Parade of 1984, city of Ufa. Photo by N. Marochkin.
Day of International Solidarity of the Working Class, or Labour Day — was celebrated in Russia on May, 1st from 1919 to 1990. A public holiday for each every city, every township or village had a parade organised: flags were carried, posters and banners were up, kids had red ballons and portraits of the governing men were on display. The attendance usually was compulsory, but judging by the photographs now, I don’t think anybody minded: it looks like people had fum there. By May the weather was usually sunny and crisp, and this holiday was a little more that a propagandist activity: it was a unifying event. Please read on to see some faces behind the crowd.
We are very fortunate to have gained the access to the collection of photographs below — they have come from a private collection of Eugene Orlov, a keen photographer of 1960s, scanned by his grandson. Portrayed is a series of shots from a summer walk in the Gorky Park, an iconic family recreational venue in Moscow. Please click on the magnifying lens image for the close up and if you like it — tell your friends!
If we were to pick one the most confusing question from the history of the USSR, no doubt it would have to be the Christmas date issue. Despite the fact that the Russian Orthodox Church branches out of the Christian community, the traditional day to observe Christmas is different to the rest of the Christian world. The Russian Christmas day is celebrated on the 7th of January, not December 25th, and it is not easy to explain why it is so.
The xplanation comes from the two different calenders. In the Tsarist Russia Christmas was celebrated on December 25th, althouth there was a difference in days — as the Gregorian calendar was accepted after the October Revolution of 1917 — on 24 January 1918 the new Soviet government issued a decree that Wednesday, 31 January 1918 was to be followed by Thursday, 14 February 1918. But the Church, due to its open conflict with the newly pronounced state, decided to keep the day where it was — and so ever since Christmas is celebrated in early January. Go figure.
Nevertheless, the team of Realussr is delighted to announce our very first festive season together — we are a very young blog yet we have ambitions to grow and prosper. We were only born in June/July this year, yet we see a wonderful life ahead of us. And today we present you with a present — a collection of Soviet Christmas/New Year’s Eve postcards. Please click on the flash bit below, zoom in and explore. A bunch of warm wishes from all of us! Thank you.
If you would like to learn more please do not hesitate to click the fancy carousel. Thanks for being with us.
The Announcement of the Soviet Government. By Vladimir Serov, 1918.
The Soviet Union was officially created in 1922, however, if there was a date which could be considered as a birthday of the USSR, that would have had to be November 7th of 1917 — this was the day when in St Petersburg the Bolsheviks — the organised military revolutionaries, who later became the Communist Party of the USSR — came to power. The Russian Provisional Government which were the head of the country after the Tsar Nicholas II had resigned, was overthrown and the Soviets, taking the government buildings one by one, had finally captured the town.
The every day Soviet life was far from luxurious, however, the government had its ways of making people believe that life was good and constantly getting better. An interesting means of achieving it was a notable culinary book published in the USSR – The Book On Tasty and Healthy Foods. This book, a few inches thick, turned out to be more than a collection of recipes – it is considered to be an encyclopaedia of the Soviet epoch, an insight into the ordinary life of the Soviets.
The most famous image behind the Russian food, caviar was literally impossible to buy (let alone exorbitantly expensive!)
