TY - JOUR

T1 - "Лучшее из доступного": качество потребительского импорта СССР из стран Центральной и Восточной Европы (1950-е-1980-е гг.)

AU - Tverdyukova, Elena Dmitrievna

N1 - Copyright: Copyright 2016 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2016

Y1 - 2016

N2 - The article is first studied in the historiography of the problem of import from the countries of Central and Eastern Europe in the context of the consumer revolution in the USSR. The author gives primary attention to questions of the quality of goods of the mass demand. In the course of a study clerical documents and statistical materials from the Russian State Archive of Economy and State Archive of the Russian Federation were used, and also the published memoirs and works of literature. The author shows that the purchases of imports within the framework of Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON), expanded in 1950s, had great significance in the consumption structure of Soviet citizens. Foot-wear, clothing, furniture, household goods from socialist countries partly compensated scarcity on the domestic market. The quality of these products, however, not always corresponded to the highest standards, deliveries were achieved in violation of contractual obligations on the assortment, the timing, the seasonality. The government was forced to create the multi-stage system of control, intended to prevent the penetration into the retail network of substandard things. However, piety before the import was formed independently of its consumer properties, being the component of the mythical means of the West.

AB - The article is first studied in the historiography of the problem of import from the countries of Central and Eastern Europe in the context of the consumer revolution in the USSR. The author gives primary attention to questions of the quality of goods of the mass demand. In the course of a study clerical documents and statistical materials from the Russian State Archive of Economy and State Archive of the Russian Federation were used, and also the published memoirs and works of literature. The author shows that the purchases of imports within the framework of Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON), expanded in 1950s, had great significance in the consumption structure of Soviet citizens. Foot-wear, clothing, furniture, household goods from socialist countries partly compensated scarcity on the domestic market. The quality of these products, however, not always corresponded to the highest standards, deliveries were achieved in violation of contractual obligations on the assortment, the timing, the seasonality. The government was forced to create the multi-stage system of control, intended to prevent the penetration into the retail network of substandard things. However, piety before the import was formed independently of its consumer properties, being the component of the mythical means of the West.

KW - Central and east Europe

KW - Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON)

KW - The consumer import

KW - Users

KW - USSR

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85006340168&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.21638/11701/spbu19.2016.111

DO - 10.21638/11701/spbu19.2016.111

M3 - статья

VL - 2016

SP - 171

EP - 186

JO - Studia Slavica et Balcanica Petropolitana

JF - Studia Slavica et Balcanica Petropolitana

SN - 1995-848X

IS - 1

ER -