One American specialist was on a business trip in the USSR in 1930 and took these photos. Some of them were taken in Moscow, some – in Kazan, Tatarstan, though we cannot be sure about the rest.
Soviet people are looking at the foreign photographer near the shop of alcoholic beverages.
This city N was full of barbersops and funeral houses so it seemed the only things people did there were cutting their hair and burying relatives.
It was the funeral house where coffins were sold.
Kvass drink is being sold in one of the streets.
Foreigners in the USSR.
The men were selling cakes.
The keys were being sold.
One could come to the sulfur and mineral bathhouses.
People are standing in the line for alcohol.
“Books are a powerful weapon of mass initiation”.
“Do not take the books and papers away to your summer houses!”
The train has one car only.
People are standing at the shop.
The man has Ford A car.
The bus being fuelled.
One could win a world tour in еру lottery.
The banner invites to the park of culture and recreation.
The boys clean the shoes.
People are standing at the canteen.
Farm workers are having lunch.
The man sells suitcases.
At the bakery.
Another shop selling alcohol.
The poultry industry was developing.
The Soviet Tatarstan was celebrating its 10th anniversary.
Bread is brought to the workers’ cooperative.
“Long live the unity of the Communist International, Lenin”.
People are standing in the line for tobacco under the advertising banner of the lottery.
It’s a steam tractor.
The man is selling gramophones and records.
“Not peace, but a sword brings capitalism the international revolutionary professional movement”.
The bus stop is near Bolshoi Theater in Moscow.
“Loans are the support of industrialization”.
At the workers’ cooperative.
Auto part are sold.
via library.duke.edu
workers’ paradise indeed
ethnic minorities like Muslims and Mongolians have always been treated badly in Russia.
I don’t say that’s true, but ethnic minorities like Apache, Cherokee, Chippewa or Blacks have always been treated badly in USA.
I’m Cherokee, tell me how badly I have been treated in my country..
how much time do you live in Russia to say this?
Ignore him…he is an idiot…has no clue what he is talking about…I’m Cherokee and have access to the “nation”. I went to school for free, I have first dibs on all government hiring, and I get a stipend if I leave the “nation”. He knows Russia like he knows Native Americans.
“Muslim” isn’t an ethnicity.
Looks better than the Shanty town Hooverville in Seattle in the 1930’s.
Google Images: Hooverville seattle
The “30 GIRLS 30” sign seems to need no translation.
“Not peace, but a sword”
they translated sword as “glaive” in French. I looked up the image and it looks like a butcher’s cleaver. http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glaive
The U.S.S.R. (1922-1930): A true Socialist society. Thanks for the pics.
no one smiles in-deed a workers paradise
People didnt smile in photos back then, and it is considered untrustworthy to smile in Russia. Brush up on your knowledge. And yes, the American recession at this time was harsh, while the Soviets were on the rise, before being pulled into a war they almost singlehandedly won.
So many of the youngsters had no shoes. Sad…
Interesting, but would have been better if the captions were written by someone who understood English.
The girl in the first photo has bound feet?
The lady in the first picture has bound feet (also known as “Lotos Feet”). A custom of applying painfully tight binding to the feet and symbol of beauty in Chinese culture.