The 70s as I remember them
Modern view of the facade of the institute buildings
On December 26, 2024, the memoirs of a staff author of this site about the 70s of the twentieth century were published, which are difficult to agree with.
Below are my memories.
Instead of a preface.
1. The author has a negative attitude towards the communist idea, considering it an armchair theory.
2. The memories of the described period of the 70s of the XNUMXth century are, naturally, passed through the subjective perception of a young, inexperienced young man.
The author is 17,5 years old.
As a seventeen-year-old boy, I entered a Leningrad university. The road to adulthood began in the city on the Neva! With a guy (Andrey V.), whom we met during entrance exams, we rented a room in the very center of the city on Saltykov-Shchedrin Street, now Kirochnaya, and before the revolution too. We were not entitled to a dormitory, because they thought that our families would support us financially enough.
When you are young, full of desires and strength, you want everything at once! You can do without bread.
It was quite difficult to study: 2 classes and a lecture. I had to cram a lot, but still had time to participate in the KVN team, a friend dragged me there, SNO (for those who don’t know — student scientific society), visiting attractions, etc.
Parties, first independent trips to cafes with girls. Everything happened.
The first time I visited the Hermitage was as part of a group organized to visit the gold storeroom. The trade union was working! I don’t know why, but it didn’t make any impression on me. Perhaps my expectations were too high.
But I really liked the Russian Museum. As they say, love at first sight!
After the first semester I was expelled for failing the exam in inorganic chemistry, although I thought I knew the subject, and other students in our group copied from me during tests. But my attempts to retake the exam were unsuccessful. I told my parents. My father came, went to see the rector and after talking to him, to my surprise, reassured me: "You'll enroll next year."
I learned the real reason for my expulsion only 30 years after graduating from the institute. But more on that later.
Liberals call Brezhnev's reign a time of stagnation, but in reality it was a time of stability.
Most of the main oil and gas pipelines that Russia is now actively using were built in the 60s and 70s. Deposits were explored. City-forming enterprises were built.
VAZ-2101 was released in 1972.
KAMAZ - 1976
Housing construction solved the notorious "housing issue" and quite successfully: 105 million square meters of housing were delivered per year. During Brezhnev's rule, the population increased by more than 40 million people.
Sanatoriums, health centers, rest homes. This is not a myth, this is the reality that existed at that time.
The enterprise or trade union paid up to 100% of the cost of the trip.
Penny bills for utilities and public transport. The so-called "general card" for public transport in Leningrad for a month cost 6 rubles, and with a student card - 3 rubles.
Set lunch in the student canteen 30, 40 and 70 kopecks. This is the first, second and compote.
For 70 kopecks, the first course is usually solyanka, and the second course is a piece of stewed meat.
The army is the strongest in Europe, and perhaps in the world. The CMEA countries are included in economic cooperation.
And as a result, the signing of the Helsinki Accords in 1975, the Act on Security and Cooperation in Europe. Which consolidated the borders that existed at that time, which became a reality after WWII.
The fact that the economy was skewed towards heavy industry is quite understandable.
There really was little "consumer goods", that is, fashionable clothes, decent furniture, convenient plumbing, etc. Problems with clothes were solved by numerous ateliers. Jeans were a fetish of the seventies, the ultimate dream of fashionistas, a certain status symbol. Soviet actors in magazine photos in jeans (Vysoky, Dal, Boyarsky, Abdulov, etc.) also voluntarily or involuntarily promoted the so-called "foreign values". For some, buying branded jeans is a certain milestone in life.
Many people focus on empty shelves in grocery stores. Yes, there was no variety in products, but I don’t remember completely empty shelves either. The market had everything, and the prices weren’t sky-high. Maybe two or two and a half times higher than in state trade. The “coolest” market in Leningrad in the 70s was “Kuznechny”. In 78–79, we rented a room in the Pertsev House (Pertsov House) (Ligovsky, 44) — a five-minute walk to the Kuznechny Market. We would go and buy 2–3 apples, a 500–700 gram piece of tenderloin, not ruinous even for students.
This is one of the paradoxes of developed socialism: everyone complained that there was nothing to buy in the shops, but everyone's refrigerators were full to the brim. Relatives from the Urals had 2-3 three-liter jars of melted butter. And everyone constantly grumbled that everything was expensive at the market!
Almost every family made some kind of supplies. No one went hungry. Yes, it was different in different cities, but the shelves were not empty.
For me, the 70s are primarily youth and all the good things associated with it. Somewhere in the fall, friends invited me to a concert of the Georgian group "Iveria", it was held in the DK "Vyborgsky", I went reluctantly - I thought it was something Georgian-folk, criminal-round dance.
At the beginning of each section they performed 2-3 songs in Georgian, and then - all the best that was in the world of pop music at that time. Before that, I listened to this same music only on a tape recorder, and here it was live, which hits straight into the soul! It is unforgettable.
July Morning became my favorite song for a long time. Since then I try to go to concerts.
I remember standing in line for tickets to see Elton John in the late 70s. I knew there was zero chance, but hope dies last! We couldn't get tickets, and we didn't get to the concert! But we came to the BKZ at the beginning of the concert hoping for a miracle. But the miracle didn't happen.
The BDT is a separate story, as are Tovstonogov’s productions.
Theatre building.
«History horses", "Khanuma", "For every wise man...", "The Government Inspector". We can talk endlessly about the star cast.
Of course, our seats were either in the gallery or somewhere on the balcony, but the stage sparkled so much that stars reached there too!
The Pushkin Theatre was not a favourite at the time, but people went there to see Alisa’s father, Bruno Freundlich, perform “Peer Gynt”.
A friend invited me to a bathhouse, how could I refuse?! Saunas had just come into fashion back then. They were placed inside washing rooms. A Russian steam room, of course, and a sauna! It was really cool! It was December, somewhere around six in the evening, snow was lying on the poorly cleared sidewalks, and we went into a bathhouse on Tchaikovsky Street.
The ticket cost 2 rubles, 10 kopecks for a sheet and 5 kopecks for a waffle towel. The two allotted hours flew by in an instant. I was very impressed by the friendly atmosphere of the bathhouse attendants. It felt like a team of long-time acquaintances had gathered.
When I left the bathhouse, I didn’t feel the frost, but it was almost twenty degrees!
I just wanted to fly!
The moon was shining, the snow was crunching under our feet, and we were walking towards Liteiny, which was brightly lit.
And the bathhouse also became love at first sight!
The second time I entered the institute, having the specialty of a second-class carpenter.
I had some life experience. And I already understood well enough how society at that time was structured.
An unspoken agreement was concluded between the people and the country's leadership. The people accepted that there were problems with the variety of food supplies, quality furniture, fashionable and comfortable clothes and shoes, etc., and the country's leadership turned a blind eye to minor violations of the law.
Yes, there were major executions that thundered throughout the Union, but that didn’t change anything.
In our carpentry shop where I worked, every man made one double-paned window for himself during the week, and the frame, of course. All this was carried out unhindered through the "back" checkpoint and sold on Saturday at the market. The price of a window was 30-40 rubles. In total, plus 140 rubles to the salary.
To my puzzled question the answer was: that’s how it’s done.
What's interesting is that this was everywhere. Maybe it wasn't like that at restricted enterprises.
Don't think that the country's leadership didn't know this. They knew, but... The seventies were the beginning of the collapse of the USSR, and the collapse began first and foremost in people's heads, as Professor Preobrazhensky said.
If my neighbor can, then why can't I? And it all started with careerists getting into the party. They said very correct words at meetings, got positions and condoned general theft, bribery, explaining all this by the fact that if the theft at the enterprise stopped, the workers would quit. Well, something like that.
After my second year I got married. And from the beginning of my third year I went to work as a loader in a store. Work from 17 to 21 p.m. and every other day.
It suited me perfectly. During this time, two cars arrived with bread and milk. This product was put out the next morning.
There were also "fly-by" vehicles. This is when a store, where the goods were originally sent, refused to accept them, and the driver could choose where to unload. But this was extremely rare.
I know very well how the food trade was organized in the 70s and 80s. I also know the assortment that came to our store.
Not all the goods reached the counter. First of all, they called the "blatnye" (privileged people), informing them that they had brought this and that. Naturally, the store employees also bought goods, and they, like all normal Soviet people, bought not only for themselves, but also for their relatives, friends, acquaintances, and so on down the list.
You can't find the same sour cream that came from the dairy now! We diluted it with water, Vasya, with water! Until it was a little thicker than milk.
In two weeks, a person could earn 2-3 thousand rubles in state trade, which is half the cost of a Zhiguli.
We went to the Kirov stadium for football a couple of times. First by tram, and then through the entire Central Park of Culture and Leisure to the stadium on foot. The dismal performance of Zenit put us off attending such events for a long time.
But then I discovered hockey. More precisely, my friend. I myself couldn't even stand on skates then. Yes, we all watched the USSR-Canada Super Series in 1972. It was a victory!
Seryoga dragged me to Yakushev then. SKA - Spartak. We played in Yubileiny.
On TV you watch hockey through the eyes of a cameraman, and when there is a break, you are shown the benches or the spectators. But in reality, it is a performance, where all the roles are assigned, but the ending is unpredictable! You see how the attack is prepared, how the defense is prepared. This will not be shown on TV. You can see the work of the coaches, the true directors of this performance. And emotions - you need to feel them.
I watched and understood why the fans called Yakushev “snag” back then.
That's the 70s for me.
Nobody called them “stagnant”; they lived a calm life with confidence in the future.
If you want to earn more, it's easy! In my 4th, 5th and 6th years of study, I worked 3 jobs and earned an average of 210-215 rubles, plus 45 rubles as a stipend. The work did not affect my studies in any way.
Yes, there were those who sat in their kitchens and reasoned that there was no such thing as this or that. That their salaries were categorically not enough! But for some reason they had no desire to get off their ass and find a second job.
I repeat once again - there was a lot of work. Police officers often went on vacation to harvest pine nuts. For some reason, this was popular with them.
But what is interesting is that these eternal whiners knew how to write, and now many draw conclusions about the “hungry 70s” precisely from the recollections (memoirs) of these rotten intellectuals.
The result of this successful decade was the Moscow Olympics (1980). This was recognition on a global scale.
One cannot ignore the introduction of Soviet troops into Afghanistan. There was no ostentatious patriotism. The army did its job. The people took it for granted - there was trust in the government.
The country's leadership knew about the situation in the country - of course!
Why didn't they try to adjust economic policy when the time for reforms was already ripe? Communist dogmas didn't allow it? I have no other answer.
At this time, the government begins to shake, especially in the outskirts of the country. Terrorist attacks in Moscow, carried out by Armenian nationalists. The hijacking of the plane by the Brazinskas. And other incidents.
What the authorities are doing is trying to improve the economy of the outskirts to the detriment of the main population of the country.
The KGB didn't work? It did.
All layers of society were under X-ray.
A friend of mine whom I hadn't seen since graduating came to the 2010 alumni reunion.
He is three years older than me. After finishing school, he entered the institute only on the third try. Naturally, he worked and managed to join the party.
I already wrote that in my first year I was a member of the KVN team (most of the team later became residents of Israel), I don’t have any acting talent, but still.
During lectures we tried to sit next to each other, and at the same time we solved KV issues.
One of our people brought a typewritten text, like a libretto for the opera “Meresiev”.
“We’ll cut off Meresyev’s legs.
- How will I fly?
And so on. It was funny in places.
I read all of this and gave these sheets of paper to the owner. It was the first time I read something like this. As they said later, I expressed some joy from what I had read. It is quite possible, I don’t remember anymore.
At the course party meeting, they discussed a signal (it was clear where it came from) that I had read this and expressed joy at what I had read. It was decided to punish me. The head of the inorganic chemistry department, a professor, I won't give his name, volunteered to carry out the punishment. He promised that I would be expelled because I would not pass the exam during the winter session. And that's how it all happened.
This explains how my father took my expulsion calmly.
This somehow changed my attitude towards my life - no, and it won’t change it.
These are my memories of time and of myself.
I would be happy to read someone else's memories of the 70s.
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