ABSTRACT
Vladimir Gusarov, 20 years old, a good Komsomol member and son of a high-ranking Party official, described his life in the immediate post-war period in the following way:
The general mass of people was disciplined, obedient, even demure, but I did not want to think about why this was so and for what price this was achieved.… I had the first girlfriend of my life, we kissed in all sorts of places and my clothes were simply ravishing: I had acquired an American leather coat belonging to the collection of items that came with an American ‘Studebaker’ … and when I attracted strange looks then I attributed this to my personal extravagance and the eye-catching manner of my uninhibited lover. 1
