Real USSR » women

A Trip Around the USSR: Leningrad 1972

Eva Muryzhnikova — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 12:53:25 +0000

The Griboedov Channel. The bridges St Petersburg is so famous for.

By many, St Petersburg (Leningrad in 1924–1991) is often considered to be so beautiful due to its architecture of Italian origin. Quite strange to see these fine buildings embellished by the symbols of the Soviet Era. Let’s take a walk around this fine city in the summer almost 30 years ago.

When I was 7 years old, there was a flower market just like that next to our house. By Erhard K.

Image by Erhard K.

Peterhof, the Russian Versailles, by Erhard K.

Peterhof by Erhard K.

The Smolny Cathedral, by Erhard K.

The Neva River embankment, Rostral Pillars. Image by Erhard K.

The Dvortsovaya Embankment. Image by Erhard K.

Summer river cruises. By Erhard K.

St Isaac’s Cathedral, the monument of Peter the Great. By Erhard K.

The Winter Palace close up, Dvortsovaya Embankment. By Erhard K.

The Winter Palace, from the Palace Bridge, by Erhard K.

Peter the Great was the one to build this city on the swamps. During the Khruschev Era, the city was further decorated.

Nevsky Avenue, by Erhard K.

The Neva embankment, the Aurora cruiser, by Erhard K.

In 1925, the Aurora cruise ship played a major part in the October Revolution: the city was flaming with revolutionary spirit and so the Revolutionary Committee was created. On 25 October 1917, Aurora refused to carry an order to take off to sea, which sparked the Revolution. At 9.45 p.m. on that date, a blank shot from her forecastle gun signalled the start of the assault on the Winter Palace.

The Church of the Saviour on Blood (Spas na Krovi), by Erhard K.

The main street: Nevsky Prospect (Avenue). By Erhard K.

The Dvortsovaya Square, Aleksandriysky Stolp, by Erhard K.

British Fashion in Moscow, June 1956.

Eva Muryzhnikova — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 23:17:07 +0000

All images are by Lisa Larsen, for LIFE magazine.

In 1956 an array of British designers were trying to expand their market share into the Soviet Union. So a fashion week of some sort took place — in Moscow, Gorky Park, twice daily the shows took place. What a huge success it was! Every day it was a full house, and the public were in love with the British models and the fashion. Jeans, for instance, were very trendy and could cost as much as a month’s salary — yet one still had to queue up to get a pair.

However, after so much ado, not a single British clothing company ever received any Soviet offers of cooperation. Sad, really — just like Christian Dior in Moscow, it could have been a beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Catwalk

Jeans made a sensation. Nothing was more wanted — and unavailable.

A model Joy Slape, in Gorky Park

Do want! A girl eyeing up a bracelet in a shop

Model Ann Smith talking to a soldier

Best of Winter 2009–2010

Stas Kulesh — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:40:13 +0000

Military Discharge Handmade Scrap Book and Comics Album

You’re in the army now

The compulsory two years of military service was a rite of passage for every Soviet guy. When one turned eighteen — unless for sickness or injury — it was time to be called in for the military life — two years in the barracks. The guys usually bonded well and during their spare time created so called “Discharge Albums” — like scrapbooks, they were full of photos, songs lyrics, quick notes from the buddies etc.

Slava Kurilov: Alone at Sea. An Unbelievable Way to Escape the Iron Curtain

The only person to escape the Iron Curtain by swimming.

By job he was an oceanographer, by heart he was a dreamer, by nationality he was a citizen of the planet Earth — in short, he was an extraordinary guy. Yet his personal file in the USSR was stamped as “not worthy of an exit visa” so he was not allowed to leave the country, even if it was for a holiday. So in December, 1974 he jumped a cruise boat “The Soviet Union” off the coast of the Philippines islands — and he swam to freedom.With no food or drink, no swimming equipment apart from flips and goggles, he swam to the shores about a hundred kilometers for three days — completely alone at sea.

A Rough Guide to Moscow from the Daughter of the American Embassador

Emlen Knight Davies, at the age of 20 (ish)

Joseph E. Davies was the second Ambassador to represent the United States in the Soviet Union in 1937–1938. His daughter, the twenty years old Emlen Knight Davies, took some pictures of the surroundings. These images, courtesy of her private collection, were on display in Moscow for the anniversary of the Spaso House — the official diplomatic residence.

So! What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?

You will be quite a craftsman!

Moscow Winters, Fragments of the 20th Century.

1925. A private house on the bank of the Tarakanovka river

Here is a fine collection of images of Moscow winters, dating from 1920s till 1991. Sadly many places portrayed on these photographs are gone now, just like the Soviet Union itself, yet lest we forget. Please read on to see the image of the first set of traffic lights in Moscow CBD in late 1930s, which was operated by a specially trained person; or the largest freshwater outdoor swimming pool in the world - as well as people, wooden houses, old boulevards covered with the virgin snow.

Labour Riots in Novocherkassk: Soviet ‘Tiananmen’

Meat, butter, pay rise!

Novocherkassk is a small town in the South of Russia, also known as the unofficial capital of the Cossacks, the Slavic military community. Unfortunately this town was the place of a huge tragedy, when in 1962 the civilian demonstration was opened fire on.

Russian Ice Cream In Winter — Bring It On!

The city of Khabarovsk, 1970.

In the USSR, the very first ice cream factory was opened in 1932 — when the Minister of Food Supply (if translated not too liberally) Anastas Mikoyan visited the United States of America and was so impressed with their ice cream, he decided that Russia needed something of the kind. So the ice cream making technology and equipment were imported and the ice cream supply to all and everybody began.

Novosibirsk: Then and Now.

The Communal Bridge, nowadays.

The unofficial capital of Siberia, the city of Novosibirsk was founded in 1893 with the initial population of only 8,000 people. By the time of the Great October Socialist Revolution of 1917, it grew to the population size of 80,000. The name, literally meaning New Siberian City, was adopted in 1926 — and since then, the town had become to grow and prosper.

The Fearsome Threesome – Lenin and His Lovebirds

Paris, city of love, brought them all together. A Russian movie of 1981.

The official history often misses a very important and interesting point in the course of the Russian Revolution – not everybody knows that Vladimir Lenin, a formidable mind behind the Great October Patriotic Revolution and the leader of all communists, had less than straightforward love life – apart from a wife, he had a mistress – and not only that, these two women knew each other and got on very well!

21+ Depressing Photos of Post-Revolutionary Russia by Arkady Shaikhet

Gymnasts. Red Square. 1924

When the new Soviet country was born, the people were promised a wonderful future under the socialism — just a few more years, the billboards boasted — and we’ll live in a glorious state. However the early days were more than gloomy: the rundown economy, disoriented society, the reek of fear and uncertainty — and that clearly can be seen through the photos of a prominent Soviet photographer Arkady Shaikhet.

21+ Depressing Photos of Post-Revolutionary Russia by Arkady Shaikhet

Eva Muryzhnikova — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 13:11:22 +0000

This collection of photos starts off with nice, clearcut images of what the country was portrayed as by the media and propaganda — and progresses to a unsweetened world of the simple folk, vagrants, and peasants. Please let us know if there is a photo below that has touched your heart — we always value your feedback.

Gymnasts. Red Square. 1924

Arkady Shaikhet’s life story is one of the most remarkable ever. A fourth kid in a Jewish family from the South of Russia, with no school education or special skills, he was called in the army to serve in the WWI. However, the outbreak of typhoid saved him and so, being discharged at the age of 24, he moved to Moscow in search of great opportunities. And there they were: after getting a job at a local paper, Arkady tried his luck with a camera — only to realise that he got a special talent. It was all uphill ever since: publishing in the most influential newspapers, the honour of duty to photograph Lenin and Stalin, busy exhibitions and so on. He had the most remarkable shots of the Second World War events, which we hope to publish here in the future.

The cycle parade. 1924.

Morning exersize. 1927

Morning exersize. 1932

A sportsman. 1932

At the gym. 1928

And here’s some of the less life-assuring images of the new country.

A street kid is learning a shoemaking skill. 1929

A village in the mountains. Father and son. 1929

Engineers to be. Moscow. 1930

Bathing of a vagrant kid. Moscow. 1927

Voting. 1925

Out in fields. 1927

Plowing. Samara. 1927

Test drive. Moscow. 1924

City of Elista. A school lesson for the kalmyk’s kids (a small indigenous nation).

Electrification. 1925

Visit of a tax collector. Moscow. 1928

Putting up the poles for the electrical cables. 1925

Sharpening the tools. 1939

A building site. Uzbekistan. 1939

Workmen resting by a fountain. 1926

The Fearsome Threesome – Lenin and His Lovebirds

Eva Muryzhnikova — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 22:24:24 +0000

Paris, city of love, brought them all together. A Russian movie of 1981.

Young Nadezhda

Vladimir Lenin’s wife, nee Nadezhda Krupskaya, was born in 1869, in a noble but poor family. She was trained as a school teacher and had a very successful start to her teaching career – until she got involved with some revolutionary ideas which the air was penetrated with at the time. It all started with her passion for the books of Leo Tolstoy and then gradually developed into some seriously marxism-winged outlook.

Young Nadezhda was very well organised, hardworking, disciplined: she took up german so she could read Carl Marx’s manuscripts. She suffered from thyroid dysfunction and was incredibly skinny, with protruding eyes, hence she was nicknamed as Herring Fish.

It didn’t take her long to become a prominent figure in the revolutionary circles.

She was 25 when she met Lenin, and due to their ideological connectedness, they hit it off rightaway: she was subdues by his leadership skills and staunch Marxist views, he – well, he was in the need of a wife. The rumour had it that he was deeply in love with a friend of his sister Olga, but never had any luck there. Her mother, on the othe hand, considered Nadezhda unattractive and utterly marriageable, so Lenin, with his decent upbringing and education, was warmly welcomed.

In 1896, when Nadezhda was arrested and sentenced to three years of exile for espionage and anti-Tsar activities, she received a telegramme from Lenin asking her to marry him. Apparently her answer was “Oh well, you need a wife – I could be a wife”.

Their wedding rings were made out of copper coins by a friendly political exile; there was a church ceremony and the bride wore a black skirt and a white blouse, while the groom had his only brown suit on. She kept her maiden name (Krupskaya) on general feminism principle.

Taa

Nadezhda was no good at cooking: her mother did all of housework. After she died, Nadezhda wrote in her diaries that “our life became even more student-like”. During her honeymoon, she wrote a book “A female worker”, trying to analyse the women’s position in the society through the prism of Marxism philosophy.

One of the rare photographs: Nadezhda and Lenin

Within the next few years after the wedding, the couple moved to Paris in the hope to get some peace from the Tsar dogs. There Vladimir Lenin meets Inessa Armand, an adorable rich man’s wife of French origin who also happens to be a devout Socialist. Lenin was 39, she was 35, with five kids to two different husbands who also happened to be brothers, yet they fall in love and it is a strong, genuine, mutual feeling, which they managed to maintain throughout the years. Nadezhda learns that she is not the only one almost right away and makes several attempts to leave Lenin, but he objects, saying that their relationships – these plural and complicated relationships are well beyond any primitive bounds of a regular marriage alliance, and so she stays.

Inessa Armand

Although Nadezhda always remembered those years in Paris as the hardest years in their lives, she still managed to develop some sort of a warm feeling for Inessa.

This bizarre relationship continued for a good numbers of years – until Inessa’s son developed a TB and she had to take him to a resort in the Caucasus where she contracted cholera and died at the age of 46, in the year 1920. Lenin, already unwell due to overwork, never managed to fully recover after her death. Lenin outlived Inessa for three years only. Nadezhda Krupskaya had to take care of Inessa’s five kids, which she did with great pleasure – the contemporaries often said that Inessa’s daughter was the only person whom Nadezhda felt warm about.

Her contribution to the development of the educational programmes for the children of the young Soviet country cannot be underestimated — with no kids of her own, she was known as “everyone’s Grandmother”. She is still the one to thank for the establishment of the schooling system of Russia.

Nadezhda lived for fifteen long years after Lenin had died. She was an avid enemy of Stalin, who is often held accountable for her death – she died under suspicious circumstances on her 70^th birthday – many think she was poisoned by the cake that Stalin sent. Her only request – to bury Lenin – was never granted. She was buried in Moscow, under the walls of Kremlin.

An old collage

So! What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?

Eva Muryzhnikova — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 10:42:14 +0000

You will be quite a craftsman!

A Review of Occupations in the Soviet Society: the high, the low and the marginal.

The Professional Orientation in the USSR meant, first and foremost, a process of advising the youth on the future career choices. A group of teachers and fresh graduates of a college would go to high schools to give talks to school kids in order to deliver the first hand information on vocational choices. Every occupation is regarded highly in the Soviet Union — well, this slogan turned out to be quite untruthful. Please read on find out about the differences in social ladder between the different occupational groups. The hierarchy of labour was a prime element in social discrepancies in this country.

Certainly the system of socialism would deny the mere existence of the dual labour market, yet all occupations in the USSR occupations were covertly divided into the primary and secondary ones. If we were to analyse the Soviet media press releases, then we’d notice that 90% of all jobs mentioned in the papers as cover or success stories were of the working class origin. Certainly the list of jobs was just as wide as anywhere else in the world, however, the working class had a special attitude towards its.The working class was declared to be the base for the ruling socialism due to its hegemonic part in all part and future revolutions.

Gagarin, from ‘Paper soldier’ movie

There were two reasons for it – a political and an economic one. On one hand, it was well worthy to praise the hegemony, on the other – it was important to attract new members to its teams, as nobody really wanted to join in. The technical colleges – where one could become an electrician, a seamstress, or a locksmith – were a constant scare for the growing generation of high school kids. Like, if you don’t do well, you end up as a painter. This was the absolute and finest example of the Soviet double standards: from the papers the working class was praised daily, in reality, it was almost like a curse to belong to it. Certainly the workmen did well, they had respect in the society and they had their privileges, but nonetheless, it was somewhat of a forced choice. The USSR had a cult of tertiary education – of universities and institutes of all sorts, often of any sort, as long as it was a university, not a technical college. The highest-flying uni was the MGIMO – the Moscow State Institute of Foreign Affairs: diplomats, ambassadors, attaches and future politicians and ministers graduated from there. The Moscow State University was also highly regarded. These two had very high level entry exams, and often the knowledge itself was not enough – one had to be well connected to get in. Needless to say, kids of diplomats, ambassadors, attaches and politicians were destined right in.

MGIMO graduate

As for the technical universities, Moscow had a great range of those. Excellent engineers of all sorts were graduating in huge amounts, and, if a student had half a brain to hold on to his place, they became very knowledgeable and very employable specialists in the chosen field. However, the ideology went as far as to remain people that it was shameful to engage into a career path solely on the monetary rewards: the media, the movies, the books were constantly reinforcing the goodness of any job, regardless of the pay. Every now and then there would be a story full of good morale: how a guy would want to get rich quickly and abandon his geological research for the instant cash reward of being a taxi driver. The USSR philosophy was to strongly discourage such action. Interestingly, what strongly encouraged was a long tenure, a job for life kind of a thing. Those who liked to change jobs (or even worse, careers) often, were called “flyers” and it was a shame to be identified as one. Another unusual moment was that women doing the typically male jobs were praised highly. This Soviet phenomenon could possibly start after the war, due to the severe shortage of males, and then somehow lingered. Women operated heavy machinery, women did road works, women engaged in oil refinery – the list is long. We mentioned it in more detail in our article on Russian feminism. What didn’t occur to this staunch feminists was that the labour itself did not have to physical in order for a woman to be equal – managerial positions were just as good. Unfortunately, it was just as hard for a woman to make it to the top — as anywhere else in the world.

‘Postwoman’

To conclude, it would be a fair assumption to say that in the Soviet Union the most prestigious occupations were considered those of the importance to the well-being of the country. Everything which was related to a personal well being was always secondary and supplementary. Understandably, the people’s choice begged to differ: so a good-for-everyone hairdresser had more social leverage that a good-for-the-country production line worker.

More pictures of Soviet Moscow 1960s by Mark Riboud

Stas Kulesh — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:12:48 +0000

Moscow, 1960s

This is our fourth post devoted to Marc Riboud, an outstanding French photographer, who traveled extensively throughout the Soviet Union. His images captured an array of everyday life episodes from the lives of the Soviet people. As always, click on the magnifying glass icon to see the photos in detail.

Please follow us on twitter and stay tuned. Oh, and thanks for being such a wonderful crowd!

At the winter market. Moscow, 1960s

The old between the new. Moscow, 1960s

Presenting to the class. Moscow, 1960s

The one and only V.I. Lenin. Moscow, 1960s

I am the October’s leader! Communists forever. Moscow, 1960s

In the fields. Moscow, 1960s

At the factory. Moscow, 1960s

By the Moscow river. Moscow, 1960s

Y. Gagarin — glory of the Party! Moscow, 1960s

Enthusiastic Photography from Soviet Russia, 1950s — 1960s.

Eva Muryzhnikova — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:07:49 +0000

Just a very pleasant collection of photos from a private family archive. All photos were taken in 1950s — 1960s, in the streets of Yaroslavl, a small town not far from Moscow. Simple things — outdoor sports, fishing, swimming, enjoying the music or spending time with the family — these 38 photos are relishing small pleasures and bringing a smile to a face.

As always, click on the magnifying glass icon to see the photos in detail. All photos are courtesy of Sergey Kulikov, a granddad of one of our contributors. He is 86 years old now, and photography has been his hobby all along. Let us know which ones you like — or if you have photos in your family archive which you’d like to share.

Waiting for the play off.

The first half

I am going to make it!

The start line

Fishing in the bay

The big one.

Full of hope.

In the street

First ride after the winter

The team spirit

Oh those icy Russian women!

Spring: sailing the wooden ships onto the puddle water

The ice skate rink

Winter games

Dashing through the snow

Close up

A second hand book stall

The town of Yaroslavl chess championship. 1964.

The October Kids inauguration — see our article on them a couple of posts back.

The October kid.

Like father like daughter

Us or them!

Allow me

Summertime

Yyyes!

Two friends

Orchestra’s little helper

Drumming away

An aspiring trombonist

Spring carnival

Deep breath in

In the street

Yaroslavl in paintings

A young artist

The camera behind the camera behind the camera..

Girls’ stuff

They won’t make it without me

Let’s fix that now

A Glance at the Soviet Lifestyle, Captured by Marc Riboud.

Stas Kulesh — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 08:59:05 +0000

A singing class, Moscow, 1960s

This is our third post devoted to Marc Riboud, an outstanding French photographer, who traveled extensively throughout the Soviet Union. His images captured an array of everyday life episodes from the lives of the Soviet people. Here is the first lot — and here is the second one. As always, click on the magnifying glass icon to see the photos in detail.

Please follow us on twitter and stay tuned. Oh, and thanks for being such a wonderful crowd!

Museum, Moscow, 1960s

Moscow, 1960s

Tasty and Healthy Ice Cream, Moscow, 1960s

Olympic Games in Moscow, 1980

The 50th Anniversary of the Soviet Union in Old American Mags

Eva Muryzhnikova — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 02:04:06 +0000

Life and Look on the 50th Anniversary of the USSR, 1967.

In 1967, when the USSR turned 5o, it was a big day for both the country and the world. The Soviet Union had made it through, despite everything — and the world now had to take it seriously. The Cold War, which was at its highest at the time, kept the USSR in the spotlight, too, so the media were more than interested in the young Russian country. It really is a shame that the writing cannot be deciphered due to the low resolution of these scans. However, these images convey the atmosphere of the times quite well — a wild yet sophisticated country in the eyes of the civilised world.

Swinging, critical, cocky Russians

On a picnic and out dancing, most likely.

Three weeks in a Russian town

Young Russians may speak a little English, should you need to talk to them

Rent an automobile in Russia? Why does it not sound believable?

A land of confounding diversity

An independent style of learning.

Forces of the future

Various scenes from ordinary lives

A heart surgeon and philosopher Dr Amosov– who was also an inventor, best-selling author, and exercise enthusiast, known for his inventions of several surgical procedures for treating heart defects.

Art was often synonymous with nihilism, political repressions and defection.

The dissident poets, who both defected later to the USA

Una Dolce Vita

Fashioned in the USSR, photographed in Leningrad

Russian beauties