Private trade in the USSR. Soviet trade. Retail trade in the USSR
Blogger germanych says: After publishing his post about the elections in Soviet era I was surprised to learn that for many representatives of modern youth it was a revelation that in those days they were choosing from one candidate. It's funny, but what seems so obvious and familiar to me is like a window into the looking glass for many. Therefore, I decided to continue leisurely memories of those times. Moreover, it is better to remember with photographs in hand. So it’s somehow clearer.
1. 1959 Grocery department. Typical. If my vision serves me correctly, there is not a lot of food on the counter, to use euphemisms. And to put it bluntly and without embellishment, the counter is completely empty. True, it should be recognized that there is something hanging behind the seller’s back. To be honest, I didn’t understand what it was. Either decomposed meat carcasses, or something wrapped in oiled paper. Okay, let's assume it's meat.
2. 1964 Moscow. GUM. Gumov ice cream has always been popular. And in '64...
3. ...and in 1980...
4. ...and in 1987.
But, as they say, not just ice cream...
5. 1965 In Soviet times, design was approached very simply. There weren't a bunch of stupid names. Stores in all cities had simple but clear names: “Bread”, “Milk”, “Meat”, “Fish”. In this case - “Gastronomic store”.
6. And here is the toy department. The store, therefore, is a department store. Still the same 1965. I remember in 1987, a girl I knew, a saleswoman in the Dom Knigi store on Kalininsky, told me that she felt uncomfortable every time when foreigners stood stunned, looking at her counting the cost of a purchase on their accounts. But that was 1987, and in 1965 the scores did not surprise anyone. The sports games department is visible in the background. There are different types of chess, checkers, dominoes - a typical set. Well, lotto and games with dice and chips (some were very interesting). In the foreground is a children's rocking horse. I didn't have one.
7. Still the same 1965. Selling apples on the street. Please pay attention to the packaging - a paper bag (the woman in the foreground is putting apples in it). Such bags made of third-grade paper were all along one of the most common types of Soviet packaging.
8. 1966 Supermarket - Self-service department store. At the exit with purchases there is not a cashier with a cash register, but a saleswoman with bills. The check was threaded on a special awl (standing in front of the bills). On the shelves there is a typical set: something in packs (tea? tobacco? dry jelly?), then cognac and some bottles in general, and on the horizon - traditional Soviet pyramids of canned fish.
9. 1968 There is progress. Instead of bills - cash registers. There are shopping baskets - by the way, quite a nice design. In the bottom left row you can see the buyer’s hand with a carton of milk - such characteristic pyramids. In Moscow there were two types: red (25 kopecks) and blue (16 kopecks). They were distinguished by their fat content. On the shelves, as far as can be distinguished, are traditional cans and bottles sunflower oil(I think). It is interesting that there are two sellers at the exit: one checking purchases and a cashier (her head peeks out from behind the right shoulder of the aunt-seller with a facial expression typical of a Soviet seller).
10. 1972 Let's take a closer look at what was on the shelves. Sprats (by the way, they later became scarce), bottles of sunflower oil, some other canned fish, on the right - something like cans of condensed milk. There are very, very many cans. But there are very few names. Several types of canned fish, two types of milk, butter, kvass wort, what else?
11. 1966 I still can’t figure out what exactly the buyers are looking at there.
12. 1967 This is not Lenin's room. This is a department in the House of Books on Kalininsky. Today these shopping areas are chock-full of all kinds of books (on history, philosophy), and then - with portraits of Lenin and the Politburo.
13. 1967 For children - plastic astronauts. Very affordable - only 70 kopecks per piece.
14. 1974 Typical grocery store. Again: a pyramid of canned fish, bottles of champagne, a battery of Globus green peas (Hungarian, it seems, or Bulgarian - I don’t remember). Half-liter jars with something like grated beets or horseradish with beets, packs of cigarettes, a bottle of Armenian cognac. On the right (behind the scales) are empty flasks for selling juice. The juice was usually: tomato (10 kopecks a glass), plum (12 or 15, I don’t remember), apple (same), grape (same). Sometimes in Moscow there was tangerine and orange (50 kopecks - wildly expensive). Next to such flasks there was always a saucer with salt, which you could add to your glass of tomato juice with a spoon (taken from a glass of water) and stir. I've always loved a glass of tomato juice.
15. 1975 The city of Mirny. On the left, as far as one can judge, there are deposits of bagels, gingerbread and cookies - all in plastic bags. On the right are eternal canned fish and - below - 3-liter jars of canned cucumbers.
16. 1975 The city of Mirny. General view store interior.
17. 1979 Moscow. People are waiting for the end lunch break in the store. The display window is decorated with a typical pictogram of the Vegetables and Fruits store. In the window itself there are jars of jam. And, it seems, of the same type.
18. 1980 Novosibirsk General view of the supermarket. In the foreground are a battery of milk bottles. Next, in metal mesh containers, there are something like deposits of canned fish. In the background there is a grocery store - bags of flour and noodles. The overall dull landscape is somewhat enlivened by plastic icons of departments. We must pay tribute to the designers there - the pictograms are quite understandable. Not like program icons Microsoft Word.
19. 1980 Novosibirsk Manufactured goods. Furniture in the form of sofas and wardrobes. Next is the sports department (checkers, inflatable lifebuoys, billiards, dumbbells and various other small items). Even further, under the stairs there are televisions. In the background are partially empty shelves.
20. View of the same store from the household electrical appliances department. In the sports department, life jackets and hockey helmets are distinguishable. Overall, it was probably one of the best stores Novosibirsk (I think so).
21. 1980 Vegetable department. The line is tensely watching the saleswoman. In the foreground are green cucumbers, which appeared in stores in early spring (and then disappeared).
23. 1981. Moscow. Typical store design. "Milk". On the right, a woman is pushing a wildly scarce imported stroller with “windows.”
31. Particularly spiritual people do not need fashionable shoes. But the women in this photo don’t look very cheerful.
33. An almost sacred place is the meat department. “Communism is when every Soviet person will know a butcher” (from some movie).
34. “Pork” - 1 ruble 90 kopecks per kilogram. Grandmothers don't believe their eyes. “Butcher, bitch, he sold all the meat!”
38. Phallic symbol. It is enough to look at the reverence with which the aunt holds this object to understand that in the USSR sausage was much more than just a food product.
40. Frozen hake is, of course, not sausage, but you can eat it too. Although, of course, it all doesn’t look very aesthetically pleasing.
41. Not just sausage... For a Soviet color TV, a Soviet person had to pay almost 4-6 months’ salary (“Electronics” costs 755 rubles).
Memories of Soviet times periodically visit everyone who was born during this period. And one of the aspects of the life of Soviet society that is of particular interest is, of course, the economy of that time, more precisely trade. Let's remember how it was.
Moreover, it is better to remember with photographs in hand. So it’s somehow clearer.
1. 1959 Grocery department. Typical. If my vision serves me correctly, there is not a lot of food on the counter, to use euphemisms. And to put it bluntly and without embellishment, the counter is completely empty. True, it should be recognized that there is something hanging behind the seller’s back. To be honest, I didn’t understand what it was. Either decomposed meat carcasses, or something wrapped in oiled paper. Okay, let's assume it's meat.
2. 1964 Moscow. GUM. Gumov ice cream has always been popular. And in '64...
3. ...and in 1980...
4. ...and in 1987.
But, as they say, not just ice cream...
5. 1965 In Soviet times, design was approached very simply. There weren't a bunch of stupid names. Stores in all cities had simple but clear names: “Bread”, “Milk”, “Meat”, “Fish”. In this case - “Gastronomic store”.
6. And here is the toy department. The store, therefore, is a department store. Still the same 1965. I remember in 1987, a girl I knew, a saleswoman in the Dom Knigi store on Kalininsky, told me that she felt uncomfortable every time when foreigners stood stunned, looking at her counting the cost of a purchase on their accounts. But that was 1987, and in 1965 the scores did not surprise anyone. The sports games department is visible in the background. There are different types of chess, checkers, dominoes - a typical set. Well, lotto and games with dice and chips (some were very interesting). In the foreground is a children's rocking horse. I didn't have one.
7. Still the same 1965. Selling apples on the street. Please pay attention to the packaging - a paper bag (the woman in the foreground is putting apples in it). Such bags made of third-grade paper were all along one of the most common types of Soviet packaging.
8. 1966 Supermarket - Self-service department store. At the exit with purchases there is not a cashier with a cash register, but a saleswoman with bills. The check was threaded on a special awl (standing in front of the bills). On the shelves there is a typical set: something in packs (tea? tobacco? dry jelly?), then cognac and some bottles in general, and on the horizon - traditional Soviet pyramids of canned fish.
9. 1968 There is progress. Instead of bills there are cash registers. There are shopping baskets - by the way, quite a nice design. In the bottom left row you can see the buyer’s hand with a carton of milk - such characteristic pyramids. In Moscow there were two types: red (25 kopecks) and blue (16 kopecks). They were distinguished by their fat content. On the shelves, as far as one can discern, are traditional tin cans and bottles of sunflower oil (it seems). It is interesting that there are two sellers at the exit: one checking purchases and a cashier (her head peeks out from behind the right shoulder of the aunt-seller with a facial expression typical of a Soviet seller).
10. 1972 Let's take a closer look at what was on the shelves. Sprats (by the way, they later became scarce), bottles of sunflower oil, some other canned fish, on the right - something like cans of condensed milk. There are very, very many cans. But there are very few names. Several types of canned fish, two types of milk, butter, kvass wort, what else?
11. 1966 I still can’t figure out what exactly the buyers are looking at there.
12. 1967 This is not Lenin's room. This is a department in the House of Books on Kalininsky. Today these shopping areas are chock-full of all kinds of books (on history, philosophy), and then - with portraits of Lenin and the Politburo.
13. 1967 For children - plastic astronauts. Very affordable - only 70 kopecks per piece.
14. 1974 Typical grocery store. Again: a pyramid of canned fish, bottles of champagne, a battery of Globus green peas (Hungarian, it seems, or Bulgarian - I don’t remember). Half-liter jars with something like grated beets or horseradish with beets, packs of cigarettes, a bottle of Armenian cognac. On the right (behind the scales) are empty flasks for selling juice. The juice was usually: tomato (10 kopecks a glass), plum (12 or 15, I don’t remember), apple (same), grape (same). Sometimes in Moscow there was tangerine and orange (50 kopecks - wildly expensive). Next to such flasks there was always a saucer with salt, which you could add to your glass of tomato juice with a spoon (taken from a glass of water) and stir. I've always loved a glass of tomato juice.
15. 1975 The city of Mirny. On the left, as far as one can judge, there are deposits of bagels, gingerbread and cookies - all in plastic bags. On the right are eternal canned fish and - below - 3-liter jars of canned cucumbers.
16. 1975 The city of Mirny. General view of the store interior.
17. 1979 Moscow. People are waiting for the end of their lunch break in the store. The display window is decorated with a typical pictogram of the Vegetables and Fruits store. In the window itself there are jars of jam. And, it seems, of the same type.
18. 1980 Novosibirsk General view of the supermarket. In the foreground are a battery of milk bottles. Next, in metal mesh containers, there are something like deposits of canned fish. In the background there is a grocery store - bags of flour and noodles. The overall dull landscape is somewhat enlivened by plastic icons of departments. We must pay tribute to the designers there - the pictograms are quite understandable. Not like pictograms Microsoft programs Word.
19. 1980 Novosibirsk Manufactured goods. Furniture in the form of sofas and wardrobes. Next is the sports department (checkers, inflatable lifebuoys, billiards, dumbbells and various other small items). Even further, under the stairs there are televisions. In the background are partially empty shelves.
20. View of the same store from the household electrical appliances department. In the sports department, life jackets and hockey helmets are distinguishable. Overall, this was probably one of the best stores in Novosibirsk (I think so).
21. 1980 Vegetable department. The line is tensely watching the saleswoman. In the foreground are green cucumbers, which appeared in stores in early spring (and then disappeared).
22. 1980. Sausage. Krakow, it must be.
23. 1981. Moscow. Typical store design. "Milk". On the right, a woman is pushing a wildly scarce imported stroller with “windows.”
24. 1982 At the market, the Soviet people rested their souls.
25. 1983 Queue for shoes. It’s no different that the imported boots were “thrown away.”
26. 1987 Queue for something.
27. Kvass saleswoman. People went for kvass with aluminum cans or three-liter jars.
28. 1987 Electrical goods.
29. No comments.
30. Soviet underwear as it is. Without any colorful bourgeois packaging.
31. Particularly spiritual people do not need fashionable shoes. But the women in this photo don’t look very cheerful.
32. Also shoes... And where to go? There is no other one.
33. An almost sacred place is the meat department. “Communism is when every Soviet person will know a butcher” (from some movie).
34. “Pork” - 1 ruble 90 kopecks per kilogram. Grandmothers don't believe their eyes. “Butcher, bitch, he sold all the meat!”
35. Soviet turn. What an intense look from people - “is that enough?”
36. “The meat will be brought now. You’ll see, they’ll definitely bring it.”
37. “Eat meat!” Local fight over the best piece.
38. Phallic symbol. It is enough to look at the reverence with which the aunt holds this object to understand that in the USSR sausage was much more than just a food product.
39. It is necessary to cut more pieces of sausage, which will then be instantly swept off the counter.
40. Frozen hake is, of course, not sausage, but you can eat it too. Although, of course, it all doesn’t look very aesthetically pleasing.
41. Not just sausage... For a Soviet color TV, a Soviet person had to pay almost 4-6 months’ salary (“Electronics” costs 755 rubles).
42. Vegetable department. In the foreground is a cart with some kind of rot. Moreover, it was assumed that someone could buy this rot.
43. Ineradicable antagonism between Soviet buyers and Soviet sellers. It’s clear in the man’s eyes that he would gladly strangle the saleswoman. But it’s not so easy to strangle such a saleswoman - Soviet trade hardened people. Soviet saleswomen knew how to deal with customers. More than once I saw a flurry of indignation and attempts at rebellion in the queues, but the result was always the same - victory remained with these saleswomen.
44. One of the features of Sovk was the presence of a sophisticated system of benefits (all sorts of veterans, “prisoners of concentration camps”, etc.). Various beneficiaries with red crusts in Soviet queues were hated almost as much as saleswomen. Look, there’s a snout in the hat - not to take the allotted duck “like everyone else,” he puts in the red crust - apparently, he’s laying claim to two ducks.
45. This photo is interesting not so much for the hake being sold, but for the packaging. In the USSR, almost all purchases were wrapped in this brown, rigid paper. In general, the darkest thing that happened in Soviet trade was packaging, which, in fact, did not exist.
46. Some more queue.
47. And one more thing...
48. And one more thing...
49. Suffering. No comments.
50. Those who didn’t have time are late. Now spells won't help.
51. Queue at the dairy department.
52. “Our work is simple...”
53. Queue at the wine department.
54. 1991. Well, this is already an apotheosis. Finita...
55. And this is a completely different line of people who dreamed of escaping from Sovk, even for an hour. And no spirituality.
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Is it true that in the Soviet Union there were barrels of black caviar in every store, and it cost a penny? What was hard to get? Were there any queues? Was it possible to get normal products without cronyism? Is it true that the bread tasted better?
I don’t remember almost anything about Soviet stores: I was too young, and my parents didn’t take me to them. From the 90s I only remember that I had to walk through the forest to the Moscow Ring Road to get some bananas. I still don’t understand why we had to go after them; no one ate them anyway. I also remember that on Tverskaya there was a very cool store called “SweetSweetWay”, where they sold foreign candies by weight.
With the onset of Soviet rule, private stores began to quickly disappear, and a centralized distribution system appeared in their place. In those years, food cards began to be introduced for citizens. They were in effect for several years after the revolution, then they were abolished, and then reintroduced in 1929.
Shops on Pyatnitskaya Street, 1922-1929 
Bookstore facade, 1920-1929 
In 1932, private trade was prohibited by law. And the products were distributed depending on what the person was doing. Life was best for the workers and their families: they belonged to the first category and received 800 g of bread per day. The second category - employees, they received 300 g each. Disabled people and pensioners received 200 g each. And church employees and parasites received nothing at all.
At the window of the shoe department of the Central Department Store, 1934 
In 1935, life in the country more or less improved, there was a lot of goods, and the authorities decided to abolish cards and establish free trade. Over the next six years (until the start of the Great Patriotic War) the state independently introduced and regulated all retail prices.
Showcase, 1939 
Metropol and Aeroflot advertising, 1939. Officially, by this year Aeroflot had already existed for 7 years. During this time, he managed to save the Chelyuskinites and fly from Moscow to the USA via the North Pole. 
Metropol Bookstore, 1939 
With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, most material resources redirected to military needs. In 1941, the authorities reintroduced cards for bread, cereals, sugar, butter, clothing and shoes. The largest portions were received by workers in military factories, mining and chemical industries. But even with ration cards it was often impossible to get food.
The cards were valid until the end of 1947. This year the country underwent denomination and opened trade again.
Showcase of the Eliseevsky grocery store, 1947. It was one of the most famous Soviet gastronomes. 
The store was founded back in 1901, then it was called “Eliseev’s Store and Cellars of Russian and Foreign Wines.” The first few years after the revolution it remained closed, but in the 1920s it was reopened and renamed “Gastronom No. 1”. There was a huge range of goods here and rare goods often appeared, which was very unusual in conditions of post-war shortages. 
They say that this is where the tradition of putting goods in a pyramid came from. 
The grocery store, like all other stores, operated on a card system during the war and post-war years. But in 1944, it also opened a commercial department in which goods were sold for money. The prices here were exorbitant, but the department was still attractive huge amount visitors. All this ended with the fact that in the 50s the head commercial department The grocery store was convicted of a large amount of unearned income made from deceiving customers. 
At a tobacco shop window on Gorky Street, 1947 
Party bodies were also involved in the publication and distribution of books in the USSR. Before printing, all literature passed through the hands of censors; many works and authors were not allowed into print at all. But the books were very cheap, and in general reading was very popular among the people. At the window of the Moscow bookstore. 
At the showcase with oriental souvenirs, 1947 
Shop on Taganskaya Square, 1951. It was simply called “Products”. In those years, the names were not particularly original, and most stores were called “Bread”, “Milk”, “Meat”, “Fish” and so on. 
And here is a shot from the Mosovoshch store (or Mosovoshch, as it is written in the photo) 
GUM, showcase of samples in the section selling haberdashery goods without the help of a salesperson, 1954. In the 30s, the GUM building was going to be demolished, but then they changed their minds. In the early 50s it was restored, and in 1953 GUM reopened to customers. 
Kutuzovsky prospect, house 18. Showcase with dishes. Since its construction, the residential building with shops on the ground floor has been popularly called the “Pink Department Store.” After opening, the Pink Department Store was the most popular store in the area, stocking everything from coats to needles. Well, the dishes too. This is 1958. 
There is also a display case with TVs. It looks like these are "Rubies", they just started being produced in 1957. They did not become a scarce commodity because they cost several months' salaries. Few could afford such luxury. 
Radio goods store on Gorky Street, 1960 
In 1961, the authorities carried out another monetary reform. 10 old-style rubles were equal in value to one new-style ruble, while its value in gold and dollar terms fell sharply. Because of this, prices for jewelry, imported products and some domestic goods and products.
Showcase of the Dietary Products store on Gorky Street. “The liver of burbot and cod is natural. Canned food in its own juice contains fish oil and vitamin D. It is recommended for nutrition during rickets, for enhanced nutrition during tuberculosis and to accelerate the healing of bone fractures.” 
Showcase with cameras 
Showcase with clock 
"Efir" store with TVs. Look at the prices. Average salary in the 60s it was 80-90 rubles. 
Shop "Cheese" 
Showcase of the "Russian Wines" store on Gorky Street. Judging by the memoirs, the walls inside the store were painted with bunches of grapes, Elbrus and poplars in the Sots Art style, and the floor was strewn with sawdust. 
In conditions of commodity shortages, collective farm markets helped people a lot. They were either covered pavilions or open rows of counters. They sold meat, milk, vegetables, fruits, potatoes and canned food here. Representatives of collective and state farms could trade in such markets and ordinary people who grew crops in their dacha. For trading place you had to pay, and in return the market management provided everything you needed - scales, trading equipment and all sorts of other little things. Private sellers set prices depending on demand, and bargaining was common. Danilovsky collective farm market, 1959. 
"Vanda" store on Petrovka, 1960s. In the 70s, this store became one of the main speculator points in Moscow. In the gateway next to "Vanda" there was a women's restroom, in which speculators sold women Polish lipstick, mascara, tights and perfume. 
Showcase of the "House of Toys" on Kutuzovsky Prospekt, 1960. 
Showcase of the Toy House store, 1964-1972 
Bridal salon on Mira Avenue, 1961 
Department store "Moscow", 1963 
It was the first store in the USSR designed according to Western models. shopping center. Inside, advertisements were playing on radios and televisions. 
The department store was opened as an experiment. Here in addition retail premises there was an information and training center, a showroom for displaying new clothing collections and lecture halls. 
Showcases of the Moscow department store in 1968 
Counter and showcase of the Moscow department store in the 70s 
Shop "Lyudmila", 1965. This is one of branded stores retail network"Mosodezhda" Other stores in the chain were called “Moskvichka”, “Lyudmila”, “Tatyana” and “Ruslan”, there were about 80 of them in total. 
Begovaya Street, 1969 
Gorky Street. Moscow showcases. Men's Fashion Store, 1970 
Grocery store "Novoarbatsky" 
In Vladimir Vysotsky’s favorite store on Malaya Gruzinskaya, 29 
The Berezka grocery store is a chain of stores that sold groceries and other goods for foreign currency or "Vneshtorgbang checks". "Beryozka" was founded in 1964, and it existed until the 1990s. Photo taken in 1974. 
In the 70s, supermarkets began to open en masse in the USSR. They were located in standard rectangular buildings, and there were long shelves inside towards the cash registers. The service system in Soviet supermarkets was quite complex. With the collected goods, you had to come to the department, the seller weighed and counted everything, and then wrote the price to the buyer on a piece of paper. Then with this paper you had to go to the cashier and pay for everything. And then, with a receipt from the cash register, the buyer returned to the first department and picked up the purchase. Supermarket in Lyublino, 1974 
Shop in Tushino, 1974 
Grocery store on Dimitrov Street, 1974 
"House of Toys", 1975. It was this year that the creator of "What? Where? When?" Vladimir Voroshilov bought his first top for the game here. 
Men's coats in GUM, 1975 
In the 70s, trade turnover in the country grew rapidly, and new stores opened everywhere. In particular, these are new supermarkets and department stores, stores with the names “Everything for Women”, “Everything for Men” and “Everything for the Home”. Between 1961 and 1975 the number retail space has doubled. New retail and cash register equipment appears.
Shop "Orbita" 
Interior of the Ocean store in Ostankino, 1977
Voentorg on Kalinin Avenue - the country's main military department store, 1979 
Tick-tock store, 1982 
Canned food store, 1982 
TSUM 
GUM 
GUM, grocery store window, 1984 
Department store in the village of Vostochny, 1985 
GUM showcase, 1985 
Stall with stockings, 1986
Department store "Children's World", 1986 
House of pedagogical books on Pushkinskaya, 1986 
Passage of the Art Theater (Kamergersky Lane), 1986 
At the window of "Children's World", 1987 
"Children's World", 1987 
During the period of perestroika, the country's deficit began to grow again. This was caused by unsuccessful and inconsistent reforms. For example, in 1987 the authorities abolished the state monopoly on foreign trade, and then many enterprises began to send their goods abroad, earning much more from this than if they were bought by Soviet citizens.
"Diet" store, 1987-1989 
Showcase on Arbat 
"Melody" store, 1989. It was located in house 22 on Novy Arbat (formerly Kalinin Avenue), next to the Oktyabr cinema. Records, reels and cassettes were sold here. Melodiya stores were called Record Houses in those years; there were 18 of them in the Soviet Union, but the company’s products could be bought not only there. Simpler records were sold at Soyuzpechat kiosks, and even earlier it was fashionable to order records by mail. 
Department store "Moskovsky" 
Kiosks on Kolkhoz Square, 1990 
At the checkout in " Children's world", 1991 
The economic and political crisis that gripped the country under “war communism” forced the political leadership to look for a way out of them. The transition from “war communism” to the “new economic policy” (NEP) was proclaimed by the Tenth Congress of the Russian Communist Party in March 1921.
The initial idea of the transition was formulated in the works of V.I. Lenin 1921-1923: the ultimate goal remains the same - socialism, but the situation in Russia after the civil war dictates the need to resort to a “reformist” method of action in fundamental issues of economic construction.
The main measures carried out within the framework of the NEP - surplus appropriation was replaced by a food tax, free trade was legalized, private individuals received the right to engage in handicrafts and open industrial enterprises with the number of workers up to one hundred. Small nationalized enterprises were returned to their former owners.
In 1922, the right to lease land and use hired labor was recognized, and the system of labor duties and labor mobilizations was abolished. Payment in kind was replaced by cash, a new state bank was established and the banking system was restored.
The NEP led to a rapid economic recovery. The economic interest that appeared among peasants in the production of agricultural products made it possible to quickly saturate the market with food and overcome the consequences of the hungry years of “war communism.”
However, already at the early stage of the NEP (1921-1923), recognition of the role of the market was combined with measures to abolish it. Official propaganda treated the private trader in every possible way, and the image of the “NEPman” as an exploiter, a class enemy, was formed in the public consciousness. Since the mid-1920s, measures to curb the development of the NEP were replaced by a course towards its curtailment. And on December 27, 1929, in a speech at a conference of Marxist historians, Stalin said: “If we adhere to the NEP, it is because it serves the cause of socialism. And when it ceases to serve the cause of socialism, we will economic policy let's throw it to hell"
And they rejected it: on October 11, 1931, private trade was abolished (except for collective farm markets). All private stores were nationalized. During the liquidation, all the property of the peasant kulaks was confiscated, they were exiled to Siberia, and the urban “NEPmen”, as well as members of their families, were deprived of political rights (“disenfranchised”); many were prosecuted.
But the official ban could not completely squeeze out non-state trade from public life. The shadow economy remained for a long time characteristic feature Soviet reality.
