Real USSR » Moldavian

Artistic Photography Shortly Before Perestroika

Stas Kulesh — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 09:43:00 +0000

Fall’s Gifts / Rainy Day by A. Suprun from the book “Amateur Photography”, Kiev 1986

A small collection of photos from two photography books published in the 1980s in the USSR. All photographs from this set are by amateur photo artists from the republics of Ukraine (Amateur Photography, 1986) and Moldovia (Moldavian Artistic Photography, 1985). Please remember to click on the magnifying glass icon to see the full-size image.

Life by P. Balan

Red Flags by A. Lykov

The Elements by A. Lykov

The Window by A. Palamar

Graphics by P. Bodu

Again, if you need to clarify what is on the photos — do not hesitate to question. Many thanks to a Russian photographer Liubov Sautina for sending us these pictures. Please visit her Flickr page.

Just a quick recap on our availability via other resources. Here is us on twitter. Our RSS feed is here — realussr. The latest addition to our team is realussr facebook application — check it out! Soon we will have a featured authors’ page, with portraits and lifestories so you would be able to put a face to a name and also leave feedback. In short, stay tuned — there is so much more to come!

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Picturing the Soviet Republics: Moldavia

Stas Kulesh — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:29:48 +0000

No doubt photography was a popular art in the USSR. Here and below are pictures taken by the people all over the Soviet state of Moldavia. Today’s set based on the book called “Moldavian Art of photography”, Kishinev (recently renamed to Chisinau), 1985.

Please do not forget clicking the lense icon to see full size images and please follow us on twitter.

Portrait of a Worker by M. Potyrnike

Optimist by V. Gaydash

Eyes by V. Bozhenko

Veterans by A. Simanovsky

Summer-83 by A. Gomonuk

Kickback by A. Grinko

Many thanks to a Russian photographer Liubov Sautina for keeping these fascinating pictures. Please visit her Flickr page.

If you would like to clarify what is on the photos — do not hesitate to question.

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Soviet Union Administrative Division

Stas Kulesh — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 05:03:03 +0000

Since 1956 the enormous territory of the Soviet Union consisted of fifteen union republics — the large administrative and political units — officially known as Soviet republics. By far the largest and most important of the union republics was the Russian Republic, containing about 51 percent of the population. Primarily because it encompassed Siberia, the Russian Republic alone accounts for 75 percent of the Soviet territory and formed the heartland of both the European and the Asian portions of the Soviet Union. Although in 1989 the Russians made up over 51 percent of the Soviet population and were in many ways the dominant nationality, they were just one of more than 100 nationality groups that made up the Soviet society.

Fourteen other major nationalities also had their own republics: in the European part there were the Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian, Belorussian, Ukrainian, and Moldavian republics; the Georgian, Azerbaydzhan, and Armenian republics occupied the Caucasus; and Soviet Central Asia was home to the Kazakh, Uzbek, Turkmen, Kirgiz, and Tadzhik republics.

The Soviet system also provided for the territorial and administrative subdivisions called autonomous republics, autonomous oblasts, autonomous okruga, kraia, or most often oblasts. These subdivisions allowed the government to manage the country easier and, arguably, more efficiently. In terms of political and administrative authority, more than 130 oblasts and autonomous oblasts resembled the counties of the United States, to some degree. Many oblasts, however, were about the size of the American states. For example, Tyumenskaya Oblast, the storehouse of Soviet fuels, was only slightly smaller than Alaska. A more appropriate comparison with counties, in terms of numbers and area, can be made with the more than 3,200 of raion, the Soviet Union’s smallest administrative and political subdivision.

Click image below to see full size map (1887px × 1313px, 412Kb).

Map of USSR, 1989

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