In the 1950s, a subculture in the Soviet Union popped up, wearing bright colors, high-soled shoes, jamming to American style music and dance. But who were the sitlyagi and how well did they emulate American culture from across the Atlantic and the Iron Curtain? Inspired by the 2008 hit Russian film "Stilyagi" by Valery Todorovsky.

1. Dancing
on
bones
an hipsters and A merican realities
Russi
d uring the height of the Cold War

2. 1955

3. Stalin had just died.
A power struggle sparked between Georgi Malenkov (in
white), Nikita Khrushchev (left of Stalin) and Vyacheslav
Molotov (with mustache).

4. The CIA was a new organization and
embarrassingly inept.
Without ears in the Kremlin or among
Russia's elite, most of their intel was usually
old, unsubstantiated gossip.

5. They were often caught off-guard.
Like on February 8, 1955.

6. Pro-West Georgi
Malenkov, considered
a shoe-in for Premier
by Western powers...

7. Pro-West Georgi
Malenkov, considered
a shoe-in for Premier
by Western powers...
...was ousted, unanimously, by the
Presidium.

8. Khrushchev was not
Premier yet, but the
United States righty
suspected him to be
the muscle behind
Malenkov's ousting.

9. "Although
suspicious of
capitalists,
[Khrushchev]
wanted to
believe they
were capable of
change."
--Aleksandr Fursenko and Timothy
Naftali in Khruchev's Cold War
(page 24)

10. To: Kondrad Adenauer From: John Foster Dulles
“...The present policies of the
Soviet Union are born not out of its
strength, but out of its weakness;
not out of its successes, but out of
its failures."

11. In other words, the Americans
weren't going to change.
They had the technological
upperhand and they knew it.
Khrushchev would play to this
sentiment during his own term.

13. “ We should increase
the pressure…
If we don’t have
a meniscus, we
let the enemy live
peacefully.

14. Many aspects of American and Western
culture were restricted to the ordinary
Soviet citizen.
Even American music, jazz, was illegal.
But… who were these folks?

15. Stilyagi
стиляги

17. The term "stilyagi" first appeared in
1945, from the humorist magazine,
Krokadil.
It referred to a person who danced
the foxtrot or tango.
The stilyagi sense of fashion
was quite scandalous to Soviet
sensibilities

18. the anatomy
— of a —
Hipster

19. sTILYAGI sLANG
Hipster dude
chuvak/chuvika
hat
shlyapa (actual)
hetok
to look
smotret (actual)
lykat

20. This is
where all
the cool
kids hung
out
(Cocktail Hall)

21. Every ma jor city in the Soviet
Union had a "Broadway" where
the stilyagi would chill
Moscow: Gorkii/Tverskaya Baku: Torgovaya Street
Street
Tashkent: Karl Marx/
Leningrad: Nevskii Prospekt Saiyolgokh Street
Kazan: Baymana Street Odessa: Aeribasovskaya
Nizhnii Novgorod: Bol'shaya Alma-At: The park around
Pokrovskaya Kalinina/Kabanbai Street
Perm: Komsomol'skii Prospekt

22. Music was the defining feature of the
stilyagi.
They listened to jazz, boogie-woogie, swing
and eventually rock-n-roll.
Stilyagi would "import" their music from
less restrictive satellites on disgarded
X-ray plates.

23. «na kostyakh»
"on bones"

24. There were too many stilyagi to
oppress and force out of society.
The Soviet government resorted to…

25. 1 Propoganda films

26. 2 Public mockery in newsprint
like Pravda

27. 3 The youth
communist group,
the Komsomsol,
who often raided
their jam sessions

29. Today he plays jazz,
tomorrow he sells his home!

30. "Stilyagi"
2008
"There are no
hipsters
in America.”

31. So what was
going on in
America during
the 1950s?

32. Teenagers!

33. Teenagers!
e the b aby boom ers
these ar

34. "Adolescence"
is not a new
concept in
society.
But what
American teens
had, that no one
else did until that
point, was buying
power.

35. "Adolescence"
was not a new
concept in
society.
But what
American teens
had, that no one
else did until
that point, was
buying power.

36. In 1944, it was estimated that teenagers’
spending capacity was $750 million

37. Teen girls,
like now,
were
especially
influential in
the economy
of 1945.

38. In 1944, two million men between 18
and 35 had been drafted.

39. Girls were unmarried and had their
own sources of income

40. This is a picture
from what
would be called
the "Columbus
Day Riot," when
35,000 teen
girls shut down
Time Square
by refusing
to leave the
theaters
showing Frank
Sinatra's newest
films.

41. Seventeen Magazine was the first
product released targeted to the
teenage demographic

42. Teenagers have always disagreed with
their parents.

43. But the backlash
of American
parents to the
developing
"teeange
culture" was
staggering and
unprecidented.

45. RE YE S!
ERTYOU
AV

46. “The youth
of the world
today is
touched with
madness,
literally
sick with an
aberrant
condition of
mind.”
—Psychologist Robert Linder

47. It should come as no surprise then, that when
American soldiers returned home, seeking normalcy
and safety, the 1950s became a decade known for its
rules and stiff regulations

48. A teen recalls the strict rules:

49. Boy's hair touching the ears wasn't allowed, often punishable by
expulsion from school.
Most girls weren't allowed to wear pants, and boys weren't allowed to
wear blue jeans.
Stanford University prohibited the wearing of jeans in public during the
1950s.
The new slang—hipster talk—was part African American, part beatnik
and part street gang... an offensive combination in the eyes of the status
quo.
There was alarm about teens dating and "heavy petting." Any talk about
sex was taboo and could be punishable.
Many parents were worried about their daughters adoring black rock
musicians, fearing the possibility of racial commingling.
Hot rods were considered dangerous. All it took was a few fatal
accidents and the other 99% of the custom cars and hot rods were
considered a menace to public safety.
• Dancing to rock'n'roll music was often banned, with school and teen
dances shut down.

50. In a touch of irony...
American-styled hipsters in Russia
were suppressed for espousing non-
Soviet values
and
American teenagers, in general,
were suppressed by their superiors
for being different and "wild."

51. Meanwhile...
...back in Moscow

52. The stilyagi would eventually lose
its foothold as the Soviet Union
opened under Khrushchev.
The ban on jazz was dropped by
1957.
And later that year, the sixth Youth
and Students Festival was hosted in
Moscow.

53. outh
ld Festival of Y
at the 6th Wor
O pening Ceremonies s, Moscow 195
7
and Student

54. c ame. Young
0 countries
pe opl e from 13 l concerts.
34,000
ded jazz an d rock-n-rol
peopl e floo

55. In 1959, Khrushchev
made a trip to
the United States,
which a quick
stop at Disneyland
(cancelled last minute
due to uncertainty
concerning his safety
in such a large,
summer crowd).

56. As Russia became more exposed
to the West, the new Russian youth
saw no need to be as obnoxious as
the stilyagi.

57. h ed stil ya gi
And the ol der, establis
.
sim pl y grew up

58. he
.. from t
st il ya gi. bcultu
re
The ussian
su
g,
w s ere a R re in slan
0 ica n cultu tened to on
40s-6 raced Amer h the y lis
b ic
em d music, wh s. rreste
d
an te es a
dress X- ra y pla nd sometim
disg arded acized
a
str
were o
American te
eangers...
were a eco
nomic force
by older gen , feared
erations
drove th
e world's po
culture. Wh a pular
t the y wante
Holl ywood g d,
ave and exp
orted.

59. Th anks!
Questions?
Comments?
Find me at:
insearchofrussia.wordpress.com

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