A Book Summary about Stalinist Luxuries

[Professor Fann]

Eh ... right. This was a book review which I had written way back about more than 2 years ago, so I thought I'd post it up here too.

I got this book from the library called "Caviar with Champagne: Common Luxury and the Ideals of the Good Life in Stalin's Russia" by Jukka Gronow, a Finnish writer. He examined neglected surveys and reports concerning many consumer ideas during 1928 to 1940. I thought I'll post it up here becuase it's a rare field to read through besides Stalin's political oppressions, famine and terror in industry and farming.

The first part of the book: "Prefaces and Acknowledgements."

Finns and Russians have established a Friendship pact so they equally visti each other's nations. Gronow remembered that in 1968 while he visited Kiev (now in Ukraine), he was able to eat caviar sandwiches and drink Soviet champagne (oh and cakes too). But after Soviet collapse, the store sold nothing except those same items and it was also the same elsewhere in Russia! Everyone, rich or poor drank and ate the same items. That spurred him to visit the Russian Archives and study the Soviet history of culinary and consumer exploration. Among all other people like the Finnish Academy and Russian Institute, he thanks Sergey Zhuravlev the most for teaching him about this new unexplored field.

And lastly: An additional picture related to the Soviet Union.



More of the written review will be posted up later.

[Professor Fann]

Chapter 1: Introduction: The Birth of the Soviet Consumer

The Soviet citizens in the eyes of westerners during Stalin's era was wildly regarded as "one homogenous, grey mass". Everyone wore practically the same outfit. that was until Stalin sent Food Industry Minister Mikoyan to the US to study the style there. He even bought himself and his delegates new coats.

A French person praised Soviet wealth with great levels, which his visit was coincidental with Stalin's proclaimed era of prosperity, hence the biasness. Stalin was indeed very serious, yes sirree, to improve the quality and quantity of Soviet consumer goods so he sent all efforts and attracted many disgruntled Western worker to come to Russia and work to improve that situation, despite the current poverty symbolised as bread rationing.

The history of Soviet Consumer Goods (SCG) only started since around 1933 or so, the end of the First Five Year Plan where brutal collectivization (collective gathering of framers assets of farming) and industrialization was done. He supposed that after this Plan he would proceed to improve SCG and its quality, hence summed by his own words "Life has become more joyous, comrades." This slogan was to be repeated amny times in later years and become part of Stalin's cult, where he was praised non-stop as the god of human happiness. Although the results of the First Five Year Plan is still disputed today, nevertheless, it is widely agreed that the Plan created drastic changes to Soviet life and SCG was one of them.

Stalin personally planned many SCG (detailed in later on chapters) such as the Soviet gramophone (patefon), caviar, champagne, watches, carnivals, advertisements, restaurants and even chocolates. The success of such programs came along with the Stakhanovite phenomena, summed up as more work, more pay. Under this culture and rule, workers were to produce more and more and received more money so that they could buy more goods for themselves, hence the communist idea of abundance for the workers' paradise.

Stalin was determined to bring his words a reality - by all costs.

The creation of the Soviet champagne came along ironically with the Great Purges, where millions are killed and champagne as the ideal of good living was vigorously promoted amongst the people. That year was 1937. He wanted the country his way - rich, peaceful, democratic - by all costs and this was again symbolisd by the champagne and his own Constitution claiming the Soviet Union "the most democratic country in the world".

Along the way, Communist principles were still in play. Products were made not for profit but made for the worker's satisfaction. Stalin having control over possibly 180 million workers, naturally had full control over all plans and even the slightest details ie. design of perfume bottles. Like mentioned he wanted a Stalinist Soviet Union, his way. Since he said that the era of First Five Year Plan of pain and misery has ended with basic needs (bread, milk and such) all fulfilled, he thought that SCG could really come to life. Nad he encouraged further fine taste of luxuries amongst the people. Along with the Stakhanovite phenomena, thi worked out well.

There were two stages of the SCG: 1933-35 and 1936-37. The former period was symbolised by production of luxury food items, canned food, sausages, cheese and in particular the Soviet chocolate industry. the latter period was more complicated. Despite food shortages, Stalin insisted on champagne production with his slogan of "life has become more joyous, comrades." this period also saw the production of other items: ties, bicycles, cameras, bracelets, patefons and the such. The appearences of Gastronom and Bakaleia food store chains (Gastronom in particular) was created and in later years was to be the symbol of elite culture: only Communist Party officials could buy items in there, all of better quality and quanitity, unlike what the farmers experienced. this culture gladly ended in 1991.

To create an effect in line with the SCG productions, so far as I have counted, three ministries were created. That of Food Industry, Domestic and Foreign Trade. In this book however only Food Industry will be highlighted and Mikoyan was to be the center of attraction, besides Stalin.

Mikoyan and his delegation was the one most responsible for the adoption of western culture and ethics and technology in the Soviet era. He brought over tonnes of machinery and ideas which influenced the SCG field. Whether he knew it or not, or his intention of so, he was actually commiting what the Western world declared as industrial and consumer espionage. Of course, this issue was highly unimportant as later years, the world would focus enrgies on fighting ideologies rather than technological espionage and shall be neglected here. the most important is to note his contribution to the SCG growth area.

Alongside SCG development, ethics and practice was under control, thanks to the promotion of socialist realism, where every media and such was made to glorify worker's cultured ideas. Their work was glorified, everyone was pictured happy and hardworking and ofcoure, smiling at Stalin and holding up that red placard and banner. Newspaper and arts were publishing this all the time. The effect on society was that collective farmers and officials were made to compulsorily learn to dance all sorts of styles, tango, waltz, you name it. Everyone should be happy and smiling when playing the harmonica and trumpet. Academic and honourary titles were established again such as Hero of the Soviet Union and People's Artist of the USSR, in conjunction with making people more recognized and happy.

Careers were also affected by socialist realism. An example was the mentioned Stakhanovite phenomena. A worker by the name Stakhanov in the Ukraine managed 102 tonnes of coal ina day by himself and similar habits of fast productivity was named after him. the government promised whoever who worked hard will be paid more and all aspects of human minds are to be developed equally; in Western terms this is known as holistic approach. This was far agains the principle of equality (including pay) but then again, Stalin doesn't care as long as his country has more growth to rival the West's capitalism.

The results were clear everywhere. Houses sprang up here and there despite the crammed sizes, workers get to buy more goods for themselves and have access to many areas such as medical benefits (provided by the state), better clothing higher wages and naturally everyone well most, liked their higher pay. Carnivals were held where worker gouge in on chocolate and anything else. Though rare even by Soviet production statistics, cars were affordable. Moscow was labelled the top communist city as usual in linw with the fact Moscow is the Soviet capital and leaders encouraged other cities to follow suite.

Once again, the long term negative effect of this was the nomeklatura or Party elite class. Gastronom food store was the symbol of this too. Only certain people get to buy goods of what they want and live in better homes and get better services. This is just for your knowledge since the book focused on SCG development for ALL people, not a history of elite class development. So this issue will be ignored.



^ Translated roughly as "Have you signed up as a volunteer for the Red Army?"

[Professor Fann]

Chapter 2: "Soviet Champagne: Stalin's Great Invention"

In line with communist ideas, everything considered as a symbol of bourgeois rule instead of worker's rule was banned in the Soviet Union. This attitude lasted until 1936 when Stalin personally said "Champagne is an important sign of material well-being of the good life." Production of the drink then started the following year. Propaganda immediately started rolling the idea and farmers of vineyards were beginning to feel the pressure of a government which doesn't care of time taken to make the grapes grow as long as they get the champagne.

The reason ehind the sudden promotion of champagne was mentioned already: the Soviet Union had just came out of hardships of collectivizations and industrializations of the First Five Year Plan and Stalin assumed that everyone had bread and butter at sufficient levels. Accordingly, from year 1933 onwards, the country was now supposed to be ready to get wealth and champagne was to be symbol of just that.

Thanks to this new idea, the combine of Abrau-Diurso, somewhere at the Crimea region of the Ukraine, received the most attention of teh media and often the Director tried to find new ways to increase vine production via other means. The Party saw such ways as bourgeois and that combine was much vulnerable to many accusations. However, this had not deterred anyone from making more grapes. In line with the idea, another area of Novorosiisk, close to the combine was also declared a great area to produce more grapes.

Back at Abrau-Diurso, the government was trying to make more grape productions, regardless the costs. So as usual they revert back to blaming "reactionaries" (in this case, the Director for not fulfilling goals) resistant to the cause and this was done via the combine's own newspaper Izobilie. In order to avoid any possible death sentences, Director and workers decided to join the Stakhanovite phenomena. Regardless in any case, this combine was still the most trusted of all Soviet Union to produce the best material for champagne.

Not much have been made to direct the cause of champagne making really, although the idea and approval went back as early as 1934. Even Food Industry Minister Mikoyan and new Ministry of Light Industry Molotov have never seriously discussed the idea of producing champagne although they paid serious attention to food. Then came along Stalin's ida and everyone was all rushy rushy.

Coincidentally a professor named Frolov-Bagraev (FB) came along and proposed a method he thought would work well in the Soviet Union. This method was used in the Western world but was rumoured to produce bad champagne. Ideologically, his method would be best in a communist nation. He soon reaped profits for being the Director of the combine because the method did work well in Soviet Union!

The method was called reservoir method: the storing of grapes. It did work poorly in France because of the low demand for the drink. It was indirectly Stalin's promotion of champagne which made this method successful! Because the demand for the drink was so high (government demands actually), warehouses see no need to store up grapes for many days like those in France as the supply comes in and goes out very fast! Then again, the method wasn't even necessary since things moved too fast! But due to some problems here and there, the reservoir method worked well so professor FB got his wealth in my opinion, by ironic luck.

Back to the champagne production, the field received so much attention there were even specific plans of production and selling to the public and must be signed by Mikoyan personally. The scale of this field expanded so Abrau-Diurso was to command all grape production in the region and Georgian trust takes all of Georgian vines. Several new areas were designated factories and using the reservoir method. Targets were made and dates were specified as to hen they would be sold and in how many quantities. For example they targeted 300 000 bottles for 1936, 500 000 in 1937, 800 000 in 1938 and 4 million in 1939. Of ourse you would understand by now this was temporarily halted during World War Two.

Even after the War, the government still fussed about their production. They were totally aware of their troubles caused by the Nazis (razing of homes and farmlands) so naturally everyone was pushed harder. They even targetted 16 million bottles by 1950! Well, regardless of the troubles, the Soviet champagne was recognized as a popular item of consumption in the country and it went on decades to come.

Champagne phenomena didn't stop there, of course it didn't. Alongside champagne (an alcohol), other brands of alcohol were being promoted like vintage wines, cognac, vodka and liquor. Once again, the concept of quality improving comes into play, just like any other Soviet goods. Wine tasting events were regularly done to make sure the quality of such liquids are good by experts. Even the minister Mikoyan got the hang of drinking personally in the Atlantic liner to the US by asking for many different brands of wine.

As a result, the ministry ordered factories to produce those wines of different tastes, say different concentrations of fluids and such. The Mosow Vodka Factory decided to go for finer and milder vodkas and alcohols, in line with the new task of alcool diversification. New bottles designs for new brands have to be personally approved by the Party. Several trusts began to rise to prominence just as the brand Ararat of Armenia did. Then again there are other problems as well. The biggst problm was expiration. This problem was however quickly solved when a comrade proposed adopting intenational (or more accurately French) classification of drinks to properly plan their production and release. this wasn't really a problem since supplies were okay.

Another big problem was the communist system itself. The system itself have joined various industries so tightly together that one defect alone can cause a vast chain reaction of trouble concerning material supplies, partly due to lack of freedom, too much centralisation of decisions and the ignorance of the law of supply and demand. Construction and mining sectors were roped in as well becuase without ore materials and labour power, the warehouses couldn't be built, machineries can't be made and drink production couldn't progress on like usual.

An example was that to a comrade Temkin, director Sarkisov and Mikoyan. Temkin was in charge of a warehouse meant to deliver cement, iron ore, steel and other metal-based products. However due to the political idea to get rid of slacking workers (not written in the book, but my own observaion based on chain reactions), workers in number were executed r exiled to gulags (isolated concentrated camps). Naturally less manpower meant less products. Less material were delivered to Temkin's warehouse and he was only able to deliver 100 tonnes of ement and 20 tonnes of iron instead of 200 tonnes of cement and 60 tonnes of steel requesting by Sarkisov, the director of Moscow ranch for Ararat brand champagne. Sarkisov complained to Mikoyan that he wasn't receiving enough and wrote almost threateningly that production of alcohols would decrease thanks to inability to quickly build warehouses to house machinery to make the drinks.

Naturally this problem couldn't be solved so easily since 1) the Communist Party's ideological grounds were strict that they ignored the concept of supply and demand in the industries and they insisted the communism is the way forward (ironically the theory itself has many faults ie the ignoring of demand and supply concept and where everything in planned), 2) manpower was essential to make things faster and coincidentally this was the period of Great Purges where anyone slacking off were killed and 3) there was lack of freedom for managers to manage the easy flow of materials just to comply alone with state demand for growh due to heavily centralised decisions which could take a very long time (time has always been an importatn factor in making marketing decisions but the government was blind to it thanks to worker oppression).

Well, regardless of side effects like these, one thing's for sure is that champagne has acended to such a level that it was recognized as an item of common wealth and luxury, thanks to many strict efforts by Stalin and followers. Bear in mind that you've found several reasons and concepts repeated again and again, it is because all the factors are tied together in such a way, it was nearly impossible to mention one factor affecting a situation without ignoring another as they are related very closely.



^ Roughly translated as "Stalin - A Gift to the People" or something. Anyone here speak Russian again?

[Professor Fann]

And now today's lesson! Chapter 3: "Soviet Kitsch and Organized Carnivals"!

Before going on to the Soviet kitsch (materials) and carnivals, I'll go in detail here the origin of Soviet caviar; along with the champagne became the dual items recognized as Soviet luxury due to their mass-produced quantities, although chamoagne is more recognized than caviar.

Caviar is just ordinary cans of sturgeon eggs produced somewhere in the regions of western hemisphere of the Caspian Sea, mostly going to current nations of Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia but back in those days it was mostly the Soviet Union. Caviar was to be a symbol of good life during the period from 1933 to 1940 as it is often used with offical meetings. They were also sold in Gastronom food store chains by 1935 around the nation for affordable average workers. In those times, 60 roubles itself is a lot of money and a small can of 100, 250 or 500 grams woul certainly be less worth buying compared to a kilo of meat worth around 1 rouble and 60 kopecks (cents in Russian terms).

Despite the fact it does taste good, its availability and pricing value depends on its scarcity, even in a comunist country where everything was supposed to be in "abundance". Of course, by logic, it i often very hard to capture many eggs so it has been a way that caviar cans are always expensive and left not much impact on the Soviet consumer world.

All such treats as caviar and champagne along with other delicacies like cheese, cakes and chocolate have ben subjeted to the use en masse only during state-organized carnivals. This was supposed to show off to the world that communism can indeed rival western capitalism in terms of production rates of luxury goods the workers can enjoy from a rich bourgeoise elite in the Soviet Union compared to their Western counterparts. This is an ideological motive, once again constructed by Stalin himself as he does share the idea that bourgouis is ruling the world and workers must break free from it and this carnival thing is among his many works to inspire Red movements around the world.

Such treats are categorized under kitsch, meaning cheap, mass-produced copies of expensive products. Food isn't the only group here - others include perfume (elaborated later) - as long as they contain characteristics meant to serve the idea of rich consumerism. There were necklaces, dresses, perfume, vases, cars and even privileges to off-limits services and belongings. Kitsch didn't apply just to carnivals: as long as the product is for sale, it's kitsch. The only catch here is despite authorities' word that they are experiencing luxury of the West, in the Soviet mind, anything other than bread, potatoes, cabbage or vodka is already luxury.

Foreign items were also received in the Soviet Union. Unfortunately, they are scarce due to the fact Soviets are ideologically strict - a communist nation produces its own goods for own consumption or self-sufficient. However the goods were still allowed just so the government could obtain foreign currency to buy machines from the West. The desire for foreign cash was so huge that even black markets existed although it is supposed to be illegal. Somehow, part of those exchanges is where Stalin gets his foreign cash to get machines. Very ironic, huh?

Of course, without customers how can the hard-worked goods be used? It was initially confined to the elite ruling class from 1929 onwards but gradually expanded to the Stakhanovites, top workers and the educated class (Stalin declared three classes only in the Soviet Union: educated people, farmers and workers). Howeer there were still discriminatories. Real luxuries as cars, personal dachas (homes) and apartments were only awarded as rewards for hard work and not bought by cash. frmers still ould not affored themselves such goods as they were not "proletariats".

The entire system did really bring change to the social life. Like mentioned, worker and people alike could easily buy what they want thanks to the work-hard-big-pay system of the Stakhanovite phenomenone, despite the fact they still lack such things as bread. Such goods were most available during sales at public holidays so it was natural people will just grab all they can with their cash. Public holidays included May day, October Revolution Day and New Year's (which replaced christmas under the new law and affected by atheism as advocated by communism) and those are the days we see factories work most hard. For example, it was projecteda candy factory make 11 tonnes of candy for New Years but they managed 149 tonnes. Ironically, the concept of supply and demand was followed here, contrary to real ideological practice!

As for carnivals, the difference between it and slaes are - presence of money! The carnivals are free and like said, offered ahuge variety of worker-made goods for public consumption; the difference is that food is mostly concerned. That's right, no cars of perfumes! And likementioned, it was supposed to celebrate the people's abundance of food and to rival communism with capitalism and also in celebration of the sham Stalin Constitution of 1936, in spite of the majority which could not be fed much.

Here are some paragraphs describing the scenes of merry time:

In the square (Red Square) after the First Five Year Plan there is a sugarhead. On its top, white as snow, a red flag is hanging with the text: 'World record in sugar production'. In the middle of a small pond there is a frying pan on a burning portable stove with a jumping fish - this is the fish industry's corner. The toreador from the meat trust has become good friends with the bull. Comical cows play volleyball with a ball of cheese. The fox is staring enviously at a piece of soft cheese produced by a Moscow factory, which is hanging from a crow's beak. These are not all the characters present at the carnival representing food industry. It isnecessary to provide the 100 000 participants with cooling drinks, sweets and cakes, 100 000 bottles of water, beer and wine, six tonnes of ice cream, 100 000 pies and cakes have been ordered from the catering organizations of the Moscow food industry. In the park 75 distributors of drinks, ice cream, sweets and cakes, 160 stalls and 35 drink dispensers will be working.

It is hard to describe how Moscow enjoyed itself in these joyous days of the May Day celebrations ... We have to talk about the garden of plenty behind the Manage building, where sausages and Wurst were growing on tress. Where a mug of foaming beer was accompanied by delicious Poltava sasages, by pink ham, melting Swiss cheese and white marble bacon.

Hello, you sausage! The sausage dtrolling by on the alley turned its head and laughed revealing a set of white teeth in its open mouth. This was Ivan Tsyrkin, a worker at the meat plant who wanted to celebrate his own product at the carnival. He was in a company of a white kid who asked the sausage to dance and the orchestra was playing. Flags swayed on their masts, lanterns shined and everyone joined in a common dance, merry and wild. Chocolate flew around, serpents flew around like arrows and rockets fell from the sky in bright rain.

In the night of 4th to 5th of August, a hundred thousand participants in costumes and masks were dancing waltz and tango, slow and fast fox trot; they were enchanted by the torch fountains which resembled burning asters, by the nightly sky brightened by the play of projectors, by the fireworks and the rockets and they went down the river Moscow in boats decorated with pennants.


Carnivals, besides formal meetings and such, are the events when people are staged to dance all styles and sing all sorts of music. Dance were made compulsory to learn and the Soviets came up with their own type of music: Soviet jazz. The farmers preferreed orthodox Russian dancing since they were traditional and the middle class urbanites favoured Western style dancing. This was undoubtedly allowed: Stalin has been encouraging most people to adopt cultured fien taste and in the process, was actually adopting "capitalist methods" of dancing. What can he do: he wants everyone showing themselves happy and rich!

There was a slight downside to the celebrations: all of them were worker-based (as usual) not consumer-based so most things, even the slightest bit have to be approved by the Party. Slogans were designed for advancing ideological grounds, the people participating in the demonstrations have to memorise state-approved scripts adn the participation is compulsory. it's all about showing off the might of the Soviets.Demonstrations and carnivals have to be approved six months in advance so it means the workers have a lot of trouble to handle.

Nevertheless, it all worked well for the government in terms of nationalism. Having staging the carnivals with lots of consumer items for free to enjoy was a better more efficient way to solidify communism than straight-forward political speeches and shouts. As long as the customer/worker got what they want, they will love Stalin and his Soviet Union more and make his personality cult more successful.

And that is all for today. Next lesson, we shall discuss the chapter with the most number of varied goods involved.

And another piece of Soviet propaganda art.



^ roughly "Learn the way of Lenin's and Stalin's party!"

[Professor Fann]

And the next lesson begins! Today we’ll discuss Chapter 4: “Increasing Variety.” The whole chapter will be divided in several subunits because each product are varied and in detail in this book. Personal opinions and observations come in as well.


Chocolate Boxes and Other Small, Sweet Luxuries.

Besides champagne, the Soviet government turned attention to manufacturing other sorts of luxury goods to emphasize their so-called abundance and wealth despite even lack of rice and bread. Obviously they had turned to confectioneries and everyday necessities as mentioned in the previous lesson. Mikoyan, the highlighted minister in this book, emphasized chocolate in the Party Congress of 1934.

A model factory in Moscow called Red October was the example factory for the chocolate novelty field. It has also joined in the new wave of innovation, thanks to Stalin’s whose strong encouragement of cultivating refined taste had turned on people’s desire for more high quality and special brands of goods, symbolized by his slogan “Life has become more joyous, comrades.” The Red October was under direct supervision of Mikoyan’s ministry from 1934 onwards and because of much vigorous pushing, as early as 1937, that factory alone produced over 500 brands of candy and chocolate. Such a trend began to be followed by other industries as well.

This factory had three departments in 1934: chocolate, ordinary caramels and iris (soft cream candy). The most lagging department was the chocolate one and faults lay on poor transports and raw materials, despite overall annual quota exceeding 116 per cent. Mikoyan formulated a plan to encourage further production of chocolate by classifying them into different classes meant for export. It was meant to inspire Soviet producers to produce more for what they thought was exporting to the outside world. Only to a certain extent that was realized as 80 percent made it outside of the Soviet Union. Nonetheless, there is indeed genuine effort to create better quality products.

Mikoyan’s personal directions were taken for the Red October. Unlike the absurd and unrealistic Five Year Plans after the First one, he took a more realistic and reachable aim for each section and indirectly he followed suite with public demand for chocolate. He even took trivial matters in his own hands such as approving designs of boxes and recipes used for brands. Despite the lack of materials like cocoa beans, the results were still impressive. Amount of chocolate by the tonnes of 1934 was five-fold that of 1932. 46 out of 50 brands were completely new for the market. Target plans were fulfilled usually more than 120 percent. In 1936, half of 224 types of chocolate were produced in that year alone. Due to such impressive results, the factory was a highlight of the government and treated it as a prime goal along with heavy industry equipment (airplanes, trucks, power plants). It even had its own department of creating toys together with the products.

The only downside for Red October that in order to fulfill target of quantities, slight quality had to be sacrificed. This was clear when several brands were cancelled of production in 1936. This issue however came in negligence once quality and quantity eventually rose. It was still a favourite of the government.

By 1937, the factory gained a new status: independence of management. It was now responsible for its own goal setting and sale of goods. Sales departments were organized more efficiently. Little did anyone know that the factory was now a pan for capitalism. It now had to endure problems on its own finding profits and markets. Gradually, soon problems of modern day business set in. People started to choose more carefully, so workers had problems of bringing customers to the goods and also deal with the raw material shortages. The Stakhanovite energetic burst began to subside and factories were unable to meet public demand but even if the quantities upon delivery matched demand, the quantity inside the box was insufficient (ie. 200 grams box had only 150 grams of chocolate). Problems like this happened elsewhere other than the Red October factory.

Nonetheless, during the 1930s, thanks to the sudden rush of energy and dedication, a common man was able to court a woman with the presence of a chocolate box and a bottle of champagne in the park on her birthday.


Increasing Variety and the Demand for Novelties.

Like stated earlier, pressure for brand diversification on the same subject of concern (ie. chocolate, caramel, candies) was due to the people’s demand for more variety as planned by Stalin. Success of industries no longer depended on quantity and quality, rather the trend now is that the different brands of which a certain quality of taste or texture will determine an industry’s success. Variety was now the king.

The Red October produced 224 brands with 101 novelties in 1935, 479 brands (although this figure is still disputed) with 89 novelties in 1936 and 510 brands with 61 novelties in 1937. A similar Rot Front factory made (novelties) 50 caramels, 52 chocolates and 18 biscuits in 1934 and 75 caramels, 63 chocolates and 26 biscuits in 1936. When considered the overall variety of the same goods like chocolate goods, candies, biscuits, gingerbreads and drops, in 1934 the total was 1372 types and in 1935 it was 1932 types. Such numbers demonstrate the proof that the public demands better varieties because (presumably) due to ever-smarter ways of choosing, they prefer certain brands which contain a certain quality of taste they look up to.

After 1936, such products were considered seasonal delights. They came along conveniently with the instructions from the Party to create more New Year tree decorations just for the tree itself. The inner motive would be obviously the realization of Stalin’s slogan in the form of material abundance such as those expressed in the carnivals earlier on. Mikoyan declared that the Soviet Union had produced 3500 kinds of seasonal goods in the same year alone. Rot Front just like Red October, had produced great varieties of seasonal sweets, as in 1939 the number alone stands at 873.3 tonnes of the same seasonal sweet varieties.

Seasonal occasions were defined by the party as usual. The only three “seasons” declared were New Year, May Day and October Revolution Day. In order to celebrate further the great Marxist idea, the government usually rounds up any such seasonal and novelty goodies during the carnivals. These occasions were rare examples that for the first time, reports were entirely about products and their production status, because the political message the Party wanted to reinforce was already in the products itself.


How German Wurst Changed its Citizenship.

Once again, not only chocolate and confectionary received attention. Meat was also taken in priority by the Food Industry Ministry under Mikoyan. The ministry only declared that the German meat Wurst had changed its citizenship to Soviet because they were able to produce their own kind: Soviet Wurst. Variety had changed the face of way meat was now being processed and sold. There were now four classes of meat of different quotient and quality and a new law was passed for each class: each first-class counter should regularly stock up 79 types of smoked meat products; each 2nd-class counter should stock up slightly lesser stocks, the third class have fifteen and the fourth was the worst to only a couple of varieties. Once again, demands could not be met due to the rigid system of socialism and the ignored concepts of general economics.

The modern Soviet meat industry started around early 1930s with little success still, because of Stalin’s policy of collectivization. Farmers were to give up their poultry and farm animals to collective properties as the idea goes: everything belongs to the people. It was a waste indeed because one couldn’t bear to part with all their life’s sweat and toiling just to get their own produce. Most farmers with possessions would rather slaughter off their animals than surrender them to the government and be poor. The resulting famine was most severe in the Ukraine. All came to an end in 1933 when the farms were settled down again.

Like other industries, the meat sector was subjected to absurd targets just to boost growth. Several trusts were established for the cause and started early to meet the absurd plans. One example of that was the Leningrad (modern day St Petersburg) trust and this trust was lucky enough to get a little famine so meat production started fine. By 1934, it has its own sausage factory, the so-called biggest in Europe by that time, and used imported technology from the United States where Mikoyan bought them from on his tours. The Moscow trust only opened by then when the farm politics were stable. Even from its recent situations, it boasted an impressive 166 tonnes of sausage production per day. Novelties began to be created out of them by which only was the laws of four meat classes above were passed. It turned out that the absurd targets were not absurd at all, for they were able to be fulfilled. 1937 saw 300 000 tonnes of such meat and 1938 saw 330 000 tonnes. The dairy industry was fairly modest with meat industry. However, since most authorities were focused on making Stalin’s priorities a reality (the slogan and abundance of wealth), chocolate industry was the most celebrated along with champagne.


Perfumes: Stalin’s Gifts to the Ladies.

The first trace of perfume in any memory records of officials was uniquely traced back to Stalin’s own wife Alliluieva. Stalin smelt the trace of French perfume on her and felt it disgusting. However, later he changed his mind and set abloom the cosmetics industry. He allowed perfumes to be given to the Soviet women – only if made by the nation. Because of his late decision on cosmetics industry, most Soviet women felt that it wasn’t necessary to use these new products. This idea gradually disappeared when consumption bloomed, though it is still somewhat prevalent.

TEZHE was the sole trust managed by the state to produce cosmetics products. It was originally founded in 1921 as a company during the seven years of the NEP (New Economic Policy) and then reorganized into state hands by Mikoyan in 1934. Soon, the wife of a famous minister well-known for Molotov guy thingytails named after him, took over the trust. The trust is responsible for producing toothpaste, soap, perfume and detergent powder. Under the current prevailing trend encouraged by Stalin, the trust had to diversify the number of brands; it soon numbered to 500 of all types. Soon, there were 72 wholesale shops, 108 shops and 62 stalls selling TEZHE’s products around the nation.

A 1934 report of the TEZHE products called for move innovation and emphasis on soaps for personal hygiene. A Moscow factory named Svoboda found itself hectically searching for new ideas and materials just to fulfill the targets of the report. Despite the challenges such as getting materials and technical expenses, improvements were seen as reflected in the 100 different types of soaps compared to just 4 or 6 in 1933. Perfume experienced a similar growth that lasted until the soviet Union’s collapse with 76 perfume shops around the country. Then in 1935, the new emphasis was on diversifications on all products though perfumes received the most attention. Novelties included Red Rose and Red Star.

Like any other industry, this industry also experienced short-lived Stakhanovite energy and lack of materials, once again thanks to the rigid, highly connected communist industrial system and ignorance of general economic concepts. TEZHE had lack of materials. The party tried to cultivate raw materials for itself but had no choice but to import the chemicals from outside nations, increasing by the years. The fact that they spent most of their foreign cash on liquids to make perfumes showed that the Party valued cosmetics highly.

TEZHE lacked adequate bottles. This problem was more serious for TEZHE than for Red October and Rot Front and the Moscow Crystal Factory was the sole supplier for such glasses. It was discovered that although earlier on that Crystal was able to fulfill demands for TEZHE, by 1935 they were experiencing labour shortages despite the huge quantities of bottles made. The solution was importing more machines to do the job. In fact, production by Crystal doubled in 1939 that of 1935.

The factors of cosmetic growth were as usual, Stalin’s encouragement, the public trend for diversification and now, needs for the workers. Workers now need to know to be hygienic, especially those working in the food industry. Workers as urban people too demanded personal cleanliness more and paid more attention to their looks. Anyhow, cosmetics grew from virtually zero levels to high ones in just about five years.


Patefons and Bicycles to the Industrial and Kolkhoz Workers.

This section tells on where most other consumer goods were produced, like radios, patefons (Soviet gramophones), musical instruments, cameras, bicycles, footwear and sewing machines. In fact, more often than not, patefons were remembered by elders as a much better symbol of ‘joyous’ life than champagnes and chocolate.

All such goods mentioned where made in accordance with Stalin’s direct wishes that the workers should be more materially cultured compared to their Western counterparts. A survey conducted in nine major Soviet cities in the west Urals showed that such goods were already available although rare even among the avant-grade industrial youth. Radios were not as promoted as much for possessions as patefons. These goods were in fact produced in greater quantities before the war.

The difference between this industry and other industries was that no varieties needed. There would be just one model for one bicycle, one patefon and one radio. Most of the time all Soviet consumers would have no choice but to stick to just one. The party had not made any report on diversification of such products as they saw no need for so. It proves they’re still ideologically bound to the communist ideal. Consumer foods and cosmetics can be diversified but bicycles and patefons were different because they were already a unit object itself, not like ham and bacon, both of which originate from the pig.

Regardless of that, because of its scarcity in production despite huge report announcements, the Soviet customer still remained happy. They rode on their bicycles and listened to their music records happily. The Soviet singer sang a great variety of songs which everyone enjoys. That was because they were lcky enough to obtain the patefon by chance, not by abundance as the Soviets wanted it. So it was most likely that Soviet boasts of happy life by these products would be misinterpretations of the situations at hand.

As usual, there were short comings. Despite the impressive figures, spare parts were highly unavailable or rare and the objects break down often. Even if they had some, it was of bad quality and never met the standards. Examples include (1) a letter written by an agronomist in Tatar (part of Russia) where he states that his patefon broke down nine times a month and he had to throw it away after the tenth time even when repaired and (2) needles for the patefons should be of high quality to play the records but it turned out the Soviet patefon needles do not even meet their own standards.


Confiscated Soviet Watches and Jewelry.

The history of such time-telling devices and shining gemstones and such had a disproportionate and slightly blur history. All that was known so far based on the archives was watches were all from the era before 1928. All such watches deemed second-hand were sold again and repaired. As for jewelry, their production and possession went well before the October Revolution where all property deemed bourgeois were confiscated and the owners had no choice but to sell their bracelets and necklaces to survive in the new communist period. Production of watches was extremely restricted during the First Five Year Plan because, well, every ounce of strength was diverted to heavy industry before such “consumer goods” can come about.

The trades were only reorganized into a centralized unit in 1936. Now 100 jewelry shops stand in 81 Soviet cities, selling restored second-hand clocks and watches and typewriters in the period 1937-1938. Production of watches only started later since it was characterized under consumer goods, not of heavy industries. By 1938, Soviet watches began to make an impact on the local markets. Sales were held to promote their production and consumption amongst the people. Then again, it all came to a halt when the war arrived and the Soviet economy, after the war, was focused again on the production of cement, steel and many heavy industry equipment to restore the devastated regions of the Ukraine, Belarus and western Russia (part of Soviet Union).


And another piece of art.



^ roughly "We sow life, they sow death!"

[Professor Fann]

And here is the next lesson! Chapter 5: “Soviet Novelties and their Advertising”.

The basic knowledge of modern Russian economic history is that before the Revolution, many goods were manufactured in small private factories which were immediately ready for consumers to buy, at the cost of poor wages and conditions of living. During the Civil War after the Revolution, despite the practice of so-called communism, Russia endured heavy rationing and famine and the Soviets held on to power.

Lenin was convinced that there wasn’t enough wealth to apply communism so he applied a dual economy, that of capitalism and communism together, known as the NEP. The economy did flourish for the brief seven years but was halted when Stalin came to power and initiated his version of what he believes was the proper communism via the First Five Year Plan from 1928. Businesses and factories were once again managed by the state.

To revive the old glory in a new concept, senior workers and managers were hired again to spill out everything they knew about the past. Eventually, old consumer goods made its way into the markets again. Many people were unenthusiastic as they felt this was not part of the new luxury economy advocated. Genuine Soviet goods were needed to prove the new ideology as more advanced. The kitsch and carnivals were felt as more towards backwardness as it lacked genuine creativity.

The government sought to turn to shopkeepers and specialists for advice for they knew what the customers’ demands were and can be used to better up the new industrial system. It turns out that the Soviet stores and systems are lacking of many things better, which were in possession of the West. Ironically, the Soviets were supposed to be better than the West and this was not the case. The Trade Minister Veitser acknowledged in 1935 that the government has ignored many areas of consumer importance.

In the end, the Soviet government figured that alongside continuing diversification of brands and novelties, they had no choice but to learn methods of business and economics and observe the lifestyles of the West which had made many people happy, especially the “biggest capitalist country”, the United States.

Stalin and his government, obsessed with novelties to boast off their supposed ‘abundance of material wealth’, tried methods to improve their system of consumerism. The First Five Year Plan did not touch this issue for it was heavy-industry-focused. Now their own planners and engineers proposed three methods of creating novelties. They were first reinvention of old product, importing foreign models and creation from scratch.

Reinvention of the old product merely means getting old senior workers to return and spill out everything they know about the products previously produced under the old regime. The many goods of champagne, chocolate, cakes, biscuits and caviar are examples of them and this method of novelty-creating was the one which came under much scrutiny in paragraph three. Importing foreign models meant bringing new elements from abroad to meet up national demands. However this method is only practiced in certain areas of chronic need like etheric oils for perfume and cocoa beans for chocolate when the Soviet government couldn’t cultivate it themselves. The most famous area identified in the book is consumer espionage by Mikoyan and delegates, who traveled to the US. This method is indirectly an embarrassment to the Soviets because they were copying ideas from a capitalist country which is, according to communist ideas, supposedly evil and less advanced, since the Soviet Union itself is a less advanced country and supposed to be self-reliant. Creation from scratch reflects its literal meaning: create something out of nothing. This was the most difficult and demanding task for the planners and engineers and pressure from the Party to create more original products weren’t helping. They created folding umbrellas and thermos plates but they were failures because they couldn’t be applied so easily. However the invention worth-mentioning so far is the drinks dispenser. Though this method didn’t work entirely in that sphere, they did work when creating multiple brands of goods.

The Soviets were so desperate to improve their own system that they were willing to carry out industrial espionage on the Westerners since it would be so relatively easy to copy ideas and buy over machines from the West. They were also keen to take advantage of the prevailing situations of the economy of the West. !929 was the year of the Depression in the US and terribly affected many countries, especially Germany. Many workers became disillusioned with their own countries so upon Soviet invitation, they went to Russia to work. Russia did gain lots of growth thanks to this phenomenon, but it didn’t last because Stalin launched his Great Purge in 1937 and, since the most workers came from Germany where the Nazis began open annexation of nations and the US workers are viewed as spreaders of imperialism, most were sent back to their home countries. By then Mikoyan had just finished his trips to the US; no other Soviet will be able to do so in the future due to the Cold War.

Mikoyan and comrades were most impressed by the organizations and technologies used in the western nations, particularly the US. He saw powdered milk, tomato sauce or ketchup which was popularized later in the Soviet Union, ice cream and hamburgers as extraordinary things, unseen before in the Soviet Union. They also saw paper cups and paper plates used while eating and drinking. They saw new wonders of the shopper’s experience such as decorated windows with flowers and objects for display, lack of excessive centralization of management, freedom of choice, how personnel dealt with customers of any unsatisfactories and inquiries, the display of multiple brands and choices, the services offered to make the customer comfortable like rest rooms, post offices, lockers, phone orders, deliveries and mail order and were even surprised with such things as food menus! The management of sale and buying of goods were superb and well-coordinated, unlike any other in their homeland.

Here are some excerpts of what Mikoyan and delegates said:

(on machines convenient for people to catch time for food and work early)

…there are machines that make 5000 steaks an hour. This of course, makes them cheap. I ordered some examples of these machines as well as street roasters. These are constructed as follows. A plate of stainless steel is heated either with electricity or gas. All this is fitted into a cabin, which is a bit bigger than a guard’s stall so that one can stand in it on the street. The seller puts the meat on the plate without adding any fat because the hamburger steaks have enough fat; no extra oil is needed. The steak is roasted on one side first and then turned over – in a couple of minutes it is ready. The same seller has buns. He cuts a bun into two, puts the steak in between, adds tomatoes, a slice of salted cucumber or mustard and a hot sandwich is ready. For a busy man it is very convenient. I ordered 22 such machines, which can make 2 million steaks a day.

(on lack of accessories in the shops)

What is needed in our shops? In the first place we should have kitchen equipment – all that makes the work of a housewife easier, equipment for bathrooms and toilets. In this respect we are very dirty. Why do we not accomplish anything in this respect? Small wooden bowls, which were very common before have disappeared totally from use during recent times. Such things like brushes and brooms. They are all necessities of everyday life and do not demand many raw materials. Referring to objective conditions is no excuse. Things that are needed in wardrobes and closets – we have nothing. Wooden things like drying constructions or hangers to hang sanitary bandages to dry after washing, kitchen furniture, etc. Equipment for ironing linen and mangling, small electric equipment and so on. All this is sold ordinarily in any shop, in any drug store. Bread toaster, (the speaker shows it!), equipment for cooking and frying, electric heaters, etc. Furniture for summer cottages and camps – once you enter Macy’s you find adjustable tables, sunshades you can open and stick into the earth in any place and this way you can find shelter from the sun… Then things of personal hygiene, things belonging to ladies’ toilet. We bought a few such things.


Naturally, the Soviets went on copying and adopting ideas. They were all fascinated by their observations only since because they practiced communism which caused the closing down of private shops and eventually the lack of creative means of further serve the customer well. So it was natural such services and innovations in the West were completely alien to the Soviets. Ideology-wise, they felt that such great ideas and services in the West were ready to be adopted into a more ‘socialized’ way of relations of Soviet trade and industry which could further benefit all the workers, rather than the capitalist relations of production which hindered the general public as a whole to maximize utilization of such technology. Of course you would have already known by now that the situation is the opposite for communism and capitalism where capitalism makes gradual yet secure full access by the public to benefits of great technology and that the communist ones were hindering the benefits of mass-scale technology instead.

Many Soviet meetings were held to discuss the various ways and methods to advertise goods to the common public of workers, which was totally unknown before 1936. An absurd way of advertising the availability of phone orders listed here in the book is where a woman thinks her husband is committing adultery because a sweet lady keeps calling the woman’s husband and telling him a particular phone number. It turns out that the number is that of a store that carries out home deliveries of goods and that anyone can go visit the store for their services. The idea sprang up from one of Mikoyan’s journeys to France and now back home, no one doubted their usefulness because it was to serve as cultivating the Soviet customer supposed to be living under material abundance.

Methods discussed included publishing in the newspaper, radio, journals, billboards, neon lights, between live performances, movies, ads on the shop windows or announcements. Reports related to production of goods were not considered as advertisements because they dealt only with the amounts produced on paper, not the emphasis of quality. In 1936 the first ads began to be published in newspapers and journals, usually of food or new textiles and those of special shops in Moscow or newer products. An example was that of the Moscow Gastronom store advertised services to organize parties and deliveries of food. A whole lot of food and other consumer goods were shown to be of availability such as Soviet cornflakes (inspired by the US) and ketchup (highly popularized by Mikoyan as being available in every American kitchen).

The most popular journal of the Soviets was called Ogoniek. Its last page was reserved for ads and in those days, the advertisement was simple. It only displayed the product image and name and its lengthy descriptions. That changed from 1937 onwards, where they were bigger with short descriptive but big texts and the pictures were drawn to illustrate the new product consumed, just like current day advertisements. Such developmental stages of advertisement are parallel with that of the US. The ketchup ad, as popularized by Mikoyan, even reminded everyone that the Americans were already happy with their world, a huge ideological contrast.

Political means were no longer applied in advertisements as they were only to emphasis the presence of such a good. However, the Party would often mention that their ads were different from their capitalist neighbours which is that it seeks to inform all consumers about the meaning of goods, prices and way of using them and not meant to seek profit. In a way this is rather informative compared to the West ads because West ads are just to inform the presence of goods and do not act like a manual. Tradesmen saw the tasks of advertising in a more demanding light. They had to rush with ideas just to cultivate the Soviet fine taste and prove the nation’s abundance, in line with Stalin’s wishes.

The ad industry also confronted with economic and political problems. There was this Moscow Light factory which was the sole supplier of ad supplies like neon lights and billboards. The sole trust for the field, it was under heavy political instructions from the Party. It also suffered economic problems, thanks to the rigid communist system itself with industries tightly chain-reactioned to any faults, as it depended on supplies. To solve such prolems, firstly the government had to impose quota on other industries related to the supplies for making advertisements. That was already dealt, though with poor results mostly. Secondly, to encourage further creativity, the Factory was reorganized to fit in the situation. There was even a school which teaches ways to design ads. Indirectly, the factory people were a little liberalized and free to design appealing ads.

Other problems were at light too. Who was going to pay for the bills of advertisement: the Party, the whole industry or the factory alone? How were decisions going to be decided: were they to be centralized under a particular committee or by democratic means, even from the workers level? Who do we know supplies the information regarding the product? What if the products were only available to a certain area, say Moscow, and yet it was advertised to the whole country and how was the immense confusion going to be handled? How much should the legitimate party pay for the ad investment when everyone was focused only on production and yet, no one knows the economics of the field? Eventually they were handled considerably well. The Party or government was going to pay for the advertisements as they were meant ‘for the toiling masses’ interests. Both the centralized and decentralized means of ad decision-making had supporters but the matter was still disputed. The government made sure that only papers for a certain region advertised products available at that same region too and not on a nationwide scale.

The lifetime of the energetic advertisement industry was short too. In 1939, an annual report stated that production of ads had stopped and that cost of advertisement was too expensive – 80 000 roubles (equivalent to nearly 78 000 kilos of meat) so the State Film Committee searched for other ways of advertising, via paper, radio and billboards. For ads filmed by film and counted by the length of the film, the committee banned any films longer than 200 meters long. This put pressure on the filmmakers and planners to devise shorter ads for any goods at all.

As a conclusion, with the ongoing encouragement of cultivated fine taste of goods, the central authorities had to resort to ways of improving methods of production, devising ideas of business and finding ways to show their presence to the whole nation. Albeit economic and political problems, the advertising industry continued to live on from its glory days in the 2nd half of 1930s all the way till the Soviet collapse.

Today's art:



^ Russian text untranslatable.

[Professor Fann]

Here’s the next lesson! You get to read of how Soviets shop and all the unknown stuff. Chapter 6: “The Emergence of the Soviet System of Retail Trade.”

Retail system means department stores and for Americans, think of Wal-Mart only slightly smaller in terms of scale they sell the goods and clothes. Uniquely, department stores only existed in the lands of Russia from Stalin’s period onwards and warehouses are not department stores. During the Second Five Year Plan (1933 to 1938), the government founded their own department store chains called Central Department Store or TsUM, seen as more towards the communist cause rather than those in Western countries. Gradually it expanded to nationwide and existed till the end of the Soviet Union. Such stores had their own production units for their own goods where necessary, home deliveries and phone orders and advertised extensively about their services by the end of 1939. The idea was supposed, by my observation, to have branched out from Mikoyan and delegation to the US and most probably influenced by Macy’s.

TsUM and other branches of it were supposed to trade along the commercial markets and traded commodities to anyone with the cash and without any restrictions or quota on amounts of any goods sold. In other words, it was supposed to operate as though there was no scarcity in the Soviet Union. Although similar to modern day stores in terms of cash-value trading and trading with the commercial market, where it stood wrong was the part of no restricted amount of goods in the shelves, resembling the lack of book keeping. Suppose that no one wanted to buy a particular goods and the factory went on producing more and more without considering the statistics of customer demand, the result would be endless piles of that unsold goods. At times even a particular product is totally sold out and the production rates don’t cope up with the demand, the result is empty shelves, seem more chronically towards the end of the Soviet Union. This caused problems for the TsUM’s own planners and shopspeople just to fulfill targets set by the centralized administration which supplied them their goods to sell and since it was extremely difficult for them to make deals directly with farmers and industry suppliers themselves.

Eventually they somewhat adopted techniques to analyze the market, just like modern day economics of marketing. They handed out questionnaires and surveys to determine the exact wishes of the customers and useful they were. An example was that men who bought suits sized 48 wanted overcoats one size bigger. Remarks made by customers and observation of customer behaviour were kept in books for handy info. Other steps were taken. Some stores were even able to make direct relations to the farmers and industries and created their own workshops and production units which led to separate independent novelties. Although the government knew that they would be kicked aside, for once they encouraged it and widespread practice was done by 1936. A TsUM shop reported to have bought clothes from Japan (ironically they were having wars over possession of Sakhalin island) worth 5 million roubles. Thanks to its own novelties designer clothes for children, TsUM in Moscow became famous and highly sought.

The stores began to demand more rights to control of quality goods. They demanded that shoes sent shouldn’t be mismatched; goods should not be faulty or not be of poor quality material. This showed that such stores were fully capable of understanding customer’s true needs. Even fellow minister Veitser acknowledged that specialization in regional markets should be allowed. This was a rare reminder that centralization of productions had its own problems and independence, to certain extent, should be permitted for growth. The Trade Minister Veitser eventually sought to promote such independence.

The danger along the idea was that the government was gradually losing control over the market economy and the planned economy would be abandoned. This was very contradictory to the state ideology that a planned economy was to be far more fulfilling than a market economy. Of course, they would punish directors of retail stores heavily for such ‘profit-making activities’, which was the cause of workers’ suffering according to communism. It was based on this emerging situation that the government would quickly claim that communism worked best for everyone and solidify their hold on power: by destroying dissidents. Of course, no one wants to be purged so they would easily watch their backs. Such a situation was clearly a treat to state ideology and political stability.

As for other stores, the people working there found themselves faced with similar problems many industries faced such there be a slight mistake in the chain-reactioned system: shortages. A survey done found that several cities have long queues of people outside stores waiting to buy consumer goods, such as musical instruments and gadgets like cameras, like Vladivostok and Minsk. Novosibirsk found itself lines of huge demands for products which were unfortunately low quantities and quality. A 1935 report found 1800 different items for sale with an unfortunate plus/minus 200 range there and which are all domestically-made, meaning that of poor quality. What’s worst, store keepers were expected to educate customers. How the irony when goods itself are not enough to meet demand! A deputy minister Bolotin who argued with Mikoyan (Mikoyan stubbornly wanted candy made more when no one would buy them) admitted that the care for customers was very essential.

Store managers tried the three methods discussed previously to make more novelties: reinventing old stuff, copy from others and invention from scratch. Bolotin also warned the dangers of too many choices by increasing novelties, as previously discussed: they might be not favuored by the customers and end up as burdening goods whereas preferred goods were rare in numbers. Obviously since this is a communist nation we are talking about here that ignores many vital economic concepts, excess supply and scarcity of certain products was bound to be common. An example was pricing. Since Soviet authorities had often kept prices low for many years, this sparked out bulk-buying for own convenience and hence the shortage and empty shelves phenomena. Many reports had failed to mention that expensive pricing was essential to stock up more due to customer’s discouragements so empty shelves were unavoidable.

Besides consumer goods edible and used for leisurely times, another field of focus ought to be the textile industry. Authorities long used the statistics of clothes shops or ateliers being opened as a sign of growing demand for textile products which opened simultaneously with department stores. Even empty shops were opened to be ateliers and to fulfill demand for furs like rabbit or kangaroo. The shops were opened but the demand was ironically ignored by publishers and Party members, should word even reach them.

Once again, shortages knows no bounds, exemplified by a report mentioning ‘100 orders of cloth… 12 – 15 orders a day (fulfilled)’. Therefore, to solve the problem, they did just what they did to the TsUM: turn it into an independent sector of its own. The ateliers had their own production units which were able to produce clothes by the masses according to demand. Hence the designer fashion hit the Soviet Union. The Muscovite act was then followed by other major cities as well. No attempt was made to cover the fact that all models were at least copied from other countries. Despite what hey have done, such commodities remained rare and few afforded them. Even fashion magazines were unavailable or at few amounts. There was that misleading advertisement act which goods were published in ads and customers were convinced that stores do have such clothing albeit in reality, it was false. Workers’ angry demands were instead meant with accusations by directors that they lack discipline and have made no effort to address the shortage issue. This led to more problems contrary to what Stalin wished for.

An ironic solution was the en masse organized copying of foreign models to supposedly make it more economical and effective production. Ministers of domestic trade and supplies and some ateliers have invested money to subscribe to such fashion journals. However, since foreign cash was scarce, they eventually decided to publish their own Soviet fashion journals. By reprinting them again and again only in different language versions, the Party saves foreign cash spending by nearly six-fold in just three years (196 to 1939). Such journals were meant to replace out-lived earlier versions effectively; this was however forgotten when war approached until the Soviet collapse.

At the start of the First Five Year Plan, state shops were expected to replace cooperatives run by capitalist as, according to state ideology, more effective places to obtain goods. Based on that, state shops were to be run in more advanced places like cities and for that, Workers’ Supply Organization or ORS was founded to manage the running of chowtime places. Alongside with the introduction of domestic trade and food industry ministries, workers were able to eat more in factory canteens than normal shops. As always not all ran according to plan. The number of private shops closed was way higher than number of state-sponsored shops opened by more than seven-fold during the period of 1928-9. Worse is that the food supply rapidly deteriorated, thanks to communist coercion. Rationing had to be introduced, lasted till 1935, and for that the nation was called the only one during peace times to have bread cards. Later the state shops became alive again, only to the restricted privilege of few. Initially it was meant for foreign educated class members but later it was accessible by the workers – at the cost of real barter trading (trade by second hand goods in this case, not cash). Even still, the variety was not much because it didn’t depend on domestic industry and eventually did not lead to domestic goods growth, leading to more lack of supplies.

In spite of that, the government still founded Gastronom and Bakaleia chains of higher quality food shops in 1933. The name of Gastronom itself was proudly boasted as being created by Mikoyan himself. Both stores increased in number rapidly; for Gastronom it was 105 by 1934 and by 1935 another 34 more were opened. The number of stores operating by the end of 1935 was 213 and by middle 1936, another 115 were opened. In spite of that, the industrial growth rates couldn’t keep up with the explosive demands of the shops. Amounts of consumer foods were not up to the level of proposed quotas in the Gastronom stores. The solution was that high quality food was delivered solely to Gastronom and Bakaleia food shops and shops were halted from being opened for the time being in 1935. The stores were even rated by class and were suited to comply with their respective quotas on the number of items on sale. In effect, the two chain stores became a showcase for Soviet food luxuries and in later years to come, a symbol of class distinction – between the affordable government elite and the workers who couldn’t.

So far, Gastronom and Bakaleia stores are reported to have very good technical features. Gastronom store number 2 had 3 refrigerators, a lift for goods, internal telephone network, different scales and an errand boy (attendant). Downsides were very minimal though still received attention. A Gastronom store had perfect supply for pies and sausages while confectionaries were slightly short. Bakaleia number 22 director said the shop has 13 kinds of herring yet no anchovies at all. All stores have well-stocked alcohols. Gastronom had its own trademark of alcohols and brand of cigarettes.

The downside was that regulation of food supplied was only for Moscow’s and several othe cities’ luxury stores instead of availability to all public. An ironic concept of demand and supply was that ‘the shop looks for the customer, not the customer looks for the shop’ idea which in the capitalist world would ruin a business seriously since the shop owner has no idea where to begin his business initially and it is always first that the demand is recognized before the store is set (you can’t expect a person to sell caviar in a market that despises it; it’s a waste of money and time). Provided the phenomena of long queues and discrimination of elite government officials and workers, Stalin’s dreams of material abundance to all would have naturally never been realized. Nevertheless, one has to recognize that the retail business of consumer goods in the Soviet Union was able to surface out of virtually nothing despite problems here and there; and building such a sector out of nothingness in such a short time of four to seven years is indeed a very rapid feat and an admirable one.


That will be all for today. And today's art of propaganda.



^ Only some text translated. "To whom goes all national profits? To the USSR, to the workers."

[Professor Fann]

Sorry I took so long to post the next chapter. I've been away ... in any case, Chapter 7: “The Political Struggle over the Development of the Restaurants.” ... Even restaurants need political instructions from the government?

In the period of 1936-7 just before the Great Purge, there was a struggle between those advocates of solely factory canteens and of solely luxurious restaurants and cafes. They were debating the future of Soviet consumerism and its regulation. Each other claimed to be representatives of the working class and accused the other of conspiring capitalist motives behind each other’s establishments. Anyhow, Stalin had many specialists and workers executed because of their opposing views to his own.

Few genuine restaurants existed up till 1936. These restaurants were either ‘open’ or ‘closed’: the ‘open’ ones were canteens and cafes accessible by anyone whereas the ‘closed’ ones were either for workers of a specific factory (in fact, they were factory canteens) or strictly restricted privileged few. Only 1 percent of all food was diverted to the use of what might be phrased as restaurants: modern day places for anyone to eat in exchange for money in 1931 (or this case ‘open’ restaurants) and this was regulated by the ORS (Organization of Workers’ Supply). This scope still remained the same albeit development and expansion took place. The number of restaurants increased slightly from 31 in 1933 to 46 in 1936 and many elite officials were only allowed inside the restaurants, able to enjoy great food with low prices. Despite this discrimination, one mustn’t forget all the remaining 99 percent of food regulated by the ORS. They really were delivered to the ‘closed’ restaurants of the workers which were the factory canteens and this was acknowledged by a government report to the Trade Minister Veitser.

Having admitted the fact that equality was more important, in line with communist idea of equality, and the report that the number of ‘closed’ elite restaurants began to increase at the cost of decreasing ‘open’ cafes, the entire system was reorganized and newer standards and ideas, brought in by Mikoyan’s trips to the West, were being implemented. Places were built so that comrades of old times could meet, paper cups and porcelain dishes were made, every table had a spoon and fork and a bottle of mustard sauce.

General knowledge states that politics affects way of life a lot. Just in line with the completion of the First Five Year Plan and when the Party allowed some independent commercial activities to take place, the ORS enthusiastically followed up with this new commercialism. This was because now people had cash and were willing to pay more for better food and services and this approach was supported by Party officials. The ORS began building more and more open restaurants. Having slightly ambitions for profits, The ORS began to advertise to attract more workers to their own restaurants. This was allowed and encouraged by the Party since the demand was robust but what they didn’t tolerate was factories opening other branches of their own canteens elsewhere; this caused the factory’s own workers to receive less portions of food than previously allocated which went against state ideology.

Other methods were made to improve quality standards of restaurants. If the ORS was to regulate the supplies of food on either ratio or demand, then the Central administration of Restaurants and Cafes (GURK) was established to maintain shop quality. Three big decisions were made: one was that to meet the demand from workers of higher quality meals, closed factory canteens (serving around 99 percent of ORS’s food) were to sell all better dishes by higher prices and this was to psychologically induce them to improve further all foods since the cash they were paid for would be higher for their services and no one wants to be poor, two was to allow factories’ own canteens to allow catering for workers from other factories provided their won workers did not receive less food just because of the new openness and thee was to give permission to the Trade Ministry to sell up to 10 percent of its commercial food to canteens and restaurants in return of newer and better materials. Other measures were in accordance with distinction of certain types of meat and vegetables, prices were to be differed to increase supply for such foods and that soup was not be served if it was lower than 70 Celsius (158 Fahrenheit).

The reorganization of restaurants was done with three categories. The first category was ‘closed’ restaurants at factories, educational institutes and so on, while the second was ‘open’ canteens, cafes, snack bars and other kinds like buffets and self-service places as long as they were open to everyone. For this category, designs were government-approved and the best cooks and chefs were hired and taxes were reduced but prices for meals were higher to psychologically induce cooks to make better meals in hope of lower prices. The third category was open restaurants that were richly decorated with material wear which organized phone orders and home deliveries. GURK had promoted the second and third category restaurants further as they were meant for everyone, unlike the first category restaurants that were meant only for certain institutions. All such restaurants were managed in the cities whereas those outside in the villages were run by other organizations that led cooperatives there. Eventually albeit this field remained very prosperous, problems and other impact gradually came in. Albeit trying to improve standards and meals further, one phenomena that was gradually coming into existence and even accepted as a norm was the class discrimination. After Stalin’s death the nomenklatura (elite class) had come to action as several better restaurants were reserved for themselves, just like the incidents on Gastronom and Bakaleia stores.

Apart from that, American delights also became popular and were adopted into the Soviet version of restaurants and kiosks. It was popular because it was not a necessity item which was an extraordinary invention (no one credited the Chinese for its invention and Marco Polo for its introduction to Europe at his time) and it was moderately priced to everyone. In the 1930s it was part of a Soviet novelty which Mikoyan brought over which was being mass produced, more accurately from 1936 onwards. Anyone could now buy the ice cream at the store or at the train station, thanks to machines bought by Mikoyan from the US. To support the ice cream trend, refrigerators and freeing machines were produced en masse and the delight easily became a tasty treat. Despite small problems such as climate of geographical places and population sizes, the results of sales were nonetheless impressive even at the second year of production and remained a very popular delight even after the end of the Soviet Union: a natural thing for an irresistible product once introduced.

The Great Purge also affected the politics and management of this food consumer field, excluding the ice cream phenomena. A new GURK director named Zverev had made many accusations against Veitser and previous GURK directors, claiming that they focused too much on second and third category restaurants that produced few but very expensive meals and desired not to fulfill workers’ demand. Given the situation at that time, this claim is actually rubbish and the accused had no chance to defend themselves. Another claim was that workers should eat more vegetables and less meat, contrary to the trend that people enjoyed more meat. Zverev manipulated this turn into saying that by allowing more workers to eat meat, they were getting less healthier and advantaged the directors to profits, whereas workers need higher calories in vegetables to work in the mines and that this incident was the cause of GURK failing to maintain food standards under previous directors. By current logic, this claim is also rubbish because Zverev only based his claim on workers in Ukraine’s Donbass region (a huge mining area), saying that they preferred vegetables. He failed to realize that this trend was not prevalent everywhere and not EVERY worker worked in the mines, contrary to what he thought. Besides, due to geographical differences workers in urban areas enjoyed more privileges to meat unlike those in rural areas who ate less meat. The third claim was that many factory canteens were closed in order to make way for luxurious restaurants thus ignoring the care for the workers. This claim was partly true since reports of 1936 and 1937 showed that many such canteens were closed but as an overall, if one considered the fact that there is such a thing called food shortages due to agricultural politics and poor harvests of 1936, the act was reasonable and Zverev’s claim is again rubbish. However due to the political climate of Europe at the time (Nazis and Britain’s appeasement and the possibility German spies entered the Soviet Union), Stalin took no chances to execute all claimed as traitors and truth never prevailed. Zverev’s policies prevailed, which yielded poorer results than Vietser’s and previous GURK directors’, and growth came to a halt for the sector.

This tale of restaurant development shows two things clear: a side was for egalitarian, centralized approach for Soviet worker’s minimum nutrition while the other was for liberal and more commercial and consumer-wise approach. Both were indeed problematic for the communist nation since the national policies itself caused poor harvests and unrealistic planning. Naturally since both ideas of restaurant development were not at wrongs, the system tried to hide its mistakes to continue n its hold on power by putting the blame on scapegoats. Officials preferred to execute others to save themselves for not being able to prove the material abundance Stalin desired. They preferred to condemn the GURK rather than admit themselves at fault or refused to admit their natural jealousy for other successful ideas, even claims that capitalism was going to be restored by some ‘rats’ and selling illegal items to the public to demoralize them. Some even propagated the absurd claim that worker’s need for vegetables was being neglected for profit-making. These claims were naturally arisen since Nazi Germany had just annexed Austria and was going to devour Czechoslovakia and people were willing to betray friendship and loyalty of anyone just to save their own selves. So many directors were purged and the natural result was slower growth for the restaurants since it was difficult to restore ties with various parties and recruit back workers just to reopen the stores. This field also reveals the extent of corruption and bureaucracy in the government fields. We take the role of Stalin himself. He approved millions of roubles just for the investment of a brand new café and restaurant with a brand new hotel just outside the Kremlin (Russia’s parliament and grounds of government). Other projects were condemned as wasteful just to make way for his own ideals. Such a decision has the ability to overturn the impression of a giant growing economic sector because this new hotel and restaurants were already reserved for privileged few nomenklatura members rather than the millions of farmers and workers of the whole nation.

However despite such problems due to state ideology, other self-centered motives and political situations at hand, we cannot deny that under the ambitious plans of Stalin, many industries including the food consumers had sprung up from virtually nothing and though initially grew at exponential rates due to Stakhanovite energy bursts and declined later, such results were so realistically visible that such impressions helped change the internal geography of the Soviet Union, fuelled the Stalin personality cult and indirectly one and another, influenced the position of the Soviet Union in global politics years to come.

Today's propaganda image:



^ Roughly "Each day we live happier!"

[Professor Fann]

The second last lesson of the book is now. Chapter 8: “Soviet Consumption amidst General Poverty.” That happens to into other countries, but this is different.

American-Russian sociologist Timasheff argued forward that in the 1930s, Stalin and his government has given up many true communist aims in favour for his own vision of how communism was going to be applied to the world. I couldn’t agree more. By right, you should have noticed now that in order to sustain the explosive exponential growth of many industries in the Soviet Union, Stalin indirectly gave capitalism a brief, limited and controlled spread of wave: the idolation of material goods and advanced wealth. This is indeed a breach of the original communism Marx wanted: Marx never wanted demand and supply theories to work and he ignored problems such as excess amounts and losses despite calling for a workers’ world. However given light in recent world history, it is undeniable that Stalin’s own version of communism was better than the original because it produced the effects of socialism most communists wanted to see: rapid progress in just a few years. In fact, Stalin was well admired too much for the amazing feats until most communists of his time ignored the original scripts Marx and Lenin wrote out themselves.

Stalin plans and Ordzhonikidze executes, at least according to Timasheff. Ordzhonikidze was the Heavy Industry minister who promised newer economic policies and consumer reforms to give the people more relief compared to the years of the First Five Year Plan, also in line with Stalin’s ideas and the famous slogan “Life has become more joyous, comrades.” He was supported by the state planning agency, Gosplan, and indirectly one way or another, that was the time when Mikoyan received much funding from Gosplan to fuel recreational plans development hence the widespread facilities and ideas of shops and eateries that we have seen throughout previous chapters.

Other historians challenged that idea (Davis and Khlevniuk) because their examination say that Gosplan and Party institutions had no power in industrial development during the First Five Year Plan and even if they gained some powers back during the Second Five Year Plan period, whatsoever changes they planned that occurred were not so remarkable because Stalin’s words bear more weight than a bunch full of committeemen do, supposedly either because Stalin’s own plans were already outlined and there was no originality or due to the presence of the NKVD (the institution we refer to as the KGB). There was also less proof that Ordzhonikidze was carrying out genuine reforms by himself: it was more likely to be bureaucracy at work where he only carried out Stalin’s instructions. Economic historian Zaleski also indirectly supported the Davis-Khlevniuk line via his examination of the Second Five Year Plan whose conclusion was that despite promises, one shouldn’t take the targets so seriously because the planned rates of production were very unrealistic and unachievable despite changes in targets. The Gosplan was merely at the mercy of Stalin, who planned the light consumer industry to expand year by year, because he could use the NKVD any time to purge those who disagree with him.

Heavy industry has always been the primary importance of the Soviet economy since the first days of the First Five Year Plan and this lasted even up till the chaotic days of the Soviet Union’s collapse. This allowed the light industry to come in quietly and began its own parallel road of development. You should know by now that the light consumer industry has indeed grown rapidly in accordance with Stalin’s wishes, which were that since the suffering of the people had ended with the great success of the First Five Year Plan, it was time for them to enjoy the fruits of their hard labor. In spite of that, we should now recognize that the Soviet Union is a nation of full of starving farmers due to poor harvests alongside the promotion of material wealth in many, scattered areas.

Despite the ‘abundance of wealth’ in the towns and cities, farmers were no better, be they from the collective farms or state farms. A good harvest in 1937 may make it up for the poor harvest of grain in 1936 but that was turned down by the crisis of 1939. The common scenario was ordinary people lining up at stores in long lines but only to find nothing on the shelves. The industry began to experience acute material shortages and experience slower growth compared to the rats of the First Five Year Plan. People were hungry and several people described them as “having to wait 12 hours only to see an empty shelf” and “huge streams of people in the canteens but nothing to eat, save what the pigs eat.” As the war closed on to Russia, rations were introduced again, this time doing away with the equality concept and reserved ratios most for the army, the secret police and the NKVD. Despite that, commoners actually felt that rationing was better since it at least guaranteed them a minimum supply of food and they at least even have the bits of such foods and hence felt the government cared for them.

Like mentioned, the rationing was based on ratios and these ratios were determined by a person’s status in industrial production. Only in natural accordance with the communist ideology that workers will power the world, workers received much of the food in the warehouse. Collective farmers and such were excluded because they were expected to produce their own bread; how could they with the faulty theories of Lysenkoism and political coercion on them? First category workers of the main industrial enterprises received 70 – 80 percent of the allocated food. Even more so, these most important factories have their own farms and production units. This was most likely the case to prevent them from leaving the best sectors of the Soviet economy. Second and third category workers of small industrial units received the remainder. Collective and state farms were treated worse, either they were expected to make their own food or received rations depending on the amount of produce they make and the same was done with prisoners in Soviet gulags or prisons. Even administrators and those in the government received less than the first category workers. In other words, the Party practiced a strict hierarchical system of poverty and the food was centrally regulated.

Statistics show that the difference of rations and ratios set for food was due to political geographics. Moscow and Leningrad received most rations compared to surrounding cities and towns because the most skilled workers and almost all Party members and officials lived there. During the wild of years of the First Five Year Plan and soon the approach of war, such styles of rationing were used. It was particularly important especially for Moscow because by 1940, most workers living there produced about half of the nation’s goods in most fields and even almost al of the nation’s percentage of a particular goods (ball bearings in this case which will be ignored). Such a structure would be ‘important’ for Stalin to strike back at the Germans in years to come (the Germans were close to taking out Moscow in 1942 but the battle of Stalingrad turned the tide when the Germans retreated and Stalin used all military units he had from Moscow to rush through half of Europe to Germany by the war’s end). Back to the years after the First Five Year Plan: after 1935, the bread rationing has officially stopped because the government felt that the nation has sufficient supply of agricultural goods. This was the time when Stalin formulated his all-famous slogan of “Life has become more joyous, comrades” since he supposed that heavy industry has been set up, the farms are now doing well and it was time to move forward with the communist important goal: abundance of material wealth. That was when efforts were poured in to develop the cosmetics, light foods, champagne and caviar industries, the diversification of goods via brands and advertisements. Of course, the people still felt that the rations were way better and Stalin wasn’t going to admit the still-persisting general poverty now, is he?

Besides the fact that people were still starving amidst the First Five Year Plan, we should look into other cases of the nomenklatura which even contradicts the statement above (administrators and those in the government received less than the first category workers). Since that nomenklatura are special, highlighted people of the government whose contribution is to the nation’s administration and policy-making, they certainly deserve more food than anyone else. However, this was not the case, as Stalin viewed the skilled workers as the nation’s backbone so he reserved most for the food for them and the elite class gets less and in the case of the elite/nomenklatura, they do not live in poverty in the sense that they do receive a large amount of goods based on ratio but the variety is extremely limited. If he or she wanted to change his diet, it was impossible. An official report in 1933, the year of mass hunger, said that a government railway wagon served the nomenklatura a monthly consumption rate of 200kg butter, 250 kg Swiss cheese, 500 kg sausages, 500 kg chicken, 300 kg fish, 100 kg fish and 160 kg chocolate. Although the amount of food surely proves that the elite received more than the common people, indirectly they were also starving from the lack of diverse brands of food as opposed to the communist ideal of abundance of everything. So, despite the fact the elitesmen are eating more, it can be concluded that everyone, farmer of official, is starving.

A year after the mass hunger of 1933, things were coming back to normal. This time, a new phenomenon was sweeping the nation: the Stakhanovite fever of working hard for more money. Having said that in principle, it would be unfair if a worker worked for 20 hours and received 230 roubles compared with another worker who received 230 roubles for only 12 hours of work. So, to promote the Stakhanovite fever and be fair, the equal wages policy was abolished. Now, workers were psychologically induced with what the government wanted them to do just right for the country. This was when the rates of production became more exponential on the graph and indeed they earned more money. A worker was now able to put his name on a waiting list to buy a car from the car factory with his own money. They were presented with motorcycles in recognition for their work (in the case of automobiles and others, even getting a motorcycle would earn one person the envy of others at that time). Such Stakhanovites were enlisted to special shops to buy all their goods such as clothes, food and other luxury items in return for their labour.

We now look into several such other examples. Worker A receives an average 230 roubles a month in his factory. He eats several dishes of meat and a sweet dish so that one month, he spends only 25 roubles for lunch. With some more money, he bought himself 2kg of chocolate and meat, similar amounts for grain, sugar, biscuits and apples, 25 grams of tea and 18 kg potatoes and is able to support his unemployed wife. So far, they are well satisfied with food and are able to buy other clothes and coats. Worker B, whose family of kulaks (rich peasants hunted by the government in early First Plan years), wrote that life in Siberia was good, even if it’s cold and he has to work hard. His entire ‘extended’ family of kulak prisoners and children received well amounts of rations a month for sugar, meat, candies, butter, fish, soap, clothes, canned food and flour. Worker C in a Stalingrad meat factory said proudly that she was working hard as a true proletarian because she was indebted to the Party for educating her on the ‘way to success’ and had given her a better life compared to those of the old days. Given the year 1935, which was the time the industry had moved to consumer goods, such words of Worker C were indeed a great inspiration for that generation which looked forward with great hope to a happy future. Worker D and his wife together earned a total of 960 roubles (a great deal of cash those days) and were able to buy mattresses, shoes and food and so was Worker D in an independent case. Worker E and his wife earned a total 860 roubles of which bought them a table, winter coats, shoes, food and some cakes. It was the situation like this in the later part of 1930s that was clearly different from years before. The unique history of the early Soviet years made Stalin remark: “the character and peculiarity of our revolution is that it didn’t only give freedom to the people but also opened the possibility of a rich and cultured life. That is why life has become merry.”

Similar reports from such people who over-fulfilled their quotas up to 120 – 200 percent were then used by the government to present the ideal kind of worker to everyone. They said that such examples should be followed by the whole Soviet Union because not only could they earn great amount of cash at the time, they could also achieve their material needs in return for the labour they performed and by continuing such a practice, the communist ideal of abundance and satisfaction to all would be quickly realized. The Stakhanovite movement was then hailed as a solution to poor workplace discipline, poor performance and professional schooling. The Stakhanovite idea itself was celebrated and published in every state media. To further stimulate progress in the midst of general poverty in 1936, Ordzhonikidze himself presented all leading Stakhanovites with gifts so far counted as 50 cars, 25 motorcycles, 150 patefons, 200 rifles and 150 watches. As a result, the government got what they wanted to see and a huge proportion of all workers became Stakhanovites. Many goods became goods amongst such workers. On a side note, it was learnt that many Stakhanovites are men compared to women and the high-wage earners had medium-level education.

There is no doubting the fact that from the First Plan period, the Soviet Union saw many things improved although at the cost of sudden discarding of the NEP (New Economic Policy), the removal of many private businesses and the incidence of empty shelves. Western visitors would describe that if a Western consumer lived here, it would be a nightmare to dwell with thousands of people lining up at stores only to find nothing on the shelves. This was the scenario in the First Plan period but changes definitely occurred. People were able to change cash for consumer supplies and Gastronom stores were opened to the public. The government took advantage of this new wave of demand to increase prices thus extracting more money from the workers to continue the economic circle of money regulation: from worker to government to industry and back to the worker. Consumers soon faced problems with higher prices despite their new encouraged freedom of consumerism. This can’t be helped since most people were already accustomed to the trouble of obtaining food so long as they are free and now they could not so readily adjust to a money-based market. This kind of poverty is much different from those of capitalist nations where the poverty there is they don’t have money when the goods are cheap. We once again discuss the problems with communism. Given a certain amount of cash, a worker can’t buy an expensive commodity but when the prices are low, the shelves are empty. This is because communism itself is a set of faulty theories ignoring the concepts of supply and demand and the psychologies behind it. The demand was too high while the rate of production was lower than it could cope up with.

Gradually the problems began to increase. During the Second Plan and Third Plan periods (end of 1930s), the complaints from workers and consumers became louder. They complained about empty shelves and expensive prices, they complaint about the geographical discrimination when they saw Moscow shelves full of items and certain people allowed only to enter the stores. The national daily Pravda itself advertised the proof of the people’s statements of comparison and thus, it was easy to imagine that Mosocw had full shelves, Smolensk (a town west of Moscow) had slightly less and Yakutsk (a town way in Siberia) had none. It was clear that despite widespread Stakhanovite spirits, the wealth was confined to only a few cities. That was why the authorities paid attention to many complaints and focused more on the light industry. By crating more luxuries, they were supposed to stimulate the minds of many workers to work harder and create more luxuries for themselves and the Soviet Union.

This was emphasized further by Veitser when he made the proposal of creating a market economy within the communist economy. Normally criticized y Party members as a betrayal, it received Stalin’s huge support. By installing a monetary economy, the relations between city and village would be normalized under the mood that everyone looks for more money and at the same time, increasing the rates of production. This speech wasn’t made public, for fear of more coming complaints and criticisms form the people of which the Party admitted capitalism was better than communism so when the negative effects in the shops came, the Party was blamed, not Stalin.

Nevertheless, it is recognized everywhere that drastic changes in Soviet social life have occurred since the implementation of the Plans. The industry has been revitalized, shops began to have consumer goods on their shelves, people were earning more money, efforts were made to diversify brands of goods, allow the people to be merry and joy and maintain the economy. All were done by the Party and the government. The best of times were culminated in the year 1937, where the best of goods were available despite the fact it was the first year of the Great Purge.

Today's art of a propaganda of a personality cult.

[Professor Fann]

The last lesson of the Soviet luxury book! Chapter 9: “Conclusion: Socialist Realism in the Material Culture.”

So far as all has been discussed, the Soviet Union may now be pictured as, at least only in Stalin’s golden era during the first 12 years in power, as not as grey and smoke-black as anyone thought; well at least in the main cities. Such a conclusion may be observed with all the details previously discussed in the last chapters. The Soviet economy is that which the centrally-made plans was designed to meet national demands , the demands from the populations which may be summed up in the Party’s own motto on its climb to power as “Peace, Land and Bread” and as well as Stalin’s own vision of a communist nation.

While we can say that Stalin’s ideals had drastically shaped the face of Soviet Russia of his time, we can safely say that some ideas used are actually not genuine. For example was the American hamburger and imitated designs of Western clothing and as well as the ice cream. Here, genuine is in the sense that along the way of modernization, some elements are only borne out of the style of economy. We cannot simply say that the ice cream is a product of communism; it is totally absurd because the Chinese were the first to invent ice cream and that time, there was such a thing as Emperor of a Dynasty which practice is called feudalism and, perhaps, capitalism since there were no records of any royal centralized plans in the Chinese Empire. Either way of style of economics, products the symbol of modernity is bound to show up. The only distinction here is that while the ice cream and the hamburger took centuries and decades respectively to be recognized as a Western delight, it only took three to five years to be a Soviet delight.

Socialist realism runs in line that the people ought to look forward with a happy and wealthy tomorrow. That was why everything was done so fast in the First Plan era. Despite the freedom of commerce and democracy guaranteed by Stalin himself in his Constitution, the nation remains strictly regulated in a spirit of kulturnost: poorly defined as people displaying positive taste for culture and wealth and at the same time in line with the Party’s commitment to communism. However due to defects in the communist theories itself which widely ignored vital economic concepts such as supply and demand and persecuted individualistic aspects of what we now refer to as freedom and creativity, socialist realism might as well be regarded as rubbish since it has lost the vigour and spirit which appealed to the people. Once again it is all to do with the situations at hand and the way of application. Stalin had already foreseen such a development hence that was why he made many drastic plans here and there. He applied brute force to complete industrialization for his country and once he felt that the basics were complete, it was time to culture freedom and fine taste of the people hence the socialist realist materialism was applied just nicely in his era. Once all such tastes for fine culture were developed, according to his plan, the nation was ready to push forward to the communism Marx had envisioned for the workers and even projected that communism would be done by 1960 – if it weren’t for the war. However, this turned upside down and things turned ugly. We will see why in the next giant paragraph.

In my personal opinion, the communist idea is not the future economics of the world; it was only the quickest predecessor economic style of capitalism for a poor nation. The Soviet Union is a classic example. The nation came out of World War One and the Russian Civil War totally exhausted. The result of the NEP is quite significant on the population but it couldn’t form a decent systemized way of running an economy because the businesses run were permittedly illegal and elements of the negative capitalism in Marxist ideal had set it. Communism only serves as a state ideological base of which the population is mobilized by the masses to set up a good foundation for a national economy. Once the basics were covered, it was time to allow freedom in the business, which was what Stalin did. We are well aware that manpower alongside creativity is this new age is the key to drive further an economy’s success, hence the many ‘new’ ideas brought in from the Western world. Stalin was able to do it hence his cling on power is stable, besides the fact he mobilized the secret police and NKVD to get rid of all opponents. Hence socialist realist materialism is only a temporary stage which came in at a correct point of time which will further the true communist cause for the Soviet people. However after Stalin died, the Soviet Union clung on to the old ideology which had blocked the flow of positive creativity, democracy, national inspiration and freedom to the workers who demand better goods and services and style of living, because such elements were already proven to steer ahead national growth. Because of the loss of Stakhanovite vigour, socialist realist materialism lost its appeal and now people only find themselves in favour of leaders and elite classes who are selfish. All sense of fine taste was lost and the inspiration for a better life was lost and that is why the Soviet economy began to crumble and fail. As long as the vital element of inspiring the people to work for a better future for themselves and the nation is gone, the current system might as well be done away with and be replaced with another system which is capable of utilizing positive human elements to the betterment of all society: modern-day capitalism, which seeks mutual cooperation and benefits to all aspects of human classes and the environment as well. Leaders after Stalin persecuted this lot because they still think that ideas of the old are good and militarization of the economy was the best way to save the workers from ‘utter destruction by capitalism’ hence the economy and people suffered as the result. This situation was more or less stable until the reign of Gorbachev began. The Soviet Union has become hopelessly out of date because of the old ideology and the continued persecution of positive elements which were proven to advance the nation, especially in terms of computer-based technologies. The sudden rage of the people was too much to bear and the Soviet Union crumbled. Now with the foundation of decades-old industry, by allowing industry and economy to flow freely along the lines of creativity and freedom, Russia especially can now be seen as a flourishing nation with computers and cash. However, during the years of Yeltsin, things weren’t so stable and the monetaries were terrible. If we analyze history again, we can conclude that the period is only temporary because in the end, capitalism and rights to freedom and creativity has settled down just nicely, in time to allow the full creativity and freedom of the people to manifest themselves in the form of private enterprises which follow along modern economics theory such as cost and price and supply and demand. That’s why Russia now is flourishing and the communist Party will never see hope of going back to power: as long as Putin combats corruption and promotes the long run of peace and continues free trade of creativity and freedom with the rest of the world, Russia will remain rich, peaceful and never communist.

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So, there you have it: how Stalinist luxuries were developed, why his era was considered the greatest and a further study on why communism failed in the large end and more detailed studies of other economic situations and application. Out of all these, we understand why champagne and caviar may be regarded as glory of the old and the ideals that are secretly and unknowingly embedded in it. No one knows that one can simply extract so many things out of a simple jar of Russian caviar.