Association For Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies Is Collaborating With JSTOR To Digitize, Preserve and Extend Slavic Review

Cold War in the Kitchen: Gender and the De-Stalinization of Consumer Taste in the Soviet
Union under Khrushchev

Author(s): Susan E. Reid
Source: Slavic Review, Vol. 61, No. 2 (Summer, 2002), pp. 211-252
Published by: Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2697116
Accessed: 07-09-2015 17:20 UTC
REFERENCES
Linked references are available on JSTOR for this article:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2697116?seq=1&cid=pdf-reference#references_tab_contents
You may need to log in to JSTOR to access the linked references.
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/
info/about/policies/terms.jsp
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content
in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship.
For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend
access to Slavic Review.
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 146.155.94.33 on Mon, 07 Sep 2015 17:20:22 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
ARTICLES
Cold War in the Kitchen: Gender and the

De-Stalinization of Consumer Taste in the
Soviet Union under Khrushchev
Susan E. Reid
It seems appropriateto begin an articleon consumptionwithan artifact,

the avos'ka.An essentialitemin a Sovietwoman'ssurvivalkit,the avos'ka
(fromavos', "perhaps"),was a stringshoppingbag, infinitely expandable
'just in case" she came acrosstoiletpaper,bananas, or some otherscarce
commodity.Such spontaneous purchasingwas not the same as impulse
buyingin the westernsense, a notoriousaspect of consumercapitalism's
invidiousappeals to women's"irrational"desires.Rather,itwas a strategy
fordealingwiththe specificity ofSovietshopping:shortagesand poor dis-
tribution.Apartfromitselasticity, the avos'ka is also distinguishedby its
transparency, its openness to inspection:bulgingout throughits holes,
the fruitsof the woman'sresourcefulnessand persistenceas procureron
behalfof her familycan be seen byall. The avos'ka, empty,waitingto be
filled,and monitoredbyothers,is a usefulsynecdocheforthe Sovietcon-
sumeras, I wantto argue,she was constructedin the thaw.'
"Thoughts of shopping,"Alix Holt has observed, "intrude[d] into
everycornerof a [Soviet] woman'sexistence,"so all-consumingwas the
planning,ingenuity, and scheminginvolvedin procuringbasic goods and
services.2Consumptionhas increasingly been recognizedas a seriousob-
ject of historicalinvestigationin regardto identityformationand the ex-
perience of modernityin the west.3It has also figuredprominentlyin
I would like to thankDiane P. Koenker and SlavicReview'sanonymousreviewersfortheir

commentson thispaper.
1. The masculinecounterpartto the avos'ka was the briefcase,which,ifit was used
forchance purchases,hid and dissembledthe fact.See, forexample,Hedrick Smith,The
Russians(New York,1976), 61- 62.
2. AlixHolt, "DomesticLabour and SovietSociety,"inJennyBrine,Maureen Perrie,
and AndrewSutton,eds., Home,Schooland Leisurein theSovietUnion(London, 1980), 33.
3. See, for example, Erica Carter,"Alicein the ConsumerWonderland,"in Angela
McRobbie and Mica Nava,eds., Gender and Generation(Houndmills,Eng., 1984), 185-214;
Erica Carter,How GermanIs She? PostwarWestGermanReconstruction and theConsuming
Woman(Ann Arbor,1997); JenniferA. Loehlin,FromRugstoRiches:Housework, Consump-
tionand Modernity in Germany(Oxford,1999); Victoriade Grazia and Ellen Furlough,eds.,
TheSexofThings:Gender and Consumptionin Historical (Berkeley,1996); and the
Perspective
reviewarticlebyMaryLouise Roberts,"Gender,Consumption,and CommodityCulture,"
American HistoricalReview103, no. 3 (June 1998): 817-44. See also the special issue on
"R6gimesof Consumer Culture,"GermanHistory19, no. 2 (2001), guest edited by Alon
Confinoand RudyKoshar.The guesteditors'introductionprovidesa usefulreviewof re-
cent studiesof consumerculture:Alon Confinoand RudyKoshar,"Regimesof Consumer
Culture:New Narrativesin Twentieth-Century GermanHistory,"135- 61.
Slavic Review 61, no. 2 (Summer 2002)
212 SlavicReview
explanationsof the collapse of Soviet-type systemssince 1989, according

to whichtheyawninggap betweenpopular expectationsforimprovedliv-
ing standardsand the party-state'sabilityto fulfillthem-represented by
queues, Trabants,lack of bananas, and frumpywomen-led to the col-
lapse of popular supportforthe socialistproject.4Thereby,westernpre-
dictionsdatingfromthe firstCold War period were seen to have been
fulfilled,capitaliststrategyvindicated,and the Cold War won. Yet the
managementof consumptionwas as significantfor the Soviet system's
long survivalas foritsultimatecollapse. And the discoursesof Sovietcon-
sumptionon both sidesof the Iron Curtainattributeda particularimpor-
tance-even power-to women.
Consumptionis clearlya centralissue in the studyofpost-Soviet cul-
ture.5Butthetastes,desires,and expectationsofthenewRussianconsumer
did not emergeon a tabularasa. Consumption,and livingstandardsmore
generally,came to the forefront of partyrhetoricand statepolicyduring
the 1950s,under the conditionsof "peacefulcompetition"thatmarkeda
new,somewhatmore relaxedphase of the Cold War.A centralconcernin
the discoursesand practicesof the Khrushchevera, both international
and domestic,itwas at once a stickwithwhichthewestbeat itsCold War
adversary,and an issue on whichthe Khrushchevregimestakeditslegiti-
macyat home and its credibilityabroad. Not fornothingwere the nick-
names consumer,refrigerator, or goulash communismgiven to the new
orderpromisedbythe Khrushchevleadershipand itscounterpartsin the
bloc. Sovieteconomic claimswere taken seriouslybywesternscholarsat
thetime.Manyeven assumedthatiflivingstandardscontinuedto rise,the
SovietUnion would followthe path alreadytrodbythe United Statesand
enter a "mass-consumption" phase.6 However,consumer culturein this
4. Consumerdesire,specifically thewideninggulfbetweentherhetoricofthe Sozial-

istischeEinheitspartei Deutschlands(SED) and theactualityofmaterialprivation,has been
widelyidentifiedas the forcebehind the collapse of the German Democratic Republic
(GDR). SeeJonathanR. Zatlin,"The VehicleofDesire:The Trabant,theWartburg, and the
End of the GDR," German History15, no. 3 (1997): 360- 61; Loehlin,FromRugstoRiches,4;
and B. Ciesla and P. G. Poutrus,"Food Supplyin a Planned Economy:SED NutritionPolicy
betweenCrisisResponse and Popular Needs," in Konrad H. Jarausch,ed., Dictatorship as
Experience:Towards a Socio-Cultural
History oftheGDR,trans.Eve Duffy(Oxford,1999), 157.
See also KatherineVerdery,WhatWasSocialismand WhatComesNext?(Princeton,1996).
5. KatherineVerderypredictedin a 1993 lecture,"The secondarybut highlypoliti-
cized role of consumptionin socialism'spoliticaleconomywillsurelymake consumption
an especiallyintriguingtopic to follow."Verdery,WhatWasSocialism,13. Studiesinclude:
Caroline Humphrey,"Creatinga Cultureof Disillusionment:Consumptionin Moscow,a
Chronicle of ChangingTimes," in Daniel Miller,ed., Worlds Apart:Modernity through the
PrismoftheLocal (London, 1995); Adele Marie Barker,ed., Consuming Russia:PopularCul-
ture,Sexand SocietysinceGorbachev(Durham, 1999); NancyCond6e and VladimirPadunov,
"The ABC ofRussianConsumerCulture,"in NancyCond6e, ed., SovietHieroglyphics: Visual
Culturein Late Twentieth-Century Russia (Bloomington,1995), 130-72; JenniferPatico,
"Consumptionand Logics of Social Differencein Post-SovietRussia" (Ph.D. diss.,New
YorkUniversity, 2001); and CatrionaKelly,"Creatinga Consumer:Advertising and Com-
mercialization,"in CatrionaKellyand David Shepherd,eds., RussianCulturalStudies(Ox-
ford,1998), 223-46.
6. For a presentationand critiqueof thisposition,see WilliamN. Turpin,"The Out-
look forthe SovietConsumer,"Problems ofCommunism 9, no. 6 (1960): 30-37. For an early
ColdWarin theKitchen 213
period has yetto receivethe retrospective,historicalanalysisit deserves.7

This neglectis part of the general fateof thisperiod, which,havingre-
ceived extensivecontemporaryanalysis,is onlynow beginningto be re-
assessed. It mayalso be explained by a tacitassumptionthatbeing com-
munist,easternbloc countries-and the SovietUnion, above all-could
not, by definition,be consumersocieties.8Thus the regime'sideological
and economic emphasison productiondeterminedthe focusof western
as well as Soviethistorianson productionratherthan consumption.
This articleis a preliminaryattemptto considerthe symbiosisof gen-
der and consumptionunder NikitaKhrushchevand to make a case that
studyon "goulashcommunism"in Hungary,see G. G6m6ri,"'Consumerism'in Hungary,"

Problems ofCommunism 12, no. 1 (1963): 64.
7. Even an importantrecentvolume on NikitaKhrushchevhas no index entriesat all
on "consumption"or "consumerism," and althoughtwocontributorscite livingstandards
as a source of dissatisfactionand loss offaithin the "radiantfuture,"the issue does not re-
ceive anysustainedanalysis.See WilliamTaubman, SergeiKhrushchev,and AbbottGlea-
son, eds.,NikitaKhrushchev (New Haven, 2000), chap. byVladimirNaumov (102, 111) and
by GeorgiiShakhnazarov(304, 306). The omissionis particularly odd giventhatthe im-
portanceof consumptionis increasingly recognizedin the studyof otherperiodsof Soviet
history. For example,on the 1920sunder the New Economic Policy,see Anne E. Gorsuch,
Youth in RevolutionaryRussia:Enthusiasts, Bohemians, Delinquents (Bloomington,2000); and
NataliiaLebina, Povsednevnaia zhizn'sovetskogogoroda:Normy i anomalii.1920/1930gody(St.
Petersburg1999). An account of Moscowin 1928 opens witha chapteron Moscowshops:
AlexanderWicksteed,LifeundertheSoviets(London, 1928), 1-20. There is an increasingly
richliteratureon consumptionand livingstandardsin the Stalinperiod, beginningwith
VeraS. Dunham,In Stalin'sTime;Middleclass (Cambridge,Eng., 1976);
Valuesin SovietFiction
Sheila Fitzpatrick,Everyday Stalinism(New York,1999), chap. 4; AmyE. Randall, "'Revolu-
tionary Bolshevik Work': Stakhanovismin Retail Trade," Russian Review 59, no. 3
(July2000): 425- 41;JulieHessler,"CultureofShortages:A Social HistoryofSovietTrade,
1917-1953" (Ph.D. diss.,University of Chicago, 1996); and Elena Osokina,Ierarkhiia potre-
bleniia:0 zhizniliudeiv usloviiakhstalinskogo snabzheniia,1928-1935 gg. (Moscow, 1993).
Consumptionis a centralthemeof Susan E. Reid and David Crowley,eds., Styleand Social-
ism:Modernity and MaterialCulturein Post-WarEastern Europe(Oxford,2000).
8. Similarreasons are offeredby KatherinePence for the neglect hithertoof con-
sumptionin theGDR, "'You as a WomanWillUnderstand':Consumption,Gender and the
RelationshipbetweenStateand Citizenryin theGDR's Crisisof 17June1953,"German His-
tory19, no. 2 (2001): 218-52. See FerencFeher,Agnes Heller, and Gy6rgyMarkus,Dicta-
torshipoverNeeds(Oxford,1983). The GDR has faredbetterthanotherpartsofeasternEu-
rope, being the subject of some compelling recent research on consumer culture,
including,in additionto Pence, Ina Merkel,"ConsumerCulturein the GDR, or How the
Strugglefor Antimodernity was Lost on the Battlegroundof Consumer Culture,"and
AndreSteiner,"Dissolutionofthe 'DictatorshipoverNeeds'? ConsumerBehaviorand Eco-
nomic Reformin East Germanyin the 1960s,"both in Susan Strasser,CharlesMcGovern,
and MatthiasJudt, and Spending:
eds., Getting EuropeanandAmerican Consumer in the
Societies
Twentieth Century(Cambridge,Eng., 1998), 281-99 and 167-85; Milena Veenis, "Con-
sumptionin East Germany:The Seductionand BetrayalofThings,"Journal ofMaterialCul-
ture4, no. 1 (1999): 79-112; Ute Poiger,Jazz,Rock,and Rebels:ColdWarPoliticsand Ameri-
can Culturein a DividedGermany (Berkeley,2000); Paul Betts,"The Twilightof the Idols:
East GermanMemoryand MaterialCulture,"Journal ofModernHistory72, no. 3 (Septem-
ber 2000): 731-65. Craig Clunas notes thatthe concept of consumption-and byexten-
sion,modernity-has tended to be monopolized forthe anglophonewest,leaving,forex-
ample, China, and Asia in general,on the marginsof its narratives.Clunas, "Modernity
Global and Local: Consumptionand the Rise of theWest,"American HistoricalReview104,
no. 5 (December 1999): 1497-1511.
214 SlavicReview
consumption,particularly bywomen,was a crucialconcern in the Soviet

responseto theCold War.The period is framedbytwopotentiallyregime-
shatteringpopular revolts,both ofwhichwere triggeredbyissuesof con-
sumption:the uprisingbyworkersin the German DemocraticRepublic
in June 1953 against the leadership of the SozialistischeEinheitspartei
Deutschlands (SED);9 and a protestbyworkersin the southernRussian
cityofNovocherkasskinJune1962 overhighpricesand lowwages,which,
escalatinginto mass disorder,was brutallysuppressed.In order to estab-
lish the significanceof consumptionissuesin the contextof de-Staliniza-
tionand theCold War,and theircentrality to thewaywomenand theirre-
lationshipto the regimewere constructed,I focus on visual and textual
representationsof consumptionand the ideal Sovietconsumer,both in-
digenousand as viewedthroughthe "IronCurtain."The limitationsofthe
presentresearchshouldbe confessedat theoutset.This is a culturalrather
than an economic investigation. At the same timeit can onlyraise,with-
out yetanswering,importantquestionsabout the shoppingexperienceof
the Sovietconsumerand her (for,as I shall argue,the consumerwas pre-
dominantlyconstructedas female) actual desiresand behavior,whether
rationalor "irrational."Much workhas to be done to discoverthe Soviet
consumer,notonlyas a passiveobjectofcentralplanning,marketresearch,
representation,and discipline,but as an activeagent who, throughher
consumptionchoices,or refusalto consume,mayor maynot have had an
impact on the waypolicyand ideologywere shaped, and who made her
own meaningsof government-issue consumablesin the process of active
appropriationand bricolage.10Researchofthissortwillno doubtbecome
an importantagenda in the reassessmentof the Khrushchevand Brezh-
nev eras, making use of newlyavailable sources including-alongside
archives-memoirs, diaries,and oral history,and applyingnew method-
ologies derivedfromculturalstudies,materialculturestudies,historical
anthropology, and gender studies.
The present,far more modest,essay analyzesthe representationof
women and consumptionin both the specialistand popular press,in-
cludingdomesticadvice manuals and Ogonek,a popular illustratednews
magazine along the lines of the BritishPicturePostor the AmericanLife
and Look.Ogonekis a particularlyusefulsource fora studyof thissort.Ad-
dressedto a massaudience ofbothmen and women,itappears to have re-
sponded to Khrushchev'sdeclared aim of drawingwomen more actively
byintroducingmore cov-
intopublic life,paradoxically(but significantly)
erageofconventionally feminineconcernsthoughtto appeal to thefemale
membersofitsreadership,who would,at thesame time,also imbibesome
ofitscurrentaffairsreporting.11Itwasalso unusuallywellillustrated,
which
9. Pence, "'You as a Woman,"'218-52. The Germanuprising,whichwas put downby

theoccupyingSoviettroops,lefta deep markon Khrushchevand thecollectiveleadership.
VladislavZubok, "The Case of Divided Germany,1953-1964," in Taubman, Khrushchev,
and Gleason, eds.,NikitaKhrushchev,280.
10. Compare Adele Marie Barker,"The CultureFactory,"in Barker,ed., Consuming
Russia,29-31.
11. For example,Ogonek introduceda newwomen'spage: "Zhenshchiny, eto dlia vas!"
Ogonek, no. 24 (12 June 1960). Other usefulpublicationsforthe studyof consumptionin
makes it of interestto a historianof visual culture:possiblyemulating

Americanmagazines-whose successwas a sourceoffascinationthrough-
out Europe in thepostwarperiod-it was at theforefront ofefforts in the
late 1950s (along withKomsomol'skaiapravdaand Izvestiia)to enlivencur-
rent affairsreportingthroughthe generous use of photojournalism.12
This researchalso dustsoffa somewhatdespised formof contemporary
document thatis oftendismissedas trivial,anecdotal, and lacking aca-
demic interest,in much the same wayas the topic of consumptionhas
been: eyewitnessaccounts bywesternvisitorsto the SovietUnion in the
late 1950s and early1960s,includingjournalistsand membersof special-
ist delegations. Of course, such accounts must be read critically,often
against the grain,as documents that are ideologicallyoverdetermined,
genre-bound,and framedin the termsof the Cold War constructionof
the SovietUnion as the communist"other,"as well as being unapologeti-
callypatriarchal.Such accountswere notguilty, however,of the sin of ne-
glectingSovietsocietyimputedto studiesmade under the almostubiqui-
tous swayof the Cold War totalitarianparadigm.They are particularly
relevantto the studyof consumer culturebecause theypresent a rich
source of contemporaryobservationof Sovietsociety,popular attitudes,
livingstandards,materialculture,and everydaylife.
The Managementof Consumption

To referto the "consumer"or "consumerism"in the Sovietcontextmay
seem incongruous.As Basile Kerblayhas noted, the SovietUnion should
not be confusedwitha consumersocietyifthisimplies"a regimein which
the dominantclass manipulatesthe symbolsof communitylife,withthe
intentionofencouragingthe populationto consumeor to amuse itself."
13
Indeed, the regimecontinuedto privilegeproductionoverconsumption;
thisperiod include newspaperssuch as Izvestiia,Literaturnaiagazeta,Sovetskaia and

kul'tura,
Komsomolskaia pravda;the specializeddesign,architectural, and tradepress (includingin-
structionmanualsforretailtradeworkers);cookbooks;publicationsforteenage girls;and
the magazine Sem'iai shkola,in addition to the specificallywomen'smagazines Sovetskaia
zhenshchina, and Rabotnitsa.
Kresttianka, The impacton popular taste,dress,and hairstyles
of popular Sovietfilmssuch as FeliksMironerand Marlen Khutsiev'sVesnana Zarechnoi
ulitse(Springon RiversideStreet,1956) and MikhailKalatozov'sLetiatzhuravli(The cranes
are flying,1957), as well as offoreignones importedduringand afterthewar,is an essen-
tialarea forfurtherinvestigation. See RichardStites,RussianPopularCulture: Entertainment
and Society since1900 (Cambridge,Eng., 1992), 141; andJosephineWoll,RealImages:Soviet
Cinemaand theThaw (London, 2000), 45-50.
12. See Susan E. Reid, "Photographyin the Thaw,"ArtJournal (Summer 1994). Ogo-
nekwas criticizedin 1958 forexcessiveuse ofphotographson foreignthemesand "lackof
taste"in illustrationof Sovietlife. "PostanovlenieKomissiiTsK KPSS 'O ser'eznykhne-
dostatkakhv soderzhaniizhurnala Ogonek,"'9 September1958, in E. S. Afanas'eva,V. Lu.
Afiani,et al., comps., IdeologicheskiekomissiiTsK KPSS 1958-1964. Dokumenty (Moscow,
1998), 87-88. I am indebted to Stephen Lovell foralertingme to thisdocument. Ogonek
continuedto include largenumbersofphotographsand photo-essaysafteritsreprimand,
but theirselectionis likelyto have been subjectedto closerscrutiny. For a Sovietresponse
to the AmericanillustratedLook,see "Priznaniiav reklamnomtsellofane,"Izvestiia,9 De-
cember1962.
13. Basile Kerblay,ModernSovietSociety, trans.RupertSwyer(New York,1983), 284.
216 SlavicReview
and despiteincreased attentionto livingstandardsin the 1950s, thisre-

mained a cultureof shortages-requiring of the consumerstrategiesfor
procuring,hoarding,and makingdo-rather thanone ofboundless and
conspicuousconsumption.I do wantto argue,however,adaptingKerblay,
thateven as itcontinuedto prioritizeproduction,"thedominantclassma-
nipulatedthe symbolsof communitylifewiththe aim of encouragingthe
population to consume"inparticularways.
The importantrole played by the managementof consumptionin
maintainingSoviet-type systemsafterlosifStalin'sdeath and the repudia-
tion of terrorwas recognizedbyVaclav Havel. "The post-totalitarian sys-
tem,"he declared in 1978, "has been built on foundationslaid by the
historicalencounterbetween dictatorshipand the consumersociety."14
Havel's essayThePowerofthePowerless, referringto Czechoslovakia,alerts
us to theimportanceofstudying themicro-levelofpowerifwe are to reach
a closer understandingof the wayspost-Stalinist regimesexercised and
maintained authority.We must not underestimatethe Khrushchevre-
gime's achievements,includingthe renunciationof terror,relativeliber-
alization of public discourse,and commitmentto broadeningparticipa-
tion and improvingthe materialconditionsof ordinarypeople. But,for
all itspopulism,itdid not relinquishpower.Ratherthanrelyon coercion,
it soughtto maintainpublic compliance by different means, to mobilize
and control througha dispersal of authorityto a range of discourses,
institutions,and regimesof dailylife and personal conduct.15As Peter
Hauslohner has put it, "the political order evolvingunder Khrushchev
and [Leonid] Brezhnevwas not Stalinismreduxbut somethingquite dif-
ferent."16Highlypaternalistic,the regimeand its specialistagentsinter-
14. Vaclav Havel, ThePowerofthePowerless (1978) (London, 1987), 37-40. I am in-

debted to David Crowleyfordrawingmyattentionto Havel's formulation.
15. At theTwenty-second PartyCongressKhrushchevdeclared: "The moldingof the
new man is influencednot onlybythe educationalworkof the party,the Sovietstate,the
tradeunions and theYoungCommunistLeague, butbytheentirepatternofsociety'slife."
CitedbyGeorgeW. Breslauer,"KhrushchevReconsidered,"in StephenCohen, Alexander
Rabinowitch,and RobertSharlet,eds., TheSovietUnionsinceStalin(Bloomington,1980),
59. HerbertRitvocommentedin 1960: "The transferof certainfunctionsfromthe coer-
cive apparatusof the regimeto public organizationsin no waymeans a lesseningof social
controlsin Sovietsociety;on the contrary,itconstitutesan effort
to penetratemore deeply
than ever before into the privateand personal spheres of people's lives."The aim, ex-
pressedin termsborrowedfromLenin,was "thedevelopmentof a 'machinery capableofco-
ercing'in place of one 'applyinglegal normsensured by the coerciveforceof the state."'
HerbertRitvo,"Totalitarianism withoutCoercion?"Problems ofCommunism 9, no. 6 (1960):
26; Lenin'semphasis.On theKhrushchevregime'scontinuedrecourseto repression,how-
ever,see VladimirNaumov, "Repressionand Rehabilitation,"in Taubman, Khrushchev,
and Gleason, eds., NikitaKhrushchev, 85-112.
16. PeterHauslohner,"PoliticsbeforeGorbachev:De-Stalinizationand the Roots of
Reform,"in AlexanderDallin and Gail W. Lapidus, eds., TheSovietSystem in Crisis(Boul-
der,Colo., 1991), 39. In ProblemsofCommunism in 1960Alec Nove posed thequestion:what
did the Sovietregime'scommitmentto improvewelfareservicesimplyforwesternassess-
mentsofthenatureoftheSovietsystem? Alec Nove, "Towarda CommunistWelfareState?"
in AbrahamBrumberg,ed., RussiaunderKhrushchev: An AnthologyfromProblemsof Com-
munism(London, 1962), 571-90. A potentiallyhelpfulwayto conceptualize thisshiftis
Michel Foucault'sconception of the nature of modern "governmentality," characterized
bythe displacementofsovereignpowerfromthe monarchor absolutiststateto a rangeof
vened even in such seeminglymundane and intimatemattersas formthe

subjectofthispaper: dress,housekeeping,taste,and consumption.17 The
importance of this project was enshrined in the Third Party Program
adopted in 1961,whichmade both the creationof abundance forall and
theformationofthefullyrounded,sociallyintegrated,and self-disciplined
person essentialpreconditionsfor the imminenttransitionto commu-
nism. Having internalized"communistmorality," the futurecitizensof
communismwould voluntarilyregulate themselves,at which point the
statecould witheraway.18 Correctattitudestowardthe aestheticsof daily
life and consumptionwere one aspect of the new Soviet person's self-
discipline.
Effortsto intervenein people's everydayhabits and relationswere
nothingnew,ofcourse,buttheirrelativeimportanceincreasedas coercion
declined. The radical attemptsduringthe 1920s to bringabout a revolu-
tionin the cultureofdailylifeare wellknown.19 Even under Stalin,terror
instrument
was not a sufficient ofpowerbut coexistedwiththiskindofin-
tervention.As CatrionaKellyand VadimVolkovhave put it,in the 1930s,
"the evolutionof Sovietcommercialculturewas as much to do withthe
manipulationof desires as withtheirsatisfaction."20 Khrushchevistdis-
social and politicalinstitutionswithinwhichsociety'smembersbecome subjectto surveil-
lance and discipline,as wellas byincreasedrelianceon rationality, informationgathering,
and professionals.MichelFoucault,"Governmentality," Ideology 6 (1979):
and Consciousness
5-21; TerryJohnson,"Expertiseand the State,"in Mike Gane and TerryJohnson,eds.,
Foucault'sNewDomains(London, 1993), 140- 44. As Hauslohner notes,the post-Stalinre-
gimesgave professionalsgreatlyincreased opportunitiesto participatein policymaking,
wherebytheygained a stake in the political order. Hauslohner, "Politicsbefore Gor-
bachev,"47. Compare also Elizabeth Wilson'sassessmentof the postwarBritishwelfare
stateas a mechanismforcontrollingundesirableformsofbehaviorand forthe "Stateorga-
nizationofdomesticlife."ElizabethWilson,Women and theWelfare State(London, 1977), 9, 29,
36; emphasisin the original.Modern systemsofpower,in Foucault'sanalysis,are not sim-
plyapparatusesofrepressionbut produce newsocial identities.Compare Carter,How Ger-
manIs She?82-88.
17. The period sawa proliferation ofadviceliteraturedefiningwhatattitudesand be-
haviorsconstituteda correctcommunistprivatelife,allegedlyin response to readers' re-
quests.For example: E. Nikol'skaia,"Blagoustroistvo zhilishcha,"Sem'iai shkola,1958, no.
1: 42. The standardswere to be enforcedby trade unions, the party,Komsomol,house
committeesand otherquasi-voluntary organizations,as well as more informalneighborly
surveillance.Deborah Ann Field, "CommunistMoralityand Meanings of PrivateLife in
Post-StalinistRussia,1953-1964" (Ph.D. diss.,University of Michigan,1996), 19, 99-101.
18. On the "MoralCode," see JamesScanlan,Marxismin theUSSR:A CriticalSurveyof
Current SovietThought(Ithaca, 1985). For theThirdPartyProgram,see GreyHodnett,ed.,
Resolutions andDecisionsoftheCommunist PartyoftheSovietUnion,Volume 4, TheKhrushchev
Years1953-1964 (Toronto,1974), 167-264.
19. See, forexample,HenryArtGallery(Seattle),ArtintoLife:RussianConstructivism,
1914-1932 (Seattle, 1990); Lebina, Povsednevnaia zhizn'-Gorsuch, Youthin Revolutionary
Russia;KarenKettering,"'EverMore Cosyand Comfortable':Stalinismand theSovietDo-
mesticInterior,1928-1938,"JournalofDesignHistory10, no. 2 (1997): 119-36; Svetlana
Boym, CommonPlaces: Mythologies ofEveryday Life (Cambridge,Mass., 1994); and Olga
Matich, "Remakingthe Bed: Utopia in Daily Life,"in John E. Bowltand Olga Matich,
eds., Laboratory ofDreams:The Russian Avant-Gardeand CulturalExperiment (Stanford,
1996), 59-78.
20. CatrionaKellyand VadimVolkov,"DirectedDesires,"in CatrionaKellyand David
Shepherd, eds., Constructing RussianCulturein theAgeofRevolution, 1881-1940 (Oxford,
1998), 293.
218 SlavicReview
courses,likewise,aimed to manipulateand regulate.The shape theytried

to impose on popular desiresdifferedradically,however,fromthatof the
Stalin period. In accordance with the proclaimed "returnto Leninist
norms,"theyrevivedthe austere,modernistaestheticsof the 1920s but
nowon thebasisofthe SovietUnion'spostwarindustrialcapacity.The new
tone was alreadyset a year afterStalin'sdeath, in December 1954, when
Khrushchevrailed againstthe excessesand superfluousembellishmentof
recentarchitecture, signaleda partialrehabilitationofconstructivism,and
demanded the rationaluse of modern materialsand constructiontech-
nology.21The newerawastobe one ofstripped-down, functionalformsand
sober,rationaltasteappropriateto a modern,industrial,workers'state.
Sovietattitudeswere not formedin isolationfromothercountriesin
the bloc. Indeed, an awarenessthatconsumptionissues,in conjunction
withworknorms,had triggeredthe uprisingin Germanyin June 1953
must have struckterrorinto the Soviet collectiveleadership lest such
unrestspread to the SovietUnion. It maywell have convinced Georgii
Malenkovand Khrushchevof the urgencyof improvinglivingstandards,
especiallyin the knowledgethat even in defeated Germanytheywere
higherthan in the victoriousleading countryof the socialistcamp.22Al-
beit withdiffering emphasis,the effortto definethe natureand limitsof
socialistconsumptionwasa sharedconcernamongleadersand ideologues
in the bloc. A conferenceof Advertising Workersof SocialistCountries
was convened in Prague in 1957 to definethe purpose of advertisingin a
socialisteconomy.It was to informabout rationalmodes of consumption,
to raise the cultureof trade,and, mostimportant,to educate consumers'
tasteand shape theirrequirements.23 The role of domesticadvertisingin
a commandeconomy,then,wasnotto generateinauthenticand insatiable
consumerdemand,as in the capitalistwest.On the contrary, itwas to pro-
mote "rationalconsumption"and to predictand manage popular desires.
To regulateand controldemand required knowledgeabout the con-
sumer. Sociology,relegitimatedduring the thaw,provided that knowl-
edge. Takingtheplace, to some extent,oftheratherhaphazardgathering
of informationthroughsurveillanceand denunciations,the analysisand
categorizationof the population rendered it visible to the regime and
thereby,seemingly, manageable.24Data began to be gatheredabout pub-
lic opinion,consumerdemands,and household budgets.The Komsomol,
21. Vsesoiuznoesoveshchaniestroitelei:
Sokrashchennyi otchet(Moscow,
stenograficheskii
1955). On the introductionof a "contemporary style"into the everydayenvironment,see
Iurii Gerchuk,"The Aestheticsof EverydayLife in the KhrushchevThaw in the USSR
(1954- 64)," in Reid and Crowley,eds., Styleand Socialism,81-99.
22. Pence, "'You as a Woman,"' 218-52; Naumov, "Repressionand Rehabilitation,"
102, and Zubok, "The Case of Divided Germany,"280.
23. PhillipHanson, Advertisingand Socialism:TheNatureand ExtentofConsumer Adver-
tisingin theSovietUnion,Poland,Hungaryand Yugoslavia(London, 1974), 29; and IrvingR.
Levine, TheReal Russia (London,1959), 177.
24. CompareJamesC. Scott,SeeingLikea State(New Haven, 1998). For a usefulcon-
siderationof demoscopy-that is, the collectionof knowledgeabout consumers,as an as-
pect ofmoderngovernmentality, in termsofFoucault'sconceptofknowledge-power-see
Carter,How GermanIs She?82 - 88.
chargedwithpreventingthespread ofdisaffection and westernizedyouth

cultureamong youngpeople, took an activeinterestin such matters.An
"Instituteof Public Opinion" set up under the auspices of itsnewspaper,
Komsomolskaia pravda,conducted surveysof youthconsumptionprefer-
ences and attitudesregardingrelationsbetweenthe sexes and familylife
in 1961.25On a more informallevel,it also undertookmarketresearchin
departmentstores.26 Interestin familybudgetswaspromptedbytheparty's
new emphasison consumptionneeds and, specifically, byits attemptsto
introducea minimumwage,adequate fora modeststandardoflivingfor
a typical(thatis, normative)urban family.This was not onlya matterof
reflectingexistingconsumptionpatterns,but ofprescribinga "normative
consumptionbudget."Continuedthroughthe 1960s,the normativecon-
sumptionbudgettheysetwasverymodest:itincluded allowancesforcer-
tainconsumerdurablessuch as refrigerators and televisions,
but no other
electricalappliances, carpets,or car.27As one ideologue put it: "Under
Communismthe attitudeof people towardmaterialthingswill change.
They willacquire forpersonal use onlyenough to wear.No one willcol-
lect suitsand dresses,boots and shoes,aimlesslyaccumulatingthemin his
wardrobe.Reasonable needs forclothingand footwearare determinedby
climaticconditions,timeofyear,age and sex,typeofoccupationand social
activities.28 Rationalneeds werethosethatrenderedtheself-development
of the individualcompatiblewiththe developmentof societyas a whole.
Rationalconsumptionwasan aspectofcommunistmorality, whichin gen-
eral entailedself-disciplineand voluntarysubmissionof the individualto
the collectivewill.Ifindividualdesirescame intoconflictwiththe bestin-
terestsof the collective,theywere,bydefinition,irrational.29Women and
youngpeople were most prone to succumb to ostentatiousconsumption
25. Resultsof an opinion poll on "The Young Generation"were publishedin Komso-

mol'skaiapravda,26 January1961. Responses to the questionnaire'Your Ideas about the
YoungFamily"werepublishedin Komsomol'skaiapravda, 19 December 1961. The questions
and responseswerejudged of sufficient interestto westernobserversto be translatedin
CurrentDigest oftheSovietPress13,no. 2 (1961): 32-34; 13 no. 15 (1961): 15-25; 13, no. 24
(1961): 17-18 and 21; and 13, no. 34 (1961): 3-8; and in SovietReview 2, nos. 11-12 (No-
vember-December 1961) and 3, no. 8 (August 1962): 21-40. Under Khrushchev,the
Komsomol intervenedconsistently in youthleisure and dress.See, forexample,Izvestiia,
31 March1961; and HilaryPilkington,"'The FutureIs Ours': YouthCulturein Russia,1953
to the Present,"in Kellyand Shepherd,eds., RussianCulturalStudies,369-71.
26. "Myza kul'turnuiutorgovliu!Obrashchenie rabotnikovCheliabinskogouniver-
maga k rabotnikamtorgovykhpredpriiatiiSovetskogo soiuza," Komsomol'skaia pravda,
21 January1959, 2.
27. MervynMatthews,Classand Society in SovietRussia (London, 1972), 81- 83.
28. M. P. Sakov,Osnovnoiprintsipkommunizma (Moscow,1961), 34. Cited here from
JeromeM. Gilison,TheSovietImageofUtopia(Baltimore,1975), 176.
29. Gilison, SovietImage,173. Mikhail Gorbachev's advisor Georgii Shakhnazarov,
who in therecentanthologyon Khrushchevmakesone ofthefewreferencesto livingstan-
dards,was activelyinvolvedduringthe Khrushchevera in definingcommunistconsump-
tion moralityin termsof anti-acquisitiveness. See Taubman, Khrushchev,and Gleason,
eds., NikitaKhrushchev,304, 306. Gilisonciteshim: "Communismexcludes those narrow-
minded people forwhom the highestgoal is to acquire everypossible luxuriousobject"
(173, fromG. Shakhnazarov,Kommunizm i svobodalichnosti [Moscow,1960], 48).
220 SlavicReview
and irrationaldesires that,if unchecked, would be detrimentalto the

commonweal.30
It is hardlycontroversialto assert,although it must stillbe demon-
strated,thatdiscipliningdiscoursesof dailylifewere addressedprimarily
to women.Consumptionand household labor continuedresiduallyto be
naturalizedas femaleconcerns.31 Despite the party'scommitmentto sex-
ual equality,a numberofstudieshave shownthatitor itsagentsmaintained
stereotypicalnotions of gender difference,assumingwomen to be most
heavilyimbricatedin mundane mattersof bytand to have a lowerlevel of
political consciousness and rationality.32Khrushchevistdiscourses and
policiescontinuedto presumethatwomenwerelesslikelyto be persuaded
byabstractpoliticalreasoningthanbyappeals to emotionand bymaterial
benefits.The party-state differentiateditsclaimsto legitimacyalong gen-
dered lines. Offeringto men the politicalpromiseof socialistdemocracy
and self-government, to women it held out the prospectof betteroppor-
tunitiesforconsumptionand comfort.33 Thus,whileattributing towomen
an ideologicallyinferiorrole, it simultaneouslyascribedto them,in their
30. The stereotypeofwomen as naturallyavariciouswas propagatedin satire.A car-

toon in SovetskaiaRossiia,11 June 1960, representeda girlwitha fashionablepony tail,
caught in an impossibledilemma between two suitors:one has a Volga car to offer,the
othera large dacha. On Sovietfearsof youngpeople's, particularly youngwomen's,irra-
tional desires compare: HilaryPilkington,"YoungWomen and SubculturalLifestyles: A
Case of 'IrrationalNeeds'?" in Rosalind Marsh,ed., Women in Russia and Ukraine(Cam-
bridge,Eng., 1996), 173-74. Stiliagiwere characterizedas deviantand potentiallyanti-
Sovieton account of their"excessive"consumptionand display,which,in femalestiliagi,
was seen to take the formof sexual licentiousness.The dominantSovietviewwas repro-
duced byEdward Crankshaw:"The female of the species wearsdresseswhich reveal her
figureto the pointof indecency.She wearsslitskirts.Her lips are brightwithlipstick."Ed-
ward Crankshaw,Russia without Stalin(New York,1956), 242- 43. See Field, "Communist
Morality,"69; and N. Kolchinskaia, "Odevaisia prosto i krasivo,"in R. Saltanova and
N. Kolchinskaia,eds.,Podruga(Moscow,1959), 344.
31. Magazines such as Ogonekand Sem'iai shkolaconsistentlycast the readers of
domestic advice articles as female. See, for example, A. Kargopolov, "Kolkhoznitsy
obsuzhdaiutknigu 'Domovodstvo,"'Sem'iai shkola,1958, no. 1. The purpose of the book
under discussion,A. A. Demezer and M. L. Dziuba, Domovodstvo (Moscow,1957), mayhave
been to promote the convergenceof cityand countryby introducing"modern"urban
standardsinto the ruralwayof life.Peasantwomenwere expected to buythe book when
visitingthe All-UnionAgriculturalExhibitionin Moscow.Furtherresearchshould disag-
gregatethe ideal Sovietconsumer,not onlyin termsof gender,but of generation,geog-
raphy,ethnicity,and social stratum.
32. Female communistswerecastas "housekeepersoftherevolution" whowereto ex-
tend theirhousewifely and vigilanceto the serviceof the state.See Eliz-
practicesof thrift
abethWood, TheBaba and theComrade(Bloomington,1997); and Gorsuch,Youthin Revo-
lutionaryRussia,chap. 5. For the prerevolutionary historyof such gender stereotypes, see
Linda Edmondson,"Women'sEmancipationand Theories of Sexual Differencein Russia,
1850-1917," in M. Liljestr6m,E. Mantysaari,and A. Rosenholm,eds., Gender Restructuring
in RussianStudies(Tampere,1993), 39-52. Compare Pence, "'You as a Woman,"'226; and
L. Ansorg and R. Huirtgen,"The Myth of Female Emancipation: Contradictionsin
Women'sLives,"and D. Langenhan and S. RoB, "The SocialistGlass Ceiling:Limitsto Fe-
male Careers,"both inJarausch,ed., Dictatorship 163-76 and 177-94.
as Experience,
33. See Susan E. Reid, "MastersoftheEarth:Gender and Destalinisationin SovietRe-
formistPaintingof the KhrushchevThaw,"Gender& History11, no. 2 (1999): 276-312.
capacityas consumersand retailers,a particularkindofpowerand exper-

tiseas thestate'sagentsin reformingthematerialcultureofeveryday life.34
Promisesof increased consumptionplayeda centralpartin the post-
Stalinistregime'ssearchto renewand maintainitspopularlegitimacy with-
out surrendering itsexclusivehold on power.AlthoughKhrushchev'spo-
sitionin the collectiveleadershipwas too tenuousforhim to abandon the
Sovieteconomy'straditionalemphasison heavyindustryand defense,he
made a strongcommitmentto improvingmass livingstandards,attempt-
ing to solvethe problemsof agriculture, pledgingto conquer the housing
problem,and repeatedlypromisingthatper capita consumptionwould
soon overtakethatof the United States.35This was an ambitioustarget.
Lard, ratherthan goulash, would be a more apt metonymfor the new
polity:Khrushchevdeclared, "It is not bad ifin improvingthe theoryof
Marxismone throwsin also a piece ofbacon and a piece ofbutter."36 Sig-
nificantly,in the contextof effortsto define reasonable consumption,
contemporarySovietjokes-often seen as a means to access society'sun-
spoken and unspeakable "subconscious"- oftenturnedon Khrushchev's
"grotesque"body (in the Rabelaisian sense), itsexcessive,uncontainable
girth:"Saysone studentto another,"Do you knowwe've alreadybeaten
Americain the productionof meat?" "How do you make thatout?" asks
the other."Well,doesn'tKhrushchevweightwenty kilosmore thanEisen-
hower?"37 Anotherjoke envisagedthe leader burstinghis breeches: "Go
ahead, Nikita,catchup withAmerica,ifyou can,butforheaven'ssakedon't
run ahead. Ifyou do, people willsee yourbare behind."38
34. A similarconclusionis reached in studiesof consumptionin Germany.Compare
Pence, "'You as a Woman."' Under Stalin,womenwere alreadyregardedas consumption
experts.See Fitzpatrick,Everyday Stalinism,91. Womenwere also, in theircapacityas the
majorityof retailtradeworkers,chargedwitheducatingthe customerin modernand cul-
tured consumptionhabits. See Hessler, "Cultureof Shortages,"chap. 6; and Randall,
"'RevolutionaryBolshevikWork,"'425- 441.
35. In rhetoric,ifnot in practice,the turnto consumerismand thepromotionofcul-
turedtradebegan under Stalin.In the second Five-YearPlan, abundance, and even dem-
ocraticluxury,were declared a goal of socialism,and consumptionwas recastas a civiliz-
ing and modernizingforce thatwould advance social integrationand the building of
socialism.Theactual increasein consumergoods at the timewas negligible,however.See
Randall,"'Revolutionary BolshevikWork"';Hessler,"Cultureof Shortages."Afterwartime
deprivation,partypolicyshiftedeven beforeStalin'sdeath. At the NineteenthPartyCon-
gressin 1952 Malenkovand Khrushchevboth made a pitch for housing and consumer
goods and food production,although Malenkov's alleged overemphasison consumer
goods was latercitedas a reason forhisfall.Alec Nove,Stalinism and After(London, 1975),
124-28; andJulieHessler,"APostwarPerestroika?Towardsa HistoryofPrivateEnterprise
in theUSSR,"SlavicReview57, no. 3 (Fall 1998): 516 - 41. The issue ofthepoor qualityand
lack of varietyof consumer goods was raised for public discussionbeginningin 1954:
N. Zhukov,"Vospitanievkusa,"Novyimir,1954, no. 10:159-76; and readers' responses:
"O vospitaniivkusa,"Novyimir,1955, no. 2:247-54; A. Saltykov,"O khudozhestvennom
kachestvepromyshlennykh tovarov,"Sovetskaia 1954, no. 9:22-31.
torgovlia,
36. Cited byJohn Gunther,InsideRussia Today,rev. ed. (firstpublished 1958; Har-
mondsworth, 1964), 422.
37. Maurice Hindus, House withouta Roof:Russia afterForty-three YearsofRevolution
(London, 1962), 36.
38. Ibid., 21.
222 Slavic Review
Otherjokes in the 1950s also encapsulated the causal link between

promisesof consumergoods and the Cold Warand revealedthatthe em-
peror had no clothes.One Russianbragsto another:the Sovietauthori-
ties have perfectedan intricateatomicbomb thatwillfitinto a suitcase,
whichwillone daybe deliveredto a targetlikeNewYork."Impossible,"his
mate replies."Wherewould anybodyget a suitcase?"39
As earlyas 1951,AmericansociologistDavid Riesmanimaginedan al-
ternativeto the armsrace, "OperationAbundance,"alias the "NylonWar."
This was "an idea of disarmingsimplicity: thatif allowed to sample the
richesofAmerica,theRussianpeople wouldnotlong toleratemasterswho
gave themtanksand spiesinsteadofvacuum cleanersand beautyparlors.
The Russian rulerswould thereuponbe forced to turnout consumers'
goods,or facemassdiscontenton an increasingscale."Bybombardingthe
USSR withToni wavekits,nylonhose, stoves,and refrigerators, theUnited
Stateswould forceMoscow to abandon weaponryforconsumergoods.40
Significantly, items considered to appeal to the traditionalconcerns of
women figuredprominentlyamong the most effectivemissilesin Ries-
man's scenario.Both sides in the Cold War assumed thatthe subjectsof
the socialistcamp sharedthesame innate,gender-specific desiresas those
ofthe capitalistcamp and treatedwomen'swillto consumeas a potentpo-
liticalforce.
It was a commonplaceofwesternjournalismthatthe demand and dis-
cernmentof Soviet consumerswas growingand would eventuallyforce
the Kremlinto respond,which,giventhe continuedideological and eco-
nomicinvestment would createintolerabletensions
in defenseindustries,
withinthe systemand its leadership.The "NylonWar"formedthe con-
ceptual framework withwhich American and west European reporters,
visitingthe SovietUnion forthe firsttime since the austerityof the war,
approached the analysisof dailylifeunder Khrushchevand beyond.4'
Westerncommentatorspaid particularattentionto Russian women,
seekingsignsthatbehind theirdour,workhorsefacade, theyhid a "uni-
39. Retold afterGunther,InsideRussia Today,95.

40. David Riesman,Abundance forWhat?And OtherEssays(Garden City,N.Y, 1964),
65-77. See also StephenJ.Whitfield, TheCultureoftheColdWar(Baltimore,1991), 72; and
Karal Ann Marling,As Seenon TV. The VisualCultureofEveryday Lifein the1950s (Cam-
bridge,Mass., 1994), 252.
41. According to John Gunther'saccount (writtenin 1958), "pressurefrom the
people formore and betterconsumergoods, as well as food,growsmore apparentall the
time.... Not onlydo people yearnformotor-scooters, silk thread,casseroles,and um-
brellas, but for prettierthings,articlesmore gay. . . . Khrushchevwants above all to
broaden the basis of his support,to bringpeople more closelyinto the familyof govern-
mentso to speak,but the onlysubstantially wayto do thisis to increasevastlythe
effective
amount of consumer goods available,which at the presentmoment cannot be done."
Gunther,InsideRussiaToday,423. Klaus Mehnertreportedthatthe Sovietconsumercould
now be heard to criticizehigh prices,poor quality,and service: "people are becoming
more discriminating and exacting."Klaus Mehnert,SovietMan and His World,(New York,
1962), citedbyJohnKeep, TheLast oftheEmpires(Oxford,1995), 101. Bythe mid-1970sit
was axiomaticthat "Russianconsumersare becoming fussiershoppers."Smith,TheRus-
sians,61; and Kerblay,ModernSovietSociety,284.
versalfeminine"desire to adorn themselves.42The changingspectacleof

Sovietwomen-their dress,cosmetics,and hairstyles-servedas an indi-
joined battle on the west's
cator that the Soviet Union had, willy-nilly,
terms.Accountsof "The Russians"' consumptionpatternsalso reflected
westernfascinationwiththisnewlyrediscoveredhuman species and ren-
dered themless threatening.Assumingthatshe,in particular,was moti-
vated byfundamentally the same needs and desiresas Americanwomen,
reporterspredictedthatonce Russianwomen'sconsumeristinstincts were
aroused theirdemandswould spiralout of control.As Riesmanhypothe-
sized, the increasinglyunbearable pressurethisplaced on the Sovietsys-
temwould culminatein itsimplosionand the triumphof capitalism.
The "KitchenDebate": The AmericanNationalExhibition,1959

Riesman'sNylon War scenario, conceived as satire,not only structured
westernrepresentationsof contemporarySoviet life but became U.S.
strategy.One ofthe Cold War'spitchedbattlestookplace at theAmerican
National Exhibitionheld in Moscow in the summerof 1959. Conflating
democracywithconsumerism,theAmericanauthorities'declared aim for
thisdisplayofU.S. productivity and prosperitywas to "encouragethe pro-
gressiveevolutionof Sovietsociety"by promotingthe demand forprod-
ucts available onlyto westernconsumers.This would "lowerthe possibil-
ityof productionforeitherheavyindustryor, and more particularly, for
warpurposes."43
The exhibition'smain attractionsincluded a fullyautomated"miracle
kitchen"withan electronic"brain"operatedbya domesticscientist;and a
"typical"Americanhome, also featuringa modern,fittedkitchen.44 It was
there,in the kitchen,thatKhrushchevand Richard Nixon jousted over
the relativecapacityof the socialistand capitalistsystemsto satisfythe
needs of theircitizens.The domesticand conventionally femininesetting
forthisconfrontation betweenthe superpowerswas not as incongruousas
it mightappear; in the contextof "peacefuleconomic competition"the
kitchenand consumptionhad become a siteforpowerplayson a world
scale. As Darra Goldsteinhas put it: "How could Khrushchevbe a major
playerin theworldifhe could not even providehis country'swomenwith
theirownkitchens?"45
Khrushchev'spreferredbattlegroundwould have been the cosmos.
There the superiorityof socialist science was beyond dispute.46The
42. Compare Elaine TylerMay,Homeward Bound:American Familiesin theColdWarEra
(New York,1988), 19.
43. WalterL. Hixson,PartingtheCurtain:Propaganda,Cultureand theColdWar,1945-
1961 (Basingstoke,1997), 168; Marling,As Seenon T14246.
44. G. Zimmermanand B. Lerner,"Whatthe RussiansWill See," Look,21 July1959,
52-54.
45. Darra Goldstein,"DomesticPorkbarreling in Nineteenth-Century Russia,or Who
Holds theKeysto theLarder?"in Helena Goscilo and BethHolmgren,eds.,Russia. Women.
Culture(Bloomington,1996), 147; and see May,Homeward Bound,16-20, 162- 68.
46. Khrushchevbragged in 1964, "Rememberthe timewhen our countrywas eco-
nomicallybackward,howmanycapitalistfiguresofthewestscoffedat us.... And suddenly
224 SlavicReview
kitchen-and the conditions of women's work more generally-had,

meanwhile,become the locus of the Sovietsystem'shumiliationand the
symbolofitsbackwardness.In his electionaddressto the Supreme Soviet
in March 1958, Khrushchevpubliclyadmittedembarrassmentthatwest-
ern perceptionsof Sovietlifewere dominatedbythe image of downtrod-
den women engaged in manual labor and thatvisitorstookhome the im-
pressionofa backwardand uncivilizedcountry.47 Resentmentofthewest's
historicalsuperiority was not solelya matterofbruisedpatrioticpride,es-
peciallyin lightof the increased knowledgeabout lifeabroad, including
in other partsof the socialistbloc. It was an articleof faiththatcentral
planningwouldguaranteethebestpossibleconditionsoflifeforthelargest
numberofpeople. Khrushchevrepeatedlyindexed the transitionto com-
munism to the achievement of superabundance and unprecedented
prosperity.48At the same time,the SovietUnion'snew global positionre-
quired it to be a convincingmodel of the superiority of the socialistsys-
tem over capitalism.Seeing the bold, happycitizensof the SovietUnion
and theirhigh livingstandards,people abroad-not onlyin developing
countriesrecentlyliberatedfromcapitalism,but even in capitalistcoun-
tries-would voluntarilyadopt socialismwithoutanyneed forthe Soviet
Union to forceit upon them.49
Meanwhile,at the AmericanExhibition,the crowdswere large and
enthusiastic.This seemed to provethe successof theAmericanconsumer
goods offensive:"There is evidence," an American magazine crowed,
"thatthe curiosityabout theAmericanwayof lifeas depicted at the fairis
givingSovietleaders concernthatthe Russianviewerwillbecome discon-
tentedwiththeirown lot."50Sovietpublishedresponses,in contrast,were
churlish,representingit as a tackydisplayof excess and bourgeois trivia.
Theylamentedthe preponderanceof consumergoods at the expense of
science,technology,and space exploration.Clearly,the fullymechanized
kitchen,beingin the domesticand traditionally femininedomain,did not
count as a displayof advanced technology."You know,thisexhibitionis
intendedmore forwomen'seyesthanformen's!"the popular newsmag-
azine Ogonekquoted the complaintof a "typical"Soviet (male) visitor.5'
thosewho wereconsideredclodhoppers,aboutwhomitwas said thattheyslurpedup cab-
bage soup withtheirshoes,so developed theeconomyand sciencethattheyreached space
beforethosewho called themselvescivilized!"Pravda,16 April1964; cited in Gilison,So-
vietImage,8.
47. "Rech' tovarishchaN. S. Khrushcheva,"Pravda,15 March 1958.
48. As Turpin pointsout, it was orthodoxdoctrinethatthe attainmentof commu-
nismwas linkedto the priorachievementof a surplusof products.Turpin,"Outlook for
ekonomika,
the SovietConsumer,"36. See the doctrinaltextbookPoliticheskaia 2d ed. (Mos-
cow,1952), 373.
49. Gilison,SovietImage,8-9.
50. "'Ivan'Takes a Look at AmericanLife:Photo ReportfromMoscow,"US. Newsand
WorldReport,10 August1959, 42. MythankstoJane Harrisforsharingher recollectionsof
the exhibition,where she workedas a guide, duringa discussionof an earlierversionof
thispaper, SixthInternationalCouncil for Central and East European Studies Confer-
ence, Tampere,July2000.
51. MartaDodd, "Pod pozolochennymkupolom,"Ogonek, no. 32 (2 August1959): 5.
Izvestiiaqueried,was thisthe national exhibitionof a greatcountryor a

branchdepartmentstore?52
The challenge of the AmericanExhibitionhad been preemptedin
the 1958-65 economic plan, whichpledged to improvelivingstandards
includinghousingand consumergoods and to catchup withthe United
States.Khrushchev, however,triedto shiftthediscursivegroundof"peace-
fulcompetition"awayfromconsumergoods towardsthe more auspicious
territory of public services,education,daycarecenters,new flats,health-
care, and the rightto work.53 Admittingthatqualityand choice of goods
and serviceswere not yetup to scratch,Ogonekinvitedreaders to report
on such mattersunder a new rubric"AreYou ServedWell?"implyingthat
itwas the public'srole and even dutyto pressforimprovements.54
In a cartoonfromOgonekin 1959 (figure1), a woman abandons the
struggleto cook in the Sovietkitchenand takesher familyto the public
canteen. Improved public servicessuch as communal dining facilities
were not only to raise livingstandardsin general. They were intended,
quite specifically,"to alleviatewomen'sdomesticburden,"as Khrushchev
put it,to enable themto participatemore fullyin public and productive
life.55But untilpublic serviceswere sufficiently developed, it was neces-
saryto facilitatedomesticlabor whilemaintainingitsbase in the individ-
ual familyand women'sunpaid second shift.A 1959 "housekeeper'sman-
ual," whichwas clearlyaddressed to women, quoted Khrushchev:"Our
communaland housingconstructionis radicallytransforming the every-
day life of manymillionsof people who receive in theirnew,beautiful,
52. Izvestiiaquotedin "'Ivan' Takes a Look," 42; and Marling,As Seenon TV 243. G. A.
Zhukov,head of the State Committeefor CulturalRelationswithForeign Nations,de-
clared it a flopin Mezhdunarodnaia zhizn'November1959; citedbyAlexanderWerth,Rus-
sia underKhrushchev (New York,1962; reprint,Westport,Conn., 1975), 230-31.
53. In his concluding remarksat the Twenty-first PartyCongressin January1959,
Khrushchevchallengedthewestin itsownterms:"To speak in thelanguage ofcommerce,
whichis clearlymore accessibleto representatives of the capitalistworld,let us layout our
'wares' . . . and let each order show... how manyhours the workingdaylasts,how much
materialand spiritualbenefittheworkingpersonreceives,whatkindofhome he has,what
kind of educational opportunitieshe is offered,whatpart he takesin stateaffairs, in the
politicallifeof the country,who is masterof all the materialand culturalwealth."Cited as
epigraphto a photo-essaybyDmitriiBal'termantsand V Viktorovthat"setout the Soviet
stall"in visualdocuments:"Davaiterazlozhimsvoi'tovary,"'Ogonek, no. 10 (1 March 1959):
4-7. See also WilliamJ.Tompson,Khrushchev: A PoliticalLife(Houndmills,1995), 201.
54. The rubricwas timely,the editorsexplained,in lightof the pledge made at the
Twenty-first Congress,to expand the productionof prepared food and the systemof or-
deringgoods and home delivery,to develop otherprogressiveserviceindustries,and to
raisethecultureoftradein thecourseoftheseven-yearplan from1959 to 1965. "Khorosho
li vas obsluzhivaiut?" Ogonek,no. 11 (8 March 1959): 4. Westerncommentatorslargelydeny
thatSovietconsumershad anyeffective lobbyoverimportantmattersof productionand
pricingbut onlyoverthe more superficialaspects,such as hygieneof shops. Keep, Last of
theEmpires,100-101; and Alex Inkeles,Social Changein SovietRussia (Cambridge,Mass.,
1968), 406. On the formalmechanismsdesigned in theoryto enable the customerto af-
fectthe productionofgoods in the 1930s,see Randall, "'RevolutionaryBolshevikWork,"'
433. Given the Khrushchevregime'scommitmentto mobilizingmass participation,the
role of a consumers'lobbyis an importantarea forfurtherinvestigation.
55. "Rech' tovarishchaN. S. Khrushcheva,"Pravda,15 March 1958.
---
--
----
wCE 111AM
IKTQIAOb''I
Figure 1. Goneto theCanteen,cartoonby

L. and Iu. Cherepanovin Ogonek,no. 11
(8 March 1959).
contemporarydwellingcentralheating,a well-equipped kitchen,a gas

stove,garbage chute,and hot watersupply,bathroom,fittedcupboards,
... and other conveniences."56 As envisaged by Khrushchev, the "mod
cons" of the new Soviethome were,admittedly, more modestthan mod-
ern,especiallyifcompared to the fullymechanized kitchenpresentedat
the AmericanExhibitionthe same year.Yet, to the majorityof women
bumpingbehinds in a communal kitchen,thiswas undreamt-ofluxury.
Even a relativelycomfortablehousehold mighthave onlya cold tap and
kitchenequipmentconsistingonlyof an iron and an electricsamovar.57
But Khrushchevand his firstdeputypremier,AnastasMikoian,were
willingto learnfromwesternexample.A 1955Americanfittedkitchenwas
shipped to Moscow for study.On his visitto the United Statesin 1958,
Mikoian took a keen interestin domesticappliances and declared (the
American press reported), "We have to free our housewiveslike you
Americans!The Russianhousewifeneeds help."58
For the Soviethousewife,struggling under her double burden,relief
was at hand! As earlyas 1954, the magazine Sovetskaia
zhenshchina
(Soviet
56. L. Abramenkoand L. Tormozova,eds., Besedyo domashnem khoziaistve(Moscow,

1959), 3-4. The textslips seamlesslyfromreferringto its readers as "youngpeople" to
specifically themas girlsand "youngwomen."
identifying
57. Such a kitchenis depictedin CharlesW. Thayer,Russia (London, 1961), 97. Two
Britishmarriageguidance expertsdescribedkitchensaround 1960: "Kitchenswere gen-
erallyquite small,withsink,old-stylegas cooker,and a fewcupboards. Sometimesthere
was room fora smalltableforeating.There was usuallysome tilinground the sink.All city
flatswe saw had runningwater.Most countryhomes drew theirwaterfroma well....
Household equipmentseemed quite inadequate by our standards.There were usuallya
fewcookingutensils,no china tea service,perhapsbecause Russiansusuallydrinktea from
glasses.Electricironsseemed in good supply.We sawone old-stylesewingmachine.In one
flat,belongingto an importantPartymember,therewas a refrigerator in the hall." David
and Vera Mace, TheSovietFamily(London, 1964), 162. Even in the wake of the American
exhibition,Sem'iai shkolastillconceived the kitchenin low-techterms.See Z. Krasnova,
"Vashakukhnia,"Sem'iai shkola,1959, no. 11:46 - 47.
58. Zimmermanand Lerner,"Whatthe RussiansWill See," 52-54. Mikoian'sinterest
in food processing,as well as his involvementin the sale of arttreasuresin the 1930s,may
have broughthim into contactwithcollectorof Russian decorativeartsMarjorieMerri-
weatherPost. Her house in Washington,D.C., now the Hillwood Museum,built in 1955
withthe Post,GeneralFoods, and Bird'sEye fortune,was equipped witha state-of-the-art
kitchendesignedbyAlexanderMacllvaineforservingfrozenfoods.Karen Kettering,per-
sonal communication,November2001.
The suggestionthatpart of the answerto women'sdouble burden was for men to
share the domesticchores began to be raised in public at thistimebut was a seasonal is-
sue, reservedforInternationalWomen'sDay and oftenpresentedin a flippantmanner.
Ogonek reportedthatprominentastronomerAlla Masevich,on a recentlecturetourofthe
United States,had created a sensationin the Americanpressby declaringhow much she
liked thewayAmericanhusbandshelped theirwivesin the kitchen.The account renders
thistop femalescientistunthreateningbycharacterizingher in termsof her girlishfigure
and her relationshipwithher daughterand makes lightof her suggestion:"Perhapsit
wouldn'tbe so bad to transferthiscustomto our husbands-isn't it true,it's a good cus-
tom?"G. Kulikovskaia,"Pronikaiushchaiav zvezdy,"Ogonek,no. 11 (8 March 1959): 11.
Hindus reportsan exception:a letterfromfourworkingwomen complainingabout their
husbands'refusalto help in thehome,publishedin SovetskaiaRossiia, 16 March 1960. Hin-
dus,Housewithout a Roof,282.
228 SlavicReview
woman) proclaimed the increasingrange and availabilityof time-saving

devicesand machinestohelpwith"women'sdomesticlabor" (althoughthe
"compactand beautiful"washingmachine it advertisedlooked more like
a glorifiedtinpail) .59 In public addressesof 1958 and 1959, Khrushchev
promisedwomenthatmechanizationwould come to theiraid, not onlyin
theworkplacebut in the home, throughincreasedproductionof domes-
tic appliances.60On VladimirLenin's authority, womenwere to be freed
fromdomesticslaverybymeans of the electrification ofhousework.If the
miracleof space travelhad been made possiblebythe EVM (computer),
the"UKM"or universalfoodprocessor(universal'naia kukhonnaia mashina)
brought scientific-technological revolutioninto the kitchen.61As pre-
sented in Semia i shkola,machines in the home would not only make
houseworkmore efficient, liberatingthe housewifefor activeparticipa-
tion in politicaland economic life;regularuse of new technologywould
also modernizeitsusers,transforming theminto fitcitizensof the mod-
ernage.62Sovietmagazinesand domesticencyclopaediasofferedguidance
on how to use the new vacuum cleaners,washingmachines,and sewing
machines (see figure2). Their illustrations leftno doubt thatthesewere
gendered objectsof desire.63
to Women
SellingSynthetics
The Khrushchevregimerecognizedthatitwasnot enough to improveser-
vicesbutitmustalso increasethequantity,quality,and rangeofconsumer
goods.64New shopping opportunitiesappeared in the 1950s. The old
tsaristarcades on the siteofMoscow'sformercentralmarket,Red Square,
had been used as an officebuildingunder Stalinbut afterhis death they
were re-opened as one of the biggestdepartmentstoresin the world,
59. R. Chaikovskaia,"Dlia domashnego khoziaistva,"Sovetskaiazhenshchina, 1954,

no. 11:44-45.
60. "Rech' tovarishchaN. S. Khrushcheva," Pravda,15 March 1958; and Abramenko
and Tormozova,eds., Besedyo domashnem 3-4. Increased productionof con-
khoziaistve,
sumer goods includingdomestic appliances was confirmedby a decree of the Central
Committeeof the CommunistPartyofthe SovietUnion and a resolutionof the Council of
Ministersin October 1959: "On measuresto increaseproduction,broaden assortment, im-
prove qualityof goods of cultural-everyday purpose and domesticuse." Detailed figures
were givenforthe productionof refrigerators, sewingmachines,washingmachines,tele-
visionsand radios,motorbikesand mopeds,beds, enamel dishes,and so on. "Dobrotnye,
krasivye veshchi-v nash byt!"Izvestiia,16 October 1959, 1. By 1968 therewere 27 million
televisionsets,13.7 millionrefrigerators, and 5.9 millionvacuum cleanersforsome 60-
70 millionhomes. Giventhe paucityof spare partsand repairservices,it can be assumed
thatnot all were functioning.Matthews,Class and Society in SovietRussia, 84. In practice
ownershipof a refrigerator or washingmachine remaineda statussymbolunavailable to
the majorityuntilat least the 1970s. Holt, "DomesticLabour," 29-31.
61. R. Podol'nyi,"Tekhnikanastupaet,"Semiai shkola,1959, no. 12: 10.
62. Ibid.,11;A.Vul'f,"Protivnedootsenki domovodstva," Sem'iaishkola,1961,no.8:47.
63. Podol'nyi,"Tekhnikanastupaet,"11; Kratkaiaentsiklopediia domashnego khoziaistva
(Moscow, 1959), 2:508-9. For furtherdiscussionsee Reid, "Mastersof the Earth,"297.
64. S. Kuvykin,"Kachestvo,eshche raz kachestvo,"Izvestiia,23 October 1959.
..
VV.
"I{P-'..1^'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
Figure2. Women withVacuum fromKrakaia entik1opediia

Cleaners, domashnego
khoziaistv(Moscow,1966).
GUM (State UniversalStore).65Improvementswere perceptibleeven in

claimed.
theprovinces,forinstancein suppliesoffootwear- or so Ogonek
65. Richard Edmonds, Russian Vistas:The Recordofa Springtime Journeyto Moscow,

Leningrad, theBlack
Kiev,Stalingrad, Sea,and theCaucasus(London, 1958), 111; Gunther,In-
sideRussiaToday,64. There wasan elementofthePotemkinvillagehere:in lightofconcern
fortheSovietimage abroad, shops in thecenterof Moscowand Leningrad,whereforeign
visitors(and even Sovietleaders) were mostlikelyto wander,were bettersupplied. It was
230 SlavicReview
Textualassertionsconcerningthe successful"struggleforquality"and va-

rietyin shoe productionin L'vivsince 1955 were seeminglycorroborated
by a photographdisplayinga whole range of footwearfrom"sensible"to
elegant,all allegedlymanufacturedbya singlefactory(figure3). Foreign
commentators,measuringthe achievementsagainst a differentbench-
mark,weresomewhatunderwhelmedbySovietabundance,althoughBrit-
ishvisitors,withtheirexperienceof austerity and rationingat home,were
more readilyimpressedthanAmericans.RichardEdmonds,touringRus-
sia in 1958 witha Britishtownplanningdelegation,reportedon shopping
in Stalingrad:"the Governmentis clearlybent on raisingstandards,and
has, indeed givena seriesof targetdates forthe completeeliminationof
some of the shortages.... The shoe shortageis probablynot as obviousas
once it was,but the foreignvisitoris stilllikelyto be accosted outside his
hotel and offereda generouspriceforhis shoes."66
Footwearwas a barometerof urbanityand well-being.John Gunther
found that the lack of stylishor good qualityclothingmade Russians
"acutely conscious of the clothes foreignerswear, particularlytheir
shoes.... The whole countryhas a fixationon shoes. Moscow is the city
where,ifAnitaEkbergshould walk down the streetwithnothingon but
shoes,people would stareat herfeetfirst."67MauriceHindus,takingan ex-
cursionaround the new Sovietwoman'sbodyin 1958, loweredhis eyesto
observethat"womenwerebettershod thanat anytimesincethecomingof
theSoviets:roundtoes,heavysoles,thickflatheels,werevisiblyout offavor
withtheyoungergeneration;even spikedheels had come toLeningrad."68
Westernreportersbroughtwiththemthe stereotypeof Sovietwomen
as drab, dowdy,and devoid of "femininity." John Gunthergrumbledin
1958: "Clotheshaveno shape; butthenneitherhavemostRussianwomen."
He conceded thatclotheshad improvedin recentyears,"buttheyare still
revolting.Their positiveshabbymanginess,as well as cheap qualityand
lack of colour,is beyonddescription."69
At last,however,Gunthernoted withevidentrelief,"Women,within
the circumscriptions of Sovietpuritanism,are being encouraged to pret-
tifythemselves;a good manybeautyshops existin Moscow,and courses
have even been set up to teach women how to use mild cosmetics,clean
up theirskin,and so forth.The qualityand styleof clothesare becoming
moreWesterneveryyear;high-heelsand bouffanthair-dosare quite com-
mon."70The westernjournalist-flaneur, strollingthe streetsof Moscow,
commonpracticeto "throw"goods intotheshopswhenleaderswereexpectedto visit.See,

forexample,Werth,RussiaunderKhrushchev, 33.
66. Edmonds,RussianVistas,104.
67. Gunther,InsideRussia Today,63.
68. Hindus, Housewithout a Roof,15.
69. Gunther,InsideRussia Today,63.
70. Ibid., 380. David and Vera Mace commented,"Westerners have showntremen-
dous interestin the possibilitythatthe new Sovietwomanwillin timeabandon her sever-
ityin thematterofdressand personaladornment."Mace, Soviet Family,111. The noveltyof
concernswithcosmeticsand personal hygieneshould not be overstated:it is partlya mat-
terof contrastwiththewarperiod and of stereotypes of Russianwomenwesternmale ob-
serversbroughtwiththem.An Instituteof Hygienehad alreadybeen establishedin 1936
and was being advertisedin women'smagazines such as Rabotnitsa and Obshchestvennitsa.
40~ ~ ~ ~
4p.~~~~~~~4
Figure3. OnlytheFirstQuality,fromOgonek,no. 9 (22 February1959). Photo by

M. Savin.
232 SlavicReview
$~~~~~~~
Figure4. Shppingin rd Perme Counter, no. 11 (8 March

fromOgonek,
1959).PhotobyI. Tiufanov.
reinsertedwoman in her traditionalrole as passive object of the male

gaze. He was not alone, however;Sovietspecialistsand the popular press
also called forwomen to recovertheirlost femininity and reconstructed
womenas a spectacle.A 1956 publicationon the "Solutionof theWoman
Questionin theUSSR" protestedthatlabor and equalityhad notmade So-
vietwomen "growuglyand lose theirfemininity. Havingceased to be the
'weakersex' theycontinueto belong to thefairsex."7' The pressbegan to
discussfashionabledressand hairstyles, cosmetics,perfume,jewelry,and
otherattributes offemininity and to encouragewomento "cultivatephys-
ical attractiveness."72
It mustbe emphasized thatthiswas not insteadof,
but in additionto the requirementthatwomenplayan activerole in pro-
duction and public life.The issue of Ogonekfor InternationalWomen's
Day 1959 ran a photo featurecelebratingwomen workingin a range of
jobs, whichelided anyconflictbetweenthe role of activeworkerand pas-
sivespectacle.It includeda photographcaptionedwitha statementabout
theimportanceofa good dressmaker:"a new,beautifuldressis alwaysajoy
fora woman (just as itis bythewayfora man)." Anotherdepictedwomen
shoppers buyingperfumein a Sverdlovskdepartmentstore (figure4),
withthecaption:"Doesn'ta shop assistantbehind thecounterremindyou
71. Vera Bil'shai,Reshenie voprosav SSSR (Moscow,1956), 208.

zhenskogo
72. Guntherreportsthatmanyperfumery and cosmeticsshops in the 1950salso sold
cheap beads and ornaments.Gunther,InsideRussia,67.
a bitof an actresson the stage?All the timebeforethe eyesof the people,

all the timedisplayingher art."73Indeed, shop assistantswere to be not
merelypurveyorsof materialgoods but of communistvalues and behav-
ioral norms,wherebythe corruptingpotentialof consumptionmightbe
mitigated.In theirpublic role as educators theyhad a responsibility to
dresswithexemplarytaste.74
It mayseem contradictory thatunder a ratheraustereregimeof ra-
tionalconsumption,whatthe exemplaryshop assistantin Ogonek's feature
was sellingwas perfume.Sovietperfumeproductionhad alreadybecome
a matterforcentralstateplanningin the Stalinist1930s,althoughoutput
was not high.Withthe rationalizationof needs under Khrushchev,how-
ever,the statusof thisluxuryattributeof bourgeois and aristocraticlife-
stylesof the past required some rhetoricalinvestmentto reconstructit as
a democraticluxurywhose availabilitysignifiedthe achievementof gra-
cious livingand abundance forall. The 1960 Women'sDay issue of Ogonek
included an articleon thehistoryand productionofperfume,occasioned
bythe New Dawn perfumefactory'slaunch of a new range of fragrances.
Where, in the past, perfumewas a luxuryavailable only to kings and
queens, it had now become an everydayitem of contemporary, socialist
life,the magazine emphasized.Nevertheless,itwas to be seen strictlyas a
gift,such as mightbe typicallygivento women on InternationalWomen's
Day bymen who therebyexpressed,on behalfof the state,the gratitude
and respectdue to womenfortheircontinuedcontributionas bothwork-
ersand mothers.The democratizationofthisluxurywas made possibleby
modern science and industry;chemistryhad freedthe art of perfumery
froma relianceon preciousoils and essencesbysynthesizing naturalaro-
mas.75A photographillustrating the articlerepresentedtheparfumiersil-
houettedagainstrowsof phials like a conductoror operatorbeforecom-
plex space controlpanels,thussynthesizing themagicofmusicalharmony
73. Ogonek, no. 11 (8 March 1959): 7. The issue of OgonekforInternationalWomen's

Day,8 March 1960, also dealt withtraditionally feminineconcerns-fashion, housekeep-
ing,and consumption-alongside a celebrationofwomen'scontributionto public lifein
production,services,and science. Ogonek, no. 10 (6 March 1960). See also LynneAttwood,
CreatingtheNew SovietWoman:Women's Magazinesas EngineersofFemaleIdentity, 1922-53
(New York,1999).
74. Female retailworkerswererecastas paragonsofkul'turnost' and educatorsoftaste
beginningin the mid-1930s.See Randall, "'Revolutionary BolshevikWork,"'426-227;and
Hessler, "Cultureof Shortages,"chap. 6. The Komsomol was activelyinvolvedin raising
the cultureof trade:"Myza kul'turnuiutorgovliu!"2. Similarly, in the GDR and Poland in
the early1950s,efforts were made to turnshoppingin statestoresinto a culturedexperi-
ence thatadvanced the consumer'spoliticaland aestheticeducation. See Pence, "'You as
a Woman,"'224-25; and Crowley,"Warsaw'sShops, Stalinismand the Thaw,"in Reid and
Crowley,eds., Styleand Socialism,33-34.
75. T. Trotskaia,"Kompository aromatov,"Ogonek, no. 10 (6 March 1960): 25. In the
1930s the insufficient supply of suitable oils and fatswas identifiedby Polina Zhem-
chuzhina,Molotov'swifeand head ofTeZhe (the trustresponsibleforproducingwomen's
toiletries),as the main obstacle to the developmentof Sovietcosmeticsand perfumein-
dustryon a mass scale. Anastas Mikoian, Tak bylo:Razmyshleniia o minuvshem (Moscow,
1999), 297-99.
234 SlavicReview
V A. Gribanova
Figure5. Peifumier Creates
New Pras, no. 10
fromOgrnek,
(6 March 1960).
and the alchemist'sartwiththatof modem science (figure5). The moral

was thatSovietwomen should accept modern, syntheticscents such as
"Sputnik"or "KrasnaiaMoskva"(Red Moscow); theymightnot be as po-
tentor enduringas thoseof the past,but theywerecheaper and available
to themasses.76RidiculingSovietwomenwho cravedFrenchperfume,the
pressclaimed thatSovietperfumeswere at least as good: even foreigners
bought "Krasnaia Moskva"!77This agenda would suggestthat the pro-
motionof Sovietperfumeswas aimed, at least in part,at curbingblack-
markettradein foreignperfumes.
The expansion of the Sovietchemical industry,especiallysynthetics,
was a centralcommitmentof the Seven-YearPlan. The increase in per-
fumeproductionwasjustone of thewayseven investment in heavyindus-
trycould be promotedto women as a giftfromthe paternal (or, rather,
uxorial) statethatbenefitedthemin theirtraditionally
femaleroles.Here,
too, therewas an elementof peacefulcompetition.As Nixon proudlyex-
plained in the "KitchenDebate," the Americansystemwas designed to
place the latestscientificinventionsand techniques-often developed
fordefensepurposes-at the benefitof the consumer.Indeed, the sym-
biosisof defenseand consumerindustrieswas fundamentalto theAmer-
ican economy.78 While such felicitouseconomic symbiosiscould not exist
76. Trotskaia,"Kompository aromatov,"25.

77. Werth,RussiaunderKhrushchev,52.
78. May,Homeward Bound,164. As StephenWhitfieldputsit,"The same pushbuttons
thatwere designed to make houseworkeasier came fromthe same laboratoriesas the
pushbuttonsforguided missiles."General Electric,Westinghouse,Chryslerwereall major
on any scale in the SovietUnion-where consumermanufacturing and

heavyindustry competed for the same stateresources-nevertheless, pro-
motion of spin-offsfor the consumer could domesticatethe scientific-
technologicalrevolutionand legitimatecontinuedinvestmentin defense
and space exploration.
Chemicalswerethe housewife'snewfriend,Ogonek sang,an aid in her
domesticchores.79On a tripto Siberia,where the chemical industrywas
rapidlydeveloping,Khrushchevadvocatedmass production of disposable
paper diapers"tosavewomen'slabour."80Synthetic fibersand leather sub-
stitutesalso enabled increased productionof furnishings, clothing, and
footwear,while plasticscould be used forkitchenwareand tableware.A
featureon the Moscow Exhibitionof Economic Achievementsin Komso-
mol'skaiapravda,13 June 1959, was illustratedwitha photographof two
women in the Chemical Industrypavilionviewinga stand set out like a
long shop windowdisplayingsyntheticfabrics,garments,and simulated
furcoats.Plasticscould even be used to extendthe benefitsof modernity
to nomadic herdsmenin themountainsofKirgiziabythe developmentof
a synthetic yurt!81 Justas itwas necessaryto convinceKirgiznomads that
plasticswerebetterthanfelt,itwas essentialto persuade women thatsyn-
theticmaterials,like synthetic scents,were not a vulgarersatzbut practi-
cal, contemporary, and even,in theirownway,beautiful.82
The Managementof Fashion

One of the mostvisibleinnovationsthe chemical industryofferedSoviet
womenwas the chemicalperm.Like manyconsumeritems,however,So-
vietpermsleftmuch to be desired.Maurice Hindus was struckbychanges
in women'scomportmentduringhis fourteen-year absence, and by their
newlyfashionable dress and hair styles.All along NevskiiProspekthe
encountered
Pentagon contractors, while General Motorswas the nation'sleading defensecontractor

by 1952. Meanwhile,defense contractswere a major source of the economic growthon
whichincreasedconsumptionwas based. Whitfield,CultureoftheColdWar,74-75. In the
SovietUnion, the symbiosisexistedonlyto a limitedextent:forexample, the best refrig-
eratorsand otherapplianceswere those put out bythe militarysector.
79. "Oblegchaettrud,sberegaetvremia,"Ogonek, no. 27 (3 July1960). For the popu-
larizationof developmentsin the chemical industryand theirbenefitsin byt,especially
in the formof plastics,see V Ishimov,"Khimik-sil'nee prirody,"Sem'iai shkola,1958,
no. 3: 38-40. Theywere also aestheticized,forexample in Sovetskoe foto.See Reid, "Pho-
tographyin the Thaw."
80. Werth,RussiaunderKhrushchev, 34.
81. "NewYurtforthe Shepherd,"Current DigestoftheSovietPress13, no. 24 (1961):
29-30 (Pravda,12June 1961); M. Lavrik,"Vtoroerozhdenie" Ogonek, no. 52 (23 Decem-
ber 1962): 24-25.
82. The classicaland modernistprecept"truthto materials"guided the de-Staliniza-
tion of the materialenvironment.Simulationand "disrespectforplastic"was petitbour-
geois and in poor taste.AleksandrSaltykov, 0 khudozhestvennomvkusev byte(Moscow,1959);
0. Aizenshtat,"Neuvazhenie k plastmasse,"Dekorativnoe iskusstvoSSSR (henceforthDI
SSSR), 1962,no. 1: 46 - 47; and M. Chereiskaia,"Zametkio khoroshemvkuse,"in Saltanova
and Kolchinskaia,eds.,Podruga,228.
236 SlavicReview
a parade ofpermanentwavessuchas I had neverseen beforein Leningrad

or in anyothercity.But even to myuncriticalmasculineeyes,therewas
somethingwrongabout thesepermanents:naturallylustroustresseshad
demonstratingthe ineptitudeof the
been baked to a frizzledstiffness,
newbeautyparlorsthathave mushroomedall overtheSovietUnion. The
home permanentsthatcan be bought cheaplyin any Americandrug-
Whata happydayitwillbe
storehave notyetcrossedthe Sovietfrontier.
forRussianwomenwhen theyare put on the market,not in dribletsbut
on a mass scale.83
Whether the arrival of the home perm was to mark the advent of com-
munism or its end Hindus did not say.84
As consumer goods became more readily available-including, along-
side Soviet production, a trickleof imported clothes and cosmetics-New
YorkTimesreporter Harrison E. Salisbury also noted that women had be-
gun to dress more fashionably,even sexily,and that public attitudes had
grown less prudish.85 Hindus, likewise, reported: "The most sensational
thingI encountered on the Nevskywas a display in the window of a women's
dress shop: two manikins draped in strapless evening dresses, one green,
the other rose-colored. I almost gasped. In all the years I had been going
to the theater, . .. I had never known a Russian woman, however highly
placed, to appear in such daring dress, witharms and shoulders bared and
83. Hindus, Housewithout a Roof,14. The chemicalpermanentand hair dye became

popular in 1959 and the early1960s, respectively, but were not cheap: a perm cost 2-
4 rubles plus tip. For Hindus, BrigitteBardot hairdos-piles of artfullytousled hair-
markedthe differencein culturalclimatebetweenWarsaw,where theywere ubiquitous,
and Moscow where Bardot filmswere taboo because of theirfranksexuality.Ibid., 510.
84. Westernjournalists'preoccupationwithRussian women'shairdos not onlywas
promptedby theirhome audience's fascinationwiththe newlydiscoveredspecies of hu-
manitybehind the Iron Curtainbut reflectedcurrentissues in the Sovietmedia, such as
youngpeople's "excessive"desire foranythingfromthe west.JournalistAnatoliiRubinov,
describingMoscowbeautysalons and hairdressersin the 1950s,reportshow,in the decade
followingStalin'sdeath,women'shairstyles suddenlybecame a topic of discussionand de-
bate in the press. New short hairstylesarrivedfromabroad such as the "littlebasket"
(korzinochka-presumably a mistranslationof the "beehive").AnatoliiRubinov,Intimnaia
zhizn'Moskvy(Moscow,1995), 217-20. A casual Italian haircutcaughton afterthe World
YouthFestivalin thesummerof 1957.A shorthaircutforwomenwas lampooned as menin-
gitka,associatingitwiththe shavenheads of hospitalpatients,and was also knownas "the
littleboywithouta mamma"because ofitstousled,wind-blowneffect.Hindus,Housewith-
outa Roof,14. See also Nadezhda Azhgikhinaand Helena Goscilo, "Gettingunder Their
Skin:The BeautySalon in RussianWomen'sLives,"in Goscilo and Holmgren,eds.,Russia.
Women. Culture,101.
85. HarrisonE. Salisbury,ToMoscow- and Beyond(London, 1960), 15, 46-49. Even
Guntherconceded in a footnote:"Recently, however,Russianwomen have become more
styleconscious,and crowdintofashionshows,especiallythosethatcome fromFrance and
the U.S.A." Gunther,InsideRussia Today,71nl, and 380-81. A memberof a 1958 British
townplanningdelegationfoundthatfemaleuniversity students"are notwhollylackingin
dresssense in a studentkind ofway.It maywell be thatin a yearor twowe shall get a sur-
prisein thisdirection,and itwillbe trousersand ponytailsforall." Edmonds,RussianVis-
tas,22. Female trouserwearingremainedcontentious:in 1962 Ogonekallowedthatyoung,
tall, and slender women mightwear slacks in the home, although others should not.
"Vykhodnoiden',"Ogonek, no. 10 (4 March 1962): 31.
quite a bit of bustrevealed."86If ideological objectionshad been moder-

ated, the centrallycontrolledpricingsystemremaineda major deterrent
againstexcessiveadherence to fashion.Prices constituteda formof ra-
tioning.Betterclothing,footwear,and consumerdurables,if theycould
be found,wereprohibitively expensive.Nor were such glamorousdresses
widelyavailable at anyprice; the displayon the Nevskiiwas the onlyone
Hindus came across."I could onlyassumethatthestatewasmakinga prom-
ise thatit was not yet in a position to fulfil."87Similarly,a 1961 Sunday
Timesalbum on Russiaincluded a photographofwindowshoppersgazing
atthelatestfashionsshownbyGUM,withthecaption:"Fewcan affordthese
clothes,but the increasedavailabilityof goods givesthe Russianpeople a
special incentiveto continue striving."88 According to Gunther,"The
governmentknowsperfectlywell that the rank and file of people are
yearningnot merelyforordinaryconsumergoods-pots and pans-but
for luxurieslike cameras, electricrefrigerators, bicycles,sportingguns,
and, a curiousitem,chandeliers.Because itwillnot,in the presentphase,
release enough productivepower to manufacturesuch articlesin quan-
tity,the governmentdeliberatelypricesthemout ofreach."89Khrushchev
allegedlygave a somewhatdifferent reason: "We are producingan ever-
growingquantityofall kindsofconsumergoods; all thesame,we mustnot
forcethe pace unreasonablyas regardsthe loweringof prices.We don't
wantto lowerpricesto such an extentthattherewillbe queues and a black
market."90
exposed to
The Soviet,or at least the Moscow,publicwas increasingly
westernfashionsin thelate 1950s.Foreigncollectionswereshownin Mos-
cow byofficialinvitation,including,mostspectacularly,ChristianDior in
1959. In accordance withtheNylonWarscenario,HarrisonSalisburysur-
mised thatpressurefrombelow,and specifically fromwomen,had com-
pelled the Sovietgovernmentto mollifyitsformerunqualifiedcondem-
nation of foreignfashion:"Dior was broughtin because the government
wantsto takethe Russianwoman out of her floweredprintand giveher a
chance to look like her Westernsisters.Why?Because, I would guess,the
Russianwomanwantsto look likeherWesternsistersand thepresentRus-
sian governmentcan see no reason of policywhyshe should not. Neither
puritanismnor emphasison heavyindustryis going to divertthe Russian
womanmuch longerfromthe heritageofher sex,the rightand opportu-
nityto lookjust as prettyas she wantsto."91
86. Hindus,Housewithout a Roof 15-16. See also AboutTown2, no. 5 (May 1961): 37,
28; and Mace, SovietFamily,108-13.
87. Hindus,Housewithout a Roof 21. This conclusionis corroboratedbyresponsesto
a 1961 exhibitionof new models of furniturein the austere,functionalist contemporary
style.Whilevisitorsreceivedthe designsfavorably, theycomplained thatthe models were
not available to buy,or onlyat prohibitively high prices.Rossiiskiigosudarstvennyi arkhiv
literaturyi iskusstva(RGALI), f.2329, op. 4, ed. khr.1391 (visitors'book forexhibitionArt
and Life,Moscow,April-June1961).
88. Thayer,Russia,99.
89. Gunther,InsideRussia Today,66- 67.
90. Cited byWerth,RussiaunderKhrushchev, 34.
91. Salisbury,ToMoscow,47- 48.
238 SlavicReview
Dior made no concessionsto the potentialconservatismof the Soviet

bringingthe same extravagantcollectionhe
public or itsrepresentatives,
had shownin Paris.As theAmericanjournalistreportedto hishome read-
ership,the Moscow audience receivedDior fashionseitherwith"bulging
eyes and dropped jaws" or witha hostilitythat,he assumed, only thinly
masked envy."They'reprettybut they'renot forMoscow,"he recorded
the response of a youngwoman he describessniffily as "a saucy-looking
blond in a cheap blue printdressand cheap red sandals."But even as this
Moscow floozycalled the designs "terrible"and "too extreme,"Salisbury
could "almostsee her comparingher sleazydress,probablyher best,with
the gorgeouscreationon the model." Their protestationsaside, Salisbury
found proofof theirreal desire forsuch fashion:"Withina week or two
you began to see girlson GorkyStreetwearingimitationsof the more
simpleDior styles.Spike heels appeared, dreadfullyexpensive,in the new
House of Shoe Styles.The demand for sheer Westernnylonsbecame
greaterthan ever. On the bathingbeaches Russian girlsbegan to wear
suitsof good quality,form-fitting,rubberisedsilk."92
Other westerncommentators,likewise,assumed that Sovietwomen
yearnedto wear Dior-typefashionsand thatthe arrivalof Dior connoted
thelong-awaitedend ofausterity and newpossibilitiesoffemininityjust as
YetDior was notuniversally
itdid in postwarBritain.93 embracedthrough-
out Europe. In Germany,readers' lettersto the women'smagazine Con-
stanzeexpressedrevulsionat Dior's extravagantNew Look: "Do we have to
dance to thistune,we in our poor, defeatedcountrywithits millionsof
unemployedand displaced people, mustwe tryto imitatethismonstrous
extravagance,whichis not based on anyreal need?"94The possibility that
Sovietwomen,too, mightresentsuch displaysof extravagancemeritsse-
riousconsideration,whetherit is seen as falseconsciousnessor as an "au-
thentic"expressionof self-identity.BritishobserverWrightMillermain-
tainedthatonlyan exhibitionist minority ofRussianwomenwould imitate
the extremesofwesternfashion.95Gunther,too, contradictedhimselfby
admitting:"Russiansmaybe jealous of the clotheswesternvisitorswear,
but seldom admitit.This is a thoroughlyindoctrinatedcountry.... Some
dedicatedRussiansare,I would say,actuallyproud oftheirplainness,even
of theirpoverty.They likehardship.That mildewedsuitis a badge of ho-
nour,because it provesvirtueand sacrifice."96
92. Ibid., 47.

93. "The Russianwoman,"wroteJohn Brown,"is denied much of the fun thatshe
could get in the West.Her naturallongingto decorate herself,to make herselfbeautiful
at everyturn."JohnBrown,Rus-
so thatshe is ajoy to herselfand to theworld,is frustrated
sia Explored(NewYork,1959), 126; Mace, SovietFamily, 111. Compare Anne Summers,"On
Beggingto Be a Bridesmaidin a BallerinaDress: Some MeaningsofBritishFashion in the
1950s,"HistoryWorkshopJournal 44 (Autumn1997): 227-32.
94. Loehlin,FromRugstoRiches,14, citingConstanze, 1950, no. 7:5.
95. WrightMiller,Russiansas People(London, 1960), 162-64. The questionwhether
Russians,especiallywomen,were naturally"puritanical"preoccupied some westernmale
reportersincludingMiller (156-57) and Gunther(InsideRussia,95).
96. Gunther,InsideRussia,63.
Dior had come to Moscow by officialinvitation.However,the Soviet

governmentcould not be seen to be licensingSoviet women and the
clothingtradeto conclude thatDior's exaggeratedand extravagantstyles
were an appropriatemodel thatshould be adopted uncritically forSoviet
fashion.Like theAmericanExhibition,the Dior showhad to be mediated
and positionedas an extremeto be avoided, and responsesto it directed
and contained.The effects oftheSovietpublic'snewexposureeven to less
extremewesternstyles,and ofthecautiouslegitimationoftheveryidea of
fashion,were temperedbyadvice on how to tame it (figure6).
Articleson fashionbegan to appear regularlyin the press.This con-
firmedthatfashionwas not unconditionallya bourgeoisperversionbut a
legitimatephenomenon of contemporarysocialistlife.At the same time,
however,such articlessetlimitson itsacceptable parameters.97 The news-
paper ofthepredominantly femaleteachingprofessionUchitel6kaia gazeta,
distinguishedSovietfashionfromthecapitalistphenomenon;wherefash-
ion in the westwas an elitistexcess, dictatedby profit-hungry couture
houses, here it was definedby democraticconsensus.To be fashionable
meantto be "contemporary," thatis: "to have a line and proportionsthat
are pleasing to the majorityof people today."The newspaper advised
teacherson whethertheyshould dressfashionablyin school, an impor-
tantissue because, likethe shop assistantdiscussedabove, the teacherwas
constantlyon display:"Scores of children'seyes studythe teacher'sap-
pearance everyday,"and this "exercisesan influenceon theiraesthetic
education."Therefore,the teacherhad a professionalobligationto dress
in order to inculcate good taste.Yet her appearance need not
tastefully
lack femininecharm nor be unfashionable.On the contrary,taste de-
manded a measureduse offashion.98
Fashion,simplicity, convenience,practicality, good taste,and moder-
gazetawere reiteratedin numerous
ation: the rules set out in Uchitel'skaia
publications,withonly small variationsof emphasis according to their
readership.99 The imperativesof reason and moderationapplied also to
97. N. Makarova,"Iskusstvoriadom s modoi: Ne ia dlia mody,a moda dlia menia,"DI

SSSR, 1961, no. 1:39-42. The new availabilityof choice in ready-to-wear fashionswas
deemed to create a need forconsumeradvice on how to make a wise purchase. See, for
example,Kolchinskaia,"Odevaisiaprostoi krasivo,"335-51; and M. Orlova,"O skromnosti
i devich'eigordosti,"Uchitel'skaiagazeta,16 June 1959. A reader of the recentlyfounded
decorativeartsjournalqueried: surelydistinctions in thematerialbase mustengendercor-
respondingdifferences in such superstructuralformsas style?Whythenhad people in so-
cialistsocietiescontinuedto dresssimilarly to people in capitalistcountries?"O ponimanii
mody:Pis'mo s kommentarii," DI SSSR, 1961, no. 1: 40-42. Other less extremeforeign
fashionshowswereone means to counterDior, includinga showof 120 Viennese firmsin
Moscow.See Ogonek, no. 27 (3July1960).
98. "The slightestchange in her dress is discussed by the whole class and thiscan
sometimesaffectthe waythe lessons go." L. Efremova,"Ob odezhde uchitel'nitsy," Uchi-
gazeta,26 September1959; and L. Efremova,"Moda, vkus,prostota,"Uchitel'skaia
tel'skaia
gazeta,3January1961.
99. Accordingto the 1959 housewife'smanual cited above, moderation,restraint,
strictness,and simplicitywere imperative:excess and fussytrimmingswere vulgar and
philistine(meshchanskii).Abramenkoand Tormozova,eds., Besedyo domashnem khoziaistve,
240 Slavic Review
the use of cosmetics;Uchitelskaiagazetaallowed thatthese mightbe ap-

plied withrestraint,but "overlybrightlipstick,bitsof color on the eyelids
and red nail varnishmake anywomanlook vulgar."100Womenshould also
use perfumeswithmoderation,lest theysmell like a hairdressingsalon
(men should onlyuse a dab of cologne as aftershave).101
The YawningAvos'ka
In the Sovietauthorities'bad dream of consumption,the avos'ka trans-
formeditselfinto a yawningabyssthatwould swallowup whateverwas
throwninto its unfathomabledepths and-like a parodic inversionof
that ubiquitous Stalinistsymbol,the cornucopia-would demand ever
more.TheyfearedSovietcitizens',and especiallywomen',potentialforex-
cessive,unwarrantedconsumerism.Once unleashed, women's"natural"
acquisitivenessand potentiallyinsatiabledesire forglamor and comfort
mightprove the Achilles' heel of socialism.Westerneyewitnessesin the
late 1950s confirmedthe "recklessmood" ofshoppersin GUM.102The or-
ganizersof theAmericanExhibitionwelcomed,even incited,theirSoviet
visitorsto disorderlybehaviorand pettytheftas an expressionoftheirun-
controllable excitementand desire: "Curiosityis gettingthe better of
some ofthe spectators.Americantoysprovedso fascinatingthatsome dis-
appeared in thecrowds.One man cuta pillowopen to see whatwasinside.
Anotheropened and sampled a package offrozenpastryto findout how
"103 Such Americanreportsof the demeaning spectacle of nor-
it tasted.
mallydisciplinedSovietcitizens,unable to containtheircuriosityand de-
sire, scramblingfor American gewgaws,were inflectedby a premature
colonialisttriumphalismand should be read withskepticism.Neverthe-
less,Sovietagitatorsat the exhibitionalso recordedwithdistaste"a ridicu-
lous commotion"near the fashionshowand a patheticeagernessto take
home used Pepsi-Cola cups as souvenirs.104
Had the agitatorsbeen as concerned about male consumers they
mighthave noted withequal distastethe enthusiasmof the crowdadmir-
228. "Don't overload your dress with trimmings,"Ogonekalso warned: N. Khrabrova,

"V poiskakhkrasivogo,udobnogo," Ogonek,no. 10 (6 March 1960): 15-16. The teenage
girls'manualPodrugaadvisedthattrueelegance was to be attainedneitherbycompletene-
glect of fashionnor by excessiveslaveryto it,but througha sense of measure: Kolchin-
skaia,"Odevaisia prostoi krasivo,"345. Similaradvicewas givenby E. Nikol'skaia,"Ume-
nie odevat'sia,"in Semiai shkola,1958,no. 2:44-46.
100. Efremova,"Moda." Overlybrightlipstickmade a woman look older and de-
stroyedher individuality. "Umenie odevat'sia,"in Abramenkoand Tormozova,eds., Besedy
o domashnem 262-63. Hindus reportedthat educated Russian men found it
khoziaistve,
"disgustingto kisspaintedlips."Hindus,Housewithout a Roof 14.
101. Vulgarsubstanceabuse such asJohn Guntherreportsin 1958 was definitely not
approved,whetheras a substituteforalcohol or forpersonalhygiene:GUM had a slotma-
chine which,forten kopeks,would squirtyou withperfume."Sometimespeasants came
in, tooktheirhatsoff,and put in one coin afteranotheruntiltheirhairwas doused." Gun-
ther,InsideRussia,66.
102. Edmonds,RussianVistas,111.
103. "'Ivan' Takes a Look," 40.
104. Hixson,PartingtheCurtain,193.
At
IFigure6. WhenSettingthe74bblIt Is Sufficient

to CoverYourDress witha Small
Apron,fromOgonek,no. 10 (4 March 1962).
242 SlavicReview
ing General Motors' cars,consistingof both men and women. But Soviet
anxietiesfocused on Americanplans to distributefree samples of con-
sumerproductsspecifically designed to appeal to,and inflate,the desires
and expectationsofSovietwomen-in particularcosmeticsand children's
toys.The authoritiesvetoed the handout on the grounds thatit would
stampedeon the pavilion.105
cause a life-threatening
A specter haunted the regime: the nightmarevision of marauding
women spillinginto the streetsarmed withinfinitely expanding avos'ki.
Historicalprecedentscorroboratedsuch fears,warningthatifprovisions
or propertywere at risk,women could eruptin violentcivildisorderwith
regime-threatening effect.It was the introductionofbread rationingand
thethreatofshortagesthathad broughtwomentextileworkersout on the
streetson InternationalWomen'sDay 1917, and, withthis,the February
Revolutionhad begun.106 Fearsofan angryfemalemob werealso founded
in the traumaof the bab'ibunty, the violent,spontaneous,and, fromthe
party'sperspective,irrationalriotsby women resistingcollectivization's
disruptionoftraditionalruralproperty Mostrecently,
relations.107 the1953
mass uprisingin East Germanyhad been precipitatedby materialcon-
cerns,and itwaswomen,above all,who had articulatedsuch concerns.108
RationalizingDomesticity
The Khrushchevregimehad promisedabundance to secureitslegitimacy.
But it could not affordto leave "abundance"undefinedwithoutradically
reducingdefenseexpenditure;and this,in the end, was out of the ques-
tion.There was also continuedideologicalantipathytowardsconsumerism,
whichwas stillregardedas inherently bourgeoisand potentiallycorrosive
activistspiritthatKhrushchevist
of the collectivist, ideologues were con-
cerned,above all, to mobilize.As KomsomolchiefVladimirSemichastnyi
worriedat the Twenty-first PartyCongress,"Westillinstillin childrenthe
idea of 'mytoy'insteadof 'our toy."'The potentiallycorruptingeffectof
the increasedavailabilityof consumergoods and housing-especially of
the single-family flatthatKhrushchevhad promisedfor all-had to be
105. Ibid., 189, 202-3.

106. Ronald Sunyand ArthurAdams,eds., TheRussianRevolution Vic-
and Bolshevik
tory:Visionsand Revisions,3d ed. (Lexington,Mass. 1990), 59.
107. LynneViola, "Babi Buntyand PeasantWomen'sProtestduringCollectivization,"
in Beatrice Farnsworthand Lynne Viola, eds., RussianPeasantWomen,(Oxford, 1992),
189-205.
108. See Pence, "'You as a Woman,"'218-52. The internationalcontextprovidesfur-
therprecedents.For example,in Germanyin WorldWarI, severefood shortagesgave rise
to "butterriots"and demonstrationsagainsttradingpracticesin 1915. The crowdswere
describedbypolice as consistingmostlyofwomen,whilemerchantscomplainedabout the
"irrationality"of "excited and feeble-mindedold female persons" and about the "life-
threateningpressofwomen."See Belinda Davis, "Food Scarcityand the Empowermentof
the Female Consumer in World War I Berlin,"in De Grazia and Furlough,eds., Sex of
Things,287-310.
counteracted through ideological work to forestall any tendency toward

acquisitiveness or complacency.109
The greatest positive effortwas invested in inculcating correct (or "ra-
tional") attitudes towards consumption in regard to the home. To provide
homes for all was the most urgent improvement in living standards in the
1950s, and Khrushchev made this a priority.110 But if every familywas to
have its own apartment, as Khrushchev promised, the new flatshad to be
The relative austerityof the new
small and cheaply built, with no frills.111
housing reflected not only economic constraintsbut continuing ideolog-
ical opposition to the nuclear familyand domesticity.Since the material
milieu of daily life was held to determine consciousness, a secluded do-
mestic environment, encumbered with the trappings of a petit bourgeois
lifestylewould ensnare its occupants in petit bourgeois values and fetish-
ism, and this would inhibit progress toward a fullycollectivist,communist
mindset.112The one-familyflatwas a necessary interim measure until the
new way of life could be fullyimplemented, bywhich time communal ser-
vices would provide an irresistiblyattractivealternative. As a 29-year old
woman architect-engineer, wrote in response to one of Komsomol'skaia
pravda's public opinion surveys:
A separate,isolatedapartmentwhichopens onlyonto a stairlandingen-
couragesan individualistic, bourgeoisattitudein families-"my house!"
But soon it will be possible to walk out of an apartmentstraightinto a
pleasantthroughway withflowersand pathsleadingto thehouse caf6,the
library,the moviehall, the children'splayrooms.This new kind of hous-
ingwillhave an effecton thefamilyspirit.The womenwillno longerre-
109. "SummaryofXXI (Extraordinary)PartyCongress,"SovietStudies 11,no. 1 (1959):
90. In thelateryearsofhis administration,Khrushchevpursueda campaignagainst"bour-
geois acquisitiveness"and dacha proprietors,suspectingthe latterof harboringa "bour-
geois desireforprivateownership."Alec Nove, An Economic HistoryoftheUS.S.R, rev.ed.
(Harmondsworth,1982), 364; and Keep, Last oftheEmpires, 98. A crucial distinctionbe-
tweenlichnaiazhizn'(personal life) and chastnaiazhizn'(privatelife,withimplicationsof
property)is drawnby 0. Kharkhordin,"Reveal and Dissimulate:A Genealogyof Private
Life in SovietRussia,"in JeffWeintrauband KrishanKumar,eds., Publicand Privatein
Thought on a GrandDichotomy
and Practice:Perspectives (Chicago, 1996), 333-63.
110. The 1958-65 Seven-YearPlan envisaged constructionof 15 million apart-
ments-as much as all the urban housingbuiltsince the revolution.Intolerablehousing
conditionshad to be ameliorated,not onlyout of concernforthehealthand happinessof
thepeople and to dispelrisingdiscontentamongurbanresidents,but,as TimothySosnovy
pointed out,foreconomic reasons:poor housingaffectedworkersabove all, resultingin a
large labor turnoverand endangeringthe fulfillment of the plan. T. Sosnovy,"The Soviet
Housing SituationToday,"SovietStudies11, no. 1 (July1959): 6, 13.
111. By 1965 the Sovietcitydwellerwould have only40 percentof the livingspace
availableto someone livingin westernEurope or the United States.Ibid., 19.
112. PhilosopherKarl Kantorwarned thatthe "hypertrophy of interestin the indi-
vidual dwellingis inclined to engenderan antisocialand anticommunistmindset."Cited
DI SSS1 1991, no. 7:9. Marguerite
by Iurii Gerchuk,"S tochkizreniia shestidesiatnika,"
Higginssurmised:"PerhapsRussia'sleadershipwas deliberatelyholdingback some of the
good thingsoflife... [because] ifRussiansgot decent homes,TV setsand excellentfood
wouldn'tthey,beinghuman,begin to develop a petitbourgeoisphilosophy?Wouldn'tthey
wantto stayhome beforethe fireinsteadof attendingthe politicalrallyat the local palace
of culture?"MargueriteHiggins,RedPlushand BlackBread(Garden City,NY, 1955).
244 SlavicReview
sisttheideaofserviceinstallations housekitchens,
andapartment saying:
"I can do itfaster
myself
athome!"1113
Thus women were not to become overlyattachedto theirnew domestic
realm:as in Ogonek'scartoon (figure1) theywereto lead the exodus from
the home.
The housingprogramgave manythe privacyof theirown,one-family
apartmentsfor the firsttime,affordingfeweropportunitiesfor surveil-
lance than the old communalliving.But it was counterbalancedby con-
certed effortsto intervenein the termsof domesticlife,to counter the
tendenciesit mightfoster,to rationalizeand disciplinedo-
individualistic
mesticityand propagatea new regimeof austere"contemporary" tastein
home furnishing. "Itis necessary,"Khrushchevasserted,"notonlyto pro-
vide people withgood homes,but also to teach them... to live correctly,
and to observetherulesofsocialistcommunality. Thiswillnot come about
of its own accord, but must be achieved throughprotracted,stubborn
struggleforthe triumphof the new communistwayof life."114 As archi-
tecturalhistorianVigdariiaKhazanovahas putit:thenovostroiki, likeother
twentieth-century mass housing schemes,were "an instrumentforregi-
menting life."115
Like manyaspectsof Khrushchevism, the didacticefforts
to promul-
gate austere,modern tasteharkedback to the utopian campaignsof the
1920s forthe novyibyt.But while the aestheticparametersof modernity
embodied in the "contemporarystyle"derived in part fromconstruc-
tivism,thiswas less a matterof directimitation(the actual productionof
theconstructivistswas notyetwidelyknown)and more ofa reengagement
withtheinternationalModernMovementthattheRussianmovementhad
informed.The stripped-down,modernistSoviet design aestheticof the
early1960s owed as much to contemporaryCzech and Scandinaviande-
sign as to Russian antecedents.116It also had much in common withthe
modernistconceptionof tastepromotedin Britainby the Council of In-
dustrialDesign and bysuch self-appointedtastegurusas Eric Newton.117
Voluntaryacceptance of new normsin domesticlifewas encouraged
by a proliferationof articlesand manuals on familyand everydaylife,
taste,and etiquette,which publishinghouses began to produce in in-
113. 'YouthHas ItsSayon Love andMarriage,"SovietReview 3,no.8 (August1962):32.
114. Abramenkoand Tormozova,eds., Besedyo domashnem 3-4. Victor
khoziaistve,
Buchli asserts:"If the Staliniststate was poised at the thresholdof the 'hearth,' the
Khrushchevist statewalkedstraightin and began to do battle."VictorBuchli,An Archaeol-
ogyofSocialism(Oxford,1999), 138.
115. V E. Khazanova, "Arkhitektura v poru 'Ottepeli,"' in V E. Lebedeva, ed., Ot
shestidesiatykh
k vos'midesiatykh:
Voprosy sovremennoi kul'tury
(Moscow,1991), 81.
116. See Gerchuk,'AestheticsofEverydayLifein theKhrushchevThaw," 81-100. Ex-
hibitionsofnew designsfromCzechoslovakia,Hungary,and Poland held in Moscowwere
promotedin termsof contemporarygood taste.See "Vengerskaiapromyshlenniaiavys-
tavka,"Sem'iai shkola,1960, no. 12; L. Vikent'ev,"VystavkaChekhoslovakiia1960,"Sem'iai
shkola,1960, no. 10, and numerousissuesofDI SSSR in thisperiod.
117. See Tag Gronberg,"Sitingthe Modern" (reviewarticle),Journal ofContemporary
History36, no. 4 (October 2001); Saltykov,0 khudozhestvennom vkuse;Eric Newton,The
MeaningofBeauty(London, 1962).
creasingnumbersin the late 1950s.118Construedas housewivesand con-

sumers,womenwere ascribedthe leading role in the productionof aes-
theticvalue and social meaning in the home.119Household advice was
consistentlyaddressed to the female khoziaika(housewife) and consti-
tutedan importantrubricin manualsforadolescentgirls.Such advice set
about weaningSovietwomenfromacquisitivenessand the desireforcozy
domesticity. Throughoutthe Sovietperiod, these had been consistently
stereotypedas femaletraits,althoughtheirvalencyhad oscillatedbetween
"philistine"and kul'turnyi.During the CulturalRevolution,women were
regardedas the mostdeeplyimbricatedin the old wayof life,itsmaterial
culture,and the regressiveideologyit reified.As SvetlanaBoymputs it,
"womenwere oftenderided as the preserversof coziness and collections
of useless petit-bourgeoisobjectsforthe domestichearth."120 Beginning
in the mid-1930s,and intensifying in thepostwarperiod,as VeraDunham
has shown so persuasively,the feminine arts of cozy homemaking
symbolizedbybrightcologne bottles,orangelampshades,and red,polka-
dotted tea cups-acquired new respectability.121 In the Khrushchevera,
the concept of cozinesscontinuedto be identifiedwith"theidea ofan at-
tentivefemalehand." It wasredefined,however,in austere,modernterms
opposed to thoseof thebourgeoisand Stalinistpast: "Wehave no rightto
mercantileluxury! 122 Womenwerenow made responsibleforrationaliz-
"
ing domesticlabor and the organizationof domesticspace and forintro-

ducing into the home a stripped-down, modern aesthetic,the "contem-
porarystyle,"poles apart fromthe philistinepenchant forpadding and
plush of the Stalinperiod (figure7).123
Female-orientedfeatures in periodicals and advice manuals pre-
scribed a normativeconception of good taste in furnishingand home
decorating,based, like those fordress,on modernist,rationalistimpera-
118. A new subjectheading "familyand everydaylife"was introducedinto the cata-
logue ofbooks in printin 1954. The numberof such publicationsrose sharply, peakingin
1961. Field, "CommunistMorality," 41.
119. Compare studiesof gender and domesticity in the westin thisperiod: Carter,
How German Is She?59-75; SherrieA. Inness,ed., Kitchen Culturein America:
PopularRepre-
sentations ofFood,Gender, andRace (Philadelphia,2000); and May,Homeward Bound,chap. 7.
120. Boym,Common Places,16. Karen Ketteringargues,however,thatin thisperiod
such discoursesattemptedto drawmen, too, into theformationof the newbyt.Kettering,
"'EverMore Cosy,"'119-36.
121. Dunham,In Stalin'sTime,chap. 3.
122. RGALI, f. 2943, op. 1, ed. khr.2979 (Discussion in MOSKh [MoscowRegional
Artists'Union], 27 May 1959, "Problemyformirovaniiasovremennogostilia"), 1. 54;
Chereiskaia,"Zametkio khoroshemvkuse,"220; E. Nikol'skaia,"Uiuti obstanovkavdome,"
to establisha regimeof "contemporary"
Sem'iai shkola,1958,no. 11: 46 - 47. On efforts taste
and itsparameters,see VictorBuchli,"Khrushchev, Modernism,and theFightagainstPe-
tit-Bourgeois Consciousnessin the SovietHome," and Susan E. Reid, "Destalinizationand
Taste,"both inJournalofDesignHistory10, no. 2 (1997): 161-76 and 177-202; and Ger-
chuk,"Aesthetics of EverydayLifein the KhrushchevThaw,"81-99.
123. Women'sresponsibility forthe home did not mean thatfamilymembersshould
not help them,but itwas thewoman'srole to organize,delegate,and direct:"The sooner
a girlor youngwoman comes to gripswithkeepingher smallhousehold,themore actively
membersof her familywillhelp her."Abramenkoand Tormozova,eds., Besedyo domash-
nemkhoziaistve, 4.
246 SlavicReview
* t..~~~~~~~. . .-
W~~~~~~~~~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~~~~~~~'1
~~~~~~~~~~~'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~2
_'
Kvartira
Figure7. Kitcen, from0. Baiarand R. N. Blashkevich, i ee ubransivo
(Moscow,1962),75.
tivesof simplicity, and "no excesses!" (figure8). A small,

functionality,
simplyfurnishedroom where everything wentwell togethercould more
clearlymanifestthehousewife'scontemporary good tastethananyamount
of expensivefurniture, carpets,ornaments,and chandeliers.Pretentious,
dust-catchingchandeliers should be replaced by simple, cup-shaped
opaque glassshades thatreflectedthe lightoffthe ceiling.In the interest
of convenience,hygiene,aesthetics,and contemporaneity, the new,small
apartmentmustnot be overloaded withornate,cumbersomefurniture.
Instead, low,light,simple,and multifunctional furniturewas to be pre-
ferred.'24It is not coincidentalthatsuch furniturealso lent itselfto effi-
cient,economical massproduction.
124. Ol'ga Baiar, "Sdelaem kvartiruudobnoi i uiutnoi,"Sovetskaia zhenshchina,1956,

no. 7: 47- 48; 0. Baiar and R. N. Blashkevich,Kvartirai eeubranstvo (Moscow,1962); Mil'vi
Kartna-Alas,"Iskusstvo i byt,"Ogonek,no.25 (19June 1960): 20-22, summarizing a recently
published almanac Iskusstvo i domashniibyt;E. Nikol'skaia,"Blagoustroistvozhilishcha,"
Se'ia i shkola,1958,no. 1: 42- 44; Nikol'skaia,"Uiuti obstanovkav dome,"46- 47; Z. Kras-
nova, "Khoroshiivkus v ubranstvezhil'ia," Semia i shkola,1960, no. 1:44-45; and
A. Briuno,"Vashakvartira," Semiai shkola,1960,no. 10: 46 - 47. The newspaperof theMos-
cow Artists'Union dedicated a whole issue to the artist'srole in the formationof public
taste:Moskovskii khudozhnik, nos. 10-11 (June 1959). The Sovietmassconsumercould also
consultsuch manualsof "contemporary" good tasteas Saltykov, 0 khudozhestvennomvkuse.
Regardingwomen'snew role as the conduit of modem taste into the home, compare
Carter,How GermanIs She?59-77.
Ad
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~a'
'
. S~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.
Interir,from0. Baiar and R. N. Bl1ashkevich,

Figure8. ModelConUtmporaty
i eeubranstvo
Kvartira (Moscow,1962).
Even ifnewfurniture could notbe bought,thedomesticspace should

be rationalizedand purged of tastelessclutter.A 1959 manual forteen-
age girls,who lacked the means and authorityin the parentalhome for
more radical transformations, printed a makeover comparison (fig-
ure 9) withthe recommendationto remove all superfluousembellish-
ments; replace oil paintingsin ornate, dust-catchingframes-once a
248 SlavicReview
._ _^ -A.
andBad (retrogade,
Figure9. Good(contemporary) TasteinHome
petitbow_eois)
fromM. Chereiskaa,"Zametido khoroshemvlwse,"Podruga
Furnishings,
(Moscow,1959),220-21.
flatprintsand reproductions;and stripawaythe

signofkul'turnost'-with
embroideriesand draperies that cover every surface in the "before"
image.125
125. Chereiskaia,"Zametkio khoroshemvkuse,"220-34. On the tastefuland mod-

em use ofprintsin the home,see also V Nekrasov,"Estampv kvartire," and IuriiGerchuk,
"Dekorativnaiagrafika,"both in DI SSSR 1962,no. 3. For furtheranalysisof waysto mod-
ernizedomesticspace and itsfurnishings,see Buchli,"Khrushchev, Modernism,"170-72.
The presence or absence of embroidered cloths was a particularly

charged symbolof the old and new domesticity. Draped over tables,do-
mesticating and customizingsuch modern,standardizedequipmentas ra-
dios or televisions,in the formof antimacassarsor luxuriantbed covers,
the profusionof embroidereddraperieswas deeplyimbricatedin tradi-
tional notions of comfort,homecraft,and femaleworth.In old Russia,
Under Stalin,
theseclothshad been an essentialpartofa girl'strousseau.126
as VictorBuchli has noted,giventhe dearthof consumergoods, embroi-
deringand arrangingsuch clothsconstitutedone of the onlywaysan in-
dividualcould exerciseanycontroloverherphysicalenvironment, a means
to appropriateand individualizestandard-issuedomesticspace. These ar-
tifactsrepresentedtheexerciseofwomen'spersonaltasteand skillin their
design, production,and deployment.127 The requirementto purge the
home of thesesignsoffemalediligenceand individualizationof the stan-
dard livingspace created a tensionbetweenwomen'straditionalhome-
makingcompetenciesand thenewconceptionofgood housekeepingthat
requiredof thema rationalizing,standardizingrole.128
Consentand CivilDisobedience
The thaw,traditionally regardedas a period of liberalization,saw no lib-
eralizationof attitudestowardconsumptionand the domesticrealm.On
the contrary, interventionin the formsand practicesof dailylifewas an
essentialaspect of the waythe Khrushchevregimesoughtto maintainits
authority and bringabout thetransitionto communism."Everyday life"-
as the titleof a brochureforagitatorsproclaimed-"is not a privatemat-
ter."129The female domain of good housekeepinghad become a public
and even a stateaffair,one requiringcodification,education,and profes-
agents, delegated to introduce its
sionalization.130 As the party-state's
modern,"rational"normsoflivingintofamilylife,womenhad an impor-
tantpublicrole to playin the transitionto communistself-government.131
Yet,ifthisto some extentdismantledthe gendered oppositionof public
126. Mace, SovietFamily, 161.

127. Buchli,Archaeology ofSocialism,
92-93.
128. For the standardizationand rationalizationof domestic space and labor, see
G. Liubimova,"Ratsional'noeoborudovaniekvartir," DI SSSR, 1964, no. 6:15-18.
129. 0. Kuprin,Byt-ne chastnoedelo (Moscow, 1959), and see Field, "Communist
Morality."
130. Vul'f,"Protivnedootsenkidomovodstva," 47. Ogonek reportedon a technicalcol-
lege in Lithuaniawheregirls (boyswere not mentioned) learned cookery,table service,
needlework,horticulture,childcare,hygiene,preserving,and other aspects of domestic
science. V Borushko,"Khoroshiebudut khoziaiki,"Ogonek,no. 10 (6 March 1960): 24.
Similarlyin the west,revivingearlier twentieth-centurydemands for the recognitionof
housewifery as a professionand forwagesforhousework,proposalsweremade in the late
1940s for researchinstitutesin housewifery, home economics trainingforwomen, and
professionalcodificationof houseworkin a recognized qualification,the "housewife's
diploma" and in constitutionallaw.Carter,How German Is She?50.
131. Here I takeissue withthe hypothesisDarra Goldsteinpresentsin her excellent
article:that,in the Sovietperiod, "thesiteofwomen'spowerwas severelydiminished,and
in manycases entirelylost."Goldstein,"DomesticPorkbarreling," 145-47.
250 SlavicReview
and private,personaland politicalrealms,at the same time,itreproduced

the traditionalgender segregationof responsibilities. Men were conspic-
uously absent fromthis discourse on consumptionand domesticity. As
VictorBuchli has observed: "It was the woman/housewifewho was the
pathologisedobject of reform." 132
How successfulwas thispervasiveeffortto wean women fromtheir
"natural"acquisitiveness,to reformthe aestheticsof dailylife,and "mod-
ernize"women'sconceptionsof comfort,taste,and good housekeeping?
In spiteof theirinvestmentin discoveringthe consumeristheartbeating
beneath Sovietwomen'sdrab exterior,even westerncommentatorssuch
as Gunther,as we saw,acknowledgedthat some Sovietpeople, at least,
were ambivalenttowardsconsumerism.The same female respondentto
Komsomolskaia pravda'ssurvey,regardingthe use of communal services
cited above, envisageda futureunburdened by personal possessions:"I
know the time will come when a husband and wifemovinginto a new
apartmentwilltake along onlya couple of suitcasesof personal clothing,
favoritebooks and toothbrushes." "house-
133 Meanwhile,a thirty-year-old
wife"regrettedhavingmarriedformoney:"TodayI have everything-a
TV set, a refrigerator, a radio, a vacuum cleaner, a washingmachine, a
Volga car-but not love; and all these materialcomfortsabout whichso
manyotherpeople dream merelyweighme down,throttleme, don't let
me breathe."'134Such statementsmay not be taken unconditionallyas
proofof a thoroughgoinginternalizationof rationalconsumptionnorms
and "contemporary" aesthetics.They do, nonetheless,indicatea level of
acquiescence insofaras the respondentsconsentto articulatethemselves
in termsof the values and persona expected of them.135They also acqui-
esce in the effortto make homelifeand shoppinghabitsmattersofpublic
discourse-to laythe avos'ka open to inspection.On the otherhand, the
extentto whichrationalnormsof livingwere resisted,and atavistic,"pe-
tit-bourgeois" ideals of coziness prevailed,is suggestedby contemporary
observers'descriptionsof Soviethomes around 1960, in which "thepiece
was the drapery,heavilyand garishlyembroidered."'136Chil-
de resistance
dren,invitedto drawpicturesof theirhomes in 1962, even afterregular
instructionin aesthetics,horrifiedtheir teachersby producing images
thatepitomizedphilistinetaste,repletewithlittleelephants,kittens,and
embroiderednapkins.137As SvetlanaBoymconcludes froman analysisof
"AuntLiuba's" commode, stillclutteredwithclashingornamentsat the
end of the Sovietperiod: "The campaignagainst'domestictrash'did not
132. Buchli,Archaeology ofSocialism,154.

133. 'Youth Has Its Say,"32.
134. Ibid., 37.
135. The Soviet concept of the selfor lichnost'as constitutedin and by the public
gaze, is analyzedbyKharkhordin,"Revealand Dissimulate,"337- 43.
136. Mace, SovietFamily, 160- 62. Buchlinotesthat,paradoxically,onlytheelite,cush-
ioned fromthe need to hoard, could afforda lifestyle of "conspicuousausterity."Buchli,
Archaeology ofSocialism,129.
137. Rossiiskiigosudarstvennyi istorii,f. M-1, op. 5
arkhivsotsial'no-politicheskoi
(Conferenceof CentralCommitteeofVLKSM), d. 836a, 11.51-53.
triumphin the majorityof the communalapartments.Instead ... the so-

called domestic trash rebelled against the ideological purges and re-
mained as thesecretresidueofprivacythatshieldedpeople fromimposed
and internalizedcommunality."'38
"Use KhrushchevforSausage Meat!"

Khrushchevhad promised to catch up withAmerica in per capita con-
sumption of meat and dairy products by 1960. It was a bitterirony,
then,thatitwas theannouncementofpriceincreaseson thesebasic food-
stuffsin 1962 thatprecipitatedpreciselythe kind of public disorderthe
regime had tried so energeticallyto forestall.It erupted most violently
in Novocherkassk.139Coincidingwitha reductionin wages, the increase
in prices triggereda spontaneousprotestbyworkersthatescalated into
a violent mass demonstration.Workers' anger was exacerbated when
the manager of the locomotiveworksat the center of the dispute de-
clared thatif theycould not affordto eat meat pirozhki theyshould eat
jam ones instead. The workers knew betterwhat to put in their pies:
the slogan "Use Khrushchev for sausage meat!" soon appeared on the
workswall.
The ensuingriotswerebrutallyrepressed,contradictingthe regime's
repudiationofforce.Furtherarchivalwork,in combinationwithoral his-
tory,is required to establishthe nature and extentof women'sinvolve-
ment in the Novocherkasskdisorder.One woman,E. P. Levchenko,was
amongthosearrestedand chargedwith"banditry," and itwas she who had
allegedlydelivereda "rabble-rousingspeech" usingemotionallymanipu-
lativerhetoricand incited an angrymob to attackthe police station.140
AleksandrSolzhenitsyn, drawingon eyewitness accounts,speaksofwomen
and childrenin the ranksof the peaceful procession,and of women sit-
tingon therailwaytracks.14'But perhapswhatwas mostfrightening to the
authoritieswas thatthe riotersappear to have been primarily male work-
ers-according to orthodoxy,the mostconsciousand rationalelementof
The disordercould not,therefore,
society.142 be dismissedas an irrational
bab'ibunt.
138. Boym,Common Places,150.
139. N. Trubin,"HowItWas:Novocherkassk1962,"SovietLaw and Government 30,no.4
(Spring1992): 21-27 (originallypublishedas "Kaketo bylo,"Pravda,3June 1991, 4).
140. Samuel Baron,BloodySaturdayin theSovietUnion:Novocherkassk, 1962 (Stanford,
2001), 59-60, 101. Baron does not explicitlyaddress the nexus women-consumption-
disorder.
141. AlexanderSolzhenitsyn, TheGulagArchipelago (London, 1978), 3:507-8.
theiruse offorcein termsofthe
142. Police and KGB reportsretrospectivelyjustified
dichotomiesbetweencontroland disorderand betweenconsciousnessand spontaneity.
Claimingthat"thestrength oftheSovietworkingclassis in itsorganizationand discipline,"
theyopposed a rational,conscious majority,who "understood"the reasons forthe price
increasesand triedto maintainorder,to a criminal,anti-Sovietminority,along withthose
susceptiblemembersof the public theyincited,who were characterizedas being of di-
minishedresponsibility and "notin controlof theirbehavior"- characteristics stereotyp-
icallyassociatedwithchildrenand women.Yetthe troublemakers and theirfollowerswere
characterizedas mainlyyoungbut not specifiedas female,and onlyone of thosetriedand
252 SlavicReview
IfKhrushchevhad stakedhis legitimacyon consumption,the potency

of thisissue-especially in the global contextof the Cold War-and the
potentialprice offailureto manage it correctly werevividlydemonstrated
at Novocherkassk.The genderingofconsumptionas a "feminine"issue in
Cold War discourseson both sides of the Iron Curtainplaced women at
the centerof the regime'sefforts to negotiateitsrelationswiththepeople
over the crucial territoryof livingstandards.The Brezhnevregime that
followedtook the lesson forward.Aided by an injectionof petro-dollars,
it sought stabilityand acquiescence in exchange for relativeprosperity
and comfort.In theend, itsrelativesuccessin chartinga pathbetweenthe
need to raiselivingstandardson theone hand and to preventthehorizon
of consumeristaspirationsfromrecedinginfinitely beyond hope of satis-
factionon the other is surelydemonstratedby the fact that the Soviet
Union surviveda furtherthirty years.
sentencedwas a woman. "Novocherkasskaiatragediia,1962,"Istoricheskii arkhiv,1993, no.

1: 100-136, esp. 121, 128: fromspeech byFrolKozlovon Novocherkassklocal radio,3June
1962 (ArkhivPrezidentaRossiiskoiFederatsii,f. 3, op. 58, d. 211, 11.101-7). See also Nau-
mov,"Repressionand Rehabilitation,"110-11; and VladimirKozlov,Massovye v
besporiadki
SSSRpri Khrushcheve (1953-nachalo1980-khgg.) (Novosibirsk,1999), chap. 12.
i Brezhneve

Association For Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies Is Collaborating With JSTOR To Digitize, Preserve and Extend Slavic Review

Transféré par

Informations du document

Titre original

Copyright

Formats disponibles

Partager ce document

Partager ou intégrer le document

Options de partage

Avez-vous trouvé ce document utile ?

Ce contenu est-il inapproprié ?

Droits d'auteur :

Formats disponibles

Association For Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies Is Collaborating With JSTOR To Digitize, Preserve and Extend Slavic Review

Transféré par

Droits d'auteur :

Formats disponibles

Cold War in the Kitchen: Gender and the De-Stalinization of Consumer Taste in the Soviet

Union under Khrushchev

You may need to log in to JSTOR to access the linked references.

Cold War in the Kitchen: Gender and the

It seems appropriateto begin an articleon consumptionwithan artifact,

I would like to thankDiane P. Koenker and SlavicReview'sanonymousreviewersfortheir

Slavic Review 61, no. 2 (Summer 2002)

explanationsof the collapse of Soviet-type systemssince 1989, according

4. Consumerdesire,specifically thewideninggulfbetweentherhetoricofthe Sozial-

period has yetto receivethe retrospective,historicalanalysisit deserves.7

studyon "goulashcommunism"in Hungary,see G. G6m6ri,"'Consumerism'in Hungary,"

consumption,particularly bywomen,was a crucialconcern in the Soviet

9. Pence, "'You as a Woman,"'218-52. The Germanuprising,whichwas put downby

makes it of interestto a historianof visual culture:possiblyemulating

The Managementof Consumption

thisperiod include newspaperssuch as Izvestiia,Literaturnaiagazeta,Sovetskaia and

and despiteincreased attentionto livingstandardsin the 1950s, thisre-

14. Vaclav Havel, ThePowerofthePowerless (1978) (London, 1987), 37-40. I am in-

vened even in such seeminglymundane and intimatemattersas formthe

courses,likewise,aimed to manipulateand regulate.The shape theytried

chargedwithpreventingthespread ofdisaffection and westernizedyouth

25. Resultsof an opinion poll on "The Young Generation"were publishedin Komso-

and irrationaldesires that,if unchecked, would be detrimentalto the

30. The stereotypeofwomen as naturallyavariciouswas propagatedin satire.A car-

capacityas consumersand retailers,a particularkindofpowerand exper-

Otherjokes in the 1950s also encapsulated the causal link between

39. Retold afterGunther,InsideRussia Today,95.

versalfeminine"desire to adorn themselves.42The changingspectacleof

The "KitchenDebate": The AmericanNationalExhibition,1959

kitchen-and the conditions of women's work more generally-had,

Izvestiiaqueried,was thisthe national exhibitionof a greatcountryor a

Figure 1. Goneto theCanteen,cartoonby

contemporarydwellingcentralheating,a well-equipped kitchen,a gas

56. L. Abramenkoand L. Tormozova,eds., Besedyo domashnem khoziaistve(Moscow,

woman) proclaimed the increasingrange and availabilityof time-saving

59. R. Chaikovskaia,"Dlia domashnego khoziaistva,"Sovetskaiazhenshchina, 1954,

Figure2. Women withVacuum fromKrakaia entik1opediia

GUM (State UniversalStore).65Improvementswere perceptibleeven in

65. Richard Edmonds, Russian Vistas:The Recordofa Springtime Journeyto Moscow,

Textualassertionsconcerningthe successful"struggleforquality"and va-

commonpracticeto "throw"goods intotheshopswhenleaderswereexpectedto visit.See,

Figure3. OnlytheFirstQuality,fromOgonek,no. 9 (22 February1959). Photo by

Figure4. Shppingin rd Perme Counter, no. 11 (8 March

reinsertedwoman in her traditionalrole as passive object of the male

71. Vera Bil'shai,Reshenie voprosav SSSR (Moscow,1956), 208.

a bitof an actresson the stage?All the timebeforethe eyesof the people,

73. Ogonek, no. 11 (8 March 1959): 7. The issue of OgonekforInternationalWomen's

and the alchemist'sartwiththatof modem science (figure5). The moral

76. Trotskaia,"Kompository aromatov,"25.

on any scale in the SovietUnion-where consumermanufacturing and

The Managementof Fashion

Pentagon contractors, while General Motorswas the nation'sleading defensecontractor

a parade ofpermanentwavessuchas I had neverseen beforein Leningrad

83. Hindus, Housewithout a Roof,14. The chemicalpermanentand hair dye became

quite a bit of bustrevealed."86If ideological objectionshad been moder-

Dior made no concessionsto the potentialconservatismof the Soviet

92. Ibid., 47.

Dior had come to Moscow by officialinvitation.However,the Soviet

97. N. Makarova,"Iskusstvoriadom s modoi: Ne ia dlia mody,a moda dlia menia,"DI

the use of cosmetics;Uchitelskaiagazetaallowed thatthese mightbe ap-

228. "Don't overload your dress with trimmings,"Ogonekalso warned: N. Khrabrova,

IFigure6. WhenSettingthe74bblIt Is Sufficient

105. Ibid., 189, 202-3.