Moscow Graffiti: Language and Subculture

First Published in 1990, Moscow Graffiti is a unique and unprecedented look at the graffiti that began to appear for the first time on the walls of Moscow and other Soviet cities in the late 1970s. John Bushnell first traces the social and cultural changes that fostered the emergence of a multifaceted Soviet subculture and the appearance of graffiti. He explains the common graffiti argot of Russian slang, English, and pictographs, and then examines the disparate groups that produced it-adolescent gangs, heavy metal fans, pacifists, punks, hippies, and even the fans of a popular Soviet novel (Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita). Through graffiti these conflicting and alienated groups produce an explicit cultural alternative to the official culture they disdain.

Fully illustrated with over eighty drawings and photos, Moscow Graffiti is a unique look at an underexplored area of Soviet society. The book will prove fascinating reading to all those interested in Soviet society, history, and popular culture.

John Bushnell (at the time of the first publication of this book) was Associate Professor of History at Northwestern University and a former translator for Progress Publishers in Moscow.