Content area
Full text
THE CENTRALISED RATIONING SYSTEM for food and consumer goods, introduced in the course of 1928-30, was dismantled in six main stages:
1. In May 1931 most industrial consumer goods were removed from the central rationing system, though restricted distribution continued;
2. In March-April 1932 some food was removed from the central rationing system although half-a-dozen key foods continued to be rationed: the bread ration was henceforth guaranteed from central supplies only for the top two Lists (categories) of consumers;
3. In the course of 1932-34 the ration prices of food and industrial consumer goods were greatly increased, while simultaneously the state sold increasing amounts of these goods off the ration at higher prices;
4. From 1 January 1935 bread rationing was abolished;
5. From 1 October 1935 the rationing of all remaining foods was abolished;
6. On I January 1936 the rationing of all industrial consumer goods was abolished, though some informal rationing continued.
This article deals primarily with stages (3)-(5). The abolition of rationing of the major foods had a profound effect on the fiscal system and the price structure, and on the working of the economy. The return to a 'normal' system of Soviet trade brought about more efficient distribution of food and consumer goods. Bureaucracy and corruption, endemic in any rationing system, diminished. While prices continued to be fixed by the state, except in the case of trade on the kolkhoz free market, consumers could now choose which goods to buy at these prices, rather than passively accepting centrally determined rations. This in turn put pressure on the state to respond to the wishes of the consumer by adjusting output and prices to correspond to demand. The incentive effect of money earnings greatly increased. On the other hand, the abolition of rationing proved disadvantageous for many urban citizens.
The transition from rationing to normal trade was a complicated process. Under rationing there was a great deal of excess demand. To avoid shortages when rationing ceased, the state greatly increased food prices. This was not simply a matter of bringing prices up to the level of demand. Wages of those employed by the state and their dependants, who had been receiving rations at low prices, were increased in order to partially compensate them...