This chapter concentrates on the post-demonstration history of the Soviet hippie sistema . While at first Soviet hippies seemed to be in crisis, from the mid-1970s a new generation rejuvenated the movement and created the so-called ‘second sistema ’. The post-demonstration hippie movement was fewer in numbers, but more resilient, since its members were more committed to the cause, ready to
... [Show full abstract] sacrifice jobs, education, and social acceptance in order to live a life they experienced as freer and more colourful than that of their peers. From time to time the underground culture of the hippies demonstrated their cultural and revolutionary potential when their causes inspired resistance such as in the case of the 1976 exhibitions of nonconformist artists or in the mass upheavals in Kaunas after the self-immolation of Romas Kalanta in 1972 or in Leningrad in 1978 when authorities promised, but did not deliver, a rock concert featuring famous acts from the West.