Problems of “free” trade in Bashkiria in the late 1930's

The article considers quantitative and qualitative indexes of the work of state-governed and cooperative trading organizations in Bashkiria during the transition from the system of rationing to free trade.Rationing cards for bread, flour and cereals were abolished from 1 January 1935, from October 1935 rationing of other foods was abolished, and from the beginning of 1936 it was abolished in manufactured goods. An important consequence of the abolishment of the rationing system was the liquidation of differentiated retail prices. State-standardized prices were introduced which were set as a mean value between high market prices and low rationing prices.Based on archival documents which have been elicited for the first time it is clear that the flaws in the work of trading organizations in Bashkiria were systemic.State-operated and cooperative trading organizations of the republic appeared to be unprepared for work in free trade. Over the late 1930s deficits occurred regularly, the assortment was undersupplied, goods shipments from industrial bases were disrupted, and the work of inter-district supply bases of district consumer unions was unstable. The trading network of Bashkiria did not cope with the task of serving customers, especially in the country. In the daily life of the people in the republic long queues for food and manufactured goods appeared.The problems with trade were exacerbated by the fact that trading organizations in Bashkiria played a subordinate role in interaction with industry. Besides, organizing free trade was limited by the ambiguity of central planning for the goods turnover. Planned tasks for Bashkiria from the USSR’s and RSFSR’s People’s Committees for home trade contained significant differences, and also there were some discrepancies between the figures from yearly and operative plans for goods turnaround.