Figure 1.--This Russian boy is posed by the family car. The photo is undated, but a Russian reader dates it to the mid-1960s. While the car may not look impressive to an American or European, it meant in the Soviet Union that the boy's family was affluent. Most Russians did not have cars. Notice how small the license plate number was. His father probably had a position of some importance. The boy is wearing bib-front shorts over a short sleeved shirt. He seems to be wearing the typical beige long stockings and strap shoes. The boy looks to be about 7 years old.

It was the more fashionable educated Soviet elite that seems the most likely to dress boys in short pants. We are still addressing this as we build our Russian archive. Of course during the Soviet Era, middle-class meant working for the Government in some administartive or clerical capacity or working in one of the professions. Boys from actual pre-Revolutionary middle-class families could be adversely affected in their careers. Evem so, nothers still seem to want to dress their children smartly. Such observable social class differences are somewhat surprising in a country presenting itself as classless society. These differences gradually disappeared after World War II a living standards began to slowly impove and the population, including the children, dressed a little more fashionably, including working-class children.

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Created: 1:41 AM 11/6/2013
Last updated: 4:51 PM 11/6/2013