No Souvenirs

Buying souvenirs is always the last thing I get to. I'm so behind that when I was in Finland I bought this small collection of Soviet badges to make up for a trip I did way back in the 1990s. Not having much of a clue in Russian I'm only guessing what they're about.

This first one is obviously about the Olympics and is very topical when there's a lot of talk about not mixing politics and sport. The 1980 games were boycotted by the United States and more than 20 other nations. More than 10 European nations competed but used the Olympic flag instead of their own to protest the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan.

This next stern-faced character reminded me of Maggie Thatcher, but it was common to produce 'celebrity' badges though usually they were writers or composers:

Here's a cheerful representation of Soviet space glory or perhaps synchronised swimming in space suits: And finally a tribute to the armoured car:

Weird to think that while Western youth were wearing Tears for Fears pins, Soviet kids had images of party hacks or great Soviet achievements. I'm thinking of making these into t-shirts because they seem so sober and iconic. Then these badges would have gone full circle and Soviet propaganda will finally rule in the West.