From the history of the liquidation of private trade in the USSR. Prohibition of private trade in the USSR Organization of retail trade in the USSR

Store shelves filled with the same type of goods, gloomy faces of saleswomen, giant queues for any scarce goods - Soviet people shopped in such conditions for many decades. Going to the store turned into a special life in the USSR with its own rules, concepts and phraseological units. The goods were “taken out”, they were “thrown away”, the queues were “live”, “stashes” of food purchased for future use were created at home. The shortage - and they had anything, from smoked sausage to furniture sets - was received “through connections”, “through the back door”, sometimes paying for something useless “on top of it”. True, there were also ideal stores, but only in the form of a closed system of special distributors or currency departments.

Trade in the Soviet Union was based on market principles only in the first years of its existence. But, having once embarked on the path of a planned economy, it forever remained, in essence, a distribution system.

Soviet trade in Estonia did not leave such a depressing impression as in the outback of Russia. The modern shopping center "Silhouette" in Narva was in Soviet time the biggest shopping complex in the city (of course, not counting the city market) and was mainly aimed entirely at women. The dream of every Narva trade school graduate was to work as a salesperson in this particular store.

1959 Grocery department. Typical. If my eyesight serves me right, 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.

1964 Moscow. GUM. Gumov ice cream has always been popular. And in '64...

And in 1980...

And in 1987.

But, as they say, not just ice cream...

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 in this case- "Gastronomic store."

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 calculating 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). On foreground- children's rocking horse. I didn't have one.

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 the time one of the most common types of Soviet packaging.

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 onto a special awl (standing in front of the abacus). 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 are traditional Soviet pyramids of canned fish.

1968 There is progress. Instead of an account 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 can be discerned, are traditional cans and bottles sunflower oil(I think). It is interesting that at the exit there are two sellers: a person 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).

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?

1966 I still can’t figure out what exactly the buyers are looking at there.

1967 This is not Lenin's room. This is a department for the House of Books on Kalininsky. Today these shopping areas are chock-full of all kinds of books (on history, philosophy), and then - portraits of Lenin and the Politburo.

1967 For children - plastic astronauts. Very affordable - only 70 kopecks per piece.

1974 Typical grocery store. Again: a pyramid of canned fish, bottles of champagne, a battery green peas“Globus” (Hungarian, I think, 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.

1975 City Mirniy. 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.

1975 City Mirniy. General form store interior.

1979 Moscow. People are waiting for the end of their lunch break in the store. The showcase 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.

1980 Novosibirsk General view of the supermarket. In the foreground are a battery of milk bottles. Further on, 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.

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.

View of the same store from the household electrical appliances department. In the sports department you can see life jackets and hockey helmets. Overall, this was probably one of the best stores in Novosibirsk (I think so).

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).

1980 Sausage. Krakow, it must be.

1981 Moscow. Typical store design. "Milk". On the right, a woman is pushing a wildly scarce imported stroller with “windows.”

1982 At the market, the Soviet people rested their souls.

1983 Queue for shoes. It’s no different that the imported boots were “thrown away.”

1987 Queue for something.

Kvass saleswoman. People went for kvass with aluminum cans or three-liter jars.

1987 Electrical goods.

No comments.

Soviet underwear, as it is. Without any colorful bourgeois packaging.

Particularly spiritual people do not need fashionable shoes. But the women in this photo don’t look very cheerful.

Also shoes... Where to go? There is no other one.

An almost sacred place is the meat department. “Communism is when every Soviet person will know a butcher” (from some movie).

“Pork” – 1 ruble 90 kopecks per kilogram. Grandmothers don't believe their eyes. “Butcher, bitch, he sold all the meat!”

Soviet turn. What an intense look from people - “is that enough?”

“The meat will be delivered now. You’ll see, they’ll definitely bring it.”

"Eat meat!" Local fight over the best piece.

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.

You need to cut more pieces of sausage, which will then be instantly swept off the counter.

Frozen hake is, of course, not sausage, but you can eat it too. Although, of course, it all doesn’t look very aesthetically pleasing.

Not just sausage... For a Soviet color TV, a Soviet person had to pay almost 4-6 months’ salary (“Electronics” costs 755 rubles).

Vegetable department. In the foreground is a cart with some kind of rot. Moreover, it was assumed that someone could buy this rot.

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 such saleswomen.

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.

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.

There's still a queue.

And further…

And further…

Suffering. No comments.

Those who didn't have time are late. Now spells won't help.

Queue at the dairy department.

“Our work is simple...”

Queue in the wine department.

1991 Well, this is already an apotheosis. Finita...

And this is a completely different queue, a queue of people who dreamed of escaping from Sovk, even for an hour. And no spirituality.

Is it true that in the Soviet Union every store had barrels of black caviar and it cost a penny? What was difficult 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 from Soviet times, I was too young and my parents didn’t take me to the shops. 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 get them; no one ate them anyway. I also remember on Tverskaya there was a very cool SweetSweetWay store, where they sold foreign-made candy. Now this place is the Etazh cafe (by the way, it’s a terrible garbage dump).

At the window of the shoe department of the Central Department Store, 1934.

Showcase, 1939.

Metropole Bookstore, 1939.

Showcase of the Eliseevsky grocery store, 1947.

At a tobacco shop window on Gorky Street, 1947.

At the window of the Moscow bookstore

Near a display case with oriental souvenirs, 1947.

1951 Moscow, Taganskaya Square. Shop

Kutuzovsky Prospekt, building 18 - display case with dishes. 1958 Since its construction, the residential building with shops on the ground floor has been popularly called the “Pink Department Store.” It was the first building to mark the line of the future Kutuzovsky Prospekt to the Novoarbatsky Bridge. Before its construction, Mozhaiskoe Highway smoothly turned into Dorogomilovskaya Street, and it was completely unclear why the house was being built at a strange angle to the existing streets. After opening, the Pink Department Store was the most popular store in the area, stocking everything from coats to needles. Well, the dishes too.

There is also a display case with TVs

St. Gorky. Radio goods store. 1960

St. Gorky. Showcase of the “Dietetic Products” store

"Ether" store.

Shop "Cheese"

St. Gorky. Showcase of the “Russian Wines” store

Showcase of the Toy House on Kutuzovsky Prospekt, 1960.

Department store Moscow, 1963.

Showcase and counters of a Moscow department store in the 70s.

Begovaya street, 1969.

Gorkogo Street. Moscow showcases. Men's Fashion Store, 1970.

Grocery store "Novoarbatsky"

On Malaya Gruzinskaya, 29. In V.S. Vysotsky’s favorite store

"House of Toys", 1975

Shop "Orbita"

Voentorg on Kalinin Avenue, 1979.

TSUM GUT MO

GUM

GUM. Grocery store window. 1984

Village Vostochny. Department store. 1985

Department store "Children's World". 1986

House of pedagogical books on Pushkinskaya. 1986

Passage of the Art Theater (Kamergersky Lane), 1986.

Showcase on Arbat

Melodiya store, 1989.

Department store "Moskovsky"

Don't sell, give away

After the Civil War, the leadership of the young country decided to resort to the help of private traders in supply matters and was right.

The new economic policy announced in the fall of 1921 allowed private trade along with state and cooperative trade. And already in 1922-1923, the share of private trade in retail trade turnover reached 75.3%. Thanks to this, the problem of providing the population with essential products was quickly resolved.

However, in December 1925, the Kremlin began industrializing the country, for which it needed foreign currency to buy high-tech equipment. Raw material prices - main article Soviet exports then fell due to the crisis. Exporting agricultural products could help, but the peasants did not want to hand them over to the state. low prices, but tried to sell it to private owners at a greater profit.

In December 1925, the Kremlin began industrializing the country, for which it needed currency - to buy high-tech equipment

And the Kremlin followed the path of repression - the peasants began to be dispossessed and driven en masse into collective farms, and private owners were removed from the supply sector, making it centralized.

Such actions immediately led to a crisis. Products disappeared from the stores, for which huge lines lined up with fights and pogroms. Local authorities, in order to curb the wild demand, began to introduce rationed sales of goods, but this did not help. Bread cards appeared - they were first introduced in Odessa in the second quarter of 1928. In the same year, bread cards came to Kyiv, Dnepropetrovsk, Kherson, Mariupol, and at the beginning of 1929 - to Kharkov. At the same time, due to a shortage of grain, the state stopped selling flour to the population. Outbreaks of famine began throughout the Union, including in Ukraine.

The situation in industry was deteriorating - half-starved workers went on strike, which threatened to disrupt industrialization plans. As a result, the entire country followed the path trodden by the Odessa residents: on February 14, 1929, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks approved a resolution on an all-Union rationing system for the distribution of bread.

In Moscow and Leningrad, as Russian historian Elena Osokina notes in her book Behind the facade of “Stalinist abundance,” workers were entitled to 900 g of bread per day, members of their families and other workers - 500 g, and the proletariat of other cities of the Union - 300-600 g per day. day. Peasants were not given cards.

Workers were entitled to 900 g of bread per day, members of their families and other workers - 500 g, and the proletariat of other cities of the Union - 300-600 g per day. Peasants were not given cards.

In January 1931, cards were introduced for basic food and non-food products. At the same time, the population (according to its importance for the cause of industrialization) was divided into four lists - special, first, second and third. The first two included workers strategic enterprises Moscow, Leningrad, Donbass and other industrial regions. In the second and third - workers and employees of non-industrial cities and factories that produced consumer goods. The peasants were again left behind.

The wealthiest people in those years were senior party workers, who received so-called letter rations, which included all basic food products.

Thus, by the 1930s, trade in the USSR turned into the distribution of goods: each category of the population had access to its own types of distributors.

According to market laws, only commercial stores and collective farm markets operated, where prices were several times higher than state prices. Another category of points where goods could be purchased, rather than received with a card, was the network of currency exchange shops. Initially, they were aimed at foreigners, but in the fall of 1931 they were also opened for Soviet citizens, who could shop there by handing over gold, silver or antiques. It was Torgsin that helped many peasants survive during the famine years of 1932-1933: more than 80% of the goods sold through this network at that time were food products, of which 60% were bread.

By the 1930s, trade in the USSR had turned into the distribution of goods: each category of the population had access to its own types of distributors

Cards were briefly canceled only at the beginning of 1936, but trade remained rationed throughout. New crisis began in 1939 with the outbreak of war against Poland and then Finland. In cities where supplies were better, huge queues of locals and visitors formed, which they tried to fight with the help of the police.

“The issue of clothing in Kyiv is extremely difficult,” noted a certain Kiev resident N. S. Kovalev in a letter to the head of the Council of People’s Commissars, Vyacheslav Molotov, at the end of 1939. - Queues of thousands of people have been gathering at stores for textiles and ready-made clothes since the evening. The police line up somewhere a block away in an alley, and then the “lucky” ones, five to ten people in single file, one behind the other (so that no one jumps the line), surrounded by policemen, like prisoners, are led to the store. In these conditions, terrible speculation flourishes.”

In July 1941, with the outbreak of war, the card system was reintroduced in the USSR, which was eliminated only at the end of 1947. But for many years, some of the goods were actually distributed. For example, as Vitaly Kovalinsky, a Kiev historian, says, in the 1950s flour was sold to the population according to lists, and only three times a year - on New Year, on the First of May and on November 7, the anniversary of the October Revolution.

Focus on consumption

The situation began to change in better side in the late 1950s. At this moment, the Kremlin decided to focus on the development of the food and light industries. As a result, the assortment in stores began to change qualitatively, where bread began to replace other products as the basis of nutrition.

“Share of bread and bakery products in the country’s retail turnover in 1940 was 17.2%, in 1950 - already 12.6%, and currently - about 6%,” wrote the magazine Soviet Trade in April 1960.

In August of the same year, a decree was issued on improving trade, after which wholesale fairs began to be held in the country, where enterprises showed samples of goods to representatives of trade organizations, and they, in turn, decided who to buy from. A ghost looms over the country market relations, but it did not radically change the situation.

The stores, says Nina Goloshubova, a professor at the Kyiv National Trade and Economic University, were strictly attached to a specific supplier.

Before this, resources were distributed among the republics by the USSR State Planning Committee. The stores, says Nina Goloshubova, a professor at the Kyiv National Trade and Economic University, were strictly attached to a specific supplier. This created not only a shortage, but also a monotony of goods on the shelves that remained stale, because the industry produced products in very large quantities, without any focus on demand.

However, the innovation only made the situation a little easier. And it did not at all solve the problem of defects, which was all-pervasive in the Union: in a planned economy, producers had guaranteed sales, and they were not too worried about quality.

“Government supervisory authorities in the USSR State Standard system inspected 1,788 enterprises of the Ministry of Light Industry in 1973 and found that 60% of them produced products in violation of standards,” wrote Soviet Trade in January 1975. “The supply of 364 types of products to the retail chain was prohibited.”

Government initiatives have not spared stores from another feature - mass dumping of goods. They happened, as a rule, at the end of the month and were echoes of enterprises’ attempts to fulfill monthly, quarterly and annual plans.

Soviet buyers quickly adapted to these subtleties. For example, in Kyiv, in the courtyard of the Ukraine department store, a crowd often gathered towards the end of the month, waiting for a “stuffing”. The gathering place was no coincidence: Kiev residents knew about one more feature of the stores - their management, so as not to create long queues at trading floors, sometimes ordered to sell the deficit right in the yard, at the unloading site.

Top of the consumption pyramid

Since the 1930s, a class of “special” buyers arose in the USSR, which existed until the very end of the Soviet system. It could be about different categories population - military, pensioners, low-income people - who were allocated and sold goods that were inaccessible to other citizens. But the real caste of privileged clients became the party and economic nomenklatura.

For the elite, everything was special: special state farms grew food, special workshops produced other products, then all this was supplied to special stores or special canteens, in which special buyers had the right to purchase all this at special prices (very wallet-friendly). The infrastructure was very extensive; it could cover almost all needs, even sewing clothes.

“There was a studio opposite the bank [the current National Bank],” recalls the daughter of one of the employees of the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR on condition of anonymity. “There were really good craftsmen there, but not everyone was allowed to sew clothes there.”

Since the 1930s, a class of “special” buyers arose in the USSR, which existed until the very end of the Soviet system

The entire special system worked in conditions similar to underground ones: the Soviet leadership really did not want to irritate its people. However, this was an open secret. Moreover, ordinary citizens have even learned to use inaccessible benefits.

For example, in the central part of Kyiv there were many grocery stores with special departments. Thanks to them in open sale From time to time, scarce goods would arrive and linger on the distribution shelves. People even began to call such retail outlets “scraps stores,” and it was here that Kievans hunted for what was not available in the general retail network.

In addition to the elite, people who worked under contract abroad joined the sweet life. They received their salaries in foreign currency checks and could purchase them in a network of special stores, such as Kashtan, where inexpensive Soviet deficit and imported products were sold.

“We mainly went there to buy shoes,” says Valentina Aleksandrova, the daughter of a specialist who worked abroad. “Because we had a lot of shoes in our stores, but they were of poor quality and ugly.”

System collapse

This entire multi-level distribution system led to the emergence of a super-elite class of merchants - directors and salespeople, not only special ones, but also ordinary stores, heads of bases, warehouses, and other suppliers. They became heroes of folklore and the object of close attention of employees of departments for combating the theft of socialist property as offenders making money from deficits and selling under the counter. But under the planned system it turned out to be impossible to overcome this problem.

Meanwhile, what ruined Soviet trade was not crooks and speculators, but the general problems of the state, which got involved in the Afghan war, faced falling oil prices and was unable to meet the needs of the population by spending money on the defense industry.

What ruined Soviet trade was not crooks and speculators, but the general problems of the state, which got involved in the Afghan war, faced falling oil prices and was unable to meet the needs of the population by spending money on the defense industry

As a result, from the second half of the 1980s, the trade situation began to deteriorate. “Shopping trips are becoming increasingly useless, since almost every day promises us a new shortage,” wrote Soviet Trade in January 1990. “Of the 1,200 basic goods monitored by VNIIKS [the Institute of Trade and Demand for Consumer Goods] specialists in 140 cities across the country, only 200 trade relatively smoothly.”

In conditions of increasingly unsatisfied demand, the population periodically rushed to buy the most ordinary products. This is what happened in Kyiv in 1988 with sugar, which was literally swept off the shelves. The authorities had to restrict its sale. “We introduced sugar coupons in Kyiv,” recalls Anatoly Statinov, the last Minister of Trade of the Ukrainian SSR. “Because there was such rush demand in the city that stores sold up to three months’ worth of sugar per month.”

But neither coupons nor other measures solved the problem of the growing deficit. Only the abandonment of the socialist planning system and the transition to the market very quickly filled store shelves with a variety of goods. But this no longer has anything to do with Soviet trade.

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, or rather 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 eyesight serves me right, 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 City Mirniy. 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 City Mirniy. General view of the store interior.

17. 1979 Moscow. People are waiting for the end of their lunch break in the store. The showcase 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. Further on, 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 Microsoft Word icons.

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 a 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 at the 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.

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 taken 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 up to one hundred workers. 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 throw the new economic policy 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.

But it’s true that in the Soviet Union, every store had barrels of black caviar, and it cost a penny? What was difficult 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 (before 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 of military factories, mining and chemical industry. 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 assortment of goods and often appeared rare goods, 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, is in the military and post-war years worked on a card system. But in 1944, it also opened a commercial department in which goods were sold for money. The prices here were exorbitant, but the department still attracted a huge number of visitors. All this ended with the fact that in the 50s, the head of the commercial department of a 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 a display case 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 simple people who grew crops in their dacha. Behind trading place you had to pay, and in return the market management provided everything you needed - scales, trade inventory 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 the Western model of a 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 the brand 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

Gorkogo 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 food 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 of retail spaces 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

Domestic trade plays a big role in raising the living standards of the population of the USSR. Its development is characterized by high and sustainable rates, corresponding to the growth of incomes and effective demand of the population. In 1975, about 4/5 of all material goods for personal consumption. More than 7% of all workers and employees of the national economy are employed in trade and public catering.

In pre-revolutionary Russia, private trade prevailed. In 1913, almost three-quarters of the country's total trade turnover was in cities, where only 18% of the population lived. The low purchasing power of the rural population forced the Russian bourgeoisie to look for foreign markets sales During the First World War (1914-18), the production of goods decreased. By 1917, prices for industrial goods had increased 4.3 times compared to 1913 (5 times for clothing and footwear), and 5.6 times for food products. Since March 1917, the bourgeois Provisional Government introduced a card system. Speculation developed. A food crisis has arisen in the country.

In the early years Soviet power The problem of organizing food supplies for workers was especially acute. The first measures of the Soviet state were the introduction of workers' control over production and distribution, the creation on October 26 (November 8), 1917 People's Commissariat food (Narkomprod) to ensure a centralized supply of goods to the population and organize the procurement of agricultural products. In May-June 1918, due to worsening supply difficulties, emergency measures were taken to resolve the food issue. The following were adopted: The Decree on the Food Dictatorship, which gave the People's Commissar of Food emergency powers to combat the rural bourgeoisie who were hiding grain and speculating in it; decrees on the reorganization of the People's Commissariat for Food and its local bodies and on the organization of committees of the rural poor (kombedov). Much attention was given to consumer cooperation, which was involved in trade services the entire population. In 1918, a state monopoly was established on trade in the most important consumer goods (bread, salt, sugar, textiles, etc.). Private trade was prohibited. The trading network and wholesale warehouses were transferred to the People's Commissariat for Food and its local authorities. These measures undermined the economic positions of capitalist elements, the fight against speculation intensified, and opportunities were created to improve supplies for the working people. During the Civil War and foreign intervention of 1918-20, a centralized rationed distribution of consumer goods (card system) was established. The main form of procurement of agricultural products was the food allocation introduced in 1919, which made it possible to concentrate in the hands of the state necessary resources to supply workers in industrial centers and the army.

With the transition to the New Economic Policy (NEP) in 1921, food appropriation was replaced by a food tax, small private trade was allowed under state control, and the rationing system was abolished. In 1924, the private sector owned 88% of retail trade enterprises, its share in retail turnover was 53%. The Soviet state began organizing internal trade and regulating market relations throughout the national economy with wholesale trade. The marketing of the products of large industry was carried out by its governing bodies. Since 1922, a special apparatus began to be created: industry syndicates and other state organizations (commodity exchanges and fairs). Cooperative trade also played a major role in wholesale trade turnover during this period. With the strengthening of socialist forms of economy in the country's economy and the development of state and cooperative trade, private intermediaries were forced out, first of all, from wholesale and then from retail trade. This was facilitated by the government's policies of taxes, tariffs, credit, price reductions, financial assistance to cooperation and other economic measures.

The gradual strengthening of the position of socialized trade made it possible already in 1925-26 to move on to planning the delivery of the most important consumer goods to the main economic regions and to strengthen the role of planning in market relations. At the same time, the private sector was being squeezed out of the procurement sector. As a result, by the end of 1927, the socialized sector of domestic trade accounted for over 65% of trade turnover. The question of “who wins whom” in this area of ​​the economy was resolved in favor of socialism. Contracting, which was used in the system of procurement of agricultural products, received noticeable development. In 1931 private trade ceased to exist; in 1932 it was prohibited by law. If large wholesale trade is concentrated in the hands government organizations, then in the field of retail trade, consumer cooperation began to play a predominant role, replacing private resellers.

The transition to industrialization, the growth of urban population and monetary income means. increased the demand for goods, and small-scale goods Agriculture could not ensure a rapid increase in the production of food and industrial raw materials. This necessitated the transition in 1928 to a rationed supply of basic goods to the population using ration cards. As state commodity resources increased, “commercial” trade was introduced at higher prices. Along with the development of cooperative trade, state retail trade grew. Since 1928, closed distributors were created that supplied workers and employees of the enterprises attached to them with goods; in 1932 they were replaced by labor supply departments (OSS). Demonstration department stores, grocery stores, and a number of specialized stores selling food and beverage products were organized. light industry etc. A network of industrial wholesale distribution bases was created. Collective farm trade was allowed, not planned by the state, where prices were set under the influence of supply and demand. As a result of the increase in commodity resources and the development of trade, the card system was abolished in 1935 and a free open trade. In 1935-1941, unified state retail prices were introduced; the sales apparatus was organizationally restructured. ORS enterprises and the cooperative trading network in cities were transferred to the state trade organizations. The main area of ​​activity of consumer cooperation was the development of trade in rural areas.

Volume retail turnover state and cooperative trade for 1928-40 increased 2.3 times; number of retailers and Catering increased from 170 thousand to 495 thousand. The turnover of public catering establishments in 1940 accounted for 13% of the total turnover of state and cooperative trade. The share of socialized forms of trade in total volume retail turnover (see Table 1).

During the Great Patriotic War 1941-45 the system of state rationed supply covered up to 77 million people. The share of public catering in retail trade turnover has almost doubled. ORSs were again organized at industrial enterprises. Throughout the war years, ration prices for basic food and industrial goods remained at pre-war levels. At the collective farm markets, prices rose at the beginning of the war, but already in 1944 their level dropped noticeably due to the “commercial” trade in food and industrial goods. Retail trade turnover, which had significantly decreased in 1942 compared to 1940, began to increase continuously in 1943; in 1945 it doubled compared to 1942. At the same time, in the eastern regions trade turnover grew faster than in the country as a whole.

Table 1. -- Share of individual forms of trade in actual prices in the total volume of trade turnover, %

Despite the enormous difficulties caused by the war, at the end of 1947 the card system (introduced in 1941) was abolished and open trade was established. A major role in this was played by the preparation of the appropriate technical base, the restoration and expansion of fixed assets of domestic trade, the selection and training of sales personnel. By 1950, the trading network had been restored and the pre-war level of retail turnover had been surpassed. Its volume in 1950 reached 107% of the level of 1940.

Basic form Soviet trade is state trade based on public property. The predominant mass of goods supplied to the market is sold through it. domestic market, it plays a leading role in the country’s retail trade turnover (see Table 2). State trade serves mainly the urban population; through its organizations, a significant portion of potatoes, vegetables, melons and fruits is also purchased from collective and state farms.

Cooperative trade serves mainly the rural population through consumer cooperation, which also purchases agricultural products (eggs, wool, furs and some other types of raw materials, potatoes, vegetables, melons, fruits, etc.) from collective farms, state farms and the rural population. Consumer cooperation also conducts commission trade in agricultural products, mainly in cities, at prices, as a rule, slightly higher than state retail prices, but lower than prices on the collective farm market.

Table 2. -- Retail turnover of state and cooperative trade

Along with state and cooperative trade, collective farm trade is conducted - the sale by collective farms, collective farmers and other citizens of surplus agricultural products on collective farm markets. State and cooperative retail trade affects the collective farm market: the better and more fully the demand is satisfied through state trade, the less demand for the products of the collective farm market and the lower the level of market prices. In the relationship between various forms of trade in consumer goods, a certain trend is revealed: the role of state trade is growing, and the role of the collective farm market is decreasing, with a certain stabilization of the share of cooperative trade in the total trade turnover of the country (see Table 3).

Table 3. -- Share of state, cooperative and collective farm trade in actual prices in the total volume of retail trade turnover, %

Table 4. -- The ratio of food and non-food food products in the total volume of trade turnover of state and cooperative trade, %

The development of domestic trade is due to the expansion of the production of goods and the increase in cash incomes of the population and is characterized by the dynamics of retail trade turnover, which is naturally characterized by high growth rates. Thus, in 1975, retail trade turnover was 8.5 times higher than the volume of trade turnover in 1940, and per capita increased from 92 rubles. up to 827 rub. (at prices of the corresponding years). Retail turnover is characterized by progressive qualities. changes in the commodity structure, reflecting the growth in material well-being and cultural level of the population (see section Welfare of the people (See USSR. Welfare of the people)). This is expressed, first of all, in an increase in the share non-food products in the total volume of trade turnover (see Table 4), and within this group - the share of cultural and household goods and household items (radio, electrical, sporting goods, furniture, dishes, etc.). Growing in the group of food products specific gravity more nutritionally valuable products (meat, fish, dairy products, eggs, vegetables, fruits) and the share of baked goods and potatoes is reduced.

Table 5. -- Retail turnover of state and cooperative trade, including public catering, in the Union republics, billion rubles.

The pattern of development of trade turnover is a higher rate of growth per capita in rural areas in comparison with cities, it contributes to the gradual convergence of living conditions of the urban and rural population (in 1940, trade turnover per capita of the urban population was 5.2 times higher than in the countryside, in 1960 - 3.2 times, and in 1975 - 2.3 times). The rapid development of the economy and culture of the union republics also leads to higher growth rates of trade turnover in these republics (see Table 5).

A large specific branch of domestic trade, which combines the functions of production, sale of prepared food and organization of its consumption by the population, is public catering. It is an important link in the system of social and economic events state, has a significant impact on saving time, increasing labor productivity, has great importance in the socialist reconstruction of life, helps to increase the role of women in social production, making their household work easier. The turnover of public catering is constantly increasing (see Table 6). Important economic indicator efficiency of domestic trade - distribution costs associated with the costs of bringing goods from production to consumers (see Table 7). The general level of distribution costs for the entire amount of retail trade turnover (including public catering) decreased from 11% in 1940 to 9% in 1975.

Table 6. -- Development of public catering

The material and technical base of retail trade includes an extensive network of shops, canteens, cafes, restaurants and snack bars. Since the late 50s. The material and technical base of domestic trade expanded and strengthened (more productive types of commercial equipment, new technological processes and methods of selling goods were introduced). In retail trade, supermarkets, department stores, stores of complex demand are mainly created (“Everything for men”, “Everything for women”, “Everything for the home”, etc.), as well as specialized stores selling a diverse range of goods with progressive trading methods and public services (self-service, sale of goods based on samples). These stores are equipped with modern commercial equipment designed for the delivery and sale of goods without additional repacking, refrigeration and cash register equipment, means of comprehensive mechanization for the movement of goods at all stages of the trade technological process. In the 60s-70s. a modern retail and public catering network, large warehouse complexes, refrigerators, vegetable, potato, fruit storage facilities, etc. were created. During this period, large Shopping centers, both urban and rural, the creation of specialized trading houses began. The industry is equipped with electronic equipment. For 1961--75 trade area stores doubled (see Table 8), population provision trading network(per 1000 inhabitants) increased by 88%, the overall indicators of the development of domestic trade increased (see Table 9).

As of January 1, 1976, the turnover of stores using progressive methods of selling goods amounted to 58% of the total turnover, including sales using the self-service method - 48%. In addition, such forms of trade are used as sales on pre-orders, on credit, home delivery of goods; parcel trade, etc.

In wholesale trade, large mechanized warehouses are built with high-altitude storage of goods (storage area up to 25 thousand m2), distribution refrigerators with a capacity of up to 15 thousand tons, storage facilities for potatoes, vegetables and fruits with a capacity of up to 10 thousand tons with active and general ventilation devices are used comprehensive mechanization and automation of the main technological processes of transportation, storage and commodity processing, batch and Container Shipping, methods of centralized delivery of goods to retail enterprises are being introduced according to rational patterns of movement of goods; are being created automated systems management (ACS) of technological and commercial operations. In public catering, industrial methods of work are being introduced using semi-finished products and advanced technologies for processing raw materials and preparing food based on the mechanization of all labor processes; production is being intensified. processes based on high-performance conveyor equipment based on the achievements of science and technology in processing technology food products(ultrahigh-frequency and infrared heating, etc.). Catering establishments are being transferred to serving set meals and are equipped with sectional modulated equipment, the latest types thermal and technological equipment, unified functional packaging, mechanized lunch distribution lines such as “Effect”, “Slavyanka”, “Progress”, which increase labor productivity by 1.5-2 times.

In the development of domestic trade important It has trade advertising. Advertising services have been created in state and cooperative trade, in industrial ministries and departments whose enterprises produce consumer goods, in the Ministry of Consumer Services, etc. There are specialized advertising organizations in the state trade system. The Interdepartmental Advertising Council under the USSR Ministry of Trade coordinates advertising activities various departments and organizations in the country.

Organization of internal trade. Organizationally senior management government controlled internal trade and the center of the entire trading system is the Ministry of Trade of the USSR, which, through the main departments, the ministries of trade of the union and autonomous republics, trade and public catering management bodies of the executive committees of local Soviets, coordinates the development of wholesale, retail trade and public catering, regulates trading activities other ministries and departments. Individual trading systems have their own central governing bodies (Central Union of the USSR, Glavursy of Industrial Ministries, Main Directorate of Book Trade, etc.).

Table 7. -- Distribution costs in trade (in % of turnover)

Table 8 -- Development of trade and warehouse network

Table 9 -- Main indicators of trade development for 1960-75

Wholesale trade is concentrated in the republican ministries of trade, which have specialized enterprises and associations for wholesale trade of individual groups of goods: Meat and fish trade, Groceries, Textile trade, Trade clothes, Shoes trade, Haberdashery, Cultural trade, Household trade. Wholesale trade has a network of trading bases, refrigerators, and cold storage plants located in areas where goods are produced and consumed. Wholesale trade of consumer cooperation is headed by the Central Union of the USSR and is of an intradepartmental nature. The bulk of wholesale operations in consumer cooperation are carried out by universal interdistrict bases of regional (territorial) and republican unions of consumer societies and warehouses of district consumer unions. Wholesale trade Some consumer goods are also managed by a number of other ministries and departments of the USSR: the Ministry of Procurement of the USSR (grain products), the Ministry of Food Industry of the USSR (oil and fat products), the Ministry of Fisheries of the USSR (fish products), the State Supply Committee of the USSR. In addition to trade in consumer goods, there are wholesale organizations for the procurement, purchase and sale of agricultural products and raw materials, and logistics.