For modern youth, jeans are an everyday and even, one might say, inconspicuous wardrobe detail. Everyone has them, in different colors, cleaned and classic, with holes and without. You won't surprise anyone with jeans now, but there was a completely different attitude to this clothes in Soviet times. The first jeans were a pipe dream for the majority and a source of pride for the elite.

Dream of millions

Jeans in 60-70 in the USSR were the main dream of fashionistas and almost the only way to stand out. All other clothes could be absolutely ordinary, but if a guy or a girl had jeans, then they automatically became "cooler" than everyone else. And not only those around them began to perceive them differently, the fashionistas themselves also felt more beautiful, luckier and even smarter than the rest.

Jeans must have been "branded", brought from abroad. And, of course, trousers from Yugoslavia, Poland and Bulgaria were not considered foreign, where they made something that only remotely resembled real jeans. Even in Moscow, on the instructions of the party, they tried to make jeans at the Rabochaya Oboi factory, but they did not delight anyone.

Requirements

Real jeans had to meet several requirements:

1. Jeans had to "stand", that is, the denim fabric was so dense that it was possible to get into them only with soap.

2. Only blue was recognized as a true "denim" color. Now we buy black, blue, and even bright colored jeans; in Soviet times, it was real chic to get blue jeans.

3. And the jeans had to "rub". Trousers made in the fraternal republics never lost their color. They were rubbed with bricks, bleached in "Whiteness" - no real worn jeans came out after any experiments. That is why jeans-like trousers have never been particularly appreciated - a fake was easy to recognize.

Pants of three American brands "Levis", "Lee", "Wrangler" were recognized as real jeans. An untrained eye would not have been able to distinguish one from the other, except perhaps by looking at the small label on the back pocket. But true connoisseurs and fashionistas distinguished jeans of different brands by shade, color of thread, rivets and other details imperceptible at first glance.

The girls could boast of jeans from even less common companies, for example, "Montana" or "Waild Cat", but the guys dreamed of pants with the labels of the three main "titans".

Price

Getting hold of the jeans was incredibly difficult. First, their price reached 200 rubles, which even exceeded the average monthly salary of working specialists. For the sake of jeans, teenagers worked after school, brought home only A's - in general, in every possible way they brought their dream closer.

But even with the required amount on hand, in Soviet times, a person could not just come to the store and buy jeans. It was necessary to get them, which meant finding a blacksmith who could sell them. At that time, buying jeans was like a real spy detective, after all, an article was laid for speculation.

In the 1980s, the fashion for jeans reached, as they say, its peak, but it was still impossible to buy them in the USSR, because no factory was engaged in the manufacture of such clothes. The lucky ones who could afford to buy jeans were those who often traveled abroad on duty - sailors, actors, athletes. True, they were forced to go through customs inspection, and if the authorities still turned a blind eye to one pair of jeans bought “for themselves”, then three imported pants in a suitcase of one person were already considered speculation. Inventive sailors circumvented this ban in their own way: before arriving at the port, they put on five jeans at a time, and on top, to top it off, they pulled on uniform sailor trousers. Surprisingly, it worked. Most often, this is how real branded jeans ended up in the USSR.

There is a story when in 1978 the famous coach of the USSR national alpine skiing team Tyagachev tried to smuggle through control at the airport a batch of jeans unheard of at that time - as many as 200 pieces. Apparently, he assumed that no one would inspect the boxes from under the ski boots. However, the "smuggling" was discovered, and a criminal case was initiated against Tyagachev. True, it never came to court, since the coach had influential friends, including in the law enforcement agencies. However, the entire shipment was confiscated.

2. Jeans were very expensive

Since the cost of a pair of jeans could go up to 200 rubles with an average salary of 120 rubles a month, there were a lot of people who wanted to sell the coveted item of clothing, as well as those who wanted to buy it. It is not surprising that the hucksters quickly learned to fake branded jeans: they took imported canvas pants, dyed them into the indigo color, which was so popular among Soviet jeans fans, sewed on labels and sold them, and their goods, as a rule, did not stale. The brands Lee Riders, Levi Strauss and Wrangler were most appreciated among Soviet youth: these labels were sewn on the products most often by dealers. But the coolest thing was to appear on the street in real “Montana”, as they were the most expensive and catchy.

Unfortunately, there were many unscrupulous sellers. Often there were cases when a buyer, giving money, received a closed opaque package, and as soon as he tried to look into it, a shout was heard from somewhere: "Atas, cops!" Getting caught selling or buying jeans threatened with serious trouble, so everyone fled in all directions. And when the naive buyer still opened the bag, he found that he had bought not two trousers, but only one. This method of deception was very common, and finding a reseller in Moscow and getting even with him was like finding a needle in a haystack.

It would not be an exaggeration to assume that the desire to get jeans in their wardrobe contributed to academic success: the young people promised to finish the year at least without triples if their parents helped them with the purchase. If the parents did not have money either, then students and schoolchildren, for the sake of jeans alone, were hired to work: they helped unload cars, packed vegetables at vegetable warehouses, or took on another not too prestigious part-time job.

3. "Shabby" jeans were especially fashionable

The main difference between real branded jeans and fake canvas jeans was that the real jeans were rubbed. It was considered a special chic to have "shabby" jeans, and fashionistas spent hours trying to create fake scuffs on their favorite pants using red bricks. In addition, the color of the jeans was supposed to be blue and no other.

Young people also had other requirements for good jeans: the fabric had to be as dense as possible, so that the jeans "stood". And especially valuable were those trousers that fitted the body like a second skin. It was possible to get into them only "with soap", and it was possible to fasten the zipper only while lying on the back and pulling in the stomach. But dark skinny jeans visually made the figure slimmer, and if we add to this the charm of scarcity, we get a universal formula for success in the opposite sex for both girls and guys.

There was also another extreme. Since it was almost impossible to choose your size, you often had to buy jeans a couple of sizes larger. But here, too, there was a way out: to lie down for a while right in the new clothes in the bathroom with hot water and wait for the fabric to “sit down”.

4. The first domestic jeans appeared in Odessa

Odessa is a port city located not so far from Europe, so it is quite logical that it was here that the first underground workshops for the production of domestic jeans appeared, which were sewn from imported denim imported secretly into the USSR. Rivets, buttons, threads, accessories, obligatory stripes were also smuggled in. It should be noted that Odessa jeans did not differ too much in quality from Western ones, because they were created by professional tailors from high quality materials. These jeans cost no less than real imported ones, and they were sold out with no less willingness.

Do you remember your first jeans?

You can say whatever you want: the Soviet Union did not have this, the Soviet Union did not have this. But I know what my son and his peers did not have afterwards. They didn't have their first jeans! It is unlikely that someone from today's generation will be able to understand what the conversation is about. But each of those who were born in the 60s and 70s will immediately understand what the conversation is about.

The fact is that jeans in the USSR were not just fashionable pants, they meant EVERYTHING. That is, everything else you just might well be completely ordinary, but if you had jeans (only necessarily "firm"), then you were already at the height of fashion. And the girls were staring at you more than at your friends. And you yourself felt more beautiful, and more successful, and even smarter than others.

Jeans were the real standard of fashion. Moreover, it cannot be said that this fashion was distinguished by at least some kind of diversity. Jeans had to meet several requirements: they had to "stand", you could get into them only with soap, the color of jeans was exclusively blue, and they had to "rub". Yes Yes! The fact is that instead of a real "firm" they tried to slip something incomprehensible to us: some kind of Bulgarian trousers of the "Rila" brand, Polish, Yugoslavian. Once upon a time, even by a special resolution of the Council of Ministers in Moscow, at the factory "work clothes", they began to produce their own jeans. But, even if sometimes both the cut and the fabric of such pants had something in common with jeans, they still could not even approximate what we put into this concept - they did not rub! That is, the paint on the fabric adhered remarkably and did not want to disappear either after the experiments with "Whiteness" or even after some desperate daredevils tried to wipe it off with a red (exactly red!) Brick.

But it was considered a real chic to have “gins” (sometimes they were called like that) of three companies: “Levis”, “Wrangler”, “Lee”. Moreover, it was possible to distinguish them from each other only if you specifically carefully consider what kind of label is on the back right pocket of the happy owner of such fashionable pants? But true connoisseurs knew both the color of the labels, and the color of the threads and where the rivets were of which brand.

Of course, there were a dozen more companies that were even more difficult to get, something like Montana, Waild Cat or something even more exotic. They were considered exotic precisely because they were more decorated, therefore they were often perceived more as female. And a real man had to get himself something from the already named trinity.

By the way, about "getting it" - it was not so easy to do. First of all, money was needed for jeans, especially branded ones. And their cost reached 200 rubles, which is even more than the average monthly salary. In order to beg for such money from their parents, the C students promised to finish the year without Cs, and the excellent students promised to finish the music school without Cs. Those who were more conscientious, or to whom such money at home could not fall in any way, worked in the summer at vegetable warehouses, harvesting strawberries and other simple jobs that schoolchildren were allowed to do. Of course, the cost varied in different cities. So in the port cities from the sailors it was possible to buy the same "Li" and for one hundred and twenty. But usually everything was overbought by black market wholesalers in the bud. And then count yourself - transport, implementation, risk, and so on. Therefore, I had to look for 180-200 rubles.

But even if you found money, then after that you had to find the jeans themselves! And this is not so easy. It is only in a bad movie that the farmers themselves almost crowd around the potential buyer. In reality, such a crowd could be surrounded only in order to cheat. For example, after such a purchase of a house, it might turn out that for some reason you bought only one trouser leg, even though you considered exactly two (a very popular method of deception was). Therefore, if the deal took place between strangers, both were afraid. After all, then there really were no policemen who “did not notice” something for a certain percentage.

But after you became the owner of such pants, you began to feel like the coolest person in the world. Even though there was no such thing as "cool" then. And even if you pulled on your jeans only with the help of two friends (this happened), still they themselves, and you were the best in the world in them! Because these were your first jeans.

And, believe me, the more I tell, the more I remember, For example, how jeans were washed right on myself. Or how we recognized forgeries. But I'm not sure that it will be interesting to anyone. But the fact that each of us will now remember our first "Leaves" or "Montana" (yes, even the Turkish "Pyramids" or the Chinese "Malvina") - I'm sure of that.

The inhabitants of the Soviet Union had a very difficult relationship with jeans. This garment was banned, as it symbolized the spirit of freedom, unpleasant for the authorities, emanating from behind the Iron Curtain. Jeans were not manufactured industrially or imported into the country, so inventive fashionistas had to invent their own, sometimes quite exotic, ways to acquire a trendy pair.

1. Jeans were equated with contraband goods

In the 1980s, the fashion for jeans reached, as they say, its peak, but it was still impossible to buy them in the USSR, because not a single factory was engaged in the manufacture of such clothes. The lucky ones who could afford to buy jeans were those who often traveled abroad on duty - sailors, actors, athletes. True, they were forced to go through customs inspection, and if the authorities still turned a blind eye to one pair of jeans bought “for themselves”, then three imported pants in a suitcase of one person were already considered speculation. Inventive sailors circumvented this ban in their own way: before arriving at the port, they put on five jeans at a time, and on top, to top it off, they pulled on uniform sailor trousers. Surprisingly, it worked. Most often, this is how real branded jeans ended up in the USSR.

There is a story when in 1978 the famous coach of the USSR national alpine skiing team Tyagachev tried to smuggle through control at the airport a batch of jeans unheard of at that time - as many as 200 pieces. Apparently, he assumed that no one would inspect the boxes from under the ski boots. However, the "smuggling" was discovered, and a criminal case was initiated against Tyagachev. True, it never came to court, since the coach had influential friends, including in the law enforcement agencies. However, the entire shipment was confiscated.

2. Jeans were very expensive

Since the cost of a pair of jeans could go up to 200 rubles with an average salary of 120 rubles a month, there were a lot of people who wanted to sell the coveted item of clothing, as well as those who wanted to buy it. It is not surprising that the hucksters quickly learned to fake branded jeans: they took imported canvas pants, dyed them into the indigo color, which was so popular among Soviet jeans fans, sewed on labels and sold them, and their goods, as a rule, did not stale. The brands Lee Riders, Levi Strauss and Wrangler were most appreciated among the Soviet youth: these labels were sewn on the products by dealers most often. But the coolest thing was to appear on the street in real "Montana", as they were the most expensive and catchy.

Unfortunately, there were many unscrupulous sellers. There were often cases when a buyer, giving money, received a closed opaque package, and as soon as he tried to look into it, a shout was heard from somewhere: "Atas, cops!" Getting caught selling or buying jeans threatened with serious trouble, so everyone fled in all directions. And when the naive buyer still opened the bag, he found that he had bought not two trousers, but only one. This method of deception was very common, and finding a reseller in Moscow and getting even with him was like finding a needle in a haystack.

It would not be an exaggeration to assume that the desire to get jeans in their wardrobe contributed to academic success: the young people promised to finish the year at least without triples if their parents helped them with the purchase. If the parents did not have money either, then students and schoolchildren, for the sake of jeans alone, were hired to work: they helped unload cars, packed vegetables at vegetable warehouses, or took on another not too prestigious part-time job.

3. "Shabby" jeans were especially fashionable

The main difference between real branded jeans and fake canvas jeans was that the real jeans were rubbed. It was considered a special chic to have "shabby" jeans, and fashionistas spent hours trying to create fake scuffs on their favorite pants using red bricks. In addition, the color of the jeans was supposed to be blue and no other.

Young people also had other requirements for good jeans: the fabric had to be as dense as possible, so that the jeans "stood". And especially valuable were those trousers that fitted the body like a second skin. It was possible to get into them only "with soap", and it was possible to fasten the zipper only while lying on the back and pulling in the stomach. But dark skinny jeans visually made the figure slimmer, and if we add to this the charm of scarcity, we get a universal formula for success in the opposite sex for both girls and guys.

There was also another extreme. Since it was almost impossible to choose your size, you often had to buy jeans a couple of sizes larger. But here, too, there was a way out: to lie down for a while right in the new clothes in the bathroom with hot water and wait for the fabric to “sit down”.

4. The first domestic jeans appeared in Odessa

If jeans have a history of nearly 150 years in the world, in our country this history began only about 50 years ago. But ... this small (in comparison with the whole world) period of time is full of unforgettable moments associated with jeans.

The modern generation will say: - Hmm, jeans, what's the big deal - everyone has more than one pair :)) But those who were born in the 60s and 70s and even the 80s of the XX century will immediately understand what will be discussed.

Jeans came to our country together with the participants of the World Festival of Youth and Students in 1957. Then for the first time Muscovites saw "foreign work pants" and many couples settled on Soviet citizens in exchange for souvenirs :)).

The youth of the Soviet Union immediately fell in love with this garment. And after the end of the Festival, the Power banned jeans (like rock and roll and the Voice of America), since these pants symbolized the spirit of freedom, unpleasant for the authorities, coming from America and the West.

But despite all the bans, and most likely thanks to them, jeans in the USSR became not just fashionable pants, they became a Cult. That is, if you had jeans (only necessarily "branded"), then you are at the height of fashion, popularity, fame.

Jeans were not produced by the Soviet industry, were not imported into the country, were not sold in regular stores or markets, so inventive fashionistas had to invent their own, sometimes even exotic, ways to acquire ultra-fashionable clothes.

The lucky ones who could afford to buy jeans were those who, on duty, often traveled abroad - sailors, pilots, actors, athletes. True, they were forced to go through customs inspection, and if the authorities still turned a blind eye to one pair of jeans bought “for themselves”, then three imported pants in a suitcase of one person were already considered speculation. Inventive sailors circumvented this ban in their own way: before arriving at the port, they put on five jeans at a time, and on top, to top it off, they pulled on uniform sailor trousers. And it worked! Most often, this is how real branded jeans ended up in the USSR.

Real jeans, by youth standards, had to have the following qualities: the fabric had to be as dense as possible, so that the jeans "stood". Especially valuable were those trousers that fitted the body like a second skin. It was possible to get into them only "with soap", and it was possible to fasten the zipper only while lying on the back and pulling in the stomach.

Jeans were not only difficult to buy, but pants in your size were also difficult to find. I often had to buy jeans of the size that was available. They grabbed what was: if the long ones were hemmed, the small ones were stretched. In addition, one could lie down for a while in the new clothes in the bathroom with hot water and wait for the fabric to “sit down”. And if the jeans were too small, the girls worked wonders here too. "Armed" with soap and faithful friends, they climbed into the bathtub, soaped themselves and, at the cost of incredible efforts, pulled them over themselves. Then they wore it without taking it off, and after a couple of days the long-suffering trousers sat on the figure.

But, the main difference between real branded jeans and fake canvas was that the real jeans were rubbed. It was considered a special chic to have “shabby” jeans, and fashionistas spent hours trying to create fake scuffs on their favorite pants. That is, the fashionable "Levays" and "Montans" on the folds had to lose their original blue color and take on the look of long and carelessly worn pants. In addition, the color of the jeans was supposed to be only blue, and no other.

There was no time to wait for the jeans to grow old and dry out, so the branded pants were artificially aged right at home. Red bricks, pumice stones and wooden blocks were used.

It was considered real chic to have jeans from three companies: "Levis", "Wrangler" and "Lee".

Well, if you managed to get a Montana, or a Wild Cat, you are at the height of bliss! These brands were distinguished by their special chic and, accordingly, were more expensive.

Moreover, it was possible to distinguish the firms from each other only if you specifically carefully consider what kind of label is on the back right pocket of the happy owner of such fashionable pants? But true connoisseurs knew both the color of the labels, and the color of the threads, and where from which brand the rivets were.

Since the cost of a pair of jeans could go up to 200 rubles with an average salary of 100-120 rubles a month, there were a lot of people willing to sell an ultra-fashionable item of clothing, as well as those willing to buy it. It is not surprising that the merchants quickly learned to counterfeit branded jeans: they took imported canvas pants, dyed them in the traditional indigo color, sewed on labels and sold them, and the goods, as a rule, did not linger.

The first underground workshops for the production of domestic jeans appeared in Odessa. They sewed from imported denim secretly imported into the USSR. Also, rivets, buttons, threads, accessories, and obligatory stripes were smuggled in. According to the reviews of fashionistas of those years, Odessa jeans did not differ much in quality from Western ones, because they were created by professional tailors from high quality materials. Such jeans cost no less than real imported ones, and they were sold out with no less eagerness.

When the struggle in the USSR with a fashionable and comfortable type of clothing suffered a crushing fiasco and it became clear that not only young people, but also middle-aged people like tight trousers, the authorities decided to legalize the situation. Large consignments of Bulgarian Rila jeans and Indian jeans of an unknown brand were purchased.

After the 1980 Moscow Olympics, the Rabochaya Odezhda factory began producing its own (SS) jeans. But despite the good fit and fabric, these jeans were considered second class - they did not rub! The paint on the fabric held up remarkably well and did not want to fade. And yet, some have managed to rip off the label from them and replace them with a "brand" label.

In the 1980s, denim jeans came into fashion. In stores, they have not even heard of such pants. But Soviet citizens invented many recipes for making a novelty: jeans were boiled with bleach, tied with rubber bands to create a pattern, or tied in a knot, beaten with white bricks, rubbed with pumice stone, boiled with soda and bleach, and then washed in a washing machine along with stones. As a result of all these executions, super exclusive models of "boiled" were obtained, which have no analogues :)))

At the same time, a lot of underground workshops appeared, where “branded” jeans were sewn in batches, which outwardly hardly differed from those brought from abroad. Even labels, labels and rivets were made here, in these workshops, using a press. The price of such jeans was from 100 to 150 rubles. And some bought them deliberately, knowing that it was a fake, but the craft is good.

Since the 90s, all bans have been lifted, and everyone could buy jeans.

To this day, jeans are universal clothing for any age, they are loved by everyone and, probably, few people can remember how many pairs of jeans he wore.

And only people "born in the USSR" can proudly say that they remember their FIRST jeans all their lives!

Sources:

The History of Jeans: Part 3.

Jeans and modernity.

The fashion for jeans in our country reached its peak in the 1980s. At the time of Perestroika, jeans were finally started to be produced in the USSR, although they did not differ in special quality, and they lost to Western brands a priori in their "toughness".

With the collapse of the USSR, Chinese counterfeit clothes of extremely low quality flooded into the country. So jeans gradually lost their former charm and the charm of the most durable and reliable pants in the world.

Subsequently, the fashion for jeans returned in the form of some separate models. With the spread of rap and hip-hop music, the so-called "pipes", jeans with wide legs, became popular. In the 2000s, a fashion for the so-called "skate" skinny jeans, "skinny" models, arose among young people.

Skinny skinny jeans.

As for branded jeans, for example - classic Levi "s, despite significant losses in market share, the company still has many fans who prefer these pants. pass - the drop in quality made itself felt here too.

A History of Jeans: Part 2.

Rokotov & Fainberg jeans.

But even a demonstrative execution could not do anything about fashion. In 1962, the famous poet Andrei Voznesensky came to the meeting between Khrushchev and the creative intelligentsia in jeans, for which he received a "scolding" from the secretary general.

Jeans were sold anyway, since the demand for them did not disappear anywhere. The cost of one pair in the 1970s reached 200 rubles, which exceeded the average monthly salary. Lucky for those who, among friends or relatives, were directly traveling abroad - representatives of the bureaucracy, athletes, cultural figures. Those could bring the coveted pants directly from abroad. There is a known case when the writer Vladimir Nabokov sent two pairs of brand new jeans to the poet Joseph Brodsky in Leningrad.

Soviet cinema stars Vladimir Ivanov and Svetlana Svetlichnaya buy their first jeans in a foreign store. The famous photo of Life magazine.

Others had to deal with the economic underground. In it, buyers were often deceived and robbed to the skin. It was incredibly difficult to get jeans of the right size, so, as a rule, they took what was available. Bigger jeans were usually hemmed and "squeezed" in a hot bath, and smaller ones were stretched right on the body, crawling into them with soap.

Soviet caricature of black-marketeers and their clients.

The most cherished jeans were the pants from the three largest manufacturers - Levi "s, Wrangler and Lee. These jeans are considered one of the highest quality today. But the true peak of fashion in the USSR was the Montana jeans, the origin of which is a mystery to this day.

Label Montana.

Montana pants in the USSR were valued the most, they were also considered the most durable. It was believed that real jeans should "stand", and Montana pants did it best.

The Montana denim brand really existed at that time, but it has nothing to do with the US state. The trade mark was registered in Hamburg, under this name jeans were really produced for some time, but then the brand disappeared without a trace, leaving no history behind.

This is how "real" jeans should stand.

There is an opinion that almost all Montana jeans "imported" to the USSR were actually made by shop workers in Odessa and other cities, from imported materials. Workshop production of jeans was indeed very popular in the USSR. And if we take into account that real tailors usually worked in such shops, the quality of such jeans was no worse than Western ones.

Another sign of “real” jeans was that they were worn. There was an opinion among the people that a real "jeans" must acquire scuffs some time after use. In fact, this property of jeans was due to the fact that Western manufacturers used cheap dyes. There was even such a way of checking jeans for authenticity - a wet match was passed over them and, if it turned blue, then the pants were recognized as real.

Therefore, when some lucky man from the Soviet Union got a pair of jeans, for some reason painted with good paint, he was in no hurry to rejoice, but ran to "cook" them. Boiling jeans in water with bleach made them the very shabby and worn "real" jeans that were so prized among young people.

This is how "boiled" jeans looked.

popular clothing in the world

One of the ways the Soviet government received currency, and some Soviet citizens received scarce goods, were the Berezka stores. They will be discussed in this article.

The first shops of the Berezka trade network were created in 1961 by the order of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. At first, they only traded in foreign currency and served only foreigners. Thus, the state received an additional inflow of currency, which it always needed. Naturally, these shops were not opened all over the country, but only in those cities where foreigners were most often - i.e. in the largest cities of the country and in resorts. These stores were called "Birches" in the RSFSR and Kazakhstan. In many other republics they bore other names associated with the tree characteristic of this republic (for example, in Ukraine they were called "Kashtan", in Azerbaijan - "Chinar", etc.), and in Latvia they were called "Dzintars" (Latvian . Dzintars - amber).

Here is what the Deputy Minister of Trade of the RSFSR Korolyov wrote to the First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Mikoyan:

"In pursuance of the resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR of 03/23/1961, the Ministry of Trade of the RSFSR organized trade in free foreign currency in the Rosyuvelirtorg system. Stores and kiosks selling goods for foreign currency were named Beryozka. Beryozka stores were opened at Vnukovo and Sheremetyevo airports. in April and two kiosks "Berezka" in the hotels "Ukraine" and "Leningradskaya" in mid-May.

In the near future, foreign currency trading will be organized in Leningrad, Sochi and Arkhangelsk.

Caviar and salmon caviar, Stolichnaya and Osobaya vodka, canned crabs, Khokhloma products, wooden nesting dolls, dolls in national costumes, products of Bogorodsk carvers, Dymkovo toys, papier-mache boxes, silver products with enamel, souvenirs are in demand and etc.

Foreigners visiting stores comment on the high level of retail prices. "

However, you won't earn much by selling food and souvenirs. Another source of currency for the state was Soviet citizens returning from business trips abroad or from long sea voyages.

In order for them not to seek to spend all the currency abroad, they were allowed to spend it in stores similar to Birches. Among Soviet citizens, it was not food, but household appliances that were especially popular in these stores. They also had the opportunity to purchase a car. Sailors returning from overseas voyages were served in the Albatross stores of the Torgmortrans system.

Sochi, Soviet times. Magnolia Hotel. Shop Birch.

In 1967, shops for foreigners and shops for foreign currency Soviet citizens were merged into one network, and shortly before the merger (in 1965) an epoch-making event took place for this history: special certificates of Vneshposyltorg were put into circulation - a kind of currency substitutes. Prior to that, trade with Soviet citizens was carried out by bank transfer: a person transferred his currency from an account in Vneshtorgbank to an account in Vneshposyltorg and then could receive the goods of his choice in the store. The system was pretty awkward.

Where did the Soviet citizens get the currency on the account in Vneshtorgbank? During their stay abroad, part of the salary of foreign workers in foreign currency was voluntarily (but not more than 60%) transferred to an account with Vnesheconombank, from which it was possible on the spot (usually through an adviser on economic issues at the USSR Embassy) or upon returning to the USSR to receive a pre-ordered amount in the form of certificates (later - checks). Some categories of foreign workers of foreign trade organizations and diplomats could also import into the USSR a limited amount of foreign currency, which they were required to convert into certificates (checks) no later than the specified period, otherwise the presence of currency was also considered illegal. It should be noted that it would be more profitable for Soviet citizens to receive wages in cash and spend it abroad, since in "Birch" the prices for imported goods were several times higher.

Vneshposyltorg checks were issued only in the form of banknotes, there were no coins, even pennies were paper. There were three types of certificates. With the blue stripe - the most unattractive - they relied on those who had the right to the currency of the socialist countries (crediting ratio 1: 1). Not all the goods presented in the coveted stores could be purchased with them. The second type of certificate had a yellow stripe on it - they were given to those who worked in developing countries, in Africa or, for example, in India (ratio 4.6: 1) They could buy a wider range of goods. And absolutely everything was available only to those who had the right to freely convertible currency, that is, Western - they were entitled to stripless certificates (coefficient 4.6: 1). They say that the same certificates were issued to Soviet intelligence officers, in whatever country they worked. And finally, the last type of currency substitute was called series "D" checks - these checks were relied on to diplomats. It is worth noting that checks could also be paid as a contribution for an apartment in a housing cooperative (Housing and Construction Cooperative), but only at a ratio of 1: 1 to the usual ruble, which was also an additional item of state income.

In fact, foreign workers in different countries, with formally comparable salaries (close to the average for the Union), actually received salaries that differ significantly in purchasing power. For example, the salary of a Soviet translator in India, which was roughly 200 rubles, in fact in the "yellow-striped certificates" was 920 rubles, and the salary of a translator, for example, in Hungary, equal to 400 rubles in the "blue-striped certificates" was the same 400 rubles.

Prices were exhibited in "Berezki" in all types of these certificates. For example, one product could cost: 7 rubles in unband certificates and "D" checks, 12 rubles in yellow-striped certificates, and 19 rubles in blue-striped ones.

To eliminate the inequality between Soviet citizens who worked in socialist and capitalist countries, in 1974 all certificates (except for "D" series checks) were unified and checks of a single sample appeared.

The Berezka stores were important not only for ordinary Soviet citizens who found themselves at work abroad, but also for very high-ranking officials. Here is what the banker Viktor Gerashchenko, who headed the Moscow Narodny Bank in London in 1965, recalls in one of his interviews:

Well, when I went to work in London, in Mosnarbank, there, of course, life was more comfortable, there was enough for food and rags. And, like any other "comrade", no matter what position he was sent abroad, he naturally wanted to accumulate Vneshposyltorg's checks for a car by the end of the three-year period, and so that there would still be left for clothes from "Birch"

Naturally, not all check holders were eager to spend them in "Birch". For many, it was more profitable to exchange them for cash rubles from speculators ("black marketers") at the "market" rate (usually 1: 2 or 1: 3). In the course of such an exchange, check buyers often cheated. But since the operation of such an exchange was illegal, the victims did not apply to the police. Here is what LJ user writes about itdedushkin1:

In those years I had a friend - an active blacksmith of these very checks and part-time "lumberjack". If anyone does not know, the concept "breaker" came from the word "break". Breaking a wad of money. Here you are - the legitimate (or maybe not so) owner of these very checks (or dollars - well, here, for sure, illegal!). And you decided to sell them. But not to the Central Bank at a certain conditional fixed rate, but at the "market" one. You go to the "Birch" store. There were several of them in Moscow. The most famous (at least for me) are on Pyatnitskaya, on Profsoyuznaya (this is the store in the photo from the link at the beginning of the post), electronic on Sadovaya-Kudrinskaya. There were others, of course. At these stores, nice young people are insinuatingly offering you these very checks to sell them at an absolutely excellent rate! You, a little embarrassed, of course, agree. Step aside, show your precious treasure, jointly establish the ruble equivalent. A handsome young man, who is also a pawnbroker, takes press bills from his pocket, counts out the required amount and hands it to you. God forbid, he doesn't even take your cherished checks from you. After all, it's still fair! You recalculate the amount and see that there is a dozen missing.

You inform your "money changer" about this, he takes the pack from you, counts it, makes sure that he was "wrong" and with a thousand apologies reports you the missing "red". You, accordingly, give him your checking wealth, take the rubles and walk away with a brisk pace (God forbid, the police will appear again). And only at home (or in some other secluded place), when you decide to recount the amount again, you are horrified to discover that instead of 500 rubles you have only 150 ... When the scrapman “counted” the money for the second time, he “broke” the pack - most of it remained with him. Sleight of hand...
And this is an even better option. Instead of 500 rubles, you could get a "doll" for 20 rubles that way ... Sleight of hand ...

In Beryozka itself, especially during campaigns against speculators, they could ask about the origin of the checks and ask for some supporting documents. But this rarely happened. But at the entrance to "Berezka" they usually asked to show the presence of checks - this is not to turn the store into a museum of "viewing foreign life" for the common people.

During perestroika, the existence of such a privileged supply channel as "Berezki" was spoken openly. And in 1988, the check system was canceled, stores switched to cashless trade, as before 1965. Checks remaining in the hands of the population were proposed to be exchanged for rubles. For the first time, check holders felt uncomfortable, especially those who invested their funds in them. Huge queues lined up at "Birches", literally everything was frantically swept from the counters.

LJ user mumm describes what happened when closing "Birches":

The beginning of the 88th year.
Announcing in the Vremya program: "Bourgeois shops" Berezka "are liquidated and checks are canceled" ..
since I was the proud owner of a couple of hundred of those magic pieces of paper, then on the trail. the day came to the opening of the multi-media "Birch" near Prospekt Mira .. 100 meters before it I saw a huge crowd of the same lucky people: everyone suddenly wanted to exchange their carefully and long-stored receipts for at least something ... but there were completely bare shelves. There weren't even cassettes. The sellers promised that the goods might be delivered tomorrow.
The whole crowd immediately actively enrolled in the list and everyone left, with the hope that they would be on the trail. day they are lucky ..
Of course, on the trail. day no one from yesterday's crowd was lucky: the delivery, as promised, happened: they brought a hundred of some tape recorders, but only at night (and it was January and minus 20) the list was successfully copied and several hundred owners stood at the door, who held out outside the store all night ...
I had to sign up for new lists, which were already organized more carefully: the lists themselves were at the so-called. centurion: 1 centurion - 100 registered ..
I signed up too. As I remember now: there were several numbers of 3-4 thousand, several in the 6th and 9th thousand and a couple of numbers in 12 thousand.
In order not to repeat what happened the previous night, namely the "breaking" of the queue, a round-the-clock watch was introduced: in the hundreds a schedule was drawn up and a dozen people carried the guard of honor at the store for several hours.
I also had a chance to spend a couple of nights there, trying not to die while sitting with some major who served in Angola in his Volga car.
That promised delivery of goods was also the last one that month ... someone encouraged the public with stories that a container ship with the coveted audio-video equipment had already left the coast of Japan and was sailing in full steam towards our Motherland ... time: the containers were loaded onto platforms and the train is hurrying to Moscow ... and in March, what was expected by all the exhausted daily roll calls and notes happened so that they would not be deleted from the lists - a miracle! warehouses "Berezka" were packed with super-radio tape recorders "Sharp-940" and radio tape recorders simpler by "Sanyo".
They were released into the hands one by one: one Sharpe and one Sanio. On a working day, the queue moved to 200-250 people. The centurions actively traded numbers: numbers in the first hundred cost 500 checks.
Because I had so many checks that they were enough for half of Sanio's radio or a quarter of Sharpe. Because I wanted both and not in parts, then I had to sell several numbers of the queue too. Also, people who came from somewhere in Kamchatka with a bunch of checks and with numbers in the queue in the 20th thousand, gladly exchanged checks for ordinary rubles. If a few months ago the check-to-ruble rate was 1: 2, now they were happy if they managed to change 1: 1 ...
In general, it was fun: in the queue, everyone almost became related. Which is not surprising: for several months they went to roll calls every morning and in the evening: those who did not come were mercilessly deleted from the lists.
Our first turn came somewhere in late March or early April: my brother and I snatched Sharp and Sanio on the set radio tape recorder.
Because turn on the next. the numbers should have come up soon enough: after a couple of weeks, we were puzzled to successfully attach these boxes with inscriptions in English and Japanese and not fall under the article of the USSR Criminal Code "speculation". We succeeded: the exchange of goods-rubles-checks took place. In the end, there were exactly 2 times more receipts than there were before they were exchanged for goods. Over the course of two months, such an exchange was carried out several more times.

Since 1992, already in the new economic realities, "Berezki" traded only for cash, and in the mid-1990s the privatized chain of stores "Berezka" was liquidated as unprofitable.

Full price list "Birches" for 1975 you can view .

P.S.

When in 1988 I went to St. Petersburg with my wife, visited my relatives (who still lived there then)

and friends, I ran out of pure curiosity and in "Birch" .. nothing special - cigarettes "

Marlborough ", Finnish beer in cans and some decorations ..

THE USSR. How the merchant marine seamen were paid.

Original taken from gruppman What money was.

Well, what am I all about banana-lemon countries, but about steamers ..
It's time to talk about the eternal, the exciting, the attractive, the dreams and hopes ... in general, about money.
"Piastres, piastres ..." ..
No, not about them. Although about them it is possible, but later.
Today, about the fat sea wages, a long ruble.
But not today, but the times of the USSR. Now there is no romance and interest. Everything is spelled out in the contract .. what is your responsibility, what is not included. What is a surcharge for what, but not for what. Worked, got it. Boredom.
Whether it was before.
But just a reservation. A story for the merchant fleet. Not fishing and fish processing. And not fish transporting, that is, fish farm transports. How they have it ... I only know from stories, and therefore I can only ... retell. They, too, at that time was divided into goslov and collective farm fishing. It was also not so easy.
Well, so ... I'll start right away with the most interesting thing. With currency.
Those who tell how famously the sailors of the foreign swimming in the USSR lived, what foreign currency salaries were received ... these very sailors ... a little ... uh ...
Because there was no salary in foreign currency. From a word at all.
There was foreign currency instead of per diem.
What does this mean? It means that going abroad was equivalent to a business trip. Only in exchange for daily travel allowances were paid in foreign currency.
And they paid it as a percentage of the salary.
Until 1987, this was 18% of the salary.
From the salary!
Salary for a 1st class sailor - 105 rubles.
In total, for a month spent abroad, our Rockefeller sailor was charged 18 foreign currency rubles. Is this a lot, or not enough? .. Well, so .. exchange these 18 foreign currency rubles at that mythical rate of 0.63-0.68, again, foreign currency, kopecks for US dollars. flaw.
Okay, digress. Charged 18 foreign exchange rubles.
But then intrigues and fried begin. What can be done with this money?
A) - Receive this money in the currency of the country of call at the current exchange rate for that day.
B) -Deposit. That is, do not take this money, let it accumulate. If the flight is long, and there is a profitable port ahead in terms of shopping, then let them lie. But without interest.
C) -As long as this currency was accrued per day, then at the port of call it was possible to receive ... well, days in 5. Spend them on what thread ... a walk through the brothel m (1) museums, drink beer mate, in general .. to join.
D) -A it could have turned out that there were no calls to good (2) ports ... yes, there were no at all. It happened so if the vessel went on a specific freight. For example, bunkering of fishermen in the ocean. I went, refueled the expedition and returned. Without There are also options - either to deposit, when debiting from the vessel, get a certificate of the amount and receive this money on another steamer. Or receive this money in the form of checks of VTB (VneshTorgBank). Later they began to be called checks of foreign economic activity (Bank for Foreign Economic Activity)

So, VTB checks. I call them that way in the old fashioned way, because somehow foreign economic activity did not take root. As they were also called ... bonds.
In every port city, especially if this city was the base of any shipping company, there was an "Albatross" Torgmortrans store (3) .. that's where the trade for these checks was conducted.

The appearance of checks. Since 1987, they were already in the checkbook for 25 rubles. Before that they were in the book for 10 rubles.
I had checks from the 1960s ... nothing, they were accepted for payment.

What was sold in these stores? Yes, everything .. clothes, electronics, food .. well, almost the same "Birches" only with a specific sea bias.
Approximate prices for 1986-87.
Cigarettes "Kent", "Rotmans", "Marlboro" 20 kopecks per pack. Since 1988 - 30 kopecks.
Can of Asahi beer, 0.33 gr, Japan - 20 kopecks
A bottle of Ararat brandy 1 ruble 75 kopecks
Vodka .. from 60 kopecks
By the way, alcohol was sold immediately after the opening, and in 1989, after the adoption of anti-alcohol resolutions of the Central Committee ... the freebie was closed, and from 2 pm they began to sell
Indian instant coffee -40 kopecks
Assorted sweets 40-60 kopecks.
Well, chocolates, cookies, sometimes chewing gum ... why, I don't remember anymore.
I remember when I was sulking my future wife, then still a student at the institute, I bought a huge box of Matryoshka chocolates. and a half ruble. While he dragged her to the bus station, he hesitated to answer questions .. where did I snatch it .. and whether I will sell ..
Clothing.
Jacket "Alaska" .. mmm .. the company "Chori", Iponia ... mmm .. real Japan .. now they do not make such. They were awesome. Mostly, for the seaside weather. And water-repellent, and windproof, and the ass is covered , and a hood. And under anything. Whether for a cesspool suit, even for jeans with a sweater .. so, 12-15 rubles.
"Montana" .. also a well-known brand) And then ... a denim jacket - 12 rubles, pants -7 rubles, a tracksuit-15 rubles.
Men's leather raincoat, produced in Mongolia ... only ... 120 rubles.
Well, and there are many more jokes.
Shoes. Perfume.
Electronics bit by bit.
Two-cassette tape recorder "Panasonic", because of the red color, called "fireman" cost 42 rubles.
Cars were also sold; for example, a VAZ 2104 cost only 2,500 rubles.
And then scarce plastic bags. With a seagull and a proud inscription TorgMortTrans .. 5 kopecks.

Seems to be cheap, right? But there was one thing ...
If you didn’t work at sea ... well, or in the management of the shipping company (and there, as you know, real sailors worked there, not that we ... ship crew, damn it), you were ordered to enter this paradise.
But the checks could be bought, although it was written on the check that VTB would pay you one ... or how many rubles for this check, well, it is also written on the shed ... From familiar sailors ... or from speculators who are always available it was possible to meet at these stores at the rate of 10 rubles for 1 ruble by checks.
And then, all the prices that I gave as an example must be multiplied by 10.
And we ended up with cigarettes at 2 re per pack, beer at 2 re per can ... but cognac will not go down the throat at all ... at 17 rubles, nibbling 6 rubles on sweets ..
The price of a car immediately becomes interesting, right?)

A couple of additions and clarifications.
All these shops, throughout the USSR, were called "Albatross" .. only in Odessa it was called something different, that's knocked out of memory and that's it (In common parlance they were called - Torgsin (Odessa ... well, Odessa, that's all .. everything is different there)), currency, check, bond ..
Even then, when selling checks, it was possible to run into "broke". This is when a pack of bills is wrung on a finger and, as a result, they cheat on you. That is, when the dollar got free circulation in the country and money changers appeared, some people already had experience. . where and how to look .. when carrying out foreign exchange transactions.
Selling and buying checks was a criminally punishable act, because it also fell under the article on illegal currency ... but from my friends no one came across this business, even more so, as they sold these checks in the water department of the police. Everyone wanted to dress well.

Checks in the port cities were also quite good, and they went by themselves, in an independent currency. The Swiss in restaurants, in taxis, in hospitals ... just some of their affairs could be settled with the help of these checks. But again, in the port cities ..

And somewhere from the middle of 1988, the prices in stores imperceptibly crept up and after them the prices and checks crawled. And in 1989 they reached their peak of -25 rubles of the USSR for 1 ruble by checks. Goods from the stores began to disappear little by little, queues began to lengthen ... by the time the Albatross stores closed, it was impossible to squeeze in there. They swept away everything.
Everyone could not spend their checks. Someone was at that time in the sea ... well, there were reasons. And then the following was done ... the shipping company accepted checks back (but only legally earned, and you can't cheat there anymore. The accounting department is ... nearby) and issued certificates How much do you have on your account of these same foreign currency rubles. Paying has already begun on the sly in US dollars and the nearest port could cash this certificate in dollars, and not in the currency of the country of call. Although ... in my region, the Japanese yen was also well quoted, and now, quite a reserve currency.

But checks were paid not only as foreign currency in exchange for per diem; the checks also paid for some work on the ship, and some of the work paid very well.
Cleaning and washing of cargo tanks, cleaning and washing of cargo holds, pilotless pilotage of the ship (well, these are mainly navigators and sailors) .. well, there were work. As a rule, the whole crew came out for these works, except for the captain. The captain had the amount calculated separately.
And stripping a cargo tank out of lamb fat or palm stearin is such an activity that I would not wish for my perforated neighbor (what the hell is he doing there?).
And about the charges. There was such a nuance. They accrued ... 1: 1 ... but if it was necessary to deduct from you for something, well, for example ... the day was incorrectly counted and an overpayment turned out, and you already received checks and managed to spend ... no question. They calculate in Soviet rubles ... but no longer 1: 1, but 8 Soviet rubles for 1 ruble by checks. From me, as I remember, 64 rubles were counted ... although, as mentioned above ... it seems like and 1: 1. But they referred to some letter from the ministry ..

It was from such trifles that a thick sea salary was formed. Although the old sailors, after the introduction of all sorts of innovations, such as the Shchekino method (affectionately called in the navy "Zchyokinsky"), self-financing ... still in the late seventies said ..
Eh, the shovel that was rowing money in the seas broke ...

Quite a separate topic ... already the actual currency and real travel allowances .. but, probably .. I will not have time before departure.

(1) Walking through brothels ... this is such sarcasm. For with those pennies, they won't even show you the price list for the services of aunts.
(2) A good port, this is the port in which it was possible to purchase goods with these pennies as much as possible. Dadada .. Carpets from Antwerp, jeans from Hamburg, etc. ..
(3) Torgmortrans ... TMT ... with this word they called boat traders in Southeast Asia ... I don't know how in other shipping companies, we have it for sure. Even sometimes ... an old sick sailor still says so ...