20. Young pioneers

With their white shirts and little red kerchiefs, the Young Pioneers were the USSR’s youth movement. It was here that young citizens got their first taste of Soviet ideology and were introduced to exemplary children like Pavlik Morozov — murdered by his own family because he informed on them to the secret police.

21. Party members

The elite of the Soviet Union were all members of the Communist Party. Driving the best Soviet cars, holidaying in the most desirable Black Sea resorts, they enjoyed privileges that seem modest beside those of today’s Russian elite.

22. Seat belts

“Ne nado,” would be the first thing a taxi driver said to you when you took your seat and reached for the seat belt.  “You don’t need it.” It was considered a kind of derogatory statement about your driver’s competence to wear one.  This attitude has, happily, vanished.

23. Lectures on the iniquities of capitalism

Now and again you might encounter a party member (see above) who felt the need to press upon you the superiority of the Soviet way of life. Unemployment, racism, apartheid, the plight of the coal miners were all used to predict the imminent collapse of capitalism and triumph of Marxism. You still hear similiar speeches, but not in the former Soviet Union.

Read more: Inside the bizarre world of Soviet sanatoriums

24. Houses of culture

There was a gallant and idealistic desire that everyone in the former Soviet Union should be able to share the pleasures of high culture. Even tiny provincial towns had a subsidized Dom Kultury to spread improving culture among the citizenry and – presumably – discourage drinking.

25. Night trains

The impenetrability of Soviet life was temporarily suspended on long railway journeys. Suddenly, you had access to private life of ordinary Soviet people, snoring, drinking tea, padding up and down train corridors and occasionally lecturing you on the superiority of their country (see above).