We give over the plan: Soviet youth of the 60s

Readers who bought the November 1967 issue of LIFE expected to see there black-and-white pictures of the revolution fifty years ago: Red Square, crowds of workers chanting slogans. Instead, there were Soviet youth on the pages of the magazine: beautiful and quite uninhibited girls and boys sunbathed on the beach, danced in clubs and kissed delightfully at the Neptune festival.

Neptune's Holiday on the Black Sea. Photo: Bill Eppridge.

Neptune's Holiday on the Black Sea. Photo: Bill Eppridge.

Soviet beach and sparkling humor. Photo: Bill Eppridge.

A girl is sunbathing on the beach. Photo: Bill Eppridge.

Summer is always a beach holiday. Photo: Bill Eppridge.

Young people lined up for water skiing. Photo: Bill Eppridge.

Photo: Bill Eppridge.

They were escaping from the heat outside the city with beer. Photo: Bill Eppridge.

Cafe "White Nights" in Leningrad. Photo: Bill Eppridge.

Picnic outside the city. Bearded student of the Metallurgical Institute Georgy Sayanov flirts with Tanya Shafarenko is a student of MADI. Photo: Bill Eppridge.

Friends on a picnic. Photo: Bill Eppridge.

Photo: Bill Eppridge.

A young man is taking a break from work at the state farm named after him. Budennogo. Photo: Bill Eppridge.

State farm named after. Budyonny, where students from Rostov worked that summer. Photo: Bill Eppridge.

Students wash their faces before the morning examination. Photo: Bill Eppridge.

Plasterer at work. Photo: Bill Eppridge.

Using clay, students plaster the house. There were only three girls out of 45 students. They got easier jobs. Photo: Bill Eppridge.

Laying of walls. Photo: Bill Eppridge.

Photo: Bill Eppridge.

Photo: Bill Eppridge.

Break. Photo: Bill Eppridge.

Fresh watermelons are a mandatory part of the summer diet of Soviet people. Photo: Bill Eppridge.

Awarding the most hard-working team. Photo: Bill Eppridge.

After the bath. Photo: Bill Eppridge.

The young man added colors to the monochrome game. Photo: Bill Eppridge.

Photo: Bill Eppridge.