Soviet culture

Soviet culture refers to the arts, customs, values, and social practices that developed in the Soviet Union from 1917 to 1991.

The term encompasses official state-promoted culture—socialist realism in art and literature, collective values over individualism, atheism, and glorification of workers and the state—as well as the everyday practices, humor, and underground expressions that emerged under that system.

The film captures Soviet culture in its twilight years.

Today the phrase often evokes specific aesthetics: brutalist architecture, propaganda posters, communal apartments, and a distinctive blend of optimism and cynicism.