Russia’s “New” 1957 Etiquette Guide

One of the hardest things to lay hands on in Moscow today is a little book with the misleading title, "For Healthy Living," issued by the "Society for Dissemination of Political and Scientific Knowledge.” Had it been published in the United States it would have been called “Good Manners” or “Etiquette.” It is hard to get because it is so popular.

Russians Get First Etiquette Guide

MOSCOW - One of the hardest things to lay hands on in Moscow today is a little book with the misleading title, “For Healthy Living,” issued by the “Society for Dissemination of Political and Scientific Knowledge.” Had it been published in the United States it would have been called “Good Manners” or “Etiquette.” It is hard to get because it is so popular.

It is the closest thing the Russians have come to Emily Post and they preface it with a note that while bourgeois manners are only a shrewd cover-up for a “mans true face,” the manners of the Soviet man “reveal his great inner culture.”

For example:

• On eating: “Some think that a guest should eat as little as possible. Nothing could be more contrary to good manners. When visiting, just as at home, satisfy your appetite.”
• On dress: "Men may wear pajamas about the house, but only with a shirt underneath. Pajamas are never to be worn at the table when guests are present."
• One of the curious things about this country is that Russian men use their pajamas for almost anything but sleeping. They serve as lounging clothes on long train trips and as that “little something you throw on” to go to the corner store for the morning newspaper.
• On drinking: “Women should not drink vodka, cognac or other strong spirits. There ought to be red wine on the table for them.” This may fall on deaf ears. Ever since the war the girls have been a pretty fair match at comradely toasts with their male companions.
• “Drinking at the table is not compulsory. If you don't want to drink a lot and many toasts are proposed, sip just a little from your glass.” All well and good, but what about the hearty practice in the Soviet Union of bottoms up? To decline a toast is to insult one’s friends.
• On manners, in public: “While talking with someone, there is no need to nudge his arm, slap him on the shoulders or touch the buttons of his jacket.”
• On dancing: “Refrain from gesturing with your free hand and assuming affected poses. Such affectations immediately betray a man's ill taste.”
• On relations with ladies: “Men must never make the acquaintance of a woman without her permission.”
• “When walking with a lady friend, don't leave her alone while you chat with a passing acquaintance. Otherwise she may abandon you.”

Even as in the bourgeois West. – By Collette Blackmoore, UP Staff Correspondent, 1957

🍽Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia