What Soviet Russia was like in 1965 (PHOTOS)
It was Leonid Brezhnev’s first full year in power, cosmonauts were flying into outer space and poets were filling entire stadiums with spectators. What else was the country living through 60 years ago?
Following Nikita Khrushchev's resignation, Leonid Brezhnev became the country's new leader in October of the previous year. For the first time without Khrushchev, he greeted the Labor Day parade on May 1.
The biggest news of the year was that cosmonaut Alexei Leonov successfully completed the first ever spacewalk. He stayed outside his ‘Voskhod’ spacecraft for 12 minutes and 9 seconds.
He became a new national hero and, with his co-partner Pavel Belyaev, he toured around the Soviet Union. In every city, they were greeted by an enthusiastic crowd with flowers.
Below, cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova show off their numerous medals – with Gagarin a little playful with Tereshkova’s ear!
Cosmonautics became so popular that literally every child dreamed of becoming a cosmonaut. The photo below depicts young cosmonauts at a pioneer camp.
Even children's playgrounds were equipped with toy rockets.
A year earlier, an obelisk titled ‘To the Conquerors of Space’ was erected at VDNKh, while a monument to Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, considered the founder of space theory, was placed in front of it.
And, in the photo below, you can see what the bas-relief on the side of the monument looks like.
In 1965, the 4th International Film Festival was held in Moscow. Among the main foreign stars who came to the Soviet Union capital was actress Sophia Loren. The photo shows her posing against the background of the Novodevichy Convent in Moscow.
In 1965, the country was widely celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Victory in World War II. Of course, a large parade took place on the Red Square in Moscow on May 9.
Many photographers were working on the Red Square.
The echoes of the Khrushchev thaw were still felt in people's lives and in photography. There was a real boom in street photography which chronicled ordinary people's lives. Here’re some of them: The streets of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg)…
…in a cafe in Moscow…
…and in the lobby of the Norilsk Palace of Culture.
Meanwhile, the whole nation was reading.
Below, a sled train is taking children on a ride in the Cherepovets Park of Culture and Recreation.
A group of young pioneers lining up to see a Lenin monument.
The title of the photo below speaks for itself: ‘Lovely’.
An important part of life in the 1960s was the development of greenfield land. Young people were rushing to little-explored parts of the homeland. This photo shows a send-off party complete with guitar and songs.
Geology became one of the popular occupations. The romance of expeditions to the far corners of the country captured young people. The photo below shows scientists meeting up with their helicopter ride.
Soviet correspondents also chronicled various professions and occupations. Whether it was construction workers…
…miners…
…fishermen…
…or lumberjacks.
Reindeer herders in the north, meanwhile, continued to live a traditional way of life…
…while babushkas were selling sunflower seeds in the city.
The symbol of the 1960s and its mouthpiece were poets, who were nicknamed the ‘Sixtiers’. They glorified life in the country, the valiant labor of workers and builders. And they were so popular that their performances filled huge halls (and even entire stadiums) with spectators. Yevgeny Yevtushenko, one of the ‘Sixtiers’, is pictured in the photo below.
The year 1965 was also the last year in the life of Anna Akhmatova, a legend of the Silver Age of Russian literature and one of Russia's most famous female poets.
Below, movie director Andrei Tarkovsky (on the right) discusses a scene with actor Anatoly Solonitsyn on the set of his movie ‘Andrei Rublev’ to be released the following year (1966).
The fashion of the 1960s deserves a separate mention. After monotone gray and black suits and outfits, the country began to dress brighter and more interesting. The photo below shows legendary fashion designer Slava Zaitsev with models showcasing his range.
Fashionable glasses and bright dresses were symbols of the epoch. Many family archives have photos, like the one below, from vacations in Crimea and other Black Sea resorts.
Color photography had been around for a long time, but it had not yet penetrated news photography en masse. Only some shots were taken in color. The photo below shows a parking lot of children's ‘Karapuz’ (literally ‘toddler’) toy taxi cabs on a square in the city of Arkhangelsk.
