In an alternate where the Soviet Union won the Cold War, Stakhanovites were still lauded by the ruling parties of the world. However, the average person was skeptical of Stakhanovites, particularly as the term could as easily be applied to what would be average competence in other systems. Eduardo Caruso suspected that the ideas of capitalism that Crosstime Traffic sought to introduce into the world would have to sound communist, and used the example of "Stakhanovite economic effort."