The Soviet proles

In case you didn’t know, the word Proletariat was nearly a swearword in Soviet Russia in the 1970s–1980s. The well-off and the educated so labeled the drink-loving, foul-mouthed, good-for-nothing working classes. Well, not exactly good for nothing — when it came to fixing a faucet or rong a dacha house, they were in high demand and could extort some cash from the bespectacled — rather, up to no good.