Title A social history of Soviet trade : trade policy, retail practices, and consumption, 1917-1953 / Julie Hessler

Published Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, [2004]

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Description 1 online resource (xvi, 366 pages) Series Acls humanities e-book Contents Crisis: revolution -- 1. Trade and consumption in revolutionary Russia -- 2. The invention of socialism -- 3. Shopkeepers and the state -- Crisis: Restructuring -- 4. War communism redux -- 5. Toward a new model -- Crisis: War -- 6. The persistent private sector -- 7. Postwar normalization and its limits Summary In this sweeping study, Julie Hessler traces the invention and evolution of socialist trade, the progressive constriction of private trade, and the development of consumer habits from the 1917 revolution to Stalin's death in 1953. The book places trade and consumption in the context of debilitating economic crises. Although Soviet leaders, and above all, Stalin, identified socialism with the modernization of retailing and the elimination of most private transactions, these goals conflicted with the economic dynamics that produced shortages and with the government's bureaucratic, repressive, and socially discriminatory political culture. A social history of Soviet trade explores the relationship of trade--official and unofficial--to the cyclical pattern of crisis and normalization that resulted from these tensions. It also provides a singularly detailed look at private shops during the years of the new economic policy, and at the remnants of private trade, mostly concentrated at the outdoor bazaars, in subsequent years. Drawing on newly opened archives in Moscow and several provinces, this richly documented work offers a new perspective on the .. Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 337-354) and index Notes English Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on October 28, 2020) Subject Retail trade -- Soviet Union -- History Consumption (Economics) -- Soviet Union -- History Commercial policy. HISTORY / Europe / Russia & the Former Soviet Union Commercial policy Consumption (Economics) Retail trade Marketing & Sales. Commerce. Business & Economics. SUBJECT Soviet Union -- Commercial policy Subject Soviet Union Genre/Form History Form Electronic book LC no. 2003048612 ISBN 0691114927 9780691114927 9781400843565 1400843561

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