Looking for good documentation about daily life under Stalinist USSR

Question

I am contemplating the idea of making a role playing game set in USSR under Stalin, specifically the period between when he gained full power (roughly 1930) and operation barbarossa (June 1941).

I am looking not only for documentation about the politics and famous figures, but also the daily life, immersive elements like what people wore, ate, did during free time (if any), layman political activity like mandatory lectures, incorporation of new technologies, etc...

I realise the topic is mindnumbingly broad, but any start of a thread is appreciated.

Answer 1

On my opinion, the best description of daily life can be obtained from some Russian fiction. Especially I recommend the short stories of Michail Zoshchenko (many of them are translated into English). Zoshchenko was enormously popular with Soviet people whose daily life he described, but was persecuted by the authorities at the later stage of his life. Other excellent authors were Andrei Platonov and Michail Bulgakov. They describe the life from different points of view: Platonov was a Communist, while Zoshchenko and Bulgakov were not. Children of Arbat by Anatoly Rybakov is also recommended, though he wrote in a later period.

Of non-fiction, I can recommend Orlando Figues, Natasha's Dance.

Answer 2

The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, is a pretty good source. Some even claim this book was key to bringing down the soviet union. see here, and here.

Aleksander was an Artillery commander in the soviet army during WWII. He wrote a letter to a friend that was critical of how the government was running the war, and shortly there after found himself under arrest and off to the Gulag.

He writes extensively about his experience before and after his arrest. He also includes a large number of stories of other peoples lives in the soviet union as well.

I highly recommend it. You can find it on amazon.