I guess I just always assumed that once the Communists came to power in Russia and the rest of what became the USSR, any holiday not linked directly to the Communist Party ceased to exist. But lo and behold, I stumbled upon a Flickr set of postcards from the Soviet Union celebrating New Year’s, some of them dating back to the 1930s.

What I find most fascinating about these cards is how for the most part they look like they could have come from the West. Most of them feature images of idyllic forest scenes, cityscapes, and smiling children. The more overt Soviet stuff pops up in the cards from the ’60s, which I’ll feature in the next post on this series.

Let’s look at some cards, and as they say in Russia, С Новым годом! (Happy New Year!)

1953

1954

1955

1956

1957

1958

1959

(All card scans courtesy Flickr user katya.)

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