Like many Americans, Teddy judged the USSR through a consumer lens. What could Soviets buy? How much? And what was up with those long lines and shortages? Teddy wasn’t very impressed. Yet, the “standard of living race” was a front in the Cold War like any other. And Soviet communism was losing. But things were never so simple. By the late 1960s, Soviet people were consuming more than ever. They were becoming consumers just like in the West. So, what was it like to shop in the USSR? And was buying stuff part of the Soviet dream?

Teddy Goes to the USSR is written, edited and produced by Sean Guillory.

Thanks to Laura Belmonte, Dina Fainberg, Natalia Chernyshova and Don Raleigh for their participation. Special thanks to Teddy Roe for sharing his story, diary, and photographs.

Voice over by Gabe Kramer and Trevor Erlacher.

Music is by Blue Dot Sessions, Richie Everett, Kevin MacLeod and Eliot Holmes.

Funding for Teddy Goes to the USSR was provided by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies Center at the University of Pittsburgh and monthly patrons of the SRB Podcast.

If you want to learn more about Teddy’s trip and the Soviet Union go to the series website teddytoussr.com.

And if you’re enjoying Teddy Goes to the USSR, please consider becoming a patron of the SRB podcast so we can do more narrative audio. You can become a patron at https://www.patreon.com/seansrussiablog

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