Back in olden times, my neighbor went to Russia for a conference (he was a scientist type), and I knew his kid. After they got back from Russia, the kid showed me a sample of the TP they had to use there. It must have been the same as the "tracing paper" mentioned in this article. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, and he agreed that it was painful to use.
So, apparently it wasn't just England that had that problem.
They had toilet paper?! They must have been members of the Nomenklatura!.
Regular folks in Soviet Russia used old newspapers, cut into strips.
Regards,