What Russia was like in 1982 (PHOTOS)

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Sputnik
The early 1980s was the period known as the Era of Stagnation, or as Leonid Brezhnev called it - real socialism. However, the Soviet leader who had ruled for almost two decades, finally passed away that year, putting the country on the path to the period of change known as Perestroika.

The Soviet leader, General Secretary of the Communist Party, Leonid Brezhnev, was already very sick. At the age of 76, he was in poor health and often spoke incoherently. 

Alexander Steshanov/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru
Alexander Steshanov/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru

Leonid Brezhnev resting at his dacha in Crimea

Vladimir Musaelyan/MAMM/MDF/TASS/russiainphoto.ru
Vladimir Musaelyan/MAMM/MDF/TASS/russiainphoto.ru

A photo symbolizing the period of Stagnation

A.Boytsov/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru
A.Boytsov/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru

Funeral of Leonid Brezhnev who passed away on November 10, 1982. The sorrowful event was marked on a massive scale.

Alexander Steshanov/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru
Alexander Steshanov/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru

The letters say USSR, pictured on Kalinin Prospect (now Novy Arbat Street)

Valentin Khukhlayev/Valentin Khukhlayev archive
Valentin Khukhlayev/Valentin Khukhlayev archive

One of the most popular singers, super star Edita Piekha, who had Polish parents, and she was a Polish coal miner’s daughter.  

Sergei Borisov/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru
Sergei Borisov/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru

Another Soviet superstar, actor and singer Mikhail Boyarsky, pictured in Leningrad. In 1978, the Soviet movie “D'Artagnan and Three Musketeers” made him a nationwide idol.

Sergei Borisov/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru
Sergei Borisov/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru

May Day celebrations on Red Square in Moscow. The Lenin Mausoleum hosted Leonid Brezhnev and other Party leaders, as well as Soviet pioneers.

Alexander Abaza/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru
Alexander Abaza/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru

May Day demonstration in Chelyabinsk, the industrial city in the Ural mountains

Yevgeny Tkachenko/Southern Urals historical museum/russiainphoto.ru
Yevgeny Tkachenko/Southern Urals historical museum/russiainphoto.ru

Huge portrait of Vladimir Lenin on the occasion of Victory Day celebrations in Leningrad

Vladimir Sokolaev/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru
Vladimir Sokolaev/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru

Taking a swim in Leningrad

Vladimir Vorobyev/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru
Vladimir Vorobyev/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru

Pioneers welcome WWII veterans

Vladimir Sokolaev/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru
Vladimir Sokolaev/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru

Women workers

Vladimir Vorobyev/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru
Vladimir Vorobyev/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru

Cultural program: Soldiers head to the cinema in the Siberian city of Novokuznetsk. Every small town in the USSR had a cinema or theater, as dictated by state policy

Vladimir Vorobyev/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru
Vladimir Vorobyev/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru

Soviet citizens blush in Leningrad’s Hermitage Museum 

Vladimir Sokolaev/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru
Vladimir Sokolaev/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru

The Soviet people were very keen on hiking, rock climbing and kayaking.

Sergei Sukharev/Pavel Sukharev archive/russiainphoto.ru
Sergei Sukharev/Pavel Sukharev archive/russiainphoto.ru

Phone booth aesthetics

Vladimir Vorobyev/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru
Vladimir Vorobyev/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru

Strolling around Arkhangelskoye Estate in Moscow, a former noble residence, served as a military sanatorium in the Soviet era

Dmitry Vozdvizhensky, Nina Sviridova/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru
Dmitry Vozdvizhensky, Nina Sviridova/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru

A wedding in the Gorky Region (Nizhny Novgorod) 

A.Sinelshchikov/Sarov museum/russiainphoto.ru
A.Sinelshchikov/Sarov museum/russiainphoto.ru

Member of a geological expedition in the Komi Republic panning for gold in his free time

Pavel Sukharev/Pavel Sukharev archive/russiainphoto.ru
Pavel Sukharev/Pavel Sukharev archive/russiainphoto.ru

The children of geologists during the same expedition

Pavel Sukharev/Pavel Sukharev archive/russiainphoto.ru
Pavel Sukharev/Pavel Sukharev archive/russiainphoto.ru

Communal apartment entrance. Before each room got its own bell ring, there were instructions: one bell for a certain room, two bells for another and so on.

Vladimir Bogdanov/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru
Vladimir Bogdanov/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru

Five minutes before the exam

Pavel Sukharev/Pavel Sukharev archive/russiainphoto.ru
Pavel Sukharev/Pavel Sukharev archive/russiainphoto.ru

Beer station

Vladimir Sokolaev/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru
Vladimir Sokolaev/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru

Military parade on Red Square in Moscow celebrating the anniversary of the 1917 Revolution

Alexander Abaza/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru
Alexander Abaza/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru

Sea hunters on the Chukotka peninsula

Vasily Shumkov/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru
Vasily Shumkov/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru

Automobile competition

Valentin Khukhlayev/Valentin Khukhlayev archive
Valentin Khukhlayev/Valentin Khukhlayev archive

On a playground

Vladimir Vorobyev/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru
Vladimir Vorobyev/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru

Watching a soccer game

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Sputnik

Pioneers at the Orlyonok children’s summer camp on the Black Sea

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Sputnik

Children jump off a wooden Swedish ladder at physical education lesson

Vladimir Fedorenko / Sputnik
Vladimir Fedorenko / Sputnik

A school class

Boris Babanov/Sputnik
Boris Babanov/Sputnik

-26° C in Moscow

Alexander Rubashkin/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru
Alexander Rubashkin/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru

Soviet students had ski lessons in winter… and so as not to have to carry their skis they literally skied home from the school 

Vladimir Sokolaev/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru
Vladimir Sokolaev/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru

Pelmeni, a meal that united people

Vladimir Vorobyev/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru
Vladimir Vorobyev/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru

Collecting glass for recycling. Yes, the Soviets were an eco-friendly nation!

Vladimir Vorobyev/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru
Vladimir Vorobyev/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru

Preparing handmade toys for the New Year tree

Alexander Terentyev/Alina Bashmakova archive/russiainphoto.ru
Alexander Terentyev/Alina Bashmakova archive/russiainphoto.ru

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