Shopping in the Soviet Union - Cold War DOCUMENTARY

Our historical documentary series on the history of the Cold War continues with a video on how the shopping happened in the Soviet Union
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Soviet Tourism: • Soviet Tourism: How di...
Soviet Passport System: New Serfdom or Reform?: • Soviet Passport System...
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#ColdWar #SovietUnion #Shopping

[@yotoronto12]

I think in a Bald and Bankrupt video, a babushka he interviewed said "we had money but no goods in the USSR and all the goods in the world and no money in the 90s".

[@mareka3740]

Yes and you know why ? Because it has always been easier to print more money than to produce more goods.

[@Tonyx.yt.]

@@mareka3740 but also people accumulate money because not much was available to buy and state more likely sold at deficit prices rather than increase prices and made a profit

[@Peter-ob6ue]

@@mareka3740 People have told me they were better off under the communist system. Can't all be lying. USA has millions of hungry homelessness and minions of unemployed and crime. USSR was better than America

[@cageybee7221]

@@SovietForeignAgent of course it did. the USSR actually functioned somewhat, Russia is just a fucking disaster.

[@samgunn12]

Now they don’t have money or goods.

[@Narrowgaugefilms]

One of my college professors lived in the USSR for a couple of months. Early on she went to a food market half-expecting to find a line out the door, but found none. She said to herself "There is NO line: that's just Western propaganda!" She walked up to the bakery counter to buy some bread. The man behind the counter said "The food has been sold out for hours: you need to to get on line at 6AM."

[@olegpetrov2617]

This could be only in 1990-91.

[@UshankaShow]

@@olegpetrov2617 Yeah, right. In most villages bread was delivered 3 times a week and people went 2-3 hours in advance to get in line before хлебная машина arrived. I'm talking about late 70s, early 80s. While in Kiev there were no bread lines at that time

[@louiscypher4186]

@@olegpetrov2617 Another apologist. The USSR was plagued by food shortages in different regions at different times. The OP could be talking about the 1920's, 1930's, 1940's, 1970's and even the 1980's depending on where in the Union they were talking about. In the 30's and 40's shortages even escalated to famine levels. However he is most likely talking about the 81- 83. In 81 a massive crop failure lead bread shortages and was so severe that the Kremlin considered introducing a nationwide bread conservation program for the first time since 46-50 shortages. I mean jesus christ Brezhnev made the largest direct investment in agriculture in the history of the USSR to address the shortages and turned to more privatized farming in order to deal with the crisis. Even fucking Pravda acknowledged the problem blaming it on the weather yet here you are claiming it never happened?

[@Narrowgaugefilms]

I knew her in the early-mid 1980s. so late 1970s (or earlier) is probably more on the mark.

[@Unfamous_Buddha]

@@louiscypher4186 -- After the break-up of the USSR, when polled, 60% of Russians wanted the old cradle-to-grave security back. After neoliberal capitalism overtook Russia, the divide between rich and poor was further heightened.

[@nematolvajkergetok5104]

Here is a Soviet joke from the time of the shortages. A long lone is waiting for bread. The baker calls out: "Comrades, there isn't enough bread, so Jews can't get any!" All Jews leave the line, grumbling to themselves. The rest keeps waiting, when the baker calls out again: "Comrades, there still isn't enough, so only Party members can get bread!" Half of the crowd disperses, Party members keep waiting. The baker comes out again: "Comrades, there's very little bread, so only war veterans can get any!" Everybody leaves, save for a few old men, all of them wearing medals on their jackets. A little later the baker shouts: "Sorry, comrades, there's no bread at all! Everybody must leave!" One of the old veterans, annoyedly: "Once again the Jews got the best deal!"

[@DiscoDashco]

Wow, the only way in which that could be even remotely funny is if you are completely anti Semitic.

[@jesusissouthern]

@@DiscoDashco The irony of your ignorance is overwhelming. The joke is the exact OPPOSITE of what you just said. IQ=80.

[@lentlemenproductions770]

@@DiscoDashco False, the joke is a classic irony & clearly at the expense of anti-semites.

[@josippetkovic389]

@@DiscoDashco Bruh

[@Menaceblue3]

I fail to understand the joke.... am I dumb?

[@letecmig]

I grew up in the communist Czechoslovakia. I remember that whoever travelled to the Soviet Union was telling stories about how low the standard of living was over there and how empty the shops were. There were massive differences among the countries of the Eastern Block. Czechoslovakia and East Germany were sort of rich kids of the (eastern) block. The Soviet Union and Romania were poor kids. Others somewhere in between. Basically, there was the same gap in the living standards between the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia as was between Czechoslovakia and West Germany. We Czechs were bitterly complaining that there are only like 5 types of sausages(yoghurts, chocolates, TV sets...) in the shops compared to XY in the West Germany. The soviet tourists seeing those 5 types of sausages in Czech shops compared it to 0-1 type+queue in their home town:):) They often said they felt like in the consumer paradise:)

[@keeroy]

this reminds me of a joke we used to tell back then. a guy from moscow visits bratislava and upon his returning to the soviet union he tells all his friends: "imagine, the poeple in czechoslovakia are extremely rich! they have even golden toilets in their homes!" his friends oppose so he invites one them to his next trip to bratislava. when they arrive they immediately set off to visit a slovak friend. they ring at his door and a boy opens. upon seeing the visitors he shouts back to the apartment: "daddy, the russian who shitted in your helicon is here."

[@keeroy]

@@Wallyworld30 thanks for helping out. :)

[@andrashorvath6300]

I'd rather make a case for Hungary being the rich kid than the GDR. East Germany, while having an industry that put out surprisingly good quality stuff, did it at prices that the average East German couldn't afford. Meanwhile Hungarian communists learned from the 1956 revolution and knew that they have to raise living standards at any cost necessary and also maintain a relatively liberal cultural policy. That meant opening up to Western tourism and decentralizing economy, including allowing people to run some private businesses (plus taking up a shitton of western loans). In the end it worked out well for them, unlike Poland or Czechoslovakia, Hungary didn't have any serious opposition to the system until the late 80s.

[@letecmig]

@@andrashorvath6300 "I'd rather make a case for Hungary being the rich kid than the GDR".... as far as I remeber, in Hungarian shops, there was more western/trendy stuff available than in GDR or Czechoslovakia. That is 100% true. That really impressed me. Based on my observations, it was not that there were some significant shortages in shops in CS/GDR compared to HU. If you wanted to buy some boring T-Shirt, no prob in CS/GDR.... but if you wanted T-shirt with "Iron Maiden" on it... well, then you got to travel to HU:):) But the general standard of living was significantly lower than in CS/GDR: % of car ownership, TV sets, state of roads, villages etc. being two of many indicators. But you are right, Hungary was definitely among the richest and definitely the most 'colorful' of the commie countries. Sure, Hungarian shops were very impressive with their western brands and more shiny packaging of products compared to my country (Czechoslovakia) or GDR, no dispute about that.

[@andrashorvath6300]

@@letecmig Now I looked up statistics and you're right. Interesting that pretty much every Hungarian who lived through the era and whom I talked to about this remembers the East Germans as being fairly poor but in the light of what you said it kinda makes sense. Stuff like less fashionable clothing or smoking Trabants and Wartburgs instead of the shiny new Ladas typical to Hungary probably made them look poorer than what they were.

[@mfar3016]

In Soviet Russia a woman angrily looks around a store & says to the shopkeeper “you are a disgrace! There’s not one loaf of bread on your shelves!” The shopkeeper replied “You are mistaken madame, this store has no meat. The store that has no bread is down the road.”

[@vaidekas]

I was born in the early 80's. There was a wooden kiosk in my town selling ice cream. There was no electricity, no freezers in that kiosk, because people would immediately buy out all the ice cream. A huge queue formed and swept everything away in an instant. The Soviets flew into space but failed to produce enough of that simple sweet

[@Bob31415]

Where did you live ??

[@vaidekas]

@@Bob31415 Lithuania.

[@Bob31415]

@@vaidekas Ah. The home of Simas Kudirka. Thank you.

[@leoniddelanov]

У нас и в магазинах мороженое не в морозилках хранили. Привозили в больших толстых я ящиках с сухим льдом. Смысл было перекладывать и так не таяло.

[@Philflash]

The Soviet ice cream was great!

[@Sequoia204]

You can make a whole episode about the Soviet Union's love of contractions and acronyms

[@LibertarianLeninistRants]

oh yes please!

[@taten007]

@@LibertarianLeninistRants wouldn’t libertarianism and Leninism be diametrically opposed ideologies? Lol

[@LibertarianLeninistRants]

@@taten007 Originally the term Libertarianism was referring to socialists. The rightwingers took the term later for themselves and changed it. But market worshipping has nothing to do with liberty imo, so I'm trying to take the word back. Also, all communists are against the state, including Lenin: _"While the State exists, there can be no freedom. When there is freedom there will be no State."_ Lenin, State and Revolution

[@gregorymalchuk272]

I've noticed that, and I can't even speak Russian. But is it, especially the contractions, a "Soviet" thing, or a Russian language thing?

[@LibertarianLeninistRants]

@@gregorymalchuk272 I don't know where it originated, but many countries of different ideology had similar contractions and acronyms. On the far left, for example in east Germany we had the Ministerium für Staatssicherheit" (Ministry for state security) which became shortened to Stasi. On the far right you had in Nazi Germany the "Geheime Staatspolizei" (Secret state police) which became shortened to Gestapo. West Germany has the "Kriminalpolizei" (police units responsible for criminal activities) which is shortened to Kripo. Those are just german examples I know, but you can probably find more in other languages too.

[@Taistelukalkkuna]

Soviet citizen goes to shop, only to find shelves empty. "What shop is this?" He asks. "Bread shop." Slightly annoyed he goes to second shop, only to find shelves there empty too. "What shop is this?" "Meat shop." Getting more frustrated, he goes to third shop. Only to find shelves empty. Actually there was no shelves at all. "What shop is this?" "Shelf shop."

[@Marinealver]

Nice one

[@spideywhiplash]

😆😆😆

[@Cacowninja]

Oof!

[@Perririri]

Plot twist: Air shop / Vozdukhnaya magazina

[@marcusrose6620]

hahhahah wow cool yeah they sure didn't have a lot of consumer goods in the soviet union haha....13 million children in america live in food insecure homes. so.

[@justiniansnow8919]

People in the USSR buying products from East Germany because of better quality, while people in East Germany were buying products from WEST Germany because they were of better quality.

[@Dear_Mr._Isaiah_Deringer]

Which is funny because some west german stores would sell east german products (basically as a rebadged store brand) because they were cheaper.

[@H0FFER]

I worked with a Russian woman, that moved to the US probably when she was around 30. She said grocery stores in the US were like magic. Having access to such a variety of produce, year round, was amazing to her. She said in Russia, you could get something like oranges once or twice a year, and you had to wait in huge lines to get some.

[@alexcarter8807]

When you are poor in those magic grocery stores it doesn't matter because you buy the same 3-5 things that you can afford, and we scrounged fruit and veggies from trees and plants and so on around the neighborhood. Never bought in the store - too expensive.

[@diegorivera6500]

That’s a bit silly because most of the food in the 80s and 90s used to be seasonal. I grew up in Spain and we didn’t have strawberries or peaches all year a round being a Mediterranean country. There was not infrastructure in place to import strawberries from another country. I just can’t imagine how other northern countries would have had a good supply of fresh fruits and veggies. Look what happened with this pandemic and how even in places like U.K. run out of food in a few weeks

[@1337penguinman]

I've heard that among Soviet defectors and immigrants, grocery stores were one of the universal things they were awestruck by.

[@jarls5890]

@@1337penguinman My uncle - back in the 80's - went to the Soviet Union to look at locations to put up a printing press. He did tell me about the shopping experience - much as described here in the video - but the old factory hall they looked at to put up the printing press - was all marble! Floors and walls - all white marble. Quite the place to setup a printing press!

[@spearshake4771]

@@diegorivera6500 Well that's true but I'd still imagine you wouldn't have to wait in very long lines to get those seasonal fruits

[@kisfekete]

No Western person can understand the bleakness of life in the Soviet system. I grew up in Hungary in the 80s, the so-called 'happiest barrack'. Happiest my arse. I was holding on to toy catalogues that my mom brought back from West Germany, 'cos I could not imagine a shop that could have all those things in store. P.s. the people in the comments saying that there were no homeless and unemployed people in the Soviet bloc are grossly incorrect. There were both, they were just shunned, ostracised, and could not be talked about because 'officially' they did not exist. I remember that one of the first independent documentaries that came in with the regime's collapse was about homeless people living in the outskirts of Budapest. True, the problem got much worse in the 90s, but it existed before.

[@invaderjoshua6280]

Sounds like how the CCP in China is handling the poverty and homelessness over there. They just change the definition of poverty so it doesn’t apply to anyone, and imprison anyone who talks about poverty or any homeless people they find in cities they run out. Seems to be a common theme of any socialist society that isn’t at least half capitalist.

[@littlemissprickles]

My step-grandpa was born in Budapest in 1938. He was put into a work camp after illegally killing a chicken for his family to eat, and ended up escaping and stowing away on a ship to the US. After hearing his stories, it grinds my gears to hear anyone even posit the question "were communist food shortages just western propaganda?"

[@ibraheemtemur3469]

I lived homeless in Libya, as a child, but managed to rise into position of authority to many. I have even visited your country, saw the great Budapest and took a rode trip to lake Balaton.

[@DesdemonasSaoirse]

The deniers are the brainwashed! Just like behind the iron curtain….they denied the poor and homeless existed, denial means it’s the truth in their propagandist brains! The western journalist would go to the USSR etc and be shown only the best - life of the elites and their families. Then they would return to the west and write about how wonderful communism is!!! I hope their lying tongues rotted in their disgusting mouths!! I grew up in Europe, I lived in NYC and I had many acquaintances and friends from the “east” I know you are all telling the truth!

[@seanoconnor1478]

This time we'll have "democratic socialism." It's going to be great. Those people didn't do it right. 😯🤡🤦‍♂️

[@rockoorbe2002]

I remember reading in a book about the last day of the Soviet Union a joke told by Gorbachev himself which went something like this: Two men were standing at a line to get vodka in Moscow. After an hour the first man get angry and desperate and starts yelling "I CANT TAKE THIS ANYMORE!" and leaves the line. The second man ask him "Where are you going?" The first man says "I'm going to kill Gorbachev" After an hour the first man comes back to the vodka line dejected. Second man asks him "What happened? I thought you were going to kill Gorbachev." To which the first man replies "I was but the line to kill Gorbachev was too long". I'm not even Russian and I loled hard Edit: I also want to mention that that book also mentions the story of Boris Yeltsin going to Houston to see the NASA facilities there but he seemed to be more fascinated by his visit to one of the local supermarkets, particularly for its big variety of cheeses.

[@concept5631]

It's reported that Yeltsin's entire worldview was changed after spontaneously deciding to an American supermarket and seeing how stocked up it was.

[@KristelSitz]

I heared this one about Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev

[@theanarkiddie4569]

Was the book, “The Last Days of the Soviet Union” by Sergei Plokhy?

[@black10872]

@@concept5631 they went to 3 different supermarkets just to see if the first stop was a setup.

[@concept5631]

@@black10872 Seems legit.

[@evilmanua]

It was a nightmare. You can never get a thing you want, only a thing that they have in the stock. To get even basic things, like meat, you have to "know a guy". Bucher or a trader, that can reserve some for you. So you can buy meat, or eggs, or toilet paper. Everyone would steal from work, to barter it for something that they need. When I was a kid, I have to wake up at 4 o'clock, when the shop opened up, so I can stand in a queue to buy eggs and milk. There was no guarantee, that you are going to get what you need. You could stand in a queue and get nothing. There was never enough food for everyone. Imagine visiting the shop and there are only picked tomatoes and canned seaweed. I am talking about basics, not about chocolate or fruits. Oranges and mandarins were for holidays. Home goods were terrible. 1 of each type of good. 1 crappy fridge, 1 crappy tv set. Vacuum cleaner and a phone were a rarity. Buying a car? yeah, 10-year queue, good luck. When I was getting married, I had a complete quest to get a "bachelor package". I had to find shoes, a suit, food, and alcohol for the wedding, as well as rings. Some sort of "Initiation of a soviet man", to barter, to look, trade, to steal, and beg for stuff I needed.

[@dr.floridaman4805]

You married a communist? Ewwwwwww!

[@elluvitesmith9137]

wish we could send some modern day socialist to your timeline

[@leoniddelanov]

Это какие года? И что за магазины в 4 часа?

[@redfiend]

@@leoniddelanov Парень походу методичек перечитал, теперь фантомные флэшбэки ловит.

[@chepushila1]

Lol what BS.

[@Coillcara]

Khruschev did the first Perestroika, and many reforms were enacted. However, these reforms broke the stalinist Soviet economy. Since Khruschev believed that the communism in the USSR is going to be built by 1980, to get rid of the last capitalist vestiges in the economy, he abolished the "arteli" (semiprivate cooperative factories) that employed 2 million people and produced consumer goods based on the customer demand. All children toys were produced by these cooperatives, as well as first TV sets and thousands of other goods. These semiprivate factories were absorbed into the planned economy without any compensation for the cooperative owners and their efficiency dropped dramatically.

[@cyb3rklev872]

Those artelis Khrushchev shut down are the only successful form of socialism

[@captrodgers4273]

@@cyb3rklev872 incorrect. there is no form of socialism or communism that works or worked. its all a total failure

[@guyincognito7979]

@@captrodgers4273 no it worked prety good and achived a better physical quality of life than capitalist countries at equal levels of economic development

[@captrodgers4273]

@@guyincognito7979 you have no examples to give other then lies

[@fan8281xx]

COMECON countries, starting by the boss=CCCP should have applied a mixture of Kibbutz and Moshav economy as in Israel; not perfect but much more livable was Jugoslavia with the cooperatives

[@ybergik]

Visited the DDR and Poland in the mid-80s on school trip and was shocked to see farms being run with equipment that hadn't been used in our own country for 30+ years, and the grocery stores featured largely empty shelves. A most humbling experience and a realization of just how lucky we were to be born on our side of the iron curtain.

[@MrsUnderwriter]

DDR was 5x better then USSR

[@Belisarius1967]

@@MrsUnderwriter That's not saying much though.

[@kornelijekovac9793]

You mean, on the side that went and destroyed the Eastern Europe couple of times, burned everything to the ground and killed tens of million.

[@helgeschneider9069]

@@MrsUnderwriter maybe, but as a citizen of gdr, i can tell you ti was horror!

[@twistedyogert]

I guess Capitalism has some benefits. Competition drives innovation but with a planned economy the government would need to approve a change to the design or the introduction of a new product. Of course not every industry is the same. The Soviet defense industry probably went through the most innovation since they were preparing for a potential war with NATO.

[@shaquuu]

I made few trips to Soviet Union in mid 80s. Beryozhka was good place to shop. With 200 Finnish marks you could buy so much top quality food and drinks, that it would last you for a week. And at that time, 200 marks was average half days salary on Finland.

[@therideneverends1697]

sounds like a good deal to me,! half an hour to pay for a weekends party

[@denisoko8494]

Beryozka was very good place to shop for foreigners only, not for soviets commoners, only a privileged soviet class was allowed / capable to purchase in that place!

[@captrodgers4273]

those stores was for high up party members/millitary or international guests(to put on a show)....the common soviet folk was simply not allowed in

[@jjbwoy]

​@@captrodgers4273 liar

[@vytah]

@@jjbwoy There were two types of Beriozkas: coupon-based and cash-based. Since owning foreign currency was illegal for most Soviet citizens, they had to immediately exchange the cash for coupons and buy in coupon-based Beriozkas. Those who had foreign cash (including tourists and high-ranked officials) could go to cash-based Beriozkas. A normal citizen would have to illegally possess foreign currency before buying there. So it's not like it was illegal for them to buy there, it was illegal for them to have means to pay there.

[@Krivack]

This is very well researched and completely accurate. I'd like to add just one detail, which used to be a distinct feature of the socialist market experience. There is a couple of words in the Russian language that are key to understanding how the "market" worked. The first one is "дефицит". Translating it as "deficit", however, would be inaccurate. To most Russians it meant "a product which is extremely difficult to find, certainly not available in stores". The second word is "достать". In English it translates roughly as "to get", but its meaning goes well beyond that, and in a rather subtle way. When used about market goods, "to obtain", or "to acquire" (as in "by any means possible") would be much better translations. And so, markets in the USSR revolved around "deficits" (goods that were practically impossible to buy) and "acquiring" them by any means possible. For certain goods "acquisition" was the only option. Most notable among these were any kind of construction materials, such as cement, gypsum, bathroom tiles, etc. For regular folks who had no way of "acquiring" such "deficits", home projects of any kind were nigh impossible. But the hardest things of all to "acquire" were spare auto parts (or "запчасти"). If buying a car was hard enough in those days, getting into a traffic accident -- even a minor one -- was a true nightmare. Here's an example: back in the day foreigners visiting the USSR would immediately notice that cars on the streets had no windshield wipers. Drivers kept their wipers at home, and only put them on when it rained. Leaving the wipers on a parked car was an open invitation for them to be stolen. And if that happened -- God forbid! -- you knew you simply couldn't find replacement wipers anywhere. Your only choice was to walk the streets looking for a car whose owner had foolishly forgotten to remove his wipers, and then steal those. I could make a long list of such "deficits" -- things which, though legal to buy, were impossible to get in any other way, but "acquire". Moreover, one could never be sure from one day to the next which item would simply disappear from the market and wouldn't be seen again for 6 months or longer. As a result, the black economy had developed its own "supply lines". Namely, many people working in the production industry (from food to sawblades and anything in between) would simply steal from their factories and workshops. Theft was endemic. It didn't matter what you could steal; just "obtain" it, then go to the black market to try to sell it on the weekend. If you could get ceramic cups for high voltage power lines, or spare parts for industrial helicopters, just take it. You're bound to find someone who needs what you have. Even at the black markets, people peddled their wares not by advertising quality or price. They would simply let you have a quick peek at their "stock", and then say with an air of self importance, "Well, yes -- deficit!". All this had one final consequence: barter trade. Many a "deficit" item ended up being used as a sort of currency. Thus, if you worked in a factory producing kerosene lamps, well, then that's what you can "acquire" out the back door. Then try to sell the lamps, or if not, least to exchange them for something else. Let's say you exchange two lamps for ten empty glass jars -- a "deficit" crucial for the home production of canned vegetables. You don't need the jars, of course, but your neighbor does. And that neighbor has a nephew who works in a shoe factory. So, with a little bit of luck, maybe next week you could end up with a pair of new flip-flops. Ah, those were the days... A world of absurdities!

[@chazzbranigaan9354]

Interesting, thanks

[@bchkidgenius5830]

Awesome story!

[@forthrightgambitia1032]

It is probably not coincidental that the one place this sort of behaviour is common in Western countries is inside prisons.

[@currentsitguy]

I was married to a Soviet refugee from Moscow who was born on 1970 and came here in 84, so she grew up almost exclusively under the stagnation of Brezhnev. What you layed out here is pretty much exactly what she described as daily life. Her mom worked for the railroad, which was apparently a good job to have, because you could get you hands on freight before it reached the shops. That is the one thing this documentary missed, and that is most shipments were nearly stripped bare before they even made it to the shops.

[@pfw4568]

But wouldn't that basically lead to hoarding everything?

[@andreideac3962]

Shortages we're not a western propaganda. I lived in the 80's decade in E Europe. Like me, millions had shortages on almost everything from food to gas on a daily basis.

[@ImpalerVladTepes]

Did you guys have to eat bananas for a while? I remember we always had them as a snack and not a lot else, and it was only decades later that I learned that there was a shortage on certain foods, but the government had a trade deal with some south American country for banana shipments. So we just had a ton of bananas for the span of a couple years.

[@whiskeysk]

@@ImpalerVladTepes bananas and tangerines and non-Cuban oranges were generally only available for Christmas. Luckily a neighbour was working in a fruit&veg shop so my mother didn'talways have to queue up for them as the neighbour would sometimes bring them directly to our door after she finished at the store.

[@richardides2035]

What about housing shortage ??

[@whiskeysk]

@@richardides2035 most people had to wait years to be assigned a flat.

[@richardides2035]

@@whiskeyskHow long do they wait now?

[@georgfriedrichhandel4390]

One of my university professors visited the USSR in the 70s and he told us that his favorite Soviet product was their ice cream which he said was one of the few things the Soviets made that could rival their American counterpart. But there was one drawback. Vanilla was the only flavor available and this professor was more partial to strawberry!

[@martinjenkins6467]

I suppose Soviet sex was only Vanilla too !!!

[@georgfriedrichhandel4390]

@@martinjenkins6467 In Moscow maybe. In Tashkent, maybe not!

[@Lanoumik]

By the end of the 80s, I remember visiting a Soviet shop in Czechoslovakia. It was mainly for occupying Soviet soldiers and their families. My parents wanted to buy some russian icecream. In school we were told how everything is the best in Soviet Union. The store was very ugly and looked uncared for even in comparison with grey czechoslovak stores. Also the cash registers in czechoslovak stores were already mechanical for a long time. Here the soviet cashiers were working with athing called “schchot”. Basicaly moving beads from one side to another. They did it awesomely fast though :) I was really confused by what I saw back then :)

[@wahlex841]

I believe it's "schoty", abacus on english.

[@ayu1978]

My only question, what flavour of ice cream and was it good as said to be?

[@concept5631]

How were Soviet puppet states better at mechanization than the actual Soviet Union?

[@Sequoia204]

mmm plombir...

[@RickR69]

There are still quite a lot of people using the abacus around the world.

[@CatsMeowPaw]

The Soviet system was imposed on many other countries. I remember the empty shelves and long lines in early 1980s Poland. At one stage the local shop only had stale old bread and vinegar to sell. Shelf upon shelf of those two items. It was ridiculous. It was quite common for people to buy out any shoes they could in a store, and then walk outside and exchange between themselves the shoe sizes they actually needed. There was no time to try shoes on in store: you grabbed what you could ASAP.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

I'm sure it was that sad.

[@rebecca5303]

No time to try on shoes. Damn. I can't imagine. :(

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

@@rebecca5303 And this was why people had to defect from these countries anyway possible. You either played the game or you leave.

[@thunderbird1921]

I wonder if this is how it still works in North Korea and Cuba, among other places. Funny how ration systems of World War II actually gave some more resource equality (to some extent at least) than the whole normal Communist system. It actually sounds more like state-run semi-capitalism (first come, first served). Further proof that Marxists aren't very bright.

[@jrus690]

For most part, it was the Warsaw Pact countries, a situation created by WW2. The Soviets liberated Eastern European countries from Germany, and imposed the Communist system on them. These would be Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, East Germany.

[@natkojurdana9673]

An ex-yugoslav kid from the 80-ties here! When nostalgia hits me I go to NAMA stores (Narodni Magazin aka the Peoples Store), there are two remaining here in Zagreb, both in the center of the city. Nowdays they do have all the usual western brands but a dash of old style socialism is definetly in the air. For example the staff never smiles and barely respond when you say hello. If you ask them something about an item you want to buy they usually ignore you. I'm not complaining, in a way it's charming, just not when you're in a hurry :)))

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

Sounds like a nice place to visit to experience living that way from decades ago. I'm sure though Yugoslavia had it better than their neighbors at the time.

[@Turinnn1]

My grandparents visited USSR, they took 10 pairs of levi's jeans with them and they came back with more money than they spent during the trip. Black market demand for jeans back then was huge.

[@BoardroomBuddha]

I remember visiting the Soviet Union and East Germany in the 1980s as a high-school student from Canada. It was impossible to buy anything other than what was in the Beryoshka shops because guide (we had to have a guide and "monitor" to monitor the guide) would stop us if we tried to buy anything at a regular store. I just wanted to buy a t-shirt at a clothing store, but got in trouble with the guide.

[@martinivanovski562]

In US: Do you have yoghurt? Wallmart employee: Sure we do, we have fruit yoghurts, almond yoghurt, soy yoghurt, Greek yoghurt all types of them. In USSR: Do you have yoghurt? Store employee: Yes

[@Nupagade246]

Of course we did and do

[@almusquotch9872]

"sorry, the shop that doesn't have yoghurt is across the street, this is the shop that doesn't have coffee" is an old eastern block joke.

[@TheMrMatas]

There was no yoghurt. Only plain kefir drink :D

[@Marinealver]

It was good all except for the last one. No Sold Out

[@olegpetrov2617]

@@TheMrMatas it's true. Kefir and varenets.( Which was closer to yoghurt).

[@yourstruly4817]

In Soviet Russia, consumer goods buy you

[@decem_sagittae]

Wow another original and very inspired "Soviet Russia" joke. I think these stupid jokes stopped being funny in the 80s.

[@yourstruly4817]

@@decem_sagittae In Soviet Russia, subscribe button presses you

[@chrishanneman1298]

@@yourstruly4817 in Capitalist America, bank rob you. Does that help any?

[@jamesforreal]

@@yourstruly4817 LMAO

[@pinngg6907]

Buy your time

[@MichaelNY78]

As a person who lived in USSR I can tell: This video prepared well. Good job!

[@dennisanderson3895]

A landlady I had in '79 shared a home-grown joke a Russian ex had told her: A Russian citizen hears on the radio how abundant the harvests have been. He opens his refrigerator to find it empty. What is he to do? He is told to connect his radio to his refrigerator.

[@valentinstoyanov304]

I can talk about it for hours but briefly: 1. Yes, there were tremendous shortages in the communist economies and that lead to poor consumption which is one of the reasons for the collapse of the system. 2. There was a TsUM (Central Universal Store) in Sofia too. These days there are about 10 shopping malls in the capital city of Bulgaria, which seems to satisfy the needs of the consumers...

[@RonaldReaganRocks1]

Capitalism rocks!

[@Sahtoovi]

"communist economies"

[@user-pf3kv4bv5s]

But the Soviet economy is capitalist since 1953 Mao said that

[@Sahtoovi]

@@user-pf3kv4bv5s mao has said all kinds of things. the chinese economy has been capitalist since the '70s. technically the USSR was always capitalist since there was no worker ownership of the means of production

[@GMDimitrov]

@@Sahtoovi Workers owning the means of production has never happened and will never happen because communism is a fairy tale.

[@joseaca1010]

That thing you said about joining a line not knowing whats being sold, good lord thats exactly how things were in venezuela, i remember whenever i was walking with my mom and she saw a line we stood there and asked whats being sold

[@Styxswimmer]

And think, many Americans who proudly call themselves socialists want that here

[@kenetickups6146]

@@Styxswimmer Uh huh

[@hungryburger1170]

then there were no more lines everyone in the line died of famine

[@keeroy]

in czechoslovakia we had also our "beriozkas", they were called tuzex. same as in the USSR you could use western currency for purchases but also special currency called "bony", which was issued to foreign diplomats or our citizens working abroad. there was an exchange rate 1:5 ratio towards the czechoslovak crowns. "bony" were popular and demanded and this demand created a whole caste of illegal sellers (many also tolerated and backed by strong party "friends"), called "vekslaci". vekslaci became a vital part of our daily life (many became immensely rich) and of criminal popculture. there is a great movie from the 2nd decade of the 80ties called "bony a klid" (bony and peace) which very openly criticized the corrupt circumstances in the socialist czechoslovakia.

[@edlawn5481]

In Poland, they were called "Pewex".

[@sammyb861]

My parents (and older siblings) lived in the USSR and moved to the states in the 90s. They’ve told us so many stories about how the food was rationed in such a way that if it wasn’t for my dads work, they would have most likely had been living on the streets with three starving young children. Dad worked for an American lady at the time that provided their family with a lot of staples and food basics. It’s crazy to me now having grown up in the US to know that this is what it’s still like in many other places in the world and the absolute privilege we have living here

[@Geknight]

Food should be rationed here for americans too , they eat too much without it majority becoming obese

[@Shinkajo]

Oh come on, things were rarely the bad and definitely not in the 80s. And why would food rationing put you on the streets to begin with? If your dad worked for an American then I'm assuming they lived in Moscow or somewhere similar and not in a village in the middle of nowhere.

[@franzfanz]

I actually ended up in a roadside service station in Italy that practiced that three queue system. You had to queue to get a ticket for the the food item you wanted to purchase, then you went to the counter to pay for it, then you went back to where you'd got the ticket from in order to queue again to have your item heated and given to you.

[@TheBilllebob]

This is exactly the way my local gas stations grill works. Enter your order in a terminal, take ticket to pay, stand in line to collect your food. You can stand in 3 lines if they are busy.

[@spideywhiplash]

Sorta reminds me of the Costco food court. I wasn't able to get a slice of pizza because I didn't get in the checkout line before I got in the food court line. Therefore I never made it to the pick up my pizza line. Because I said to hell with this and got in the leave the store line and LEFT!🤪

[@steveclark5206]

Sort of like a very inefficient version of a fast food drive through: order at a menu screen talking to a voice of an employee, then drive up to the window and pay, then drive to the next window and collect your ordered food. Except it actually works as designed and you’re usually driving off with your food in a few minutes versus the Soviet Union where you could stand for hours in each line. Capitalism vs Communism in a microcosm.

[@visassess8607]

Why?

[@gaozhi2007]

When the State promises to shoot you for daring to negotiate your own price, this is what you get.

[@matsbystrom2988]

I remember a visit to Bucharest in the late 80’s. Walking around in the outskirts of town, some old ladies suddenly set up a booth, and immediately a queue formed. I joined the queue not knowing what was for sale, and after a good wait I was finally able to buy a cone with very low-quality ice cream :) As an earlier comment described, no refrigeration was needed, as the ice cream sold out immediately.

[@user-kw9eq4zt7x]

Некачественного мороженого никогда не было, это неправда

[@user-gf2wm9rd3s]

​@@user-kw9eq4zt7xas a Romanian, I can tell you that it was horrible.

[@hujiaming6151]

I like those retro buses, they look so round, smooth surface, and glamourous, and spacious, like a really nice and loving grandpa.

[@chilesauce7248]

In Chile they still use the queue three times system to buy something in many stores.choose, pay, dispatch.

[@starventure]

There is a store in New York City that does that. Its good to stop theft with, but causes other social issues. Guess who runs it.

[@LibertarianLeninistRants]

@@starventure who?

[@starventure]

@@LibertarianLeninistRants A group who are of the shrewdest people on earth. Search your feelings my padawan, you know it to be true.

[@furrywarriors]

@@LibertarianLeninistRants Jews, he’s just being antisemitic

[@LibertarianLeninistRants]

@@starventure ofc a shop is run by capitalist and I agree that capitalists are pretty bad. but I don't need my feelings to know that, I can simply use logic and my sensory organs to see what a mess they made in this world

[@gate7clamp]

You can tell deep down Kruschiv was a fan boy of the US and our shopping habits

[@sebastianguevara3615]

Emperor Billy Ritchie What's Your Point???? Who Gives A Crap About Our Shopping Habits Are You A Communist??

[@commanderofkesariyaknights]

All built on loot and cheap chinese labor.. Now china will be the boss

[@gbennett58]

Reason for lack of goods in Soviet stores: "poor and late harvests, the US embargo, hidden inflation, poor storage capability..." One major reason for the shortages he didn't mention: Communism. I visited Moscow and Leningrad in 1883. There was nothing on the shelves. I saw a meat market with no inventory. There actually weren't any grocery stores, with or without rationing. High rise buildings in downtown Moscow had windows repaired with cardboard. I stayed at a tourist hotel in Leningrad, the Cosmos. At a buffet dinner I was served Wienerschnitzel. It was impossible to chew it because it was 100% breaded and fried connective tissue. Years later I met a Soviet immigrant living in the US and told him about the poor quality food. His reply was: "you know, they were serving you their best." I also asked him what Soviet immigrants noticed the most when they came to the US, and he told me a story about his mother the first time she went into a US supermarket. She stood in the doorway and cried, having never seen so much food in her life. Under Communism, everyone is equally poor.

[@finrab]

Damn you are +150 years old? Impressive. No but seriously, how could you blame communism when they didn’t even have it? They didn’t even claim to have, quite the opposite.

[@gbennett58]

@@finrab Typo, should have been 1983.

[@finrab]

@@gbennett58 I know

[@user-kw9eq4zt7x]

И много людей умирало от голода? Ни один не умер

[@gbennett58]

@@user-kw9eq4zt7x По данным Правды

[@Soundbrigade]

Went on works trips often to Velikie Luki, south of Leningrad in 1989/90. On the first trip we were accompanied by an interpreter from Leninggrad and while having an a short time of our own we visited a camera and watch shop in town where the interpreter bought alarm clocks as they weren't available in Leningrad. I bought some watches and my first Soviet camera - a LOMO Kompakt Avtomat. When going home I visited a similar shop in Leningrad where I needed special certificats to buy that kind of items, but in a "gorodok" like Velikie Luki, there were no restrictions. Interesting video, though. Guess many of us who visited old SSSR, still suffer from nostalgia or OSTalgia. As a foreigner you were a king.

[@NoNameNumberTwo]

Thanks for this video. The fact that I can search “daily life in Soviet Union” and find such a well made piece makes me grateful for KZbin and the creators that make it happen. 🙂

[@SmithFriscoFamily]

Bought a beautiful sable hat in the goom? by Red Square in 1972. Still have it.

[@connannbarbarin3033]

My granddad was a truck driver in Yugoslavia. For a time he was driving to USSR and he made a nice profit on the side selling jeens.

[@therideneverends1697]

seems too be a reoccurring theme

[@mwyatt222]

My step father hosted russians in the oil business in the 1980s at his home in Euless Tx. Groups of 20-30. They would all take pictures of the open refrigerator and themselves talking on the phones in the house. These were people that worked for companies buying seismographic technology from Core Lab. They were impressed with the swimming pool and they also wanted to take pictures of the grill with hot dogs, hamburgers and fajitas.

[@J069FIX]

This is something I heard both from my father and both of my grandfathers (I feel lucky that they are still alive): apparently due to the Soviet Union's trade deals with Finland after the end of the war reparations was based more in quantity over quality: Finnish-made boots and clothes shipped to the USSR were always second-rate or anything that would not pass Finnish quality control, meaning it was really cheap for Finnish companies to produce such items to the Soviet market, covering the cost of producing the better quality products meant for the domestic market and those sold to the Western nations. When the Soviet Union collapsed, Finland lost an easy market and suffered a really bad recession during the early 90's.

[@Tuppoo94]

In the end the recession was probably for the better, because an economy based on selling bottomless zinc buckets isn't sustainable in a market economy.

[@nomadman1196]

I lived in Hungary during the early 90's right after the fall of the Soviet Union. I still remember shopping at the local ABC's which were the size of convivence store. There were limited items such as bread, milk, sausages, cheese. My inlaws raised pigs and chickens and kept a garden to supplement their food supply. The food was basic, but good. 👍

[@TheColdWarTV]

I lived in Budapest at that time and frequented the ABCs on a regular basis.

[@grimwaltzman]

My mom still tell stories about how she had to wake up at ~5:30am and get in line to buy milk and watered down sour cream before going to school. It was in late 70s and early 80s in then Kiev, one of the biggest and richest cities of the Union.

[@vsevolodsemenov8498]

Cannot say about Kiev. I am a moskal’. I was born and lived in Moscow. We had quite good food supply up to the middle of 1980s. Yes, we had lines, but not for everything. Everything changed in the second part of 1980s, and it was bad.

[@surendramumgai631]

And today Ukraine ( Kiev ) is the poorest country in europe !

[@grimwaltzman]

​@@surendramumgai631 yet i still can get up at any time during the day and go buy all the milk and sour cream (or pretty much anything else) i want without waiting in line for more than couple of minutes. Also Ukraine is not the poorest country in Europe by any statistics.

[@surendramumgai631]

@@grimwaltzman If I"m not mistaken the ukrainian economy is behind its level in 1991 when the soviet union collapsed.

[@grimwaltzman]

@@surendramumgai631 due to the way production was organized in SU, Ukraine, or any other "republic" for that matter, at that time didn't have it's own economy. Add the fact that official SU production numbers were almost always inflated and any attempt at comparing them is always a manipulation. Don't ever bring that "argument" up unless you want to embarrass yourself.

[@percamihai-marco7157]

A very interesting episode. Keep up the good work!

[@christopherqueen3194]

I just found your channel in my recommendations. I’ll have to check out some of your other videos. And yes I subscribed. I appreciate your presentation. It is obviously well researched and it doesn’t seem that you have any particular ax to grind. So I must give you kudos.

[@NarnianLady]

A former Beriozka customer here... it was a necessary part of the tourist experience while visiting Soviet Union.

[@suem6004]

I worked in Moscow 88-89. Paid in rubles and lived mostly off the economy. New 'Co-op' semi private opened. Indeed more expensive but more stuff. Of the shortages I experienced, laundry detergent was one. I learned to get in a queue and bought the max 20 tiny boxes then shared with Soviet friends. The Berezkas would check passports in order to enter. So not just foreign currency was needed. I did get stopped at a book one of all places and sternly told this is only for foreigners. The Berezkas did take credit cards. I had limited USD so I used a cc and let the banks hash out exchange rates. There were many foreign (Scandinavian) products. Of Soviet stuff, the expensive Orenburg shawls and fur hats were what I wanted. Some very popular but hard to come by 'three bear' chocolates could be had. As treats, I would bring such to house parties. I lost a lot of weight there. If it were not for the kindness of friends, I would have starved. Bread, cheese, dairy is what I lived off of.

[@jellyontheplate2934]

This is the first video I've seen from this channel. Very engaging and informative! I've subbed, can't wait to discover more! 👍

[@lipingrahman6648]

The economy of the ussr always reminded me of the Bronze Age kingdoms. Where the palace decided everything from what was planted to what was sold abroad. The main difference was the Bronze Age kingdoms lasted for centuries while the Soviet Union didn’t last even a human lifetime.

[@Emmanuel_Morales20]

Reason being was because of U.S CIA interference so…… yeah who knows what would’ve happened had the USSR been left alone

[@Holammer]

One event that illustrates the problems with Russian shopping was an impromptu Texas grocery store visit by Yeltsin in 1989 during his America visit. He walked around for 20 minutes, greeting shoppers and getting blown away the wide selection on offer. He was so taken by the experience, he thought it was staged facade to show off the wealth of the USA. In his autobiography the store visit is mentioned and how it "shattered his view of communism".

[@klarachiamarsi5935]

That's the problem with stupid people: when they see a scratch on their car, they think the whole car is broken an should be thrown away.

[@ShadowSumac]

@@klarachiamarsi5935 Communism / Socialism is broken and doesn't work.

[@steverogers8163]

Stores in the rest of the world used to operate like the soviet ones (with the multiple lines). Items in the front were not for sale, they were display items only. You'd tell a sales person which one you wanted and they'd go to the back and get it (this is where the "ask if they have more in the back" saying comes from) and then you'd pay a 2nd person at the register. At a certain points stores realized they could just put labels on items, put the back in the front and pocket the difference from the reduced labor. Its happening again with self checkout in grocery stores.

[@sdrc92126]

Gemco and LaBelles did this, but I think they went out of business in the early 80's.

[@sopaipillascnmostaza]

Old school family run shops still do this in Chile. You can pay with google or apple pay, but you still have to queue 3 times on a busy day

[@RRaucina]

This never really happened in the USA. Most things were out and open to inspection. My grandparents butcher shop - grocery ,1920's to 60's was full of open shelved merchandise.

[@ronbell7920]

I have been to some stores in East Africa that basically work this way. One picks what they want to purchase behind a cage. The store owner fetches it and then delivers it to the purchaser from an opening. Theft is that big a problem. Keeping your hands on the item just purchased, well that is on you!

[@jonny-b4954]

I never use self checkout. Still looks like most people, even young people don't

[@darknessnight1115]

You guys are the best. Love this channel.

[@ivarkich1543]

Customer: Do you have Dor Blu? Vendor: What's this? Customer: It's a cheese with mould. Vendor: Ah, no, we don't have cheese. But, we do have bread Dor Blu, sausages Dor Blu, pasta Dor Blu...

[@Perririri]

Only moulde? Casu Martzu: Hold my maggots! 🤮

[@alexm25187]

Great video and an important story! I do feel it's missing 2 things: 1. The "elite" and "duty-free" stores available to the Soviet party elites ("Beryezka" was just one example, meant for people working abroad. But there were others meant for local elites as well). 2. Soviet people working abroad had a much better deal than shopping in "Beryezka" stores once they got back. They had access to actual western/foreign goods, which they could bring/smuggle back into the USSR, either for personal use or sell on the black market. For example, a pair of American jeans, in 1980s, were sold for roughly 200 rubles in the black market, while the average worker's salary was roughly 120 rubles per month.

[@sopaipillascnmostaza]

You described a traditional shopping experience in chilean small shops. You first enter the shop, speak to a clerk, he gets your order, checks availability and gives you a check. You procede next to the cashier (who usually used to be the shop owner) and finally to a third stall called "empaque" (Packing station), where you receive your packed goods. It's actually quite efficient, queueing is pretty rare and overall a nice experience.

[@lakersfansince1991]

I’d much rather be able to browse and shop

[@doomoxx2413]

Donde chucha pasa eso wn, en chile no pasa esa wea. Viví en chile de los años 40?

[@sopaipillascnmostaza]

@@doomoxx2413 No aweonao, voy al centro a comprarle a negocios pequeños en vez de ir a un mall por cualquier cosa, supongo que eres santiaguino así que un ejemplo cercano puede ser la casa royal o pc factory, que también usan el sistema que mencioné

[@billrusso8100]

Sounds like my drive thru McDonald's. 1. Order thru the speaker 2. Drive to the cashier and pay. 3. drive to pickup window

[@kate2create738]

I can see some issues with this strategy, specifically the efficiency. If you have to have at least 3 different people strictly doing one part of the job just to take one order, less time could have been waisted as well as one or two of those people could have been more useful performing other job functions unless required as a backup. Think about how much work isn’t getting done when there could be just one or two people taking the orders, possibly cutting down the queue line process. This strategy to me creates more lines, at the same time mishandling the extra help of hands.

[@daz746]

You are a great educational source👍

[@Flatkatsi]

I visited the USSR in 1981. The largest queue I saw was for large size bras. There were all sorts of men and women queuing around the block. I think it was Moscow, but it could have been Leningrad. There was a queue in a food market, for grapes, everyone waited for ages, then a small box was brought out and the excitement rose. A man, wearing a jacket with multiple medals, walked in off the street and straight to the front of the queue. A few words were exchanged with the person selling the grapes and the man was given them and walked out. Everyone just shrugged and the queue dissolved as they all walked off.

[@ImpalerVladTepes]

I visited the mall in Moscow that you show when I was a kid. It's still around and ridiculously fancy looking. I remember they opened a Lego store there in like 1990 or something, it blew my young mind. From what I remember, there were stores for perishable goods, but most people went to the open air markets (rynki) for vegetables and meat, as well as random goods like clothes and electronics. Admittedly, we did live in a "provincial" area. I definitely remember the abacuses, they were a lot more common than registers or calculators. Weird detail, but it still stands out to me.

[@elisorrells5314]

In my opinion, the lack of digitization and research in electronics in the USSR was a huge part of their downfall

[@missmerrily4830]

I shopped in East Berlin during the Cold War on many occasions. Serving with the British military in West Berlin we had the opportunity to go to the East on day passes via Checkpoint Charlie. I use the term 'shop', loosely. There was so little available to buy and people absolutely clamoured for the most awful bits of rubbish. I can remember feeling so sorry that there was so little available, especially treats and toys for children. But the people I felt sorriest for were those who had been on a list for a Trabbant car for years and years, spent a fortune on it and then found themselves with a useless vehicle when the Berlin wall came down.

[@TTFerdinand]

It's all a matter of perspective. For us in the Baltics, East Germany was like a paradise, my grandfather managed to travel there a few times (you couldn't just choose to go there, you had to have official business there to get a visa) and he brought back most amazing stuff and toys. We had very little available here compared to East Germany. And one time when a distant relative was visiting us from rural Russia, she was amazed at how much stuff we had available here compared to where she lived. So there was much inequality in the "most equal" system, but not in terms of how successful you were or how much you earned, but where you lived. And there was little to nothing you could do about it either.

[@MichaelT-]

And East Germany was something like paradise for us, Soviet citizens, so you can imagine... ))

[@RoboticDragon]

Another topic I had always wondered about, thanks

[@palkoenergies7790]

Realy great video! You make such interesting mini docs

[@tvdan1043]

I wonder if the founders of HH Gregg stores came from or were influenced by Soviet or other Eastern Bloc societies, because that 3-queue system is exactly how their stores worked. I went in to buy a simple point-and-shoot camera. There were many on the shelf. But the customer was not allowed to just take the camera to the front, pay for it, and leave. I had to ask a salesperson to write up a sales ticket. Then the salesperson took the camera up to the front of the store while I went to a cashier with the sales ticket and paid for the camera. Receipt in hand, I then went to a counter near the exit and showed my receipt to a third person who inspected and initialed the receipt before handing it to another person standing next to a bin full of products waiting to be picked up. That person rummaged around in the bin for my camera and finally handed it to me. This was not in the '70s in eastern Europe. This was in 2008 in Virginia Beach.

[@travisbrunner2922]

Funny to see your comment. I was born in Norfolk, but my parents lived in Virginia Beach at the time. Born and raised in Hampton Roads, but I no longer live there. Might be moving back soon though.

[@r.d.7698]

There is a 2019 book by Elena Osokina studying the early 30s “Torgsin” (foreign trade bureau) you mention at 10:59. In the study it is described as a brutal state enforced extortion situation rather than shopping opportunity.

[@Rockstago]

REALLY great video- great info & the footage from behind the Iron Curtain is fascinating!

[@clickbaitcabaret8208]

Good one. I love this channel.

[@Meelis13]

Thats fairly good overview of soviet shopping. It does on most part add up. There are few details missing, but honestly, if those would be included, this might as well be hour long episode. For instance, deficit was indeed very common- it was constant of USSR shopping, that you always had deficit of some kind. Very basics like bread were mostly covered, but even that not always. Then the goods availability did range a lot from region to region- something i feel like this documentary focused bit too little of.

[@glensimmons-levett5693]

I visited the Soviet Union in 1989 and went to the Gum department store in Red Square. The shelves were mostly bare and the floors were bare timber with holes, especially around the walls. We did not purchase anything as the selection of souvenirs was meager. I did however buy a copy of Whitney Houston's album whilst in Leningrad. The record label is in English but the cover in Russian Cyrillic.

[@wambutu7679]

An excellent presentation sir. Thank you.

[@anngo4140]

I love the background music near the end of your videos, epic and inspiring, very period-appropriate too.

[@bigblue6917]

There was a cartoon in a Soviet newspaper of a button manufacturing factory which achieved its fiver year plan for button production by producing one giant button. I assume they had to produce a certain weight in buttons. The fact that it was printed in a newspaper tells you much of what was happening in Soviet Russia. The fact that the cartoonist could do this cartoon; and that it was printed by the newspaper; and that it got passed the censors, none of which should have happened. Even more interesting is that the authorities in these Eastern European countries never caught on the what was happening. There were a number of very popular cartoon series on TV in Eastern European countries which were very subversive but because of what seems to have been a total lack of a sense of humour amongst these authoritarian governments they rarely realised they were being mocked. Because western goods were so popular westerners in Soviet Russia were mugged for their jeans.

[@ernstschmidt4725]

3:53, that process (asking the salesperson, going to the cashier and then picking up) is literally how wholesalers or specialists shops work in my country. i guess it made sense with large & complicated orders, but with personal small purchases it is indeed very inefficient

[@cavok76]

You do good work, detailed and interesting.

[@kodyeldridge5847]

Great video! Very informative.

[@qawsedyhujik6428]

You folks can't imagine how it was at the soviet union even after seen this video, it was much much worst, believe me, I used to live there at that time. When we got the chance to immigrate - this is separate subject of the soviet madness - we dropped everything and escape just naked.

[@manjelos]

Sadly, some countries that are so rich that people can have one of highest standards in the world look like developing countries. Venezuela have so much oil, gas and other resources but people are mostly hungry. Did read somewhere that 500 richest Russians own 98,5% of all wealth in Russia. That is scary.

[@morrisonparker3229]

Better tell to those want Marxist agenda within Democratic country

[@jrus690]

Soviet Union could not figure out how to develop wealth and make things, it had Communism which worked against it. Communism is about spending too much time figuring out what people should have, and not letting people just produce things. The democracy's of the world just let people figure out what they can produce, and not whether they should produce it.

[@jrus690]

@@manjelos Venezuela spent time in both Fascism, Socialism, and extreme center left democracy, which wrecked the economy. Its problem is tied into it being a former Spanish colonial enclave, so it has land rights issues, a few people control too much land, the state cannot decide what it wants to be, people are spending too much time trying to control wealth and not enough time producing things, aka, making wealth.

[@manjelos]

@@jrus690 Yes, this problem is not just in Venezuela. How looks like, does not matter which orientation is on the power, they all steal how much they can. And always to repeat, so rich country where most people are so poor is sad to see

[@blanchjoe1481]

A man goes to GUM to buy a chair. Don't buy a chairs made on a Monday, all the factory workers are hungover from the weekend, and Don't buy a chair made on a Friday, half the factory workers are already drunk and are eager to get off work. Buy the chairs made on Wednesdays, but better yet buy the chairs made in East Germany, assuming GUM has any chairs to buy.

[@JohnnyFD]

That was super interesting to watch. Thanks.

[@Philflash]

Great explanation! I was there in 1991 and the rye bread and ice cream sandwiches were great!

[@ericshaw6458]

I remember visiting relatives in the DDR in the mid 80's. There always seemed to be food available but we always brought in sausage, chocolate and extra clothes. The one thing that still sticks out in my mind today was the quality of the toilet paper. I swear it was of the same consistency as construction paper!! Lol

[@MarkMark]

“Toilet Paper in the Soviet Bloc” - I’d watch this investigation. Like what newspapers did they use in the Soviet Union? (or is that a trick question because there was only one?😂) Didn’t they just use the state paper (like, what were

[@thethirdjegs]

nice one. You get to learn wierd economic consequences in a non-capitalist society through channels like this.

[@thethirdjegs]

@پیاده نظام خان precisely why it's weird. We barely know econ.

[@Black-Sun_Kaiser]

I think he just meant weird to him , like when you get a used car.. its not new but its new for you..

[@Marinealver]

@پیاده نظام خان State Capitalism is just Collectivism wearing the mask of Capitalism. A wolf in Sheep's Clothing.

[@Sahtoovi]

@@Marinealver The entire point of state capitalism is that the state controls the flow of capital. Socialism, by definition, means worker ownership of the means of production. Therefore, by definition, the USSR and other eastern bloc countries were state capitalist, not socialist.

[@lucasqualls5086]

Don't lump in the failings of the absolute command economy of Marxist Leninism to represent all of non-capitalist economic models. First and foremost, command vs market systems are not intrinsically capitalist or socialist. The Nazis had a command capitalist economy. Many socialists are in favor of market socialism. The mode of ownership (capitalism vs socialism) and mode of organization (command vs market) are two very different things. Having a complete market economy or a complete command economy are both bad. America, a heavily market oriented economy, suffers in a lot of sectors because of it's over reliance on private markets. Our absolute shit infrastructure, healthcare, education, and transport systems all stem from them being market instead of command. It's better to have a mix of market and command systems, with usually command being for necessary goods with predictable demand, and markets being for luxury or non-necessary goods with more varying demand.

[@michaelmontana251]

Thank you for explaining the bell button process.

[@jonfranks6902]

Very interesting. Well done sir

[@lishiping84]

18:51 the similar two-tier system also existed and expanded in China in the 1980s while the economy was transferring from central plan to market guide. It is also part of the reason for the 1989 riot in Beijing. Another fun fact is that in a planned economy, the supplier has better power. My father is a doctor. Nowadays in China, like in many other countries, many Pharmaceutical companies would try to bribe or even give commissions (illegal) to the doctors for better sales. But in a planned economy, doctors have to bribe the medicine suppliers for giving more medicine.

[@razzaus1570]

The 89 riot, was that the Tiananmen square massacre?

[@maarten1115]

@@razzaus1570 -15 social credit points 😠

[@varana]

It also happened in other Eastern bloc states, like East Germany, where having access to Western DMark through family connections allowed you to buy Western or higher-quality goods with no line at specialised foreign currency shops.

[@maarten1115]

@@varana Strange why, instead of trying to fix the consumer goods shortage, they implement a pseudo capitalist system that only a lucky few can make use of.

[@louiscypher4186]

@@maarten1115 Because the USSR wasn't actually all that centrally planned. It was a bureaucratic nightmare to get anything done. In one region of the USSR there were 24 different agencies in charge of the state farms, With each and every agency having political connections, Budgets and over site of different aspects of the farms and even overlapping in some aspects. It was nearly impossible to pass genuine reforms as different regions were just trying to get the best deal for themselves. The foreign currency shops were simply a way for the party insiders to bypass the problem without having to delve into the arduous task of fixing the house of cards.

[@gerberjoanne266]

I'm curious about the upside-down U.S. flags at around 10:09, at a point in the video where the narrator was talking about the USSR welcoming visitors. It doesn't seem possible that this would be by accident. Perhaps this was a delegation of young American Communists, having to use the flag to identify their group, but putting them upside to show their disapproval of the U.S. I don't know, but I'd love to find out.

[@grazzer1673]

Clearly they were a group of your average, everyday anti-Trumpers ... AKA anti-Americans.

[@spideywhiplash]

Dingleberry!☝️🤪👆

[@m2heavyindustries378]

@@grazzer1673 lol ok boomer

[@FullMetalPanicNL]

@@grazzer1673 totally delusional

[@grazzer1673]

@@FullMetalPanicNL Why so triggered, sweety?

[@thefrecklepuny]

Just subbed. A most fascinating channel.

[@jmlphilanthropie6419]

Ontario's Brewers Retail stores used the soviet retail system right up until we left in the early 2000s. Empty cans were displayed on a wall. You ordered from a person who called your order into a microphone with speakers in the rear warehouse. You stood in another line to pay. Your product would then wizz down a roller line and you would pick it up and leave. The lines on long weekends were epic.

[@FINNIUSORION]

My uncle to our embarrassment paid for a mail order bride from Ukraine. She was just astonished at the variety and abundance of goods even in little corner stores and gas stations here in America. This was in the mid 90s. So things didn't seem to have improved that much at that time anyway... and just FYI she ran away and was later deported back lol.

[@piccalillipit9211]

Yes, but the quality of the food in her shops was infinitely better than the quality of the food in your shops

[@humzasiddiqi1572]

Are they still together?

[@FINNIUSORION]

@@humzasiddiqi1572 read the entire comment lol

[@dogcowrph]

I remember when a McDonalds opened in Moscow with lines stretching for blocks. I wonder what that must have been like?

[@jwenting]

inconvenient. I was in Moscow and Leningrad on an Intourist tour of the USSR around that time. As foreigners and guests of the State we had access to the special foreign currency stores, obviously. But we also visited some regular stores. Queues everywhere. And indeed, queue to get into the store, then again to get to the counter where you point at what you want to buy. Then get a voucher detailing your intended purchase and queue at the cash register. Get another voucher and queue at the counter where your purchase will be waiting for you (or you have to wait for it, depending on the number of people free to run items to there from the display counters and warehouse). Didn't visit the McD, but we did stand in line once for half an hour to buy a bottle of Pepsi in Leningrad from a street kiosk.

[@lishiping84]

In the early 1990s, when the first KFC opened in Shanghai, some young couples even got married there, imagine that.

[@TheMaster4534]

30 years later, the McDonalds wasnt worth it.

[@olegpetrov2617]

Just the first mcdonalds was a part of western life and people wanted to touch it. Exotic enough.

[@Lanoumik]

McDonalds were treated as “luxury” restaurants by common folk in the Eastern Europe in the beginning of the 90s.

[@torgeirbrandsnes1916]

Great vlog as always. I know jobs like sailors, air crews and performers was the jobs to have to be able to get out of the USSR. Then you could buy things that you was not able to get a hold of. Air hostesses wore a lot of make up. That was then a sign that, yes I can get a hold of things that you can not. I remember as late as the mid 90s SU (Aeroflot) ground crew ordred uplift with the local catering almost on all flights foreign vodka. In Oslo they ordred a LOT of Absolut vodka. IDK if they sold it back home or used it as bribes, or all of the above.

[@davidrussell8689]

Excellent work .

[@maximilienrobespierre7927]

My mum told me how when she was young, she had to que up for a store very early in the morning before sunrise, long before the store opened, just to buy some toilet paper

[@1220b]

Traveled the Soviet Union in the early 80s. Romanian was by fair the most poor. However the black market was brilliant. Sold our clothes as we went and bought items we could sell in the West. Ended up with so much money we left piles of it in the hotel for the maids. Couldn't change it to sterling as we didn't have a receipt.

[@ciprianpopa1503]

You are making no sense. Romania was not in USSR.

[@ILOVEBACONBOY2018]

This is why i love youtube, videos like this of the past.

[@Getdsmart]

Extremely very interesting ‼️

[@harrietharlow9929]

I remember shopping at GUM in Moscow1973. First I had to get in line. I made it to the counter and pointed to what I wanted. The lady gave me a chit and pointed to another line. Once I made it to that, a lady using an abacus rang up my purchase and finally, I was given a receipt and pointed to a third line. Finally, I received my item, a Budyenny cap. I found shopping at the foreign exchange stores much easier. As for shortages, I did grocery shopping in East Berlin for relatives, and the stores had not only less selection, but less overall quantity of goods available for purchase. Since East Germany was a communist, planned society, I can't imagine it was much different in Russia--worse from what I heard,. Needless to say I didn't get everything. No hassles since my relatives didn't expect that everything on the list could be obtained. One got used to this because well, that was life in a communist country. So the talk of shortages definitely was NOT Western propaganda.

[@hughmsweeney]

Technically, this would be more of a Prelude episode, but I'd love to see a Death of Lenin Power Struggle video.

[@panosvrionis8548]

Funny thing...i clicked because i thought was usanska show 😂😂 lucky draw😊 great video 👍

[@shotamaisuradze9838]

Interesting that you mentioned reusable bag! It was actually produced illegally with stolen scraps from clothing factory and guy who made it was one of the richest persons in USSR at that time. You can see how absurd this whole thing was just based on reusable bags.