It’s no secret that life in the Soviet Union was tough. Food shortages and an oppressive regime made for uneasy conditions, to say the least. However, toward the end of the Soviet Union’s reign, there was a slight thawing in relations with the West. That thawing (some might argue) led directly to the downfall of the entire Soviet way of life. While there are some things about the system that are truly missed by those who grew up under it, many facets of it are better off forgotten.
Like the average Soviet grocery store, for example. It’s hard to imagine a poorly stocked grocery store with more empty shelves than cans of food, but that’s what people used to live with. Luckily for us, there is some old footage of these shops floating around out there that was shot just before the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
It’s a bit long, but even watching for a minute or two is enough to get a feel for what life was like back then.
While it might be painful to watch for some, it’s important for us to remember where we came from. If we wish to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, we must learn from them.
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