What Russia was like in 1925 (PHOTOS)
The young country of Soviets had its own ‘Roaring Twenties’: The Civil War was over and new life and aesthetics were filling the public space.
A year earlier, Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the revolution, died and a temporary mausoleum for his corpse was erected on the Red Square in Moscow, followed by another one… And, only five years later would a permanent one be built out of marble, the one that now stands next to the Kremlin walls. The photo below shows Bolshevik party leaders speaking on the podium of the Mausoleum.
The Red Square became the main venue for parades. Anniversaries of the revolution, the creation of the Red Army, Labor Day and other important dates for the Soviet agenda were celebrated on it. The photo below shows a parade of cyclists on May 1.
Back then, military parades demonstrating the latest equipment were already being held.
The Bolsheviks were actively changing life in the country. In particular, technological progress and electrification were moving at breakneck speed. The photo below shows the incandescent light bulb which was famous in the USSR as ‘Ilyich's light bulb’ (i.e. ‘Lenin's light bulb’) and peasants looking at it with genuine interest.
From that moment on and for many years to come, engineering would become one of the most prestigious and important professions.
If, previously, marriages were solely concluded in churches, the Bolsheviks turned it into a civil procedure. And not only Orthodox Christians, but also Muslims would register their union in the civil registry office.
Gaining political weight, but not yet a sole dictator, Stalin is pictured below with representatives of the Soviet Asian republics.
The Bolsheviks exploited (and appropriated for themselves) the tsarist heritage. In Crimean palaces, for example, they set up sanatoriums for workers and peasants. The photo below shows vacationers in the courtyard of the Livadia Palace in Crimea.
In 1925, the ‘Artek’ children's camp, now world famous, was established in Crimea. In the first year, 80 children from different cities were accommodated in four tarpaulin tents by the seashore.
Moscow that no longer exists: the Sukharev Tower. Less than ten years would pass before the Bolsheviks would demolish it.
In 1925, the ‘Mosselprom’ Building was erected, a masterpiece of constructivism and a landmark of Moscow at the time. The advertising on the facade, meanwhile, was designed by Alexander Rodchenko.
Without exaggeration, Alexander Rodchenko became the most famous Soviet photographer back then. And he offered an innovative, avant-garde approach. That and unusual angles, as in this famous photo ‘Fire Stairs’…
Or the almost modern fish-eye lens, a driver of a car, shot through the side mirror.
And below is Varvara Stepanova, Rodchenko's wife, also a famous designer. She is wearing a headscarf decorated with her own print pattern.
Soviet fashion. Below, Lilya Brik (Mayakovsky's muse and a real sex symbol of the era) and Nadezhda Makarova-Maslova are showcasing dresses by fashion designer Nadezhda Lamanova.
Twenty years after the first Russian Revolution and the uprising on the battleship Potemkin, Sergei Eisenstein directed a movie of the same name. Below is a still from this iconic movie.
And here's how the movie theater in Krasnodar was decorated before the premiere of ‘Battleship 'Potemkin’.
Toward the end of the year, however, the country was shocked by some tragic news. Famous poet Sergei Yesenin committed suicide in a room at the Leningrad ‘Angleterre Hotel’. Pictures of the poet's body were widely circulated and the abrasion on his forehead gave rise to speculation that his death was violent.
Here are some more photos of how the young country of the Soviets lived in 1925. People resting in a park on Yelagin Island in Leningrad.
The main theater figures of the country at the time: Konstantin Stanislavsky and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko.
The first fire engine assembled by firefighting enthusiasts out of parts from foreign cars.
A bus transporting workers to the factory in Chelyabinsk.
Barge haulers from the famous Repin painting revived. The wanderers in Nizhny Novgorod.
Yelena Alexandrova-Poselskaya, winner of the 2nd USSR Tennis Championship.
