29.07.2015 07.03.2016 by ☭ USSR ☭

The beginning of the 90s brought to Russia big changes for which most of the inhabitants of our country were not ready, so I had to take on any, the most unexpected job. Someone drove expensive Mercedes and wore crimson jackets, while others survived as best they could, earning with their hands and head.
Here is a list of "covens" of that time.

Repair of various household appliances

Perhaps the main part-time work of that time. The collapse of the USSR led to the liquidation of many research institutes and defense enterprises, and a large number of engineers of various qualifications were left without work. In addition, almost everyone at that time had old tube TVs at home, which periodically failed. Such a part-time job at that time brought a decent income, and the number of orders began to fall only with the appearance in stores new technology, and with the advent of the population of money.

Tutoring, translations, term papers, diplomas

workers mental labor in that difficult period for the country, steel was not needed by their state, and just like engineers, these categories of citizens had to earn their own labor. It was during that period that the business associated with writing diplomas, term papers and other works for negligent students was born. Among the people in crimson jackets, the services of translators began to be in demand, who helped the "brotherhood" to establish contacts with foreigners who buy goods from Russia for next to nothing.

The appearance of "shuttles".

The shortage in Russia led to the emergence of "shuttle traders", people who buy everything abroad and then sell it for three times the price. You could buy sheepskin coats, Abibas tracksuits, groceries and even toilet paper from them.

Collection and delivery of glass containers and jars

This was mainly done by children and teenagers, who in such a simple way could earn not only their pocket money, but also help the family, but the adult population did not hesitate to do it. similar work, besides, for most it was the only way earn some money.

Sale of consumer goods to foreigners

The open border contributed to the emergence of many foreigners in the country. Some came for business interests, others to look at the ruins of the USSR. But one thing united these categories - they could sell any consumer goods with symbols for currency Soviet Union, as well as things that convey Russian flavor, for example, nesting dolls under Khokhloma. And it doesn’t matter that all this was made in a nearby basement on the knee.

Piracy.

Those who had access to audio or video recorders circulated foreign films or music. The recording that came from abroad was urgently translated without dubbing, then voiced and replicated right at home. When the record was ready, they made packaging in Russian and went to sell it to the markets or shops. Thus, the Russians were aware of all the novelties of American cinema. They made big money on this.

Sale of cigarettes and alcohol

A mandatory attribute of any feast in the 90s was Royal alcohol and other alcoholic drinks produced on the basis of this drink. Some shuttles specialized in clothes and other things, but another caste worked exclusively with cigarettes and alcohol, bringing them into the country in wagons and tanks, which were later sold by citizens from their hands.

Sale of biological additives and other "wonderful" means.

Remember the mass obsession with Herbalife, which ruined the health of many residents? It was in the 90s in Russia that network marketing as such, and the people, distraught, began to take biological supplements completely uncontrollably, on which the happy sellers earned money.

Racketeering and banditry.

The most typical phenomenon of the 90s. People, desperate because there was nothing to feed their families, went to extreme measures. Sometimes methods of earning became illegal, which was the norm at that time. It was considered quite commonplace to make money on smuggling, extortion, racketeering and racketeering. The guys involved in such crafts were recognized by everyone, they were distinguished by a shaved head and the presence of a crimson jacket.

In the 1990s, Russia took the path global reforms what turned out for the country countless disasters- Rampant banditry, population decline, a sharp drop in living standards. For the first time, the Russians learned what price liberalization, a pyramid scheme and a default are.

Half a liter at the price of "Volga"

In August 1992, Russian citizens were given the opportunity to purchase privatization checks (vouchers) that could be exchanged for assets of state-owned enterprises. The authors of the reforms promised that for a voucher, the nominal value of which was 10 thousand rubles, the population could buy two Volgas, but by the end of 1993 it could hardly be exchanged for two bottles of vodka. However, the most enterprising players who had access to classified information were able to make a fortune on privatization checks.

Change - I don't want to

Until July 1, 1992, the official exchange rate of the ruble corresponded to 56 kopecks for one US dollar, but it was impossible for a mere mortal to purchase currency at such a rate that did not correspond to the market price. Subsequently, the government equated the dollar to the exchange rate, and at one moment it soared to 125 rubles, that is, 222 times. The country has entered an era of currency speculation.

For myself and for others

Everyone who in the early 90s found himself in the foreign exchange business fell under the "roof". The currency speculators were “protected” either by bandits or the police. Given the solid margin (the difference between the real market rate and the speculative rate), both the currency traders themselves and their “roof” earned good money. So, with 1000 US dollars then you could make $100. In the most lucky days a currency speculator could earn up to 3,000 bucks.

shrink belts

In 1991, grocery stores were usually divided into two parts: in one they sold goods without restrictions, in the other they sold vouchers. In the first, one could find black bread, marinades, seaweed, barley or barley groats, and canned food. In the second, after standing in a long queue, one could buy milk, hams, frozen fish, rice, millet, flour, eggs, butter, tea, sweets, vodka and cigarettes with coupons. At the same time, the volumes of purchased products were strictly limited - 1 kg of flour, 1 dozen eggs, 1 liter of oil.

Prices in a frenzy

The change in the cost of essential goods was the main indicator of the deterioration economic situation in the country. So, if at the end of 1991 a loaf of bread cost 1.8 rubles, then at the end of January, after price liberalization, 3.6 rubles had to be paid for it. Further - more: in June 1992, the price tag for bread jumped to 11 rubles, in November - to 20. By January 1994, the price for a loaf of bread had already reached 300 rubles. In just over 2 years, bread has risen in price by 166 times!

Cloak is unaffordable

The record holder for rising prices was the communal apartment, which increased 147 times over the period 1992-93. At the same time, salaries were increased only 15 times. What was the purchasing power of the ruble? For example, in June 1993, the average salary in the country was 22,000 rubles. 1 kg of butter cost 1,400-1,600 rubles, 1 kg of meat - 2,000 rubles, half a liter of vodka - 1,200 rubles, a liter of gasoline (AI-78) - 1,500 rubles, a women's raincoat - 30,000 rubles.

All to the market

Many Russians had to change their sphere of activity in order to somehow survive. The most popular profession at the dawn of the 90s was the "shuttle". According to some reports, up to a quarter of able-bodied citizens of the Russian Federation were suppliers of consumer goods. It is difficult to establish the exact earnings of the “shuttle traders”, since almost all the money was put into circulation. On average, it was possible to sell goods for 200-300 dollars per one trip.

deadly product

Alcohol consumption in the mid-90s reached its highest level in the history of our country - 18 liters per person per year. They drank mostly surrogates and a cheap imported product. The exorbitant excise tax of 90% is to blame for everything, which left high-quality domestic vodka - Stolichnaya, Pshenichnaya, Russkaya - gathering dust in warehouses. The number of deaths from poisoning with low-quality alcohol, among which the Dutch alcohol Royal was in the lead, annually reached 700 thousand.

frightening wane

The 1990s were remembered for catastrophic demographic indicators. According to the calculations of the deputies of the Communist Party faction, in the period from 1992 to 1998, the natural decline in the population exceeded 4.2 million people, annually the number of the country's able-bodied population decreased by an average of 300 thousand. During this period, approximately 20,000 villages were depopulated.

Nobody needs

In May 1992, the government of the Russian Federation cancels the law on pensions that was in force in the USSR and introduces new standards, to which reduction coefficients are applied. As a result of the scandalous innovation, the real pensions of about 35 million Russians have halved. A contingent of street vendors will grow predominantly from among pensioners.

Survive at any cost

On September 30, 1991, mortuary workers and forensic experts from a number of cities met in Khabarovsk Far East to discuss issues of survival during the crisis. In particular, they touched upon the issues of entering the markets for organs seized from corpses. And there was a lot to bargain about. So, an eyeball cost a thousand dollars, a kidney - $14 thousand, a liver - $20 thousand.

money in the pipe

On August 17, 1998, the government of the Russian Federation declared default. Literally within a few months, the dollar exchange rate soared by 300%. Total losses Russian economy was then valued at $96 billion, commercial banks lost $45bn, corporate sector - $33bn, ordinary citizens - $19bn.

Protect yourself

On July 8, 1991, during another attack by the Caucasian mafia on one of the mines in the Magadan region, a kilogram of gold was stolen. And again, the Kolyma police could not help. Then the law enforcers allowed the state gold miners to arm themselves. After all, it was the weapon that was the main factor restraining the attacks of bandits on free prospectors.

bloody years

The mid-90s in Russia were marked by an unprecedented rampant banditry. According to FSB Major General Alexander Gurov, about 32,000 premeditated murders were registered a year, of which 1,500 were contract killings. The elderly were especially hard hit. For a couple of the most terrible years in Moscow alone, about 15 thousand lonely elderly people were killed because of apartments.

Desirable fast food

The first McDonald's in Russia, which appeared on Pushkinskaya Square in January 1990, caused an unprecedented stir. Over 25,000 applications were submitted for 630 jobs. The monthly salary of a McDonald's employee could reach 300 rubles, which exceeded average salary around the country. The prices at McDuck were biting. For example, for a "Big Mac" it was necessary to pay 3 rubles. 75 kop. For comparison, lunch in an ordinary dining room cost 1 ruble.

Was it great in the 90s? Author, are you stubborn?
1. An inspiring feeling of freedom.
What freedom was lacking before, to shit on the streets?
Very well about that "freedom" is shown in the movie "kill the dragon", the video is attached. In Nizhny Novgorod they shot at night, the brothers shot each other. On the right, Kalash is scribbling, on the left, they are populating from Makarov. Fucking freedom!
2. Easy money.
We put on shoes on the streets, we boys didn’t go to Moscow less than 4-5 people, because at the stations and near the metro there were local bunches of scumbags, now called “gopniks”. They only acted more brazenly and out of bounds, for impunity and, read above, freedom! In the markets and stalls, frank, low-quality leftists came true, low-quality expired products. Easy money is great?!
3. Imported goods.
Foreign junk flooded into the market. Everyone rushed to buy TVs, VCRs and so on. A lot of fakes, a lot of Chinese shit. Was it great to ruin the country because of imported shit?
4. Everyone was in his place.
Everyone tried to make money as best they could, because salary delays were terrible. I, an officer of the Russian Army, for several months did not receive allowance and dug copper cable at night, because there was nothing to eat. Was I in my place? During the day, the commanders told us that it was necessary to protect the Motherland, and at night they worked on loaders at the local factory, loading vodka. Because the family had to eat. The cops were disenfranchised from the word in general, as a result, they quickly realized and squeezed their "business" from the bandits, at the same time greatly thinning their ranks. Were they there too? Teachers went to collective farms, because even their beggarly wages were not given out, were they in their place?
5. We had the most cheerful president in the world.
If this is a joke, then it is extremely unfortunate. When we watched a drunken Borka jumping around the stage or "leading" the orchestra, we did not laugh, we were extremely ashamed. He ruined the army, ruined the country, Pindos "consultants" were admitted to strategic facilities, enterprises were sold for a penny, the people lived in extreme poverty. Funny? We were not fucking funny.
6. People have hope.
What??! All my memories of the 90s are in shades of grey. There was a terrible unemployment, no money was paid, hence so many "merchants" who tried to somehow earn a living. There was a terrible hopelessness, no gap was visible. Reforms ruined everything in the bud. One day we became impoverished, there were 6 thousand per family on a book, and in one day it was no longer possible to buy anything with this money. I still remember the insane Georgian who ran around the Kursk railway station with a suitcase of 500 rubles, scattered them and yelled "why the hell do I need them now?!". Hope?? In the USSR, everyone knew that after graduating from the institute he would go to work in his specialty, he knew that he would get an apartment, etc. There was STABILITY. In the 90s, no one knew what would happen tomorrow and even tonight.
7. Everyone was a millionaire.
What's fun? Money depreciated. Yes, we joked that we became millionaires, but it was laughter through tears.
8. Ability to travel abroad.
Yeah. Everyone was able to see for themselves that in foreign stores there really are more than 40 types of sausage for sale. The mass of people, having decided that everyone was waiting for them over the hill, was dumped from the country. Units got out into people. How many of these returned after 2000? All this anarchy that was going on in the country was not worth such pleasure.
9. Nostalgia for childhood and youth.
It's just childhood memories. For example, we collected bottles, handed them in, went to VDNKh and, if we were not shod by local "free boys" who "were in their place", bought a couple of posters with Bruce and Schwartz, or bought "Donald" or "Turbo" chewing gum . The latter are less common, because they cost 3 times more than "Donald". And, if we were not shod on way back brought it all home.
10. "Fashionable" clothes.
Low quality junk from Turkey and China. Everything that was bright and colorful was fashionable. We, like natives who reacted to mirrors and beads, bought low-quality shit from Adadis, etc.
I do not know a single person who found the "dashing 90s" who would like to repeat them. No one! Young brats who didn't cook it themselves, but read about that "romance", don't count.
The author is either a fat troll or stubborn. If this is such a joke, then I never understood it.
Now at least get down..

The time when they "killed the arrow" and "chopped cabbage." The time when the fate of two wagons of frozen fish in the port of Vladika (Vladivostok) was usually decided through a game of thimbles.
The time when Americans paid out of pocket to non-departmental security services - if only local fools and roads did not get to the still frightening "nuclear button".

The time when the Marlborough bloc and the Levi's party paid with what they managed to steal from the nearest garrison. Time of financial adventures, deceit, set-ups, showdowns.
The time of the strongest demographic decline, the stratification of society and the death of all the good that was created during Soviet time. A time that you really do not want, but you need to remember in order to avoid its repetition.

What to say? The topic is not simple. And writing an introduction to it is also not easy. The turmoil of the 90s, you can’t call it otherwise. In terms of human and financial losses, comparable to a real civil war. Ten years of confusion, searching, loss, ups and downs...

homeless children

Along with the Chechen war, skinheads and criminal showdowns, homeless children were the main topic of television. In the 90s and early 2000s (until 2003) they constantly hung around in Moscow and other major cities, at railway stations and major streets. A mandatory attribute is Moment glue, which they sniffed. They reminded of gypsies - they begged in a crowd, if they didn’t throw little things at them, they could rudely swear, having previously run off to a safe distance. Age is usually between 7 and 14 years old. They lived in basements, heating mains and abandoned houses. It is also worth adding that not only homeless youngsters led a life similar to this way of life. In any city "in the area" at that time it was considered pontoon to drink, sniff glue and smoke from the age of ten.

Bratva

Bandits and mowing under bandits. It was fashionable. The first ones can rarely be seen openly - they are in cars, in bars, in clubs, on hazs. The second ones were everywhere - ordinary, young, street guys from any walk of life, who bought or got hold of a short black leather jacket, often pretty worn and filthy, engaged in gop-stop, divorce for money and extortion, sometimes gearing from real ones. special case- bandit students who rob their more sane, but less organized and more cowardly neighbors in the hostel.

Blatnyak

"The musician plays a hit,

I remember the bunks, the camp,

The musician plays a hit

And my soul hurts"

Lyapis Trubetskoy, Metelitsa, 1996-1998

Blattnyak, aka chanson, is the brainchild of gangster anticulture. The time of the incredible popularity of Misha Krug and other performers of prison songs. Street and restaurant musicians quickly learn the “murka”, because the one who pays orders the music, and the “grandmothers” then were the lads. A little later, having nothing to do with bandits, however, the former Soviet songwriter who rattled off 8 years in the zone for anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda Mikhail Tanich, collects ordinary musicians who somehow perform music and makes them into the Lesopoval group, playing on the strings of the thin souls of rich Pinocchio. Since millions and millions went through prison in the nineties, it made economic sense.

Homeless people

This period of history gives birth to homeless people who were completely absent before him in the scoop. Homeless people - yesterday's neighbors, acquaintances and classmates, go from house to house and beg, sleep in the hallways, drink and go to the toilet for themselves there. The bum was something so wild for the homo-soviet that even the then bastard Yura Khoy wrote a song about it:

“I will raise the bull, I will tighten the bitter smoke,

I'll open the hatch, I'll climb home.

Don't feel sorry for me, I'm doing great.

Only to eat hunting sometimes "

Gaza Strip, Homeless, 1992

Video salons

In fact, the phenomenon arose and became a cult in the eighties, otherwise where would we have seen Tom and Jerry, Bruce Lee, the first Terminator, Freddy Krueger and other living dead. And also erotica.

In the early nineties, video salons reached a quantitative peak, but quickly began to fade away - the new Russians got their own video recorders, and everyone else was not up to it.

For today's youth, it should be noted that most video salons were distinguished by their basement-utility location (turning into summer time into real ovens), eye-damaging video quality, and translations unsurpassed to this day in their artistry and relevance. original text(for example, the two main translated swear words - "big white piece of shit" and "poz" replaced almost all rude foreign expressions). As a result, in the minds of visitors whole line films and characters were specifically mixed up and interbred. Almost all films like "thriller about space" were called Star Wars.

hazing

“Both day and night we rivet holes

Holes, wells and hungry mouths

From the armies we are left with commanders,

As well as admirals from the fleets "

Black Obelisk, "Who are we now?", 1994

For then Soviet army just spit and left to rot. Much of it has become Russian army and continued to decompose fiercely furiously, which naturally, in addition to the loss of combat capability, led to such an interesting phenomenon as "Hazing".

Killer

Killer (from the English "killer" - killer) - the name of the killers for money that appeared in the 90s. With the advent of “wild” capitalism in our country, such wild ways of settling conflicts as contract killings appeared. Anyone with whom it was impossible to agree could simply be ordered. Anyone could be ordered - a journalist, a deputy, a thief in law, even the sky, even Allah. Fortunately, there were plenty of killers. It got to the point that they placed ads in newspapers like "I'm looking for a job with risk" without a fawn.

Martial arts clubs

Since the people experienced a fair amount of pressure from the marginal packs of gopota, and the gopota itself really needed more powerful ways to take other people's property, enterprising comrades began to produce in frantic quantities places for character development - Martial Arts Clubs. First of all, it was, of course, karate, it is not clear why it was driven underground back in the 80s.

But at the same time, such newfangled trends as kung fu, Thai boxing, taekwondo and other kickboxing began to timidly raise their heads. People happily hawal, because it looked solid, but it sounded impressive. It was hard to find a basement that wasn't occupied by some "teacher", "sensei" who had read a couple of self-published toilet-quality books and watched a dozen cassettes of Chuck Norris and Bruce Lee, and now was chasing joyful hamsters to a sweat.

In fairness, it should be noted that there were also real gurus and sensei who really plowed for a certain number of years under the supervision of the corresponding overseas masters. Those who began to use their heads in time (not only for breaking objects), later became something of themselves both in terms of folding other people's jaws and in terms of obtaining monetary and material profit ... Most of the hamsters did not receive anything, and some individuals even left along the "slippery path" and got acquainted with the work of Misha Krug in the primary sources. But that's a completely different story.

lump

Derived from "thrift store" in the eighties.

The popular abbreviation for "commercial store" in the very early nineties, and it appeared on the sign capital letters. These were rare and very outlandish for those times small shops where people went like to the Hermitage, to look at things and products from another world.

Working in a commercial store was considered prestigious. Then, with the disappearance and re-profiling of Soviet stores and the general increase in the number of outlets, such a “name” began to be abandoned, what else could a store be, except for a commercial one. The outlets have proper names. Closer to the mid-nineties budded separate type- "night lights" or night shops, shops "24 hours".

And finally, stalls, to which such a name passed by kinship with commercial stores. They originated in the early nineties, in the form of cheap layouts and tents selling vodka, cigarettes, condoms, chewing gum, Mars, Snickers and imported cocoa kaka.

New Arbat. At the end of the 20th century, the capital and its center were engulfed in monstrous deprivation by many thousands of chaotic and illegal retail outlets.

Photo: Valery Khristoforov/TASS

Then the lumps became stationary. At first they had an abundance of glass, then they began to look more and more like armored pillboxes with loopholes. It’s just that glass was often beaten in them, set on fire and even shot. However, this type of entertainment is still alive.

Foreign consumer goods were sold in lumps, ranging from chewing gum to expensive water and cigarettes. In a lump, you could buy playing porn cards, which shkolota abused for the sake of fap. Lumps abounded with everything that the advertisement spoke about. Snickers, mars, bounty, huyaunty - all this was in abundance. And what is important, the goods did not have any excise stamps and stickers on compliance with Rosstandart; the now obligatory presence of inscriptions in Russian was also only an option.

Cops

For broad layers, the policeman a la Uncle Styopa, it was in the nineties that he became a cop, to contact whom ordinary citizen dangerous to life, health and money in your pocket. As people familiar with the system firsthand said: “The bandits will just rob and beat you, and the cops will also put you in jail.”

Drug addicts

There were drug addicts, drug addicts and alcoholics in the late 80s. But the peak of drug addiction came in the 90s, when the fight was actually put on the bolt and when junkies of all ages appeared - from youngsters to men. During a special period heroin addiction in the mid-90s, an overdose corpse was taken away from the dorms of our alma maters every week.

It is now heroin - a marginal (and noticeably more expensive) drug, but then, in the early to mid-decade, golden youth, bohemians, students "dabbled" in heroism ...

In the meantime, drugs have reached even the most distant corner of the country. How many of them were species, varieties, names. How was it to figure out and start taking, where to inject and what to smoke? TV came to the rescue. with his propaganda. Yes Yes. In the late 80s and early 90s TV promoted everything. Morning broadcasts on the Central Television were with Agatha Christie's fashionable song about drugs "Come on in the evening ... Let's smoke ta-ta-ta."

Series appeared, supposedly telling about the problems of youth, but in fact explaining what is where and why. The air “Under 16 and older” especially ran into my memory and similar program for teenagers, where they showed: they say this is a button accordion and a spoon over the fire, prick it here, but this is very bad, this fu, guys never do that. And this is weed, they smoke it like this, but this is ay-yai-yai, scoundrel drug addicts, fu on them. A drug dealer usually looks like this - but you never approach him. Do I need to mention that after these broadcasts, the flywheel of drug trafficking and drug addiction began to spin so much that they were able to slow it down in better case to the middle of the noughties.

Moreover, society practically did not condemn it. Propaganda has made this problem a harmless feature, national trait. Yes, they say, we are like that, we love to drink, break, steal. All the 90s told us that we are losers, this is our best feature and because of that we are unique.

The invisible hand of the market

Finally, the "long-awaited" market appeared in Russia. However, it was introduced through one place, which led to disastrous consequences:

. The disappearance of entire sectors of the economy.

Presumably, only in the RSFSR, not counting the rest of the republic, lost 50% of GDP in two years. By comparison, the Great Depression cost the US 27% of GDP in three years. decline real income population and high unemployment in the appendage, oddly enough. Exact numbers(taking into account the share of the black market and postscripts before and after the collapse) time has ground to dust, no one has scientifically done this.

. Fierce, rabid unemployment.

In fact, there are much more unemployed than nominal: enterprises are idle and many work part-time in part-time working week, paid incomplete year.

. Original "know-how" - issuance at enterprises wages produced goods.

For example, furniture, canned food, linen, and anything! But in fact, at commercial prices, they sold the goods to their own employees under the pretext of "no money." Here is the deliverer with bringing the situation to the point of absurdity. An even more kosher scheme worked like this: the plant bought refrigerators, vacuum cleaners, TV sets and sold them with VAT to its employees for a conditional salary. And the profit received from the sale of the plant's products not only remained entirely in the pockets of the director, but also increased! That's it!

“What is Russian business? “Steal a box of vodka, sell vodka, drink money.”

Non-traditional methods of treatment: Chumak and Kashpirovsky

Healers bloomed in double color, taking the last from the disabled, lovers of horoscopes and astrologers, UFOs, snow and universe people and other science fiction. Also at this time, all sorts of pseudo-scientists were chopping "cabbage".

They say that once, when Kashpirovsky had just gained popularity, he was invited to give a “closed lecture” for MGIMO employees. There were no healings. Kashpirovsky simply spoke about his method and somehow casually mentioned that he was also treating obesity. Hearing this, the embassy wives and ladies from teaching staff after the lecture, trickle leaked offstage. Kashpirovsky carefully looked at the suffering women crowded around him and said: “I give the instruction - you need to eat less.”

I must say that Chumak was also a very influential person, since his program was part of the 120 Minutes (originally - 90 Minutes) program on television, which was shown at 7 in the morning. Thanks to this fact, human brain was actively exposed to the daily phimous precipitation of the television miracle worker right from the morning.

Alan Chumak Sessions 1990

With the help of the TV, he not only treated diseases, but also “charged” water and creams: millions of “hamsters” placed glasses of water near the screens. It was also possible to charge water by radio. It’s a pity there were no cell phones in the country then, since Chumak also knew how to charge batteries.

Also, Chumak sold his pictures and posters, which had to be applied to sore spots for healing. Naturally, the more photos were attached, the more healing the effect was. Healthy lifestyle publications sold "charged" portraits to increase circulation sales.

New Russians

In contrast to the socialist approximately equal distribution of income, B part of the population began to receive much (several million times) more income than the rest of the majority. The reasons for this in the so-called "period of initial accumulation of capital" were quite artificial, often not quite decent and clearly illegal.

In fact, out of nothing in 10 years (1986-1996), an elite class was created. This process went especially briskly with the privatization of state property after the Yeltsin coup of 1993, when the former bandits, swindlers and their proteges sawed up the property of the people for those pennies that had been stolen from them a little earlier.

Zhmurki

As a result, by 1996, 10% of the population had legal (or semi-legal) ownership of 90% of the national income, another 10-15% later formed their service personnel, who were able to live comfortably with an income of $ 500 per family member (corrupt media, managers middle-level managers, merchants, corrupt officials, etc.), and the remaining 75% were doomed to live on the minimum wage in the state of semi-slaves and in conditions of total corruption with little chance of a serious rise. Given the complete collapse of the economy, there was no hope for an improvement in the situation.

thugs

“A quick walk and a crazy look” is about them. common feature real scumbags - a look full of evil joyful energy in a good mood.

Dashing 90s

At times when everything becomes possible, they quickly multiply and huddle in flocks, and in a flock the scumbag qualities of character develop faster and manifest themselves more strongly. Before that, they probably somehow control themselves, find a peaceful use of their forces or sit in prisons. If they are engaged in banditry, then even immediately having received money from a person, they will still beat them, without receiving anything at all - they will cripple or kill. Looking for any opportunity to disinterestedly deal with someone. The most desired result of the disassembly is to attack one with the forces of two or three or more people, shouting "... bring him down !!!" and then the highest refinement for any racially correct scumbag is to jump on the head of a recumbent (composter), trying to inflict swipe heel to crack the skull.

A scumbag's weapon - what new phone in kitty, will often be in sight and will definitely be used. Bandit thugs with weapons - it's always a lot of corpses. As a rule, a scumbag does not have his own girlfriend, or there are one or two common girls in the company, frostbitten or weak-minded, narrow-minded girls who are not used to refusing anyone and who believe that these particular boys have real power.

Prostitutes

“See, guys, this is not a joke.

Remember, guys, Olya is a prostitute.

The girl is rich and lives well.

Who will find the guys in control of her"

Group "Announcement", "Olya and Speed"

Mass and often very young, girls (and sometimes boys) twelve years old, sometimes even less. That's when there was a holiday on the street of perverts! Half or more of the schoolgirls, after a series of publications in the press about currency confusion and a chain reaction of conversations on this topic in the second half of the 80s - early 90s, began to consider the work of a prostitute the best female career, full of romance and great prospects, which, by the way, the films “Intergirl” contributed a lot (even though the film ends tragically for the main character, precisely because of her prostitution) and especially “Pretty Woman” (in general, in this regard, the most harmful film: millions of girls around the world, having watched it this is a movie, they decided to become prostitutes).

Prostitutes then were naive and fearless. They went with whom and wherever they got. Often ran into scumbags. As a rule, the life of a street prostitute is short-lived, much like the life of a drug addict, and ends terribly: death at the hands of bandits, practicing homicidal maniacs or scumbags, sometimes under the wheels of cars, death from diseases, overdoses.

Advertising

Advertising on TV was clearly divided in terms of picture quality and plots into imported and domestic. Import advertising was bright and imaginative. She was then watched as short films, without bothering about what they advertise. The advertising of cigarettes stood out in particular: Marlboro, Lucky Strike. Patriotic was noticeably inferior in improvisation. Some MMM videos are worth something: "I'm not a freeloader, I'm a partner." Or stupid advertising of some pyramids with a 900% yield, "something there ... investments", funds - actively collecting vouchers.

Meme of the early 90s - Lenya Golubkov

For the most part, just mumbling against the background of a static picture. The target audience was actively brainwashed (well, or what replaced it): something came Golden time when you can not work - just take your money at interest. Moreover, in advertising, no one was outraged with the plot, picture, sound. The average video of those times: on the screen are pouring coins, falling banknotes, giant blinking inscriptions in "%" and an address with a phone number of another pyramid. For the deaf, apparently, the address was also read out by the voice of the Soviet radio announcer. And that's it! Advertising worked and how. They stood in line to hand over their banknotes. The very first videos that massively went into the box were mars-snickers-bounty.

Still thin Semchev (the fat man who later advertised beer) appeared on the screen in an advertisement for Twix. Alcohol advertisement: Rasputin winks, "I am a white eagle", bottle of Absolute with glitches. Powder rainbow with joyful shkolota: Invite, Yuppy, Zuko. Coca Cola vs Pepsi. Advertising Bank Imperial "Before the first star ...". Advertisement for Dendy: "Dandy, Dendy, we all love Dendy, everyone plays Dendy." It was impossible to understand from the advertisement what kind of dandy it is, what does the cartoon elephant have to do with it and why they love it, but gradually everyone got used to the fact that there was no need to look for meaning here, and then they decided that it was better not to look for meaning at all.

Or here is the plot of one of the commercials of the TV-Park magazine: “Let's put an ordinary newspaper in sulfuric acid, and the TV Park magazine in distilled water. You see, nothing happened to the TV-Park magazine!” Remember?

sects

Dull wandering down the street and handing out all their printed matter.

The attack begins with a question like: “Do you know what awaits us?” or “Do you believe in God?” During the conversation, they talk about the fact that after the global cataclysm, when a little more than all of humanity will be cut out, those who are in the subject will receive another globe. Until this moment, citizens who have agreed to join must also walk the streets of the city and spam passers-by.

The organization is a typical financial pyramid, where profits are received by the top, and dividends to participants are paid with spiritual food. Since the current is broken into many leaks, interesting way"Trolling" is a retelling of the dogmas of one trend to representatives of another.

Financial pyramids

After privatization, all sorts of things sprouted like mushrooms after the rain financial pyramids, who offered the former scoops to earn quickly. The end was naturally predictable, but not for the millions of suckers who gave their hard-earned scammers.

Chernukha

Chernukha-style, which originated at the very end of the eighties and reached its peak by the mid-nineties. It continues to exist even now.

Like porn, black has gained popularity due to the principle “because now it is possible, but it was impossible before”. Distinctive feature chernukha: the obligatory presence of blood, perversions, violence, murders, devilry, aliens, anti-scientific dogma, prostitutes, drug addicts and convicts.

ps:

I remember well how in those days in the West we were admired and praised for the fact that we smashed our army and introduced "democratic values". And they work so hard for us in this

What kind of Russia appears before us in the early 90s? These are the shuttles that replaced the blackmailers, video halls, the first minibuses, joint-stock companies and markets, churches and Coca-Cola, Hare Krishnas and rallies against the State Emergency Committee.

Writes blogger zyalt: New, unusual things and phenomena coexist with remnants Soviet era. Markets are turning into open joint-stock companies, but no one has canceled the concept of “market day”. In the cities, shopping palaces of white plastic and blue glass are not yet being built, but Soviet supermarkets are being exploited. On trains, doshiraks and rolltons are not yet brewed, but they usually get fried chicken in a newspaper.
People are glad that they defended democracy and did not allow the putschists to turn society towards the "scoop", but few people immediately adapted to the new conditions. The country, shocked by Gaidar's reforms and an instant transition to a market economy, does not yet know about the coming Chechen wars and the default of 1998, but simply lives as it turns out, hoping that the worst is over.
I prepared separate posts about what happened in the early 90s in Moscow: here is 1991, here is 1992, and here is 1993. Now look at what was going on in Russia in those same years.

01. Residents of the former Vladivostok "Chinatown", Millionki, expressed their gratitude to Mayor Yevgeny Blinov with the help of graffiti.

02. Flea market on the street. Leninskaya, Vladivostok, 1993.

03. Vladivostok, passage, 1993. The tricolor has already become part of the window dressing.

04. The queue at the telephone booth. Vladivostok, 1992.

05. On central square Vladivostok, 1991.

06. August 91st. In those days, rallies were held against the GKChP in all major cities.

07. Shuttles. A necessary and respected profession when there is no international trade, nor the domestic production of consumer goods, especially clothing and footwear, on the scale required by the country.

08. If in the 80s religion timidly rose from its knees, then in the 90s it rose to its full height. Churches were restored and reopened in the country, priests began to participate in public life. On the picture - Orthodox cross in Birch Grove, which was installed in honor of the centenary of the city of Makarov (Sakhalin).

09. At the station of Khabarovsk, 1991

10. People's Assembly in Susuman ( Magadan Region). In the early 90s, 18 thousand people lived here, now there are about five.

11. Young cyclists on the Soviet street in Susuman. There were no Chinese bicycles in the early 90s, everyone rode old Soviet ones.

12. Fashionable in the 90s, the name for the store is Prestige. This time in Yakutsk, on Lenina Avenue, next to the Soviet Subscription Editions store.

13. Street stalls of the central market of Ulan-Ude. In most cities there was such a thing as "market day". I don’t know about Ulan-Ude, but often it was Thursday and Sunday, Saturday was considered “semi-bazaar”. If it was not a market day, then many stalls were empty, although the pavilions were almost always open during the day.

14. Video hall on Uritsky street in Irkutsk. Video halls, they are also "video monitors", were intended for public viewing of VHS cassettes. In fact, these were mini-cinemas with films that were not in wide distribution. They usually specialized in action films and erotica (and sometimes just porn), some - in cartoons. They say that at one time video halls were even in long-distance trains. By the mid-90s, videos appeared in most Russian families- this was a sign of growing prosperity compared to the beginning of the decade, which was customary to demonstrate to relatives and neighbors. Many video cassettes, even if they were homemade, became possible to buy on the market, so video halls gradually died out.

15. City Day in Zheleznogorsk (ZATO), 1993

16. Supermarket "Kantat", Zheleznogorsk. There is already an ad for Coca-Cola.

17. House of life "Baltic", the fashion of those years. People have already gradually been taught to smile, at least for anniversary albums.

18. Central market of Novokuznetsk, 1991. Two years earlier, everything was much gloomier.

19. Banks and Insurance companies popped up like mushrooms after the rain. Insurance company Victoria is advertised on the wall of the Tsentralnaya Hotel in Barnaul, 1992.

20. Shrovetide at the Palace of Arts in Nizhnevartovsk, 1993

21. Churches are starting to work again in many cities. In 1991, the bell was installed on the belfry of St. Nicholas Cathedral in Omsk.

22. Not just a market, but a joint-stock company open type. Omsk in the 90s.

23. The same Leninsky market.

24. Tyumen Society for Krishna Consciousness. During the visit of Prabhavishnu Swami, Harinama, the city even blocked traffic on the street. Republic.

25. Hare Krishnas on the square near Yubileiny (now the Tyumen Drama Theatre).

27. Days of Kazakh culture in Tyumen, 1992 The yurts are broken at the Philharmonic.

28. Shopping center"Maria" got its name in honor of the director of the Sverdlovsk supermarket No. 1, Maria Vdovina. Yekaterinburg, 1993.

29. Communism is being chipped from the building of the Sverdlovsk Regional Committee. August 91st.

30. Rally against the putschists on the square in 1905. August 91st, Sverdlovsk.

31. Who knew then that the fashion for jeans and high-waisted shorts would return again in 20 years ... Lenin Avenue, Yekaterinburg, 1992.

32. Signs of the market: a restaurant and leather jackets ... Izhevsk, Pastukhov Square, 1993.

33. Many public spaces overgrown with grass… Stage on the street 30 years of Victory in Izhevsk, 1991-1992.

34. Traders at the collective farm market in Kazan still used horse-drawn vehicles.

35. Despite the crisis of the early 90s, urban transport was produced. Brand new trolleybuses at the Plant. Uritsky in Engels.

36. There were also rallies against the putschists in Volgograd.

37. Aeraria on the beach "Riviera" in Sochi.

38. Religious procession in Voronezh at the reopened Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the background, the building of the Voronezh Theological Seminary is already under construction.

39. In 1993, a monument to General Chernyakhovsky was erected in Voronezh, brought from Vilnius, where it was dismantled immediately after the collapse of the USSR. In Voronezh, the general was placed on the square, which was named after him back in 1949, and locals greeted him with a solemn rally.

40. Just Garry Kasparov in Tula.

41. Finding relics Reverend Seraphim Sarovsky. Alexy II, elected patriarch back in 1990, leads the procession. Nizhny Novgorod, August 1, 1991.

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44. However, in the 90s, Nizhny Novgorod gained not only power, but also a new trolleybus line, which has been under construction since 1987 and connected Minin Square with Upper Pechery.

45. It is a pity that even then there were route PAZs in the city.

46. ​​Shop "Petushok" in Tver. An excerpt from a note in the Ogonyok magazine: “On Uritsky Street<...>usually attacked by the people "Cockerel" is free, quail eggs<...>Apparently, they are not in demand. By the way, in 1992 the street was returned historical name. Now this is Trekhsvyatskaya Street, and it is pedestrian.

47. Central market of Petrozavodsk. In the background you can see some kind of sign in Finnish.

48. Trade row with flowers. Seat boxes are an indispensable attribute of any market of those years.

49. Disney characters wish happiness to the children of Petrozavodsk. Cinema "Victory", August 1991.

50. The first President of Russia Boris Yeltsin on the K-456 Kasatka submarine, which was built at the Sevmash plant in Severodvinsk and commissioned in 1992. Now the cruiser (in 2011 renamed Tver) is part of Pacific Fleet.

51. Market signs continued to emerge. A tavern in the Gatchina district Leningrad region, 1991

52. Departing black marketeers at the Beryozka store on Vasilyevsky Island in (then) Leningrad, 1991.

53. Leningraders-Petersburgers (the historical name was returned to the city on September 6, 1991, but the law came into force the following year, 1992) meet Peter I in the Peter and Paul Fortress.

54. Cafe-bar moored to Hare Island.

55. Tourist bus Bristol Lodekka on St. Isaac's Square. They were discontinued in 1968.

56. Barricade of trolleybuses on St. Isaac's Square

57. In August 1991, Peter also actively rallied. The revolutionary past of the city taught people how to build barricades. These are near the Leningrad City Council building.

58. Peter vs. GKChP

59. Rally at the Leningrad City Council (Mariinsky Palace)

60. Rising Star of Democracy

61. Rising Star of Democracy

62. Palace Street was much more crowded.

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64. Slogans of democracy

65. Balloons on Palace

66. The line to the grocery store at the corner of Sadovaya and Gorokhovaya

67. A flea market on Sennaya. From the comments: “On the fence you can see the remnants of announcements about the exchange of housing, there was the most crowd of people who wanted to exchange housing.”

68. Public transport sometimes it was free.

69. Borey Art Center on Liteiny, established in 1991. Quote from the site: "Borey is a civic initiative brought to life by a group of like-minded people who aim to build a house of culture, the doors of which are open to artistic initiatives."

70. On the box there is an inscription North State - there was such a brand of cigarettes from the British company British American Tobacco.

71. At the Sennaya metro station, 1992. From the comments: “At about this time, the first shawarma appeared in St. Petersburg. There was about 50 people in line at the stall. Shawarma was new.” I will reassure the Muscovites: it is correct, of course, to say "shawarma".

72. Sennaya

74. A typical popular nickname for stores in the mid-80s - mid-90s is “glass”. This one was on Lunacharsky Avenue. St. Petersburg, 1992.

75. Private trade near Vladimirskaya metro station

76. The last days of Lenin at the Moscow railway station in St. Petersburg. In 1993 he was replaced by Peter I.

77. At the Udelnaya metro station, 1993

78. Amber merchants in Kaliningrad. In the background are monuments from two eras, Prussian and Soviet. Königsberg Cathedral in 1992 began to be restored and restored, albeit far from its original form. And the House of Soviets is still unfinished.


Most of the photos in this post are from the Pastview website. largest archive historical pictures.