someone could do an entire doctoral dissertation on this
August 17, 2021 10:32 AM   Subscribe

The Soviet Union is out of business and GORBY'S LOSS IS YOUR GAIN!!! posted by theodolite (22 comments total) 11 users marked this as a favorite
 
Seriously, doctoral dissertation needs to happen, I want to know how Barq's went along acquiring all these!

Obligatory: "These belong in a museum!"

Totally classless ad but also hilarious.
posted by deadaluspark at 10:39 AM on August 17, 2021


I never knew about this and now I am sad to have missed it.

Who says you can live life without regrets?
posted by meinvt at 10:52 AM on August 17, 2021 [1 favorite]


I absolutely remember the "so quit Stalin" gag from back in the day
posted by COBRA! at 12:03 PM on August 17, 2021 [2 favorites]


Das Kapitalism goes straight to your brain!
posted by Nanukthedog at 12:20 PM on August 17, 2021


Ah, man- Hero of Socialist Labor? Again?

I wanted the Order of Lenin!
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 12:23 PM on August 17, 2021 [5 favorites]


> Seriously, doctoral dissertation needs to happen, I want to know how Barq's went along acquiring all these!

Warehouses in Russia (and the Ukraine and etc.) were dumping the stuff just to be rid of them; the regime was over and if Americans were willing to buy them and haul them off for more than their melt value, then let the Americans have 'em!

There was a period, from '89 through just before the mid-90s, when it was pretty common to see people selling Soviet medals, watches, and kniknacks at flea markets and random other places. Not just in big cities, there were guys hitchhiking the country, funding their trip with the stuff, spreading blankets on street corners or public parks to make a few bucks. The ones I met were usually Russian or Russian-American and had connections for getting things cheap, but other people were just willing to ante up for a pallet's worth and tried wholesaling them. By the late 90s Soviet military goods and electronics were available direct from Russia through Ebay.
posted by ardgedee at 12:47 PM on August 17, 2021 [4 favorites]


Isn't that how the statue of Lenin in Seattle ended up there?
posted by acb at 1:21 PM on August 17, 2021 [1 favorite]


Last month I was in Las Vegas visiting a friend and while wandering through one of the city’s apparently endless supply of mall-casinos I passed the shell of a Russian-themed bar called Red Square, outside of which was a towering, headless statue of (I believe) Soviet Premier Lenin.

I had already developed an inkling of Las Vegas and its role as America’s Vaes Dothrak, but that really cemented it for me.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 1:21 PM on August 17, 2021


I remember visiting Berlin just after the wall had gone down (Pink Floyd were setting up to play The Wall at the wall) - there were still soviet troops, just about to leave, they were selling hats, medals, etc to tourists
posted by mbo at 1:27 PM on August 17, 2021 [1 favorite]


not trying to be an ass, but when I see "Soviet Premier Lenin" it's a bit like seeing "Head of the Disciples, Jesus"

I've only ever seen "Lenin," one of those single names that is sufficient. And yet another opportunity to mention that "Goodbye Lenin" is a movie worth watching, lovely little film.
posted by elkevelvet at 1:36 PM on August 17, 2021 [3 favorites]


(Pink Floyd were setting up to play The Wall at the wall)

I just missed you! They were tearing the stage down, and a bunch of Americans were poking around at some concrete and rebar sticking out of the ground, supposedy Hitler's bunker but who's to say? Heady times!
posted by Meatbomb at 1:54 PM on August 17, 2021 [1 favorite]


Seriously, doctoral dissertation needs to happen, I want to know how Barq's went along acquiring all these!


Well, Pepsi bartered for a soviet naval fleet. A few decorative pins seems like a bad deal in comparion.
posted by pwnguin at 3:16 PM on August 17, 2021 [2 favorites]


I just missed you! - well we left before they played - though I did see the best concert ever while we were there - double bill of Sinead O'Conner and Midnight Oil at the height of their popularity
posted by mbo at 3:35 PM on August 17, 2021


So this is why they’re back and out for blood. I assumed it was territory and resources.
posted by maniabug at 4:42 PM on August 17, 2021


I've only ever seen "Lenin," one of those single names that is sufficient.

I am the Walrus.
posted by deadaluspark at 5:19 PM on August 17, 2021


there were guys hitchhiking the country, funding their trip with the stuff, spreading blankets on street corners or public parks to make a few bucks. The ones I met were usually Russian or Russian-American and had connections for getting things cheap,

Some five years earlier I knew someone from here in Canada who funded a trip behind the Iron Curtain by packing essentially his toothbrush, a couple of changes of underwear and nothing else but Levi's jeans and copies of The White Album*. He was the first person I knew to come back from a lengthy trip with more money than he left with.

*I think this is known as a trade balance.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:14 PM on August 17, 2021 [5 favorites]


And for what it's worth, I pinched his idea in the early nineties: I was headed to the Middle East for a while and I learned that consumer electronics were shockingly expensive in Israel. I worked for Sony for a year and a half and before I left I bought a bunch of Walkmans with the employee discount, then sold them for a staggering return on the black market in Tel Aviv. Yes, this is how I spent my 25th birthday. It funded the rest of my trip.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:21 PM on August 17, 2021 [5 favorites]


Пепси, без кока-колы.

I still have a Lenin pin and one of those light blue air force badges.
posted by clavdivs at 11:58 PM on August 17, 2021


Somewhere I have one of these badges (hammer and sickle on a red star surrounded by a wreath). I know I picked it up at a flea-market in the 90s. I'm just not sure if that market was in Turkey or Western Europe. I suspect Amsterdam, but fuck - that's a long time ago.
posted by pompomtom at 7:30 AM on August 18, 2021


Hah, we missed a chance to see The Wall concert in Berlin by a day, didn't even know it had happened until afterwards...

We had a bunch of enamel pins of random Czech/Polish/Russian sports-clubs/car-rallies back then. Not so much military stuff but I remember seeing them.
posted by ovvl at 7:55 AM on August 18, 2021 [1 favorite]


Well, I thought this was a parody ad! lol.
posted by storybored at 8:02 AM on August 18, 2021


Operation Odessa covers the fire sale era of ex-Soviet Russia as well. Worth watching.
posted by Sauce Trough at 11:25 AM on August 18, 2021


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