"Soviet Retro Visions: How Soviets Imagined the Year 2017 in 1960

What were the expectations of the Soviet Union’s citizens regarding life in the year 2017?

In 1960, the Soviet film studio “Diafilm” presented a filmstrip titled “In the Year 2017,” crafted by V. Strukova and V. Shevchenko. This cinematic creation envisioned a portrayal of the U.S.S.R. 57 years into the future.

Comprising 45 panels, this filmstrip is a blend of spectacular fantasy and a reflection of its era.

In the Strukova and Shevchenko rendition of 2017, it’s the Western “imperialists” who have self-destructed, while the Soviet Union has achieved remarkable scientific prowess.

In this vision, “atomic trains” gracefully traverse the Bering Strait, and airborne power stations exert control over global weather patterns.

The narrative even delves into the Soviet Union’s 1960s fascination with “meson energy,” a theoretical form of atomic energy later dismissed as unattainable.

“In the Year 2017” not only portrays a future world shaped by Soviet scientific prowess but also weaves the story of a young boy and his family.

How Russians Imagined the Year 2017 in 1960

“In the Year 2017” by V. Strukova and V. Shevchenko, illustrated by L. Smekhov, produced by the Diafilm studio in 1960.

How Russians Imagined the Year 2017 in 1960

Who isn’t worried by questions about the future? What will it be like? Who doesn’t want a glance at the next century? Reading science-fiction books, and learning about new scientific research and bold new engineering plans, you can paint yourself a picture of the future.

How Russians Imagined the Year 2017 in 1960

And here are those students in 2017 in a school cinema hall. This “time loop” special cinema device allows them to view how the new face of their country was created.

How Russians Imagined the Year 2017 in 1960

The children hear the voice of the narrator: “And here is the dam across the Bering Strait. Do you see what’s whizzing over it? Atomic-powered trains. The dam blocked the cold water currents from the Arctic Ocean and the climate in the Far East improved.

How Russians Imagined the Year 2017 in 1960

“And then, the earth surface kind of melted away, and you could see what was happening in the bowels of the earth. In the depths of volcanos, underground boat-moles made out of special heat-resistant steel were ripping mines towards eternal sources of energy.”

How Russians Imagined the Year 2017 in 1960

Then in the film, the Earth itself disappears. In outer space, almost at the speed of light, photon interstellar rocketships set off for the nearest and faraway planetary system, Alpha Centauri.

How Russians Imagined the Year 2017 in 1960

When the cinema show has ended, the geography teacher, Nikolai Borisovich, reminds the class that tomorrow’s lesson will be a field trip to the underground city of Uglegrad, located in the Arctic Circle.

How Russians Imagined the Year 2017 in 1960

The next morning, Igor is awakened by a light flick across the nose by a wall clock invented by his father as a joke. Igor’s father works as one of the dispatchers in the Central Institute for Weather Control.

We meet a young boy named Igor in the strip, whose father works in weather control.

Weather control, of course, was something that both the United States and the Soviet Union obsessed over during the Cold War as a potential weapon.

Through the slides we see Igor inserting an “instruction note” into the computerized kitchen, which makes his breakfast.

After the machine reads the instructions, “automatic scoopers measure out what’s needed, and special knives quickly chop vegetables.”

How Russians Imagined the Year 2017 in 1960

Mother isn’t in the kitchen, but she’s left behind a note — it’s a task for the culinary smart machine. “My favorite breakfast!” the boy exclaims, reading it.

How Russians Imagined the Year 2017 in 1960

Igor carefully starts the contraption and inserts the instruction note. Fulfilling the order, invisible beams probe the contours of the letters on the note, automatic scoopers measure out what’s needed, and special knives quickly chop vegetables.

How Russians Imagined the Year 2017 in 1960

How Russians Imagined the Year 2017 in 1960

Next, Mother looks in from the screen of a televideo-phone. She’s standing on the deck of a motor ship. This is where her youngest children go to kindergarten. “Did you manage okay with breakfast?” mother asks, smiling.

How Russians Imagined the Year 2017 in 1960

“Are you … in the Black Sea?” Igor asks, surprised. “I’m here for work,” she says. “I’m inspecting the Black Sea’s floating kindergartens, and I also dropped in on ours. Call Dad and tell him I won’t be home until tomorrow.”

How Russians Imagined the Year 2017 in 1960

A half hour later, Igor was already far from the capital. The Arctic greets the newcomers with a wild blizzard. Local workers surround the Muscovites.

How Russians Imagined the Year 2017 in 1960

A hatchway opens before the students, and a wide row of escalators takes them down below.

How Russians Imagined the Year 2017 in 1960

Then everyone goes for a ride through the streets of Uglegrad. The air is filled with the subtle scent of linden trees. Glancing at people, tanning on the beach beneath the quartz lights, it’s hard to believe that there is a blizzard raging above.

How Russians Imagined the Year 2017 in 1960

On the outskirts, huge steel combines drill into the earth. Uglegrad’s head engineer, Vladislav Ivanovich, tells the school children all about the city’s fascinating work.

How Russians Imagined the Year 2017 in 1960

“Here, beneath the earth, an eternal spring reigns,” he says with pride. “But the volatile weather up above interrupts our schedule for shipping out what we produce.”

How Russians Imagined the Year 2017 in 1960

“For now, flying delivery stations are only operational temporarily,” Vladislav Ivanovich explains, “and creating the conditions for the uninterrupted delivery of goods is possible only using an intercity metro through the entire Arctic.”

How Russians Imagined the Year 2017 in 1960

Here is a model of the new construction for the earther; it’s as fast as a drilling machine. This earther will work using the new meson energy, which will double excavation speeds.”

How Russians Imagined the Year 2017 in 1960

“But the flying stations have a bright future in weather control. A person will be in an office and push a radio-control button, and a machine will fly to a place and put out a hurricane, eliminating a storm.”

How Russians Imagined the Year 2017 in 1960

Meanwhile, back at the Central Institute for Weather Control, where Igor’s father works, there’s dire news. “We’ve just been informed,” the head meteorologist says, “that the last remaining imperialists, hiding on a remote island, have tested a banned meson weapon. During the test, there was an explosion of unprecedented strength, which destroyed the entire island and simultaneously created atmospheric disturbances around the planet.

How Russians Imagined the Year 2017 in 1960

How Russians Imagined the Year 2017 in 1960

“The explosion in the South Pacific Ocean is causing terrible hurricanes and windstorms. We need to start rescuing people immediately!” the head meteorologist says decisively. “Is our flying station ready?”

How Russians Imagined the Year 2017 in 1960

Evgeny Sergeyevich, Igor’s father, thinks, his mind burning with a terrifying thought: ships, floating kindergartens, and, there, his wife, and Nina, and Vitya… The hurricane was drawing nearer with every minute. And his weather station still hadn’t been outfitted with radio control.

How Russians Imagined the Year 2017 in 1960

“We’re going to ask permission to evacuate people using the weather control station,” says the head meteorologist. “We’ll fly there ourselves. Of course, we’ll be risking our lives, but we have to save the children, the sailors, and the ships.”

How Russians Imagined the Year 2017 in 1960

Permission is granted. And outside the windows of the flying weather station, mountainous watery pillars are already crashing down. They reach the very clouds themselves.

How Russians Imagined the Year 2017 in 1960

On the television screen in the station, an image of the Black Sea coast flashes. A gigantic tornado rips off the roofs on homes, tearing apart a century-old village.

How Russians Imagined the Year 2017 in 1960

The head meteorologist lowers black glass over the windshield. Technicians man the control panel. A blast of light then cuts into their eyes, even through the black glass… The station radiates waves of invisible meson energy. The emissions battle the tornadoes.

How Russians Imagined the Year 2017 in 1960

When, at last, the station stops emitting meson energy, and the black glass is raised, and the tornadoes, as if by magic, have vanished. The flying weather station had saved hundreds of people.

How Russians Imagined the Year 2017 in 1960

How Russians Imagined the Year 2017 in 1960

Back in the capital, despite dark skies, the people prepare to celebrate. There is extraordinary excitement in the streets. Muscovites go around snatching newspapers from each other, reading about the latest accomplishments of Soviet science in weather control.

How Russians Imagined the Year 2017 in 1960

When the weather station returns to Moscow, the men are hailed as heroes, having used their weather control powers to save hundreds of lives.

How Russians Imagined the Year 2017 in 1960

When Igor’s father lands and exits the flying weather station, he gives his son the longest hug of their lives.

How Russians Imagined the Year 2017 in 1960

That evening, Evgeny Sergeyevich turns on the televideo-phone and places a call to the “Kakhetiya” ship. His wife then smiles from the screen, and Nina stands near her, shouting, “Daddy, we had such a warm, warm little rain today!”

The family has been brought back together, albeit virtually, through videophone communication at this moment.

In the auspicious year of 2017, the catastrophic weather consequences of the imperialist weapon have been successfully managed.

Nevertheless, it is reasonable to assume that remnants of the capitalist movement may still persist, signifying the importance of maintaining vigilance.

(Photo credit: Diafilm / V. Strukova and V. Shevchenko via Moscow Times).