Uploaded April 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
We know that Soviet authorities were keeping the population in a fierce grip. There were a lot of things that were prohibited in the Soviet Union. And you could get a long sentence in the labor camps for a careless word. But today we are talking not only about that, but also about other seemingly simple things that were inaccessible to the common Soviet man. Going abroad on vacation? Only after a dozen inspections. Get a job after university? Naaaah, the Soviet state itself would decide where you would work. Want to marry a foreigner? Sorry bro, that's treason! Today I will tell you about the official and unofficial restrictions that existed in the life of every Soviet citizen.
00:00 Introduction
01:59 School rules
04:17 Traveling abroad
05:47 Job by distribution
06:27 Propiska and passports
07:25 Marriage
08:17 Music, Literature and Movies
10:02 Harsh laws of the 1930s
13:10 Social parasitism and begging
14:32 Unearned income
15:51 Bans on certain sports
17:10 Other prohibitions in the USSR Criminal Code
Some additional articles to back up my claims (some are in Russian):
http://www.vedomstva-uniforma.ru/mundir14/narkompros39/index.html - Project for the Introduction of Uniforms for Secondary School Students in the Cities of Moscow and Leningrad (1938) (in Russian)
theguardian.com/fashion/2015/sep/11/school-uniform-soviet-union-russia-flares-1975 - Proof that school uniform existed even in 1970s
nytimes.com/1971/01/08/archives/long-hair-legal-soviet-aide-rules-replying-to-a-complaint-he-bars-a.html - Article about long hair on men in 1971
eera-ecer.de/ecer-programmes/conference/21/contribution/38628 - scientific study about methods for educating left-handed kids in Soviet schools
researchgate.net/publication/334430823_Wrong_Hand_Wrong_Children_The_Education_of_Left-Handed_Children_in_Soviet_Latvia - same for Soviet Latvia
jstor.org/stable/3185654 - Soviet tourism during late Stalin
https://www.hse.ru/data/2014/04/29/1322754646/50HUM2014.pdf - Soviet Union tourism in 1955-1985
Kotlia, A. (1984). The Job Placement System in the USSR. Problems in Economics, 27(8), 20–39. doi:10.2753/pet1061-1991270820 (https://sci-hub.ru/10.2753/pet1061-1991270820)
nintil.com/the-soviet-union-achieving-full-employment - About Soviet labout system
core.ac.uk/download/pdf/216913367.pdf - Soviet propiska and passport systems
hrw.org/legacy/reports98/russia/srusstest-04.htm - Soviet propiska system
rbth.com/history/335122-marrying-foreigners-in-ussr - about soviet citizens marrying foreigners
https://rucore.libraries.rutgers.edu/rutgers-lib/43919/PDF/1/play/ - pretty good list of things banned in the USSR
archive.org/details/1_20190709_20190709 - The law "on three spikelets"
docs.historyrussia.org/ru/nodes/131141-o-perehode-na-vosmichasovoy-rabochiy-den-na-semidnevnuyu-rabochuyu-nedelyu-i-o-zapreschenii-samovolnogo-uhoda-rabochih-i-sluzhaschih-s-predpriyatiy-i-uchrezhdeniy-ukaz-ot-26-iyunya-1940-g - the law of 1940 on 8-hour workday (in Russian)
web.archive.org/web/20080225014711/http://www.agentura.ru/dossier/russia/people/kononov/kogobrali - the story of V.A. Koshelev told by journalist Sergei Kononov after studying the archives of the Arkhangelsk Regional Directorate of the FSB. (in Russian)
jstor.org/stable/23634828 - on Social Parasitism law (1962)
link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-349-08855-3_4 - "anti-Parasite" laws of the USSR
washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1986/06/22/soviets-take-on-moonlighting/ddfda983-507d-4584-b84e-34d9dfcb754e - on Unearned income in the USSR
https://www.ucis.pitt.edu/nceeer/1992-900-03-Rutgaizer.pdf - about shadow economy in the USSR
Special thanks to my Patrons:
Kirill Klimuk; Simon Böse; Steak221; Steven; Yelizaveta Zakharova; Adam Stakhanov; Bálint Hegyi; Devon Hodgson; Joseph; Max; Michael Cottow; Mike Pearce; Niels Dowgwillo; Osas; Ravenghast; Sarah McMaster; Triskelia; Petar Kerelov; Yuval Carmon; Peter Lassen.
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We know that Soviet authorities were keeping the population in a fierce grip. There were a lot of things that were prohibited in the Soviet Union. And you could get a long sentence in the labor camps for a careless word. But today we are talking not only about that, but also about other seemingly simple things that were inaccessible to the common Soviet man. Going abroad on vacation? Only after a dozen inspections. Get a job after university? Naaaah, the Soviet state itself would decide where you would work. Want to marry a foreigner? Sorry bro, that's treason! Today I will tell you about the official and unofficial restrictions that existed in the life of every Soviet citizen.
00:00 Introduction
01:59 School rules
04:17 Traveling abroad
05:47 Job by distribution
06:27 Propiska and passports
07:25 Marriage
08:17 Music, Literature and Movies
10:02 Harsh laws of the 1930s
13:10 Social parasitism and begging
14:32 Unearned income
15:51 Bans on certain sports
17:10 Other prohibitions in the USSR Criminal Code
Some additional articles to back up my claims (some are in Russian):
http://www.vedomstva-uniforma.ru/mundir14/narkompros39/index.html - Project for the Introduction of Uniforms for Secondary School Students in the Cities of Moscow and Leningrad (1938) (in Russian)
theguardian.com/fashion/2015/sep/11/school-uniform-soviet-union-russia-flares-1975 - Proof that school uniform existed even in 1970s
nytimes.com/1971/01/08/archives/long-hair-legal-soviet-aide-rules-replying-to-a-complaint-he-bars-a.html - Article about long hair on men in 1971
eera-ecer.de/ecer-programmes/conference/21/contribution/38628 - scientific study about methods for educating left-handed kids in Soviet schools
researchgate.net/publication/334430823_Wrong_Hand_Wrong_Children_The_Education_of_Left-Handed_Children_in_Soviet_Latvia - same for Soviet Latvia
jstor.org/stable/3185654 - Soviet tourism during late Stalin
https://www.hse.ru/data/2014/04/29/1322754646/50HUM2014.pdf - Soviet Union tourism in 1955-1985
Kotlia, A. (1984). The Job Placement System in the USSR. Problems in Economics, 27(8), 20–39. doi:10.2753/pet1061-1991270820 (https://sci-hub.ru/10.2753/pet1061-1991270820)
nintil.com/the-soviet-union-achieving-full-employment - About Soviet labout system
core.ac.uk/download/pdf/216913367.pdf - Soviet propiska and passport systems
hrw.org/legacy/reports98/russia/srusstest-04.htm - Soviet propiska system
rbth.com/history/335122-marrying-foreigners-in-ussr - about soviet citizens marrying foreigners
https://rucore.libraries.rutgers.edu/rutgers-lib/43919/PDF/1/play/ - pretty good list of things banned in the USSR
archive.org/details/1_20190709_20190709 - The law "on three spikelets"
docs.historyrussia.org/ru/nodes/131141-o-perehode-na-vosmichasovoy-rabochiy-den-na-semidnevnuyu-rabochuyu-nedelyu-i-o-zapreschenii-samovolnogo-uhoda-rabochih-i-sluzhaschih-s-predpriyatiy-i-uchrezhdeniy-ukaz-ot-26-iyunya-1940-g - the law of 1940 on 8-hour workday (in Russian)
web.archive.org/web/20080225014711/http://www.agentura.ru/dossier/russia/people/kononov/kogobrali - the story of V.A. Koshelev told by journalist Sergei Kononov after studying the archives of the Arkhangelsk Regional Directorate of the FSB. (in Russian)
jstor.org/stable/23634828 - on Social Parasitism law (1962)
link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-349-08855-3_4 - "anti-Parasite" laws of the USSR
washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1986/06/22/soviets-take-on-moonlighting/ddfda983-507d-4584-b84e-34d9dfcb754e - on Unearned income in the USSR
https://www.ucis.pitt.edu/nceeer/1992-900-03-Rutgaizer.pdf - about shadow economy in the USSR
Special thanks to my Patrons:
Kirill Klimuk; Simon Böse; Steak221; Steven; Yelizaveta Zakharova; Adam Stakhanov; Bálint Hegyi; Devon Hodgson; Joseph; Max; Michael Cottow; Mike Pearce; Niels Dowgwillo; Osas; Ravenghast; Sarah McMaster; Triskelia; Petar Kerelov; Yuval Carmon; Peter Lassen.
If you'd like to support the channel:
💵 Patreon (early access to videos) - patreon.com/setarko
🪙 BTC - bc1qh8szz62crxu9ylg2jx9dz3t6vzzjdw2rheft2m
🪙 ETH - 0x19F11A86adf1ec4DDebEC0f27982805B1d1aba67
🪙 USDT (TRC20) - TYG76yndvrDD8WM9TtkBGauT7682esKZfu
🪙 Other crypto - nowpayments.io/donation/setarko
Links:
Discord - discord.gg/R3j9rKczRm
Twitter - twitter.com/SetarkoYT
