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Consumer goods in the Soviet Union were usually produced by a two-category industry. Group A was "
heavy industry Heavy industry is an industry that involves one or more characteristics such as large and heavy products; large and heavy equipment and facilities (such as heavy equipment, large machine tools, huge buildings and large-scale infrastructure); o ...
", which included all goods that serve as an input required for the production of some other, final good. Group B was "consumer goods", final goods used for
consumption Consumption may refer to: *Resource consumption *Tuberculosis, an infectious disease, historically * Consumption (ecology), receipt of energy by consuming other organisms * Consumption (economics), the purchasing of newly produced goods for curren ...
, which included
food Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is in ...
,
clothing Clothing (also known as clothes, apparel, and attire) are items worn on the body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin sheets of materials and natura ...
and
shoe A shoe is an item of footwear intended to protect and comfort the human foot. They are often worn with a sock. Shoes are also used as an item of decoration and fashion. The design of shoes has varied enormously through time and from cultur ...
s,
housing Housing, or more generally, living spaces, refers to the construction and assigned usage of houses or buildings individually or collectively, for the purpose of shelter. Housing ensures that members of society have a place to live, whether ...
, and such heavy-industry products as appliances and fuels that are used by individual consumers. From the early days of the
Stalin era Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...
, Group A received top priority in economic planning and allocation so as to industrialize the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
from its previous agricultural economy.


The consumer industry and Soviet economic development

Following the
October Revolution of 1917 The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...
, the
economy of the Soviet Union The economy of the Soviet Union was based on state ownership of the means of production, collective farming, and industrial manufacturing. An administrative-command system managed a distinctive form of central planning. The Soviet economy was ...
, previously largely agrarian, was rapidly
industrialized Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econ ...
. From 1928 to 1991 the entire course of the economy was guided by a series of ambitious five-year plans (see Economic planning in the Soviet Union). The nation was among the world's three top manufacturers of a large number of basic and heavy industrial products, but it tended to lag behind in the output of light industrial production and consumer durables. One result of this was that consumer demand was only partially satisfied.


Consumer goods in the early Stalin years (1930s)


Introduction of consumer goods

The 1930s saw major changes in the supply and distribution of consumer goods in the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
. The
first five-year plan The first five-year plan (russian: I пятилетний план, ) of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was a list of economic goals, created by Communist Party General Secretary Joseph Stalin, based on his policy of socialism in ...
focused on the industrialization of the country and the production of industrial goods. After the successful industrialization drive in the first five-year plan, the government turned its focus to improving the lives of its citizens. The introduction of the second five-year plan in 1933 attempted to accomplish this by shifting the focus of production exclusively from industrial goods to include the production of some consumer goods. The Party Congress of February 1934 bolstered the calls for improvement of both quantity and quality in food products and other consumer goods. These changes led
Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...
to declare in 1935 that "Life has become more joyous". To a Soviet consumer, a luxury item was any good with the exception of plain breads, cabbage, potatoes and vodka. By granting all citizens access to a larger variety of consumer goods, views of consumer goods shifted from representative of the elite, and therefore despised, to being desired by all citizens. This shift in opinion and perception fit into the main Marxist-Leninist goal of empowering the
proletariat The proletariat (; ) is the social class of wage-earners, those members of a society whose only possession of significant economic value is their labour power (their capacity to work). A member of such a class is a proletarian. Marxist philo ...
. The Soviet government looked to teach Soviet citizens about Marxist-Leninist ideology along with table manners and discerning taste in food and material goods.
Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
were expected to be cultured and mannered. Being able to discuss luxury goods with comrades was an important social skill. The government used consumer items as legitimate awards to honor comrades whose work contributed to the building of
socialism Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes th ...
. However, the culturalization of society legitimized the formerly despised bourgeois concerns about status and possession, and the practice of giving special goods to a subset of the population also created a new social hierarchy which received special privileges.


Distribution and supply

In the early 1930s, the closed distribution system was the primary method of consumer goods distribution. By 1933, two thirds of Moscow's population and 58 percent of Leningrad's population were served by these stores. The closed distribution system consisted of stores and cafeterias accessible only to workers registered at that enterprise. These centers distributed rationed goods. The system was set up to protect the workers from the worst effects of limited supply and shortages. It also linked the rationing system with employment. At the same time, there were three other legal alternatives to closed distribution stores: commercial stores,
Torgsin Torgsin ( Russian: ) were state-run hard-currency stores that operated in the USSR between 1931 and 1936. Their name was an acronym of ''torgovlia s inostrantsami'' ( Russian: '), "trade with foreigners." Unlike the later Beryozka stores, Torg ...
stores and
Kolkhoz A kolkhoz ( rus, колхо́з, a=ru-kolkhoz.ogg, p=kɐlˈxos) was a form of collective farm in the Soviet Union. Kolkhozes existed along with state farms or sovkhoz., a contraction of советское хозяйство, soviet ownership or ...
markets. All had higher prices than the closed distribution stores. Since the state controlled all of these distribution methods, it could exercise a distribution monopoly. The first five-year plan caused the closure of all artisan methods of consumer goods production, such as small private factories and workshops. In the mid-1930s, these methods of production were allowed to return on a small scale. In May 1936, a law was passed that slightly improved the supply of consumer goods by legalizing individual practice of trades such as cobbling, cabinetmaking, carpentry, dressmaking, hairdressing, laundering, locksmithing, photography, plumbing, tailoring, and upholstery – it slightly improved the shortage of consumer goods. Artisanal activity related to food was still banned. Kolkhoz markets were set up for artisans and peasants to sell their homemade goods. The State regulated the amount of participation in these markets but prices were allowed to float. This floating caused the prices at these markets to normally be higher than prices in the closed distribution stores. Individual service was illegal until May 1936. The State also set up Torgsin stores that sold scarce goods in exchange for foreign currency, gold, silver, and other valuables. The purpose of these stores was to expand Soviet hard currency reserves so that the country could import more equipment for the industrialization drive. Since these goods were scarce, consumers viewed them as treasure and selling them was a huge sacrifice. Prices were kept low to entice people to participate in the Torgsin stores. These stores ran from 1930 to 1936. From 1929, the State ran commercial stores that functioned outside the rationing system. Goods were sold for higher prices than in the closed distribution stores, two to four times as much. The goods sold were regarded as higher quality than goods sold by the closed distribution stores. At the end of 1933, the first department store, called the Central Department Store, opened in Moscow. It ran until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 as part of the commercial store network. The end of the first rationing period and the abolition of the closed distribution system in 1935 caused the commercial store network to expand. In January 1935, there were five department stores open in the USSR. A year later, fifteen more department stores had opened.


Foreign influence

The import of foreign goods was extremely limited during the 1930s. The official slogan was "There is much to be learned from the example of the advanced capitalist countries in the field of consumer goods". Small amounts of foreign goods were imported, studied, and then copied. These Soviet versions of foreign consumer goods were distributed through consumption channels. The State did not directly import large quantities of consumer goods. During the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact period (1939–41), the Soviet citizens' primary interaction with the outside world was with the newly occupied borderlands of Finland, the Baltic States, Bessarabia, and Poland. Goods considered scarce in the USSR such as watches, bicycles, clothes and food products were plentiful in these regions. The occupying
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...
was fascinated with the diversity of goods at low prices. Viewed as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire them, soldiers bought large quantities of these goods to send back to their families in the USSR. This flow of goods inspired civilians to seek permission to travel to these areas to acquire the goods and sell them on the black market.


1959 American National Exhibition

In the summer of 1959 the
American National Exhibition The American National Exhibition (July 25 to Sept. 4, 1959) was an exhibition of American art, fashion, cars, capitalism, model homes and futuristic kitchens that attracted 3 million visitors to its Sokolniki Park, Moscow venue during its six-wee ...
was held at Sokolniki Park in
Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
. The American National Exhibition was sponsored by the American government and featured many displays of the latest "home appliances, fashions, television and hi-fi sets, a
model house A show house, also called a model home or display home, is a term for a "display" version of manufactured homes, or houses in a subdivision Subdivision may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Subdivision (metre), in music * ''Subdivision'' (fil ...
priced to sell oan 'average' family,
farm equipment Agricultural machinery relates to the mechanical structures and devices used in farming or other agriculture. There are many types of such equipment, from hand tools and power tools to tractors and the countless kinds of farm implements that the ...
, 1959 automobiles, boats, sporting equipment and a children’s playground."The Russian People Can Take a Peek at U.S. Civilization." ''Saturday Evening Post,'' August 1, 1959.


See also

*
Economy of the Soviet Union The economy of the Soviet Union was based on state ownership of the means of production, collective farming, and industrial manufacturing. An administrative-command system managed a distinctive form of central planning. The Soviet economy was ...
*
Ministry of Light Industry The Ministry of Light Industry (russian: Министерство лёгкой промышленности), also known as Minlegprom, was a government ministry in the Soviet Union which was responsible for consumer goods production. History Th ...
* Shortage economy * Soviet fashion design


References


Bibliography

* * * * * &ndash
Soviet Union
{{DEFAULTSORT:Consumer Goods In The Soviet Union Economy of the Soviet Union Soviet brands Goods (economics)