The first attempt to represent the current model of modern Russian discourse against the background of the Soviet ideological language and the language close to it at the end of the 20th century. Key words and turns of time are provided with authoritative samples of texts of many hundreds of native speakers of the Russian language - both writers, journalists, philosophers, and a simple "man from the street." This collective verbal portrait of the Soviet and post-Soviet times can be used not only as a reference manual, but also as a "guide" to the era.