"We, peasants, are we a different people?": the rural population of Eastern Siberia and the rationing system of the first half of the 1930s

The article is devoted to the study of the influence of the economic policy in the sphere of trade and supply on the rural population in Eastern Siberia under the rationing system in the first half of the 1930s. Based on the archives, the authors come to the following conclusion: the supply system of the rural population in Siberia in the first half of the 1930s was subject to forced industrialization and total collectivization. The authors studied the supply system functioning principles in the first half of the 1930s. The article states that central supply was directed to the minority of the country’s rural population. The supply rate differentiation in the years of the rationing system was determined by class, production and etacratic principles. The ration for different categories of the rated population in the countryside was considerably smaller quantitatively and worse qualitatively than the ration for the same categories in towns and cities. The state could only provide minimal supply rates for its people in the context of limited goods. After the authors analyzed the formation and distribution sources of commodity funds, they came to a conclusion that their volume for the rural area was considerably lower than that for the city. This tendency was determined by the fact that all the Soviet society resources worked together for the industrialization needs. The commodity funds for the rural area were distributed extremely unevenly among the population. The funds of designated use had a significant weight. The arrival of goods to the countryside depended on the implementation of the agricultural products state procurement plan by peasants. The article studies the consequences of the commodity shortage in the 1930s, including financial resources concentration in people’s hands. To withdraw these resources the state established high commercial prices for commodities directed to the rural area. Thanks to such a supply system, they managed to achieve quick money transition from the population consumption fund to the industrial accumulation fund. Food and material supply shortage, withdrawal of almost all output yield for the grain delivery plan implementation, low payments from the rural funds did not contribute to the labour stimuli development. Another side effect of this economic system was peasants’ disinterest in increasing the production volume. Thus, the transformation of the society during the first decades of the Soviet system caused social changes in the country. As a result, living standards of common Soviet people changed significantly. The USSR economic policy of the 1930s led to a decrease of the rural population living standards, reduction of food consumption and destruction of traditional peasant philosophy.

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