How they lived in Soviet times. The Soviet Union was a slave state

The case when I cite someone else's text. This is a rather ancient dungeon. But it is very laconic, and clearly outlining the main realities:

Do you want to live like in the USSR?

Get a job at any dying research institute. You turn off the Internet and mobile phones, leave only the First Anal of Russian Television on the TV. Replace toilet paper with newspapers. For food, you buy sausage, bread, powdered milk, canned seaweed, a bottle of inexpensive vodka, processed cheese, pasta and tea of \u200b\u200bthe poorest quality, dilute beer with water, only rotten vegetables, only apples from fruits. Before buying anything, to simulate a queue, just stand in front of the store for 20 to 2000 minutes. If possible, then you can find and repair "Zhiguli" - "kopeck". To work only on the tram. Do not wear benign clothes. Shoes should always get wet. Teeth are asked to heal without pain reliever. And the most important thing is the feeling of meaninglessness and endless longing. If it is possible to reproduce it, then there will be almost complete immersion in the USSR.

He himself answered a similar question, although not about specific decades:

No need to embellish! Life in the USSR was not so bad as in this libel. We lived well without the Internet and mobile phones - no one died. You can compare the statistics of death in the USSR and today. There were 2 TV channels. We watched what was shown - everyone is still alive! Sausage, bread, milk, were natural and tasty, not like now. Nobody died without toilet paper! Inexpensive cheese and NORMAL vodka were taken by the men to drink around the corner - but not FANFURIKI from the pharmacy, as in modern times! Draft beer was often diluted though. Long queues were only in Moscow in large shopping centers - GUM, TSUM, Detsky Mir for fashionable clothes and shoes. Well, to work on the tram - this is WEST for today's youth, and then it was very good for us - after all, not on foot! And most importantly, no one had a feeling of longing and meaninglessness! We all wanted to give the PRESTIGE and AUTHORITY of our MOTHERLAND !!! And then they write here all the ACHINA about life in the USSR !!!

Reply

Comment on

You see, what is the matter, "better" is a concept partially related to subjective sensations.

I conscientiously put pluses to Lech the Wise and Boris Popov. I quite vividly remember my feelings and the mood of my parents and their colleagues. Yes, there are many outrageous things to tell. In addition to what was said, there was a problem to buy books in our most reading country in the world.

But. People's feelings are greatly influenced by how not individual pictures are felt, but the sequence of changing pictures.

The 70s is still a very active development. Manufacturing, institutions, housing - all this is being built. Fundamental science is full of discoveries. People expect to live better.

But in the 80s ... serious problems began and not development, but even what was called into question.

79th - the introduction of troops into Afghanistan. In the 80s, it is already clear that things did not go as expected. People are seriously concerned about this. Why fight there? Brezhnev is already in a state that his relatives would later designate as "he himself wanted to retire, but was not released."

82nd Brezhnev died, Andropov came. The uncovering of the mass of problems with corruption in the government began.

84th Andropov died, Chernenko came. He died in the 85th.

The party itself has already publicly acknowledged problems with food, and problems with housing, and with the economy as a whole.

Here everyone thought as best he could what awaits us. But most were not optimistic. Anecdotes about half-dead general secretaries and their hearse races.

As usual, a lot of different things are mixed in one question ...

20 years is a serious period of time. Different people at different times lived in different ways. It was relatively good in the second half of the 70s.

It is very difficult to compare life now and almost half a century ago. Then there were completely differentterms.

There was one TV channel and one newspaper instead of tens and hundreds, not counting the Internet.

Most people went to work as if it were a holiday, because they were fooling around on it, celebrating birthdays and showing off new clothes.

The people were healthier due to the lack of serials, mobile phones and Odnoklassniki.

There was no future, but there was "confidence in the future."

And then oil prices fell ...

If you look closely, the heyday is more likely the first half of the 1970s, and not the second. From the second half, melancholy and gradual fading began. Because then Brezhnev also began to fall into insanity. It is enough to watch films of the early 1970s. In general, this is a kind of fantastic ideal world that has turned out after all. Before that, there were the brave and energetic 1960s. Well, after the last burst of enthusiasm, we decided to arrange a general relaxation. Here it is, finally, the happy life of a Russian in the socialist system! Further - some attempts to consolidate the conquered. I hope someone understands ...

But my second grandmother (God grant her more health), was a simple inspector at the plant, she was not entitled to any thanks. To buy oranges and good sausages, she traveled to Moscow on the night, in the morning I arrived, packed up, went home), bought decent meat from the back door through pull, and she only had decent shoes that her son brought from the tour, and now she has a pension of 23 thousand, children and grandchildren doing their business and those very few varieties of sausages and cheese within walking distance. She now likes it more than in the USSR.

- made here an interesting selection of photographs from 1989 and 1990. In 1991, the USSR did not become, and those who assert that the Union collapsed "unexpectedly" are wrong - everything was quite expected, people were waiting for changes and knew that the Soviet power would soon be gone. Suffice it to recall at least the fact that in 1990 (more than a year before the collapse of the Soviet Union) Minsk schools no longer accepted first-graders in October - it was over.

So, in today's post I will show you a photo from the life of people in the late USSR (shortages, rallies in support of Yeltsin, Soviet catering, etc.), and in the comments I will be glad to read your memories of this period of history)

02. In the very late 1980s - early 1990s, various international catering enterprises began to appear in the USSR. Perhaps the most famous was the opening of McDonald's in January 1990. The photo shows a poster about the imminent opening of the cafe, the photo was taken in Moscow in December 1989.

03. January 1989, car factory, workers' rest. Production schemes remained largely Soviet, although during the perestroika period, all sorts of modern things began to be introduced into enterprises, plus in some places real trade unions began to appear.

By the way, it is interesting, in 1989-1990 it was already possible to freely buy a car or were there still Soviet "queues"? I have not seen information about this.

04. February 1989, school. Children still studied according to Soviet programs, but with the beginning of Perestroika in 1985, the ideological component in education began to gradually fade - for example, in Minsk in 1990 (more than a year before the collapse of the USSR) first graders were no longer accepted in October. Much depended, among other things, on the personal initiative of teachers - someone continued until 1991 to talk about "good grandfather Lenin", someone beat him up and just taught the subject.

05. Exercise bikes, photo of 1989. At the end of the eighties, there was a widespread fashion for aerobics and sports, everyone bought themselves "health" circles, and in some institutions such simulators were installed. Back in those years, "rocking chairs" were finally allowed, which began to be massively opened in basements and at gyms.

06. Another foreign fast food enterprise, this time a Soviet-Finnish one. It specializes in the sale of burgers (an unusual and fashionable product in the late USSR).

07. Ladies dry their heads in the hairdresser. In the late eighties, there was a fashion for lush hairstyles and perm), and the hairdressers themselves were among the first to switch to semi-commercial cooperative work.

08. Winter in one of the Moscow neighborhoods, 1989 photo. Please note that there are practically no cars in the courtyard - they began to be massively bought already in the nineties.

09. With the beginning of Perestroika (especially after 1987), all sorts of meetings and rallies were allowed in the USSR - which immediately began to be held in large numbers, mainly against the Soviet government, the USSR and for Yeltsin.

10. Car repair in one of the Moscow courtyards. In those years, there were no normal car services, and many car enthusiasts were at the same time good auto repairmen. Somewhere in 1987, private cooperative car services began to appear.

11. Lady with an accordion on the Arbat - which at that time became a prominent tourist attraction in Moscow.

12. This is also Arbat, the poet reads his poems, photo of 1990. With the beginning of the policy of glasnost, it became possible to read anything - even obscene verses about Stalin and Gorbachev.

13. What international news worried Soviet citizens in those years? In January 1990, they talked in some detail about the withdrawal of Soviet troops from the united Germany, and a year earlier they showed a lot about the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.

14. They also talked a lot about Chernobyl and its consequences, and the topics of food contamination with radionuclides and nitrates began to be raised. This photo was taken in 1990 in the fields near the Thirty-Kilometer Exclusion Zone, the guy measures the radiation levels with an RKSB-1000 dosimeter. By the way, this is a household dosimeter not intended for detecting soil contamination)

15. 1990, queues at Sberbank for deposits - around this time the Soviet monetary system began to burst at the seams, many deposits were frozen.

16. A man with no legs asks for alms in one of the crossings in Moscow, photo of 1990. Yes, in the USSR there were also careless invalids and homeless people.

17. Homeless. Also Moscow.

18. In 1989-1990, there were literally empty shelves in the shops - something could only be bought in the markets, and even then not always. The photo shows a line of buyers for a small batch of meat that was "thrown away" in one of the Moscow stores.

19. Scarcity.

20. May 1990, completely empty shelves in one of the Moscow supermarkets. By the way, the signboards are very modern, more characteristic of the years for 1993-1994 in design.

21. Empty market stalls, also taken in 1990.

22. Those who had money could go to a restaurant, but dinner there was quite expensive - most often in restaurants they celebrated all sorts of anniversaries, family holidays, etc., just like that, a Soviet person did not go to restaurants)

23. Catering in 1990 - in the photo, apparently, one of the Moscow dumplings. A woman in a headscarf ordered a version with broth (just dumplings in the water in which they were cooked, sometimes bay leaves and black pepper were added there), from a man in a cap - a version without water, a bite of mustard. There is also tea in disposable cups.

24. In 1989-1990, protests took place in Moscow and other large cities of the USSR on any occasion - for example, demonstrators with a poster in support of Lithuania's independence.

25. And these are street protests in support of Yeltsin, the protesters are carrying a poster "BN Yeltsin is the President of the RSFSR."

26. A meeting against the CPSU. The guy has an interesting poster on which the font "KPSS" consists of bones.

27. The strike of students.

Do you remember the last years

A holiday was approaching: my parents' wedding anniversary. Mom was categorically against me paying for dinner in a cafe. Then a brilliant plan was born. Arrange home party in the style of the nineties.Let me remind them of the past, because they got married in 1985, the dawn of their youth fell on the Soviet years. Itself was silent, it is surprise... I invited guests, downloaded the hits of the nineties and started decorating the living room in a retro style.

USSR: a bygone era

One can regret the past, remember fragments with a smile. But it cannot be returned. I propose to "pull from memory" good momentsbecause life goes on. Today I will tell you how they lived in the USSR... To confirm my words, I will give weighty facts.

Soviet-style life:

• Parents dreamed that their children would become cultural workers in the future. Librarian, historian, teacher, culture critic, musician - prestigious professions.
• Private taxi prohibited. Cab drivers who wanted to earn money risked paying a fine. At any moment, the car could be stopped and asked who you were taking and what route to follow. And they even asked for documents to confirm family ties. State taxi was affordable, average cost trips - one ruble.
• Soviet ballet became famous all over the world. In the evening, performances were watched in front of a blue screen. To love this art is a sign of education.
• Fartsovschikimade good money. Because they secretly sold scarce goods... Today the word "fartsovka" is unknown to young people.

How they lived in the USSR: luxury

The concept of wealth then and now differs significantly. I would never have concluded that the family is rich if I saw a crystal chandelier and a sideboard with dishes in their apartment. And before it was objects of pride... If the family moved, they packed carpets and dishes (especially crystal) first. Soviet citizens, who did not suffer from a lack of money, tried not to expose their wealth to show.

A wealthy person was considered a person who has an apartment, a car, a summer house, a TV, imported household appliances and thousand rublesunder the mattress. You will not surprise us with a model 7 car or a dacha where you have to bend your back.

Childhood memories of the USSR
kotichok :
my grandmother told me a lot about the 30s, 40s and 50s
especially in my memory was the story of how in 1939, when Soviet power came, half of the village came running to see how the Soviets drank vodka by the Granchaks
my grandmother said that earlier they could play a wedding with a bottle of vodka - and everyone had fun
* * *
my father built the Moscow, Kharkov and Kiev subways
i worked a lot, I seemed to make money, but I did not have any cronies
i had to get everything
i remember when tangerines, bananas and "Evening Kiev" candies were "got", my parents looked so that I did not eat everything at once and did not become covered with diathesis)))

topof , "Eaglet 1988 Chinese wall stew":
Among the lucky ones was in the All-Russian camp Orlyonok in the summer of 1988 ... there were many children from all over the country ...
there were only 2 people from my city, after we were given the Great Wall Chinese canned meat on a camping trip to the All-Russian camp ... I realized that the USSR would not be coming soon00)) ... at that time ours still knew how to make normal canned meat .. ...
i experienced the second shock a couple of years later, when, having arrived in the village to visit relatives, instead of cream from my cow in a 3-liter jar, as usual, they began to smear Rama butter from a plastic jar ... agriculture was gone))))

tres_a :
Kiev, late 80s.
White bread could be bought only in one store and only within an hour after delivery - in the morning and at lunchtime. Where it was stale among the loaves - I still don't understand.
Ice-cream sundae in chocolate was rarely brought and only in milk (a special store with dairy products, in other grocery stores, milk was rarely brought in and stale).
In all stores there was a smell of bleach and rot (even in the central ones).
Children in public transport stood if there was someone adult (from 4-5 years old).
Few overweight people, of the children generally one or two for the entire school (in those schools that I know, there were up to 1000 students then).
For a cigarette they could be pulled by the ears and taken to their parents. Police 150% did so.
Clean-ups and other voluntary-compulsory activities (I still don't understand why I should clean if someone gets paid for it).
Politics and adult topics were not discussed in front of children.

tol39 (Born 1975):
You could buy bread here before lunch, after lunch you could fly, because bread was usually sorted out during the lunch break, which was from one to two in factories, and from two to three in stores. We had four kinds of ice cream - in waffle cups, we didn't have it on sale, my father brought it from the city. Eskimo, expensive and not very common, still by weight, very tasty, in such casings. And the products of our local dairy are in paper cups and with ice crystals. There was a specific smell in the shops, only it was not rotten, it smelled like the barrels that were always in the back rooms.
***
Well, firstly, it was childhood, and it was good, I was born in 1975. Until 87-88, everything was generally fine, and then the word "deficit" appeared. In fact, it was before, but it belonged to the category of things that were not very significant in everyday life. There was a feeling of close changes, exciting, as happens when you roll down on a springboard to take off, but there was no takeoff. We crashed into the dirty mess of the nineties all the way. Black T-shirts, chains, nunchucks, Royal alcohol and all. How I survived, hell knows.

true_frog (Born 1952):
My year of birth is 1952. This means that all my conscious life fell on the USSR.
Childhood. All the fun was on the street and in the yard. It was impossible to drive the children into the apartment. In the evening, windows and vents were opened: mothers called children from the yard. They played calm and active games, tennis, volleyball. On rainy days, they played in the entrance. Even in winter, in the dark, we girls were not forbidden to walk. We moved a lot. They went to school only on foot, no matter how far it was. For some reason, it was not accepted to travel by bus. Fat children - "fattrests" - were rare and despised by all.
Starting from the first grade, students first did a little cleaning in the classroom, and then they themselves washed the floors in the classrooms.
They collected either scrap metal, or empty bottles, or waste paper. It was not scary to send children to unfamiliar apartments.
There were a lot of different circles. Only in the music school was tuition paid, all the rest (sports and art) were completely free. The huge House of Pioneers, where you could do anything for free - even ballet, even boxing. Every child could try himself in any activity.
Even preschoolers were sent to pioneer camps. They lived there in one-story dachas, half of them were boys, half were girls. The toilet with a hole in the floor is outside, the water is only cold in the washstands outside. Compulsory general exercises in the morning. The children themselves were on duty at the gates of the pioneer camp and in the dining room. The dishes were not washed, but the bread was cut and the dishes were arranged.
***
Yes, "the key under the rug" was everywhere in childhood, even in the city, and in the late 70s, in our youth, in a small village in the Far North, we inserted a stick into the latch when we left home. In the early 80s, again in the city, the entrance doors were locked only at night, sometimes I forgot, and they slept not closed all night. When we moved to a new apartment, the door was closed at night with the washing machine until the lock was inserted.
***
From youth. In the first two years of university - cleaning. We are a little surprised why the collective farmers bend their backs in their gardens while we throw grain on the current, but in general we are having a great time: we learn to heat the stove, cook our own food on it, ride horses, drive a motorcycle, and arrange concerts.
In the 70s, a brass band can still be found at dances, not yet replaced by electric music.
Girls and girls are supposed to walk with their hair gathered. Ponytail is cool. And loose hair - well, that's only in foreign movies.
They dressed, of course, gray. I went to the first harvest in a quilted jacket, because jackets were rare, I sewed my first jacket in an atelier. It was strange to look at the bright clothes of Soviet film heroes in the movies: in life they did not dress like that. I remember being amazed at the bright red jacket of the daughter of a professor from Gentlemen of Fortune.
It was not possible to dress like everyone else in the studio, but getting there was not easy: there was also a queue. Good but worn items were available from thrift stores.
Well, I will also contribute to the discussion of the food program. In the 60s, we first lived in the Far East. There were no problems with the products. In 1963 they lived in Tuva. It’s there that the queue for milk was taken from the night. In 1964 we moved to Tyumen and saw a food paradise. The counters were decorated with cans of condensed milk, the sausage was bought at 200 grams, fresh, all kinds of compotes in cans in bulk. I don't remember when it all disappeared.

razumovsky4 , "The key is under the rug ....":
Everything is correct. 1951. Hide and seek, catch-up, rounders, table tennis, badminton, swords, swords, toy pistols, bicycles, a river in the weather, and, of course, the king of all games is football. From morning to evening. At the small gate.
And more girls in the "classics" and in the "stander." And so on until dark. And it got dark - so still some thread of the game with running around with flashlights with Chinese or German daimons. On the feet are either Chinese, Vietnamese or Czech sneakers. Sweatpants such as harem pants and a shirt. Forever in bruises, bruises and scratches. In winter, skates - from snow maidens - to knives, skis, sledges, hockey.
There was no time for lessons. An hour at most - and then somehow, quickly you need to run into the yard, chase the ball.
There are many circles in the House of Pioneers. In the summer - yes, a pioneer camp, with hikes and a river and a forest and amateur performances - the same games and competitions. Not boring.
That's right, there were practically no fat ones. Slim and agile. And they almost didn’t swear (until a certain age) And there’s nothing to say about girls. They did not smoke on such a scale. And we never heard of pedophiles and drugs. You fly home, there is a note in the doorway - "Key under the rug"))))

lexyara :
But I'll drop it. A little bit. (63-76 years of the last century)
I was born and lived in the city of Krasnoyarsk. My father was a pilot and often flew to our capital. From there he brought all sorts of goodies. There were no goodies in Krasnoyarsk (or rather, they were, but some "clumsy".)
By "clumsy" it is meant that ... But everyone wanted butter not salty, and the shops were packed with salty. There were no bananas or oranges. There were no batteries for the flashlight either (the "junk dealers" came and exchanged junk for batteries, pistons and other nonsense).
The bread and buns in the Khlib store were always fresh. Vegetables, pasta (long ones like a modern ballpoint pen), sugar, salt, matches, soap, etc. have always been in stores. Even if rumors crept - "Tomorrow is a war, there will be no salt." She was.
Of course, there was no shortage of it. These are toilet paper (important), glazed curd cheeses, "Bird's milk" cake, "Bear in the North" or "Squirrel" candies. Dad brought this from Moscow. Ice cream was always there. "Leningradskoye" appeared quite rarely (once or twice a week, everyone knew in advance when they would bring it). Groats - it was a blockage. Here with sausage and sausages - trouble. But sometimes it was not lying on the floor. At that time I was not familiar with alcohol, so I will not say anything. Cigarettes were always on sale (although I didn't smoke, I remember).
Somehow I was not interested in clothes. I didn’t iron the pioneer tie every day. There was no uniform uniform at school.
Here's what was interesting. The streets could be walked at any time. No fear that they will stop you and shake all the little things out of your pockets. If an incident happened in the area, then they would gossip about this case for months. Children could go to all kinds of "circles", "studios", etc. Is free. I went to the "aircraft modeling club". Ely-pala, Gazprom has never dreamed of funding such a circle to this day (the toad will strangle).
And the machines were there, and they provided material (something expensive), and different people took us to competitions.
In the summer it was possible (again for free) to go to the pioneer camp. They were fed "for slaughter". I did not observe any "bullying" there.
About everyday life. In the evenings, neighbors would gather in the yard and play dominoes, bingo ... well, they just chatted in a friendly way. The neighbors (who had children) gave us theater performances (with our participation). A puppet show was organized, slide shows on a sheet, etc.
Yes. Everyone did not have cars (some of them, of course).
From a material point of view (sausage, delicacies, clothes, cars, roads), everything was rather regrettable. I don’t deny it. But there were also many advantages.

General impressions and reasoning

alexandr_sam :
1965 USSR. Mom is a railway woman, dad is an electrician in a mine, then for health reasons left as a refrigeration unit operator. The salary for the whole family is 200 rubles. I am 7 years old, sister 5. No one has ever given us any apartments. all their lives they lived in their own shack and still built something like a house, if it could be called that - amenities in the yard.
I bought the refrigerator when I was already married in the mid-80s. We only dreamed of smoked sausage in childhood. There was never enough money. We bought ice cream once or twice a year. They kept their chickens - eggs, meat. We planted potatoes, corn, seeds in the garden (outside the city). Oil (unrefined) was obtained from the seeds.
TV appeared in the late 60s. "Zarya" was called. Black and white. The screen size is the same as that of the iPad. ;-)
I don't even want to remember. Dreamed of the great "Penza". True, they bought a used Eaglet. I used it to plow the state farm in the summer. He carried water and watered cucumbers. They paid about 40 rubles a month. I bought myself a watch. And the stupid teacher forbade wearing them to school. Impermissible, they say, luxury.
Lived and fattened in our city only workers of the city committee, the city executive committee, and all the trade and audit scum. Until 1974, beggars constantly walked the streets. The mother usually gave them a piece of bread and a couple of eggs. And there was nothing more to give. There was grub in stores until 1977, but there was not enough money. And by the end of the 70s everything began to disappear from us. They dragged sausage and butter from Ukraine, since she was nearby.
They stole everything. One could steal from the state - no one condemned. Country of thugs.
Then the army. Hazing, lies about Afghanistan, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, political studies, drill and stupidity.
Finally, Perestroika and Glasnost. Glory to Gorbachev! He delivered us from that shameful and gray life.
I felt free only in the late 80s - early 90s. It was difficult, I do not argue, but it is better this way than with the advice.
Now Russia is living the way it has never lived before. Putin is a chance for Russia. At the same time, I ask my future critics to note that I have never held government positions and have nothing to do with oil and gas. He did not steal a single budgetary ruble and never had anything to do with budget money.
So, in short. I have lived 55 years and I know what I am talking about. I have seen a lot in my life. And I laugh at thirty-year-old idiots who praise the Soviet regime and the Soviet Union. You wouldn't have lived there for a week. They would break from there like elk!
I don't need this USSR. God forbid my children from such an artificial and deceitful country.
***
It was all about lies and hypocrisy. Still hiccupped. Do you think today's corruption is an invention of Yeltsin and Putin? Horseradish! The foundation was laid by Lenin and Stalin. Just dig deeper, gentlemen, and do not nod at the kings. Little of them remained after October 1917 ...

mariyavs :
I will not be original. Those my grandmothers who did not have problems with food and clothes due to their positions and their grandfathers have only happy memories. Sanatoriums on trade union vouchers, free travel to the place of vacation and back, vouchers for children to camps, order tables, officer's department stores ... And who was "simpler" - a deficit, queues, give - take it (you need it or not, then you will figure it out) , "sausage tours" in Moscow time. But, of course, there were some good things. Children's leisure time was organized and accessible to the majority, an atmosphere of friendship and trust in a neighbor. There were enough reptiles, of course, even then. But the children were allowed to go outside alone and were not afraid.

psy_park :
There was a lot of bad and a lot of good - as, however, always and everywhere in the world. But about the bread - it was much better than the current one. Then there were no leavening agents, flavoring agents, flavoring agents, etc. I especially miss the 16 kopeck rye made from coarse flour - now there is no such thing in Moscow. And, of course, a white hearth - 28 kopecks each. and gray - 20 kopecks. Unfortunately, they are not there either.
Yes, in bakeries there were special large two-toothed forks or spoons tied or simply lying - to check the "softness" of the bread and many poked and crumpled the bread with them. Although almost always the bread was from the same machine and all the same, but since the fork was lying, many people used it. True, they were mainly old women. In our bakery in the next section - in the "grocery", it was possible not only to buy gingerbread candies, but also to drink a glass of tea or coffee (black or with milk) near a standing table. Tea with sugar - 3 kopecks. Coffee - 10-15 kopecks. The taste is not great, of course, but quite tolerable. And if you also buy a bun - from 10 to 15 kopecks, then it was quite possible to have a snack. Trivial, but now there is no such thing, which is a pity. All this is Moscow. In Leningrad - about the same. And in other places with food was not so good, unfortunately. Although, no one ever went hungry. Naturally, in the period from the late 50s - early 60s. until 89-91. Yes, I can’t resist - and the ice cream was not made with palm oil.

raseyskiy :
In Soviet times, there were no chocolate sweets in the shops, and the queue for dairy products was at 6 am (Moscow does not count). There was no meat in stores, and neither was sausage. There was such a term "thrown out" in the sale of a deficit, well, for example, instant coffee - a queue of hundreds of people, although for coffee there was a queue in Moscow.
***
... a number of cities were supplied relatively well, while in others even sprats in tomato sauce were rare. ... 70s and 80s. In those years, for the most part, everything and everything was bought in Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev, Minsk ... i.e. on vacation, business trip, etc.

tintarula :
I spent my childhood in a private house on the working-class outskirts of Vladivostok, and, like any childhood, it was full of sledding, fiddling in the garden, vegetables and berries "from the bush", games, friendship and betrayal - in general, everything is fine. There were few books in the house, but they subscribed to children's magazines, a school library, a TV set from neighbors. Then there was almost no deficit, there was a small amount of money.
A more or less conscious age is the end of the 60s, and then the 70s. I studied this and that, I worked. In general, "what they don't know, they don't feel it." In general, everything suited me. Well, yes, the sausage began to disappear (dry - almost completely, but Vlad is a sea city, there was a lot of fish (it never came to an end, so during the "Gaidar famine" we did not starve, and the stories of friends from Russian centers are strange to me, how it was difficult to get food.) In '74 or '75, it seems, the Mona Lisa was brought to Moscow, and we (three friends) went to watch it - in a common carriage back and forth. We scampered around Moscow for about a month, went to theaters, drove to Leningrad and Luga (where they knew each other, including acquaintances of acquaintances - they had to live somewhere).
The shortage of books was very hindered, but my friend's sister worked at the Research Institute of Marine Biology, and there the people were advanced, the Strugatskys got them in manuscripts, and my friend and sister copied them by hand. And I rewrote "The Master and Margarita". That is, we were "in the know".
And still it was youth, and therefore good. And in general, in my opinion, "good" and "bad" are personal private feelings, not too dependent on the circumstances of life. The "dashing 90s" were not dashing for me either, role-playing games appeared in the 90s - and in the same way we went to Khabarovsk, Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk (to Khabar - in a common carriage), and it was good.
Yes, and now it is good.

ular76 :
come from two specifically counter-revolutionary families.
therefore, I have no claims to the Soviet power.
childhood was happy and carefree.
i did not experience any restrictions in education, sports, food, recreation and happy pastime.
for which I am deeply grateful to the entire Soviet people.
i don’t suffer from any illusions about the liberoid-thieves' domestic policy of modern Russia, but calmly observe the natural course of changes and transformations.

Discussions

belara83 :
50% of some kind of nonsense is written, queues have been a phenomenon since 1989, until then, well, there were 5-10 people, they sat down for something like that. No one was starving, Everyone had a job, but there was no chic, there was a shortage of imported things, but now people have a lot of choice and problems are above the roof ... I lived in the village, my mother bought ice cream for our children with boxes ... Bread was always and cost 16 kopecks , and white 20 kopecks !!! Sausage 2.2 p kg, 2.8 kg, is boiled.
But people lived more calmly, they understood that tomorrow everyone is in nervous tension, they don’t know what will happen to them tomorrow. Nothing happened to us without imported clothes and everything else, there was no need to destroy the whole country, it was possible to change something and leave a lot, no "to the ground and then" ordinary people suffered as a result ...

Here are two more opinions about life in the former USSR.

So, the opinion of the blogger Mr Wednesday:
I quite often tell others about life in the Union. I am telling because, especially young people, they know almost nothing and think about the Union with some kind of propaganda blanks. I will immediately make a reservation that I am not a fan of communism, moreover, in those years, I was to some extent a dissident who did not like the Soviet system. Nevertheless, I want to write about the USSR, about the good country that we had, under the influence of what I see now) On the one hand, such memories are nostalgic and pleasant, on the other hand, I write, because sometimes I hear well just delirium, at the level that then there was nothing to eat and so forth. I do not claim to fully cover the entire Union, both now and then, there were many different places, perhaps with their own characteristics, the country was large)

I'm not sure that I will fit into one article, because there are many impressions and if there is inspiration, I will write in parts, put myself in a blog. Still, I think it is important that people do not have a distorted view of those times. I will write the same bad thing that happened in the USSR in my opinion. I am writing about the period starting from the 70s because then I was already quite conscious) I will also be glad to objective additions) My experience of those years applies to the central cities of some republics and smaller cities, it does not apply to Moscow and Leningrad, since there I got there later) Although I lived part of the Union in St. Petersburg, I also met perestroika there, but more on that later.

Let's start with the main thing -

Food in the USSR))

The first and most important thing I want to say is that all the main types of products have always been, and they were of good quality, in contrast to modern times. It was really real milk, on which cream was formed, good butter .. The advice was conscientious in what and not gone so far as to counterfeit products) Now attention - it was difficult to buy or "get", as they said, only certain delights - shortage, I give you several examples, evaluate the importance of these products for yourself (someone can add)

I will put sprats in the first place)) well, who does not remember how carefully they opened and often put this precious product right in a jar, which is now probably the cheapest of all fish)) Sprats were sometimes pronounced reverently and the cherished jar appeared on the festive table)) Then they go - dry sausage, Bulgarian canned food, roasted candies, a bear in the north ... they told me that there was no meat, I am not a meat lover, but I don’t remember that there was no meat, there was always some kind of meat, maybe there were no cuttings, maybe the meat was not great, maybe they bought it up in the evening, but I remember, for example, there was no soup without meat, the very concept of "soup" as a whole meant that someone's remains were floating there) In canteens, and then we ate a lot in canteens, it was fashionable in its own way, meat was always there. It was believed that "without meat this is not food", I disagree with this)) but I write objectively, people ate meat)) Well, they even had a fish day in public catering, it was Thursday in my opinion) But it is clear that on Thursday, for its money it was)

There were all kinds of seasonal vegetables. There were normal potatoes, cabbage and more. Nobody bought apples by pieces)) I think if in those days someone came up and said - "weigh me 2 apples", then they would think that the person is scoffing or crazy, how can you buy 2 apples?)) Well, they took a minimum kilogram. All these products were not expensive, milk, apples, and more, I don't remember the prices now, well, everything is in kopecks. The prices were fixed, no one could sell at a higher price, state prices changed rarely, remaining the same for years. I'm not saying that there was paradise or that there were no problems, there were problems, but many of the problems of that time look just cute, against the background of modern problems) There was always a meal (pun intended), it was not expensive and accessible to everyone.

There was always black and white bread, buns, ice cream, simple sweets ... squash caviar)) Here are red and black caviar, there was a shortage) From bakery, I don't remember a shortage. There was also a deficit of chewing gum) it simply was not in the union. Well, for children it was the ultimate dream and every child knew that foreigners have chewing gum) Western life for children was associated with chewing gum, for teenagers it was associated with jeans and sheets (vinyl records).

Now about clothes

All types of clothing were available in the USSR. The assortment of clothes would be small, it was sometimes ugly, but in principle it was quite solid. There was no blemish either with shoes or with the other, the only thing was that there was a shortage of western clothes, mainly from the socialist countries, since the caps of the country were far from us at that time. In general, the West seemed like a kind of paradise, where everyone walks in jeans and listens to cool music and everyone has a coveted headset) Where does everyone have a car !! (Oh wow). A lot of people listened to Western voices and, secretly or openly, dreamed of their clothes or going to Bulgaria or Poland ... a trip to Germany and even more so to the USA, for the majority it was completely unrealistic and those who were there perceived them as gods. America seemed like heaven, by the way, I didn't understand why we thought so)) Ahhh well, because there were jeans)) Cool guy, it was the one who had jeans, long hair, and a "Japanese" cassette recorder (Chinese soap dish) , it really was a "value", but that most of us had an apartment, milk and so on, well, no one thought about it, because it was the norm. Well, I'll tell you about the apartments a little later.

The biggest mistake of the councils, I believe, was that they did not show real life in the West. If the advice really showed or made it possible to feel what the West is, there would be no restructuring. Perestroika began mainly because everyone was under the illusion that “over there” it was good. We must pay tribute to the CIA, they worked well, one of the main reasons for the collapse of the USSR was not a lack of housing products and other things, but just a stupid dream, faith in the United States. How funny or paradoxical it is. Now, leaving abroad is no longer perceived as something wonderful mystical. The west is full of difficulties and it is very controversial to say that it is good there, it is very controversial, although it is clear that someone lives, but many have returned, and someone simply simply cannot come back, stuck there.

Perestroika did not start as a revolution, in fact, no one expected it, not even the United States)) Perestroika did not begin that there was nothing to eat in the country, everyone lived as usual. Perestroika began as a kind of positive cry, as the beginning of a new era, as an improvement in what is, and not as a struggle with what is. We are accustomed to stability, we didn’t like a lot, but it didn’t concern everyday life, basically. A new generation grew up on the "Voices of America" \u200b\u200bincluding Gorbachev)) People simply did not know what the real USA was, what the market was, and so on, everyone thought "we will live well." I will write my attitude to this later, because a whole chapter is probably needed. Now, the new generation simply does not know what happened, of course, if people think that there would be nothing to eat, well, then it really is paradise) But I lived then and what is happening today in everyday life ... it is very difficult to say which is better now ... I will say that life was rather better then, not now. This is objective. There are other pluses and minuses, I can summarize later, but overall it was better then.

As for the deficit, remembering it is very touching and cool) You see, as Raikin said then - “let everything be, but let something be missing” deficit was a highlight of Soviet society)) You see, it made life more fun) deficit was not something oppressive, imprinting, it was some philistine dream and, in fact, if not the destruction of many good things, the dream is quite harmless) In fact, in the USSR there was everything, there was the necessary furniture, clothes and so on, there was simply nothing unusual) From the memories - one woman "Thug", went abroad to a cap country (oo dream ...) and bought a beautiful curtain for the bath for hard currency) That's about the same level, there was a need in the USSR) Or in the movie "with light steam" when she measures boots, like this it was very, very typical. Just as it is very typical there getting a new apartment is not a New Year's fairy tale, it did happen.

Apartments in the USSR

People received housing from the state for free. Of course, all this was not easy, an apartment was a serious thing, they stood in queues for years, but getting an apartment was a reality. Just as there was a real increase in living space for a growing family - getting a larger apartment to replace the existing one. Almost anyone could get an apartment and everyone got it - young specialists, in many cases they were given benefits, families, young families, single mothers, directors and so on. And builders received 250 percent of the apartment, just go to the construction site, work, get a salary and in 5 years there will be an apartment as well, well, at least I knew this situation and real people who received apartments this way. Also less, but they built cooperatives, single mother, 120 rubles salary, the cooperative paid not even so long and paid somewhere for 10-15 years, 2-room, in the center, a large city of the Union.

So, in general, they did not save up for apartments, they received apartments from the state. The utilities were quite reasonable prices. The zest with the apartments was according to the following scheme - how quickly it can be obtained (but my boss, the rogue, received it in 2 years, and we are all standing in line). - What area it will be (we have two children, we need a three-room apartment). Further, there were already conversations about who has which floor, balcony, etc. (they have loggias there ...) There were many new buildings and new settlements, the situation with light steam was very common in those years. A typical house - yes, a typical construction, in which basically everyone still lives.

They didn't save up for apartments, they saved up for cars ...

(End of the first part)

Of course, there is a lot to tell about - school, institute, army, work, factories, trade union committees, vouchers to the pioneer camp, rest homes, treatment, dissidents, communication of different nationalities, etc., what kind of children were, everything evokes fond memories) Well, tell me what I really didn't like in the Union) But to say that there was a bad life, it seems to me very difficult) In the end, there were also rich people there who lived richly)

And here is the opinion of another blogger, Edward R.:

What we ate in the USSR

I also wanted to have a hand in memoir texts about the Soviet past. It was just interesting to refresh my memory. At the time of the USSR's demise, I was 21 years old, in theory I must remember. The most interesting thing is what we ate. After all, I was born in nothing else. A mine town in the Urals, 50 thousand inhabitants. It seems like nowhere was worse than us.

The supply of the townspeople was managed by the Department of Workers' Supply (OPC), which included: a vegetable warehouse, a vegetable store, a non-alcoholic beer workshop and all shops.

I remember myself from the age of four. On the way from kindergarten, my mother and I went to Khlebny. I was asked what sweets we would buy today? I chose either Karakum or Red Poppy, my mother took 100 grams. There were also chocolate truffles from delights, chocolate medals in I didn't like sweets with white fondant. Parents alternated chocolate with hematogen, but also nothing. From that time I remember big red circles of cheese. (in a shell).

Closer to school (76-77 somewhere) chocolate and cheese ran out. For a long time the ersatz "Alyonka" and toffee in the tiles reigned. But "petrels" and "daisies" were. Since then I stopped being a sweet tooth.

What about the fruit? There were always watermelons, melons, grapes in the season. And OPC supplied guests from the south. There were no bananas. Pears were eaten by the "northerner".

In general, subsistence farming was extremely developed. Everyone kept "gardens" and planted potatoes. Potatoes are a separate story. We planted a lot, for future use. Once we planted 8 acres and the Harvest happened. I remember almost died, digging all day. the potatoes were distributed to pig breeders.

Pig breeding was also ubiquitous. Apparently, therefore, there were really no problems with meat. When the grandfather pricked the pig, she completely went into business. From the head of boiled pork, bones to jellied meat, liver to pies, stomach and intestines went to delicious blood sausage. Numerous canteens with slops were the chiefs of livestock breeders, and feed factories in the neighboring collective farms and gray bread at 14 kopecks per loaf.

They also kept rabbits. Also meat. And I spent all my childhood in rabbit hats. A huge number of skins disappeared. Rabbit fur coats were not fashionable or what?

My sacred duty was to bring milk home. Every day I carried six bottles. If in the states they drink beer from the refrigerator, my father and I drank milk from the refrigerator, quenched our thirst. Only my mother drank tea in the family.

The most popular dish we had was fried potatoes on lard with meat under some sort of pickles of horseradish. After such a meal, milk was not recommended, we had to drink black currant juice.

Another mystery of that time. We did not have mayonnaise. After all, what is easier is vinegar and egg powder. We didn’t have it, but sour cream.

Of course, I stood in the queues. When the smoked sausages were "thrown away", they gave me one and a half kilos each, so they pulled me out of the fun of street mothers, grandmothers.

By the way, they didn’t get sick. In winter at -25, you will throw off your rabbit three-ear and checkered coat, maybe some ARI, you’ll get away from school and continue to hockey. Nifiga, bummer.

In short, they lived as something no worse, but differently than now. About the public atmosphere is also interesting, but that's another story.

Thanks for reading.