I was born in Russia and lived there until seven. I never heard my elders, especially my grandfather, a colonel in the Soviet army, refer to anyone as comrade. It seemed like "tavarish" was the go to for a friendly acquaintance.
As you say, '"tavarish" was the go to for a friendly acquaintance.' товарищ, or tovarish, is translated to English as comrade. There are other words in Russian that also can translate to friend or comrade, but tovarish specifically carried a "classless" connotation.