So right now I’m sitting in Gene Cafe, sipping an espresso, chewing on a croissant and reading an issue of “Soviet Life” from 1987.
The entire magazine is a glorious work of socialist fiction, translated into English to export the Revolution beyond Russia’s shores. It’s full of unironic phrases the the following:
Dzhanibekov participated in five space missions, two of which are unique in the history of cosmonautica. In 1984 cosmonauts Dzanibekov and Svetlana Savitskaya tested a new all-purpose hand tool in open space.
Moreover, there’s a full article on a new tv antenna that cites the benefit that:
Today Uzbek residents can watch four programs instead of three.
We’re fortunate to live in a post-Soviet world where the threat of imminent nuclear Armageddon has largely disappeared. But I lament the loss of such great propaganda (ads for new condos simply aren’t as interesting).
