Children of October   When I started school in Soviet Russia at age seven (the typical age for starting school in the 1980s), and shortly after first introductions we were all given a shiny golden color pin to wear. The pin depicted Lenin’s child portrait,...

What is Culture?   Not so long ago, after twenty five years of living in America, I was asked to do a presentation about Russian culture at one of the American public schools. There were representatives from other cultures too. Several guest speakers shared their...

Pets in Soviet Russia   From what I recall, very few people during Soviet times had house pets in Moscow, probably because we lived in tiny crowded apartments. Pets were also rare in the Soviet central parts, like in my hometown Voronezh.  Some Russians kept...

Russian Snowmen and Snow-women   In Russia we had snow in October and snow in November, snow in December and definitely snow in January. We had snow in February, for sure, and without fail – snow in March… Snow in April was a given, although toward the end of...

March 8th, The International Women’s Day   Up to this day in Russia this traditional socialist holiday, March 8th the International Women’s Day, is celebrated as an official state holiday. During Soviet times, in Russia March 8th was celebrated as a combination...

TOILET PAPER: A! Russian Perspective When I arrived in the United States in 1994, shortly after the Soviet Union collapsed, I was a hoarder. The Soviet culture of perpetual deprivation and shortages of everything had conditioned me to always prepare for the worst. My...

The Choices and Soviet Ice-cream On occasion, in our Soviet society during 1970-1980s we had some choices. Vybor (the Russian word for “choice” or “choices”) perhaps wasn’t big. In many products we had maybe two items to choose from at the most, although it was more...

Winter Holidays Russian Style: Quadruple Celebration   Russian Anecdote “What Holiday is it Today?”   A Russian woman is about to marry a Russian man, but she wants to make sure that her fiancé is a decent man, not a drunk: “Do you drink?” she asks him...

Why a Stork? The Myth of Soviet Reproduction   “In some cultures, babies were “found in the cabbage,”as in Germany, while in others, they were found in the fields of corn. In Soviet Russia, babies were brought by storks…” Once Upon a Soviet Child: Piano, Potatoes...

Dear Readers, Welcome to our monthly Newsletter and Articles. This page will be updated monthly and will explore different subjects in Russian Soviet culture that a western audience may be less familiar with. For instance, what is a “closed society”? What’s a Closed...