not exist in the USSR? And what kind of “business” was this? Entrepreneurship, initiative, freedom - did this exist in Soviet times? Is it there today? It would seem that life has changed, the economy of modern Russia is built on completely different principles than the planned economy in the USSR. However, the author proves that there is no greater danger for society than succumbing to the false charm of a bygone era. Market economy? But the authorities are ready to take control over it at any moment. The right to private property? But entrepreneurs, as before, are under the yoke of officials, police, FSB, prosecutors, and firefighters. Democracy? But United Russia is almost a complete analogue of the late Soviet Communist Party. This book is not about the plunderers of socialist property, grabbers, shopkeepers and speculators from the times of the USSR. This book is about people whose energy, passion, enterprise, willingness to take risks and the ability to make money could only be realized illegally. This book is also about modernity: about how business works and what it degenerates into, forced to exist in conditions of lawlessness and outside the law. For a wide range of readers.