But they did eat meat rarely, if you're talking about Western style meat eating. Soviet people ate a lot of canned meat (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tushonka) and a lot of smoked/cured sausages and baloney-style products. The availability of meat in the USSR was nothing like it is now in present-day Russia or The West.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa6btjwdKTc