[Monterrosa-24]

“...Russians in the 80’s would stand in line for several hours so they could be allowed to buy a rationed amount of meat, or toilet paper...”

Not even Communist Party members had toilet paper in Russia in the 1980s. They used paper from Party Congress reports and so forth. People would see a line and get in it knowing some food commodity had come in.

[gigster]

Russians in the 80's would stand in line for several hours so they could be allowed to buy... I remember this very clearly. I used to study the Soviet Union back in the eighties until their dysfunctional totalitarian system crumbled. They used to carry around bags that they could use if they found somes goods or food to buy. I don't know the exact russian word for the bag, but translated, it was a: "Just-in- case bag"