Why do people share common dreams?

The life of most Soviet people was extremely similar, and this could not but affect consumer ideals and dreams. Crystal, carpets, Yugoslav furniture and Finnish plumbing – these items for decades served as a symbol of success and prosperity for millions of people.





Becoming the owner of scarce things in the USSR was not easy. In addition to having money, acquaintance, communication and great patience were required. In queues for good clothes and shoes often stood at night, changing each other. And queues for furniture or cars could last for years.

Despite this, people, according to the behest of Georges Miloslavsky from the favorite comedy of Leonid Gaidai, saved money for savings books and dreamed of life. Students about tape recorders and motorcycles, women about imported cosmetics and fashionable clothes, older people about cars, household appliances and furniture.





"Site" I want to remember the cult. stuffThey were the objects of desire of our parents. Many of them are not needed today and will cause a young reader to smile. Indeed, everything material is in vain, and the best of all this can be appreciated from the height of past years.

Forgotten dreams
  1. Car
    The car was probably the most popular dream object of the Soviet people. There are still jokes about the process of acquiring it at that time.



    In the queue could not get just like that – it was necessary to apply for any of the enterprises. About a year after the application was submitted, the answer usually came as to whether it was approved or not.

    He was then handed over to the union, where he was assigned a number in the queue, and the waiting period averaged about seven to eight years. But it could stretch even more because of citizens who appeared on waiting lists thanks to the “hairy hand”.

    The most affordable car in the mid-80s was "ZAZ-968M", it cost 5600 rubles, and the most expensive - "GAZ-24", for which it was necessary to pay 11200 rubles with an average salary in the range of 180-200 rubles.

  2. carpet
    In the pre-war USSR, carpets were a rare luxury that only wealthy families could afford. Mass distribution of carpets had in the sixties of the last century.



    It was caused by the resettlement of workers in Khrushchev, characterized by low sound and thermal insulation.

    The carpet in the apartment of Soviet citizens combined several functions. He decorated the wall, kept warm, created additional noise insulation, was a sign of prosperity in the family.

    The cost of a more or less decent carpet began from 150-180 rubles, and “deficient” carpets with a rare pattern could cost up to 300 rubles.

  3. A crystal chandelier
    A large crystal chandelier with many hanging elements served as a sign of prosperity, and the Bohemian glass chandelier was a real chic of that time. From time to time, this interior item had to be disassembled, washed and collected again, which, most likely, was far from easy.


  4. Yugoslav wall
    The quality of the Yugoslav “walls” was very high, money was saved up for this piece of furniture and stood in queues for years. In a prominent place in the "wall" necessarily had to stand a set of dishes, preferably crystal.



    An additional decoration of the interior and an indicator of the culturality of the hosts were the collections of works of domestic and foreign classics exhibited on the shelves.

  5. Madonna service
    The main dream and the real fetish of Soviet housewives was the German porcelain set “Madonna”. The magnificent quality of German porcelain cookware was first appreciated by Soviet people in 1945, when Soviet troops entered Germany.



    Subsequently, in the USSR, these services became a prestigious symbol of material well-being and evidence of the impeccable taste of their owners. Happy owners of “unearthly beauty” carefully kept their treasure behind the glass of the furniture wall and put on the table only on the occasion of big holidays.

  6. Branded jeans
    In our country, jeans first came in 1957, when the World Festival of Youth and Students opened the Iron Curtain. For the Soviet people, they were not just pants.



    If you had jeans, you were at the height of fashion, and the girls looked at you more than your friends.

    Therefore, Soviet people were ready to pay for the coveted jeans unthinkable at the time 100, 150 or even 200 rubles. It was considered a real chic to have “genies” of three companies: “Levis”, “Wrangler” and “Lee”.

  7. mink cap
    By the end of the 70s, not without the help of the heroine Barbara Brylska from the cult film “Irony of Fate, or with a light steam!”, fluffy fur hats came into fashion.



    Especially popular were mink hats, which were worn with equal success by both men and women. Such a product cost up to 300 rubles, or 1.5-2 average monthly wages.





    The high price of fur hats led to a massive epidemic of their theft. Many people did not remove fur hats even in theaters, photo studios, restaurants.

  8. Video recorder
    Video recorders or “videophones”, as they were called then, appeared in the USSR in the 80s. Possession of a video recorder at that time can only be compared with the presence of our own oil well today.



    After all, this gave a unique opportunity to watch films with the legendary Stallone, Schwarzenegger and Bruce Lee, as well as “Emmanuel” and “Greek fig tree”.

  9. Afghan dubber
    Short sheepskin coats embroidered with patterns became popular in the 60s thanks to the hippie movement. Before the USSR, fashion reached the mid-70s, and all Soviet fashionists lined up for doubles, the prices of which were equal to several monthly salaries.


  10. The Montana Clock
    The dream of every schoolboy and student of the 80s is a Montana watch with 16 melodies and a unique American eagle on the back cover. Most believed that the object of their dreams came from that very Montana, and this watch is worn by cool cowboys. As the saying goes, “I didn’t eat sour cream for a year, but I bought Montana.”




In our time, the abundance of goods is striking, but forgotten Soviet-era symbols It evokes a nostalgic response in us and goes back decades to a time when the world was very different.

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