Food supply to the residents of Stalingrad during the period of industrialization (late 1920s - mid-1930s)

Introduction . This article examines the problem of food supplyfor the residents of Stalingrad in the late 1920s - mid-1930s, i.e. during the period of industrialization. Methods and materials. The authors use the historical-descriptive (idiographic), historical-genetic, historical-comparative methods, as well asquantitative methods in the study of statistical sources. In the course of the research, documentary materials of the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History, the State Archives of Volgograd Region, and the Center for Documentation of the Contemporary History of Volgograd Region were used to illustrate the main methods and directions for resolving the food problem in the city of Stalingrad in the late 1920s - first half of the 1930s. Analysis and results. The first five-year plan brought to citizens a sharp deterioration in food supply. Having refused to take economic measures the city authorities were forced to introduce a standardized distribution on the ration books of workers’ cooperatives. In 1931, Stalingrad as an important industrial center was included by the government in the list of the cities, which were supplied with basic products in a centralized manner. However, problems with food remained until the abolition of the card system in 1935. Interruptions in the supplyof even standardized products, giant queues for them were the result not only of insufficient allocation of resources, but also of the unwillingness of the cooperative and state trade system to work effectively in the new conditions. The city’s population also grew too rapidly due to the peasants fleeing from the countryside, which contributed to the food shortage. The creation of subsidiary farms at large enterprises, the organization of collective farm fairs also did not lead to a noticeable result. The goal stated in the resolution of 1931 to bring the food supplyof Stalingrad workers closer to the level of Moscow and Leningrad turned out to be unattainable. Some improvements in the food situation occurred onlyin autumn 1934, when a good harvest allowed the government to fulfill the state supplies, but the problem was never completely solved.