Merchants and Markets in Revolutionary Russia, 1917–30 (Studies in Russian and East European History and Society)

This book explores the history of private internal trade in the USSR during the NEP of the 1920s. Private traders operated in a politically hostile but economically promising environment. Their contribution to post-war reconstruction was a crucial one. An exhaustive portrayal of the markets and dimensions of private trade is contrasted with the felt anxieties of Bolsheviks concerning traders' destabilising intentions and abilities. Retrospectively, many of these apprehensions were misplaced. Front Matter....Pages i-xxiv The Background: Private Trade before the NEP....Pages 1-37 Front Matter....Pages 39-39 Traders and the State....Pages 40-58 Taxation: Policies and Levies....Pages 59-72 Credit and Private Traders....Pages 73-86 Front Matter....Pages 87-87 The World of Private Trade: As Through a Glass Darkly....Pages 88-102 Private Trade in Industrial Products....Pages 103-122 Private Traders and the Zagotovki....Pages 123-144 The Demise of Private Trade....Pages 145-157 Back Matter....Pages 158-237 Banerji explores the history of private internal trade in the USSR during the 'New Economic Policy' of the 1920s, when private traders operated in a politically hostile but economically promising environment