Real USSR » interior

Sherlock Holmes VS USSR: 1 Nil.

eugenia — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 01:18:05 +0000

My iPad has really got me reading recently. On iBooks almost all of classic literature is free, so I am reading a book by Arthur Conan Doyle — The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Man with the Twisted Lip. There was a passage that struck me as remarkable (or, as Conan Doyle would put it, rather singular):

One night — it was in June 1889 — there came a ring to my bell. … We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps upon the linoleum. Our door flew open, and a lady, clad in some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room.

The Soviet movie illustration of this book. 1979. Vasily Livanov as Sherlock Holmes and Vitaly Solomin as Dr Watson.

Really. In June 1881, just like that, Sherlock had linoleum, which was nothing extraordinary at the time — given he was presumed to somewhat struggle financially, and thus his need to share a flat. In the USSR — and this is the point I am making now — linoleum was one of the highest sought-after products until at least early 1980. I wouldn’t believe it myself, but I remember how excited my Mum was when in 199o we managed to “secure” some of this precious material to floor the kitchen in our apartment.

What was the price of those space exploration programmes if linoleum was a scarce commodity at least for a century after it became widespread in the rotten, capitalistic West? You feel my pain?

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Wrap Your Baby in Old Newspapers — the 70 Years of Deficit of Everything.

eugenia — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 23:23:42 +0000

A typical Soviet shop with bare shelves.

One of the main critisisms of the Soviet Union now, from an every day perspective, was the huge deficit of everything. The planned economy failed to supply a constant flow of goods necessary for the well being of people. It was not the matter of incapacity — no, the means certainly allowed to build space shuttles or create extra strong tanks. The shortage for goods was created artificially — due to the reasons of the strange Soviet ideology.

A shop in Vladivostok, The sign on the wall: Juices. Water. Ice Cream. The photo is by Vladimir Kobzar.

According to the Soviet census of 1977 — cited from the Grand Soviet Encyclopaedia — volume 24, part 2, data on the house hold items of prolonged usage (that is, TV sets, fridges, washing machines) - the times of Brezhnev were far from abundant. For instance, in 1975 only 74 out of 100 households owned a TV — which means that 26% of all families would not have one! Furthermore, these TVs would have to be black and white, as colour TVs did not widely appear in the USSR until very late eighties. In the mid 1970s an average American family had a 1.5 TV sets per house — and they were certainly colour.

Come here, honey, Brezhnev is on now!

In the mid to late 1980s the situation with TVs had straightened out — but doesn’t it seem ridiculous that in 1975, the year of Soyuz Apollo space docking project, every fourth family in the USSR did not have a telly! Now it seems like the government had to make a choice — either every house gets a TV — or we explore outer space. The success of the Americans in both of these missions was frowned upon.

It’s very hard to gauge what was kind of a shop it was!

It could be understood if this applied to some high tech for those times gadgets — but no, this was the every day necessities. Say, the very first range of video cassete players and recorders was released by Sony in 1969. If we were to say that an average Russian person did not even hear about the VCRs till late 1980s — we would not be exhagerrating. Moreover, a regular household was only able to purchase one in the early 1990s. But this applied to almost everything, from fridges to radio transmitters — only 61% of families owed a fridge in 1975. How is that possible that the space exploration programmes were costing the country a formidable chunk of the budget — yet very little money was spent on supplying regular people with the necessities? The data on washing machines is similar: about 40% of all households had to do their washing by hand.

The same was with almost all household goods — the notorious example here is baby nappies. The disposable nappies were invented in 1958, and three years later they became a necessety for every baby born in the West. If you were born around that time and you are reading this here now, you would be very likely to think the situation was no different all over the world, exept perhaps some Africa bits. Alas — the USSR saw no nappies - not till very late 80s, and when they appereared, they cost a small fortune. To wrap babies in old newspapers was not unheard of.

This nappy phenomenon was idisyncratic for the USSR, and no logical explanation has ever been offered. Moreover, the goods of prolonged usage had really proved to be of this kind: as no replacement was available, TVs and fridges were in use for decades, often despite the technological progress. Also, to buy a fridge or a TV one had to fill a request which could take months to come through.

The siege of a wine shop. 1990.

This total deficit of everything created an agitated demand for things on the black market. As shops were barely filled, the savings of an average person mounted, and much of it would have been disposable. Of course, a TV cost three or four average monthly salaries, but often there was nothing to spend the money on — at all.

One item check out

The was and its aftertaste was long gone, yet the Soviet life was not in the hurry to improve and to catch up with the American lifestyle. The Soviet dream was meant to be in full throttle, according to the movies and other means of propaganda. Yet the huge gap between the reality and the official version was one of the most debilitating features of life back in the Soviet Union.

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An Old Curiosity Shop: The Museum of Soviet Life

Maria Yukhimenko — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 12:58:44 +0000

Earlier this year, a unique in its peculiarity museum was opened in Novosibirsk, the Siberian capital of Russia. Privately owned, this museum offers an insight into the days long gone, yet longing to be remembered: a collection of the Soviet everyday artifacts; simple things that still matter.

Please welcome our new author Maria Yukhimenko, who has visited this place and and prepared this report exclusively for the realussr readers.

The USSR Museum: the facade.

The museum occupies a 1917 villa and is opened by appointment only. The story goes that a long time ago this building was used as an NKVD headquarters (the KGB predecessor, that is). Well, it certainly feels like it – the atmosphere is gloomy enough: dark rooms, high stud ceilings, squeaky wooden floors.

However, it turns out to have quite a bit of character…

As always, please click on magnifying glass to see in detail.

An Old curiosuty shop indeed!

A TV with an classic clock on it.

The Soviet art deco: a cast iron clock Young couple flirting.

Inside it feels like a treasure chest, with all the impossible relics brought together: from old cameras and typewriters through to crockery, clothes and propaganda posters. Most of the appliances are still in working order, Anna the proud curator tells me.

Assorted Soviet china

A boy scout with a German sheppard, close up.

The stuff on display does not seem to be categorized in any particular way, nor is it chronological: it is just there, in almost random piles, to be touched and looked at by visitors. Almost each artifact has got a tiny sticker with a price on; unfortunately, apart from the door charges (USD$2), this is the only way for the museum to stay afloat.

Rubber toys, mostly fairy tale characters.

The director of the USSR museum is Idea Lozhkina. Back in the days, propagandistic names were trendy (Firstofmay or Revolutia, and so Idea is one of them). And she was, indeed, struck by an idea of opening a Soviet version of a curiosity shop. “My house was full of old memorabilia, and people liked it, so I though, why not? – says Idea. - It is very important to create something useful in this life. Something, which will help to remember those days, otherwise the risk that the stuff will be dumped is very high”.

The interview with the director Idea Lozhkina.

The Museum tries to stay neutral in its political position. Idea says they are not trying to promote communism or communistic propaganda; they are only trying to keep the memories alive. The younger ones, who come to the museum, do not always know who Lenin was. Nevertheless, the museum has been opened for two months only, and it has been very popular with the public.

Busts of Mao, bronze; Lenin, cast iron. Note which one is taller, this is Made in the USSR for you.

There is a study-like room, which is just asking to be labelled as “Lenin’s study”. His portraits on the walls, communistic flags, a typewriter on the desk, an opened book on Marxism and communism principles… Just next to it there are documents of that era: passports, membership dockets, letters. A guy in the huge portrait on the wall seems almost unrecognizable: young Brezhnev, it turns out. A rare shot.

Young Brezhnev.

Another Soviet toy, a stuffed teddy.

The “Smena” camera (“Change”, no less!) in its glory days made it to the Guinness Record Book as the most popular camera of its days: the sales were skyrocketing!

USSR money: the rouble is yellow, three is green.

At 6 pm after the war, a film of 1944. The IMDB rating is 7.2/10

In the future they intend to open a small cinema to show films of the Soviet era and to allow the older people to socialize and feel a little nostalgic over it. The Museum team also plan to celebrate major Soviet holidays, organize get-together parties, sing old songs and listen to the old music. “After all, — says Idea, — this place strives to bring people together. Russia is a great and powerful country which I believe in, but Russia was born out of the USSR, and it would not have been possible for Russia to be born without the USSR. And we are here to praise its legacy, even on such a small scale as every day items”.

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Interior Design and Furniture in the USSR

eugenia — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 06:27:25 +0000

Welcome!

As previously stated, the majority of people in the USSR lived in the apartments. Unfortunately, due to the the time constraints, they had to be built in a speedy rather than comfortable manner. After the war, when accommodation was extremely scarce, a three bedroom flat could accommodate up to 16 people (four average families), with one shared kitchen and one shared bathroom. The quality of living there was truly horrendous. So when Khruschev started his building binge in 1960s, a joke went that the legacy of those communal flats was agoraphobia – the fear of open spaces and the tendency to hoard things. Well, if you spent your formative years in a pokey flat where you’d have to dry your laundry next to the stove, you’d be just as agoraphobic.

So let’s look at the main trends in the interior design Soviet style.

Personal attachment

The severe deficits caused by planned economy had turned every Soviet into a thrifty squirrel hoarding everything, from tin cookie boxes to imported shampoo bottles. Everything which had a semi-practical implication (take an old tooth brush, pluck all the bristle out, heat it over a fire to bend in the middle – voile! You just made yourself a wonderful hook to hang clothes!) would have been kept for years, hence the overall cluttered look of a typical Soviet flat.

This is still “All in One” flat.

The habit to hoard

As we have figured, it grew out of extreme consumerism poverty, which barely anybody could escape. The constant visual hunger for pretty household things (say, the k-mart level would have been to die for, yet it was not there!) had lead to the lack of understanding of the true value of items. Hence the quantity of furniture items in a given flat was equated with the social status of its owners and overall achieving abilities. Considering there were no Tiffany lamps or Barcelona chairs, typically it was a sad cemetery of depressing clutter.

In a furniture shop.

Furniture essentials

During the Soviet times, the furniture shops had a truly non-existent range of furniture items. That’s why 95% of all apartments looked very much alike. The wall units were a must have, as they allowed lots of storage space and display. The sofa with two matching chairs was a popular item, however the irony was that the chairs were matching across the country. A lamp on a stand (aka torchere, after its French name) was also available.

Just another Soviet interior look.

Personalise it!

That’s why kitschy personalising was so in: macramé, tile mosaics, appliqué sofa covers, embroidered curtains, construction out of matches and paper snowflakes on windows every winter. Plus the rest of what was thought to be pretty (stuffed toys as a decorative element, artificial flowers in plastic vases, bamboo curtains etc), the look was truly sad.

This is more likely to be a village flat.

The standard Soviet wish list

Apart from wanting to own a flat, a motor vehicle and a summer bach on the allotment, the things that everybody desperately wanted to own included: a Yugoslavian wall unit (a piece of furniture having several units that stands against one wall of a room), a Polish bedroom suite, a collection of rugs (for the floors and for the walls, too!). A strange yet incredibly widespread habit of decorating the walls with rugs in the USSR took off in an instant and stayed till maybe late 1990s.

Dinner time.Please note the wallpaper, another Soviet craze, which is still popular.

And finally some appliances “Made In the USSR”

A vacuum cleaner, circa 1970s, to keep those carpets cleaned.

A device to manually clean the carpet by repeated hitting. Even those who could afford a vacuum claner would get one, to clean the carpet in winter on the snow.

A Soviet TV set, the image is still visible — it was often the quality of broadcast.

A manual meat mincer.

A semi-automatic washing machine (the crunching had to be done manually between the rolls)

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Signboards of Soviet Stores

Dmitry Yakimenko — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 09:07:40 +0000

1981. “Milk” (rus. Moloko). In the front a woman pushes the blue pram with a ‘window’. It was incredibly difficult to buy this sort of prams in those times.

Milk

1965. In Soviet Russia people do not think too much about inventing names for the outlets owned by the state. All the stores were simply named: “Bread”, “Milk”, “Meat” or “Fish”. On the picture — “Grocery Store”.

Grocery

1987. Home appliances (rus: “Electrotovary”).

Source: germanych.livejournal.com (In Russian)

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