Of course people did go through hardships but I believe you are wrong when you say people didn’t look much forward throughout life.

For every citizen the education on all levels from primary education to higher education was free. It was even written in the 45 article of Soviet constitution. So you could say every citizen had a shot at any profession he would like.

The kids were even sent to pioneer camps (a camp for kids for holidays). In the 80’s in the USSR were around 40 thousand pioneer camps were yearly about 10 mil children rested (“Public education, science and culture in USSR” Statistical compilation). Here are some photos of pioneers http://savok.name/62-pionery.html

The health care was free as well.

About the American dream. Citizens of USSR had their own ideal. It was an apartment, dacha (a country house) and a car. This was considered the highest degree of opulence that a USSR citizen could expect (Scientific research “People and things in Soviet and post-Soviet culture”)

About the propaganda. On this site you could look at posters and caricature that were used http://savok.name/324-propaganda.html Most of them are easy to understand but if you want I can translate a few of them that you didn’t understand.

So what was it like to wake up in the USSR one day, and carry on with the day? It was the almost the same as in USA (not considering different aspects). Get up, eat breakfast, say goodbye to your wife and kids, go to job, work, come back home. On weekends go to park or even a cinema (all the films that were shown were made in USSR but that’ not the point).

Edit: format

Caveat: This is one of the questions that really needs a book-length response (and there have been multiple books written on this issue!). Daily life and other issues pertaining to the wider social history of the Soviet Union is an immense topic and the lived experience of Soviet citizens will differ quite markedly over time and geography; for example, daily life in Tashkent in the 1980s will be quite different than the typical experience of a Ukrainian rural dweller of the 1940s or a Muscovite in the 1970s. So this following answer is going to be painting with a very broad brush.

• ca. 1945- ca. 1953 Victory over Hitler did not mean the end of severe hardships for the Soviet people. Much of the territory fought over in the western USSR was in ruins and much of its infrastructure damaged or outright destroyed. Throughout the USSR as a whole, the population had suffered significant losses and dislocation and much of the surviving economic infrastructure had been geared to war material. A "return to normality" was something that was incredibly difficult for the peacetime Soviet Union to achieve. On a macro-level, the Soviet economy transitioned to peacetime fairly well given this enormous hurdles placed in front of it. Economic growth and industrial production had exceeded 1940 levels by 1950 and the state had accomplished an impressive demobilization of the vast Red Army. However, these gains did not necessarily translate into a better life for most Soviet citizens. Housing shortages remained particularly acute and were a constant source of complaint throughout much of the USSR. Soviet industrial production was also geared more towards recovery of infrastructure and less on consumer products, making this a time of persistent shortages. Culturally, this was arguably the period when Stalin's cult of personality had reached its apogee. Victory over Hitler had given the dictator an ideological gloss that filtered down into ever more visible celebrations of his genius. This new personality cult had a troubling element as it became increasingly uncertain whether or not a new round of purges was in the making. The intensifying anti-American rhetoric of the early Cold War increased this uncertainty as to whether or not the events of 1937 would be replayed. On the opposite end of the ideological spectrum, there were also serious concerns about social disorder and the lack of state control, especially with regards to Soviet youth. The absence of father and parental figures because of the war created something of a youth problem as a generation of children came of age without much guidance. There were a number of reports from schools and youth organizations about youth apathy and hooliganism. So hardships and uncertainty were persistent social factors amidst the postwar glow of victory.

• ca. 1953- ca. 1964 The Khrushchev-led Thaw led to a number of important reforms in both Soviet society and the economy. This filtered down into the lived experience of Soviet citizens as the early 1960s in particular were a time of intense optimism and fueled the hope that the hardships of the previous generations had born fruit. One of the most salient features of the early Khruschev period is that the state finally devoted significant resources to resolve the housing shortage. The resulting buildings frequently used prefabricated concrete slabs and a Brutalist aesthetic that at the time was a modern style. The planned economy also began to produce more and a greater variety of consumer goods. While the issue of shortages would never be resolved throughout the entirety of the USSR's existence, the increased availability of consumer goods was one of the hallmark features of this period. Space exploration and Soviet firsts in space also was a source of much pride and nationalist excitement during the early 1960s as it seemed to suggest a bright future for the USSR. However, there were also emerging cracks in this new-found Soviet prosperity. The Soviet planned economy was still markedly inefficient at delivering the goods and productivity gains tended to be more ephemeral than lasting. The Thaw also brought increasing contact with the West and exhibitions like the famous American National Exhibition, which featured American wares, made it increasingly obvious that the Soviets were falling behind the Americans in terms of consumer products. The Thaw's destalinization drive was also the source of much confusion for the Soviet public. Prior changes in political leadership had led to a wholesale rejection and purging of the losing faction, but Khrushchev tacked to a very selective political course, exonerating some individuals and groups while excoriating others. Because the process of destalinization was secretive and selective, many Soviet citizens did not know what political positions were correct. The state eased censorship, but did not eliminate it. Thus Thaw cultural products had to tread a fine line between artistic expression and not drawing the ire of the authorities. The release of prisoners from the Gulags also created an unwelcome element of social disorder as many former inmates had been habituated to prison culture and mores and were not integrated fully into Soviet society. Adding to this uncertainty amidst optimism, rising nuclear tensions and the break with China added to greater anxiety about the future. One popular joke about nuclear war satirized the state's claim that it had control over the situation: in case of nuclear attack, all Moscow's citizens should cover themselves with a shroud and crawl very slowly to the nearest cemetery to avoid a panic.

• ca. 1964- ca. 1980 These years are something of the lost years for the Soviet Union. After Khrushchev's fall, the new political order is dominated by Brezhnev, who encapsulates the idea of a stagnant political, economic, and social system. One popular joke was that a KGB agent captures all the CIA agents during a Brezhnev speech. When pressed by his superiors as to how he accomplished this, he relents and tells his boss the CIA agents were the only ones awake during the speech. In short, Brezhnev did not inspire much confidence as a national leader. Economic growth is still occurring, but not nearly as fast as other economies like Japan and the Soviet economy is increasingly dependent upon oil exports to even out the books. Increased contacts with the West have meant that Western products can now fall into the hands of Soviet consumers on a wide scale, but there is a noticeable class distinction in the the availability of these goods. These goods are available in special stores which were not open to the general public, meaning that political connections and favorable state positions are necessary to enter. Despite the Soviet crackdown in Czechoslovakia and the threatened invasion of Poland, the Brezhnev period witnessed a further relaxation of censorship of Western cultural materials. The state accepts disco music because it perceived it as largely innocuous fluff. In one unprecedented move, one of Brezhnev's favorite American TV shows, the Western The Rifleman aired on Soviet television. TV itself became more common in this period and one of the most popular shows of the Brezhnev era, the Second World War spy thriller Seventeen Moments of Spring, tapped into some of the cynical zeitgeist. Although it touched a number of common state talking points about the war, the series's protagonist is an intelligent and resourceful double-agent whose German bosses very much resemble his Soviet ones. Elsewhere on the cultural front, aside from disco, Western music found a new home in various underground subcultures as copies of forbidden music circulates. There is also an emerging Soviet counterculture, especially within non-Russian areas and urban ones, that is increasingly at odds with the state's vision of a harmonious society. Towards the end of the 1970s, Soviet rock bands perform in grey areas and dissident literature began to make the rounds. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was an fitting capstone to the failures of the Brezhnev era, as the state found itself politically adrift and unable to translate the impressive figures of state power like indices of industrial progress into meaningful changes.

I think it's difficult to boil this down too much. For example, life in the capitals (Moscow and Leningrad) was quite a bit different than life in other, smaller cities, was quite a bit different from life in the countryside. That is to say nothing of the fact that the Cold War is about 40 years worth of history, over which life in the Soviet Union changed substantially.

I guess I'm going to do a bit of a shotgun blast of information here. I'm not sure exactly what kind of things you are interested in, so I'll just go wide and hope I hit on some interesting points for you and others to read. I am going to avoid, for the most part, talking about political repression because that is a topic that has been covered extensively and I think people have a general idea about it. If you feel it would be beneficial I can point you towards some other readings.

The day to day life of the everyday person is really not all that unfamiliar. I would challenge your assertion that they had "not much to look forward to throughout life." While I am not sure what exactly you mean by that, it implies a version of totalitarianism that totally overwhelms any kind of individual agency. Even under the most repressive Stalin years this was not the case. People went to school, got jobs, got married. All the usual kinds of things that people do and I think it is a disservice to those every day kinds of people to say that they had nothing to look forward to.

The Khrushchev years in particular saw a great deal of optimism both from the Soviet state and its people. Although we can now look back and know how the Cold War played out, it was absolutely not clear in the early years of the Cold War that the Soviet Union would ultimately fail. Although the Soviet economy proved to be in a somewhat perpetual state of shortage of consumer goods, there was still a great deal of interest from the Soviet state it proving its worth through consumer goods, helping the working class etc. This was not just about proving its worth "at home" but also proving that it could compete with - indeed was superior to - the capitalism economies of the world. It was not immediately obvious at the onset of the Cold War that this was not the case.

Extensive labor reforms were passed in 1956, including the reintroduction of a minimum wage designed to improve the quality of life of every day workers. However, workers still had little ability to unionize (independently of the state) - and so a lot of the resistance to perceived unfair working conditions or wages came from their own ability to work as hard (or not hard) as they saw fit. Work discipline was an ongoing struggle, but also proved to be one of those places in everyday life that personal agency actually had quite a bit of importance. Work was, predictably, an important part of life in the Soviet Union.

Work was important not just because it was an important part of everyday life, but because it was also most Soviet citizens closest bureaucratic link to the state itself. This was not new to Soviet life in the Cold War in particular, but it remained important when it came to things like finding housing. Movement was fairly restricted in the Soviet Union, which meant that if you wanted to move to a new city you really needed to have a job there (which was paradoxically paired with the fact that many jobs could only be attained if you lived in the city). Although travel within the Soviet Union was commonplace, totally uprooting and moving was a much more difficult process.

Khrushchev also started a massive housing project to build apartments in the cities. You can still see these buildings dotting Russian cities. They were often of pretty low quality, but they DID provide people with some semblance of personal space that was not afforded by the communal apartments that came before. So, although many people still lived in communal apartments, more and more people were able to actually have small personal apartments and this became a major feature of life in the Soviet city. For more on the topic of personal space/apartments in the Soviet Union see especially the work of Susan Reid, for example, "Communist Comfort: Socialist Modernism and the Making of Cosy Homes in the Khrushchev Era,’" in K. H. Adler and Carrie Hamilton, eds, Homes and Homecomings: Gendered Histories of Domesticity and Return (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010)

As a result of World War 2 the Soviet Union had a massive drop in population, which meant that they instituted pro-natal policies. These sometimes clashed with the overt support of gender equality that was typically expressed by the Soviet government. In point of fact, women did have access to education and high quality jobs in the Soviet Union during the Cold War, but they ran into the same issues as their Western counterparts in pretty short order. The state expected them to have children, care for the home, and work with the vigor of a good representative of the working class. In other words - the double burden. If you want to read a fictionalized account of every day life of women in the Soviet Union, I suggest A Week Like Any Other (http://www.history.vt.edu/Nelson/priv_materials/Baran1.html). It actually isn't too long, you can sit down and read it no time. Although it is fictionalized, it is a pretty good example of life (with some added drama for the sake of the story).

Well, I've to this point just mentioned a few parts of the 50s and 60s and haven't even really gotten to the 70s and 80s. Speaking of which, there are some great films that come out of the Soviet Union too that would be helpful to giving you a sense of every day life.

Autumn Marathon (1979): http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1dftw6_autumn-marathon-1979-pt-1_creation

Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears (1980): http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x10q228_moscow-does-not-believe-in-tears-1980-pt-1_creation

Both movies are really great and are worth watching either way.

I'm never going to be happy with this response because this is the kind of question on which a Soviet history survey course might spend literally 6 weeks trying to answer, but hopefully there is some interesting bits here and there an. Maybe I can add more targeted replies if you or someone else has specific questions.

Please describe time range. Soviet life has different periods:

1. 1920s-1940s - Great Terror and generic turmoil.

2. 1945-1953 - afterwar recovery, repressions on a smaller scale.

3. 1956-1965 - Khruschev's "Thaw", rehabilitation of repressed citizens, renaissance of art and culture.

4. 1965-1980s - Brezhnev's stagnation, prominent corruption, economic hardships.

5. 1980s-1991 - Gorbachev's perestroika, start of post-Soviet version of capitalism.

Each period was different for all Soviet citizens, but some periods were very different for a middle class.