Anatolii Antoshkin

The article analyzes the state of collective farms trade in Bashkiria during the Great Patriotic War. The outbreak of war meant a radical restructuring of the work for state and cooperative trade, which was due to a complex of reasons. On the one hand, there was a sharp reduction in the centralized funds of industrial and food products that were allocated to the republic. On the other hand, open forms of trade were replaced by a standardized supply system, and there was a rapid increase in commercial prices in retail outlets that continued to operate. In such conditions, the importance of agricultural products supplies from collective farms to the city markets of Bashkiria increased. The archival documents involved in the study allowed the author to conclude that the collective farm trade was unsatisfactory. Significant violations of the Soviet trade principles, the facts of outbidding, profiteering, cheat in weighing were revealed. At the same time, we must admit that a number of violations were caused by the poor organization of collective farm trade. Due to the lack of funds for improvement, the markets were not supplied with trading equipment, and the counters and pavilions required repairs. In addition, the conditions for effective countertrade, which was supposed to stimulate the supply of agricultural products to the cities of the republic, were not created.

The given article analyses qualitative and quantitative changes in the structure of the retail network of state-operated and cooperative trade in Bashkiria in the 1930s. On the basis of archive documents, it shows the main tendencies in developing goods turnover in the republic, and traces the evolution of the retail network towards ever greater coverage of the consumer base. In cities of the republic, the main retail network belonged to the state sector, and in the country, developing new retail outlets was the responsibility of consumer cooperation. The development of the trade network was determined, on the one hand, by the population growth, especially in cities; on the other hand, by the change of demand on the part of consumers due to the increase of well-being of blue- and white-collars. The conclusion is that the growth of the retail network lagged behind the overall growth of goods turnover in Bashkiria, which was evident both in mixed and in specialized trade.

This article analyses the development of producers’ and invalids’ cooperation in the territory of Bashkiria in the 1930s. On the basis of documents from archives and published sources it discovers the role of producers’ and invalids’ cooperation in providing the republic residents with consumer goods; it also shows how effectively these organizations used local raw materials and industry wastes. The conclusion is made that within the planned economy frameworks in the late 1930s artels of producers’ and invalids’ cooperatives in Bashkiria were incorporated into the common industrial system.