Clients tattoo salons, nostalgic for a bygone era of the USSR, can choose a sketch of a natal drawing on the appropriate subject. Today such pictures most often attract the attention of the older generation. However, tattoos from the Soviet Union can also be found among young people, who have not had time to live in the Soviet state, but yearn for the former might of the country.
Tattoos in the Baraka Studio
Sign up for a free consultation
The Soviet Union tattoos represent both the Soviet Union inscription and some iconic images that refer to that era. Often they are also performed in the appropriate Soviet style. The tattoos worn by Soviet citizens had little color - three shades at most. The drawings of that time were primitive. On the whole, the Soviet tattoo was a conservative continuation of the old-school tradition.
When it comes to tattoos with an inscription, the word "USSR" is often used not as an independent unit, but as part of a phrase. It is found in body art, the bearers of which want to emphasize their belonging to this state. The most popular tattoos of this type are with the phrases "Born in the USSR" and "Made in the USSR".
Instead of choosing a sketch with the word "USSR", you can give preference to the one where it will be conveyed through the emblem. Of this category, the most common are tattoos with a sickle and hammer. According to one version, they became widespread during Stalin's times. Prisoners tattooed a hammer heart in the heart area, believing it would save them from death. It was believed that no one would risk shooting at such an image. Today, this tattoo is still popular in the underworld. When a prisoner's body is inscribed with a hammer and sickle and crossed bones above them, the drawing means suffering for principles. However, the main emblem of the USSR has a more "peaceful" meaning. The sickle and hammer can be inscribed as a reference to the Soviet era, a symbol of the powerful productivity of labor.
The emblem of the USSR is also often chosen for a tattoo. This is a possible subject of a patriotic body painting for someone who was born in the Soviet Union, or whose parents were its citizens. In general, any coat of arms depicted on a tattoo emphasizes the wearer's commitment to the national tradition of the homeland. However, often such heraldic designs become elements of prison tattoos, and there is a criminal meaning to the Soviet symbol as well. The image of the Union emblem against a background of crossed bones and with initials on ribbons used to denote membership in a criminal clan.
All objects posted on the site, including design elements, text, graphics, illustrations, video, and other objects, as well as any content posted on the site are the exclusive rights of BARAKA LLC, and other rights holders. Full or partial copying, modification, compilation, translation, digital transformation and other actions with the site materials are possible only by agreement with BARAKA LLC with obligatory placing of an active link to the site.
Given both the external and internal isolation of tattoo art in the Soviet Union until the 1980s, tattooing evolved from older variations of European tattoos, changing under the influence of customers. "Old-school," performed with a minimum of detail, can be compared to the current home tattoo style. In those days, tattoo artists assembled machines with their own hands from improvised materials, and instead of the paint we are accustomed to, they used office ink or burnt heel and, pardon my rudeness, urine.
"Notions" with a human face
In the first decades of Soviet power, the caste division of the criminal community was very strict. The owner of an "off-duty" tattoo could be severely punished, up to and including death.
Gradually, morals, like in the rest of society, softened, and the final "liberalization" occurred with the end of the Soviet system and its cultural taboos. The first legal tattoo salons were opened, and the wide masses stretched for a until recently half-forbidden decoration. All sorts of drawings were made, including ones that had prison implications. Then someone from the new-made owners of "beautiful pictures" got to a prison, and there he was puzzled with the information that he had chosen the drawing inappropriate. This could end sadly.
Historical Summary
A tattoo in a Soviet prison is not just a drawing, it is a highly detailed language that has a huge number of symbols and whose meaning in not-so-distant circles, is very easily explained. According to some reports, there were between 25 and 30 million inmates with tattoos from the '60s through the '90s, and such numbers are nothing short of impressive. The largest compilation of tattoos from Soviet prisons, saw the light of day after the collapse of the USSR and has over 3,000 images (Russian Criminal Tattoo).
Tattoos to Be Wary of: What Criminal Tattoos Mean (18 PHOTOS)
The criminal subculture has long been widespread in Russia - first via Soviet camps, which representatives of all walks of life went through without exception, and then thanks to the "wild 90s" with their gangster wars and blatnoy romance. It was only with the onset of the noughties that this fashion went down, although to this day its manifestations can still be found here and there.
One of the most notable manifestations of this subculture were the criminal tattoos that covered the bodies of people returning from the zone in great numbers. "Smart Journal looked into the "artistic life" of the prison inmates and found out how it has changed over time.
Similar Flags
The red flag or the hammer and sickle symbols individually are used on many symbols in other countries. These are:
- political organizations
- Communist Party of China;
Communist Party of China
- Communist Party of Vietnam;
Communist Party of Vietnam
- The National Bolshevik Party of the Russian Federation;
National Bolshevik Party of the Russian Federation Flag CPRF Flag of Turkey Flag of the People's Republic of China Contemporary Flag of Vietnam Flag of Morocco
What exactly can't be stabbed?
However, there are always exceptions to the rules. So it's still not a good idea for an ordinary person to stuff himself with something "poncey" from the criminal repertoire. At least not without a willingness to explain to real criminals what you meant by it.
There are classic criminal tattoos that communicate specific information about their owner. Such designs include, in particular, those indicating the length of time served in prison or the number of "walks". For example, shackles around limbs symbolize five years behind bars, with one shackle for each.
And the famous golden domes can signify both the number of years in confinement and "walks."
At the same time, the crosses on the domes are imposed when a person has served his term in full, so that questions arise automatically for a person with bare domes. The same meaning - "sat from bell to bell" - is given by the image of the bells.
One of the most popular prison tattoos is the so-called "thieves' stars. In Soviet times they could only be worn by criminals, who tattooed eight-pointed patterns on their collarbones or knees. The first meant, "I'll never wear a shoulder strap," the second, "I'll never kneel in front of cops."
Since then, the status of this pattern has fallen somewhat, and it can also be found on ordinary convicts. But it still shouldn't be abused, because the message behind it is quite definite - at the very least, a refusal to cooperate with the authorities.
A similar meaning, only with a more aggressive meaning, has the so-called "grin". It is an image of a predatory animal "grinning at the authorities. It implies hatred for its representatives and a readiness for violent acts against them.
Funny enough, even the internet's favorite "kitties" are not the safest choice for a tattoo. According to the tradition among prisoners to turn any word into an abbreviation, "KOT" means "native inhabitant of the prison," and the image of the furry animal thieves have been used to put on their bodies since the middle of the last century.
There are also other interesting associations with the specific specialization of the criminal. For example, the image of a man writing with a quill on parchment ("scribe") means a thief who perfectly wields a knife and other sharp objects.
And pecked on the skin card "joker" indicates, understandably, a gambler. With whom it is better not to gamble.
A sign of quality in the tattoo culture.
It is now believed that all goods produced in the USSR are of the highest quality. This opinion is largely due to the fact that Soviet goods last much longer than modern products (although the latter favorably differ in design).
No wonder ambitious people often opt for this symbol when getting a tattoo. So they are trying to emphasize their superiority over others and prove to everyone that they are worthy of the heights to which they aspire. In addition, the tattoo is an indicator of age. Millennials, those born under the Soviet system but who were born into the dawn of the digital age in their youth, or the elderly, get it on. Those born in the 2000s and later choose other tattoos not marked by nostalgia for the Soviet era.
For a long time tattoos with a quality sign were considered prison, but nowadays, like many other features of this subculture, they are not always unambiguously correlated to the source medium.
See about the choice of tattoo
Interesting Facts
Often modern young people choose a sketch depicting the quality mark of the USSR, which is a modified to a pentagon five-pointed star - the heraldic symbol of the USSR. In this figure is inscribed the capital letter K - "Quality", tucked sideways.
It was assumed that the symbol inscribed in the pentagon has at least three meanings:
- scale (accuracy);
- quality;
- Man (as the highest value).
Some sources argue that this symbol has a clear connection with the pentagram or ideogram, which are designed to protect people from evil and adversity. Although it is unlikely that this meaning was meant in Soviet times.
The quality label was introduced in 1967 to encourage production. Slightly less than half a century later, the Russian analogue of this mark appeared, not distinguished by such a variety of meanings.
For example, "Vesna" TV sets, "Pobeda" wristwatches, "Verkhovina" mopeds and others were marked with the cherished pentagon. The electric motor was the first to receive this honor. It was also possible to see the quality mark on food products (stewed meat, condensed milk, etc.). Although, as it always happens, later they began to put the mark even on low-quality goods.
Domes instead of chiefs
Despite all the conservatism of prison life, it too has changed over time, obeying the general course of history. This is also reflected in tattoos. With the end of the Soviet regime the political motifs in the prisoners' body art decreased. For several decades before that, anti-communist themes had been one of the predominant ones in the criminal world.
It got to the point that all sorts of Nazi symbols began to enjoy great popularity, not because the convicts were ardent admirers of Hitler and his party, but simply because of their anti-Soviet orientation. Echoes of this fashion for swastikas and anti-Semitism can still be found today.
However, with the end of communist ideology the image of the enemy lost its clarity. The power that replaced the Soviets is difficult to portray in any particular way. The criminal world in general became apolitical, and the fight against the regime was replaced by religion - the same golden domes, pleasing to the soul. As, by the way, Muslim motifs among the convicts of the corresponding denomination.
Alexander Sidorov, an expert on prison subculture, discusses new trends in the world of criminal art: "In addition to the classic prison tattoos there are those that have come into vogue recently. Inscriptions in foreign languages, aphorisms from French, English, and German are very popular today. Latin, winged phrases from ancient Greece and ancient Rome are also popular" .
In addition to expanding linguistic horizons, new vices unfamiliar to the Soviet man also influenced prison drawings.
"New criminal tattoos appear very rarely. The only exception I have encountered is the image of a syringe. This is the traditional sign of drug addicts. Recently there has been a fashion to put a letter next to it indicating the specific drug the person has been using," Sidorov said. Sidorov said.
