Reply #13: Not only stalinist USSR [View All]

[TheLastMohican]

Domestic passports existed in USSR until the collapse of USSR in 1991. You couldn't check in the hotel without one, or go to a resort and rent a room there.
There was a stamp called "Propiska" meaning place of your permanent residence where it was written exactly which city and street you live in.
In Stalinist times it was impossible to move whatsoever and peasant citizens didn't have a passport at all thus they couldn't move anywhere, while in Brezhnev times you couldn't change your propiska unless you received new flat in which case you would have to go through all bureaucracy circles to get a new stamp with new fixed place of residence.
These were draconian measures all right, but there was also a good side in it, it helped solve 95% of crimes, since the police always knew where to look for the possible suspects if they had the lead.