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“From Sputniks to Panties:” Is Economic Development Really That Easy?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 July 2012

Marshall I. Goldman
Marshall I. Goldman
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor of Economics, Wellesley College, Associate of the Russian Research Center, Harvard University
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Abstract

This article analyzes the shifting role of the fashion and consumer-goods industries in Soviet Russia's transition from an economy of scarcity to one of greater abundance.

Type
Articles
Information
Business History Review , Volume 37 , Issue 1-2: Special Illustrated Fashion Issue , Spring/Summer 1963 , pp. 81 - 93
Copyright
Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 1963

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References

1 In virtually all societies there are patterns of dress which tend to prevail at certain times. In a sense it is correct to say that the present “fashion” in Communist China is the plain bulky cotton tunic. Fashion in this paper will generally imply frequent alteration of existing style with no particular regard for utility. The word “fashion,” in quotation marks, is equivalent to the German word Tracht.

2 Goldman, Marshall I., “The Soviet Standard of Living, and Ours,” Foreign Affairs, vol. XXXVIII (July, 1960), p. 626.Google Scholar

3 Professor Alexander Gerschenkron has suggested that periodic intensification of the cold war is needed by the Soviets to justify the continuation of such pressures.

4 Sovetskaia Rossiia, October 4, 1959; Komsomolskaia Pravda, June 11, 1960.

5 Sovetskaia Torgovlia, February 14, 1961. Sovetskaia Torgovlia is published both as a tri-weekly newspaper and as a monthly journal.

6 S. Kirillov and A. Rusaleov, “Chto Meshaet Proizvodstvu Khoroshei Odezhdy,” Sovet-skaia Torgovlia (March, 1962), p. 7.

7 Sovetskaia Torgovlia, September 1, 1960, August 3, 1961; Ekonomicheskaia Gazeta, December 25, 1961, October 30, 1961.

8 Report of the American Marketing Delegation to the Soviet Union, mimeographed, Harvard Business School (Boston, 1960), pp. 8, 14, 22.

9 Sinitsyn, R., “Magazin-Fabrika-Baza,” Sovetskaia Torgovlia (July, 1960), p. 34Google Scholar; Dement'ev, A., “Polnee Udovletvoriat' Rastuchchie Zaprosy Trudiashchikhsia,” Sovetskaia Torgovlia (October, 1960), p. 4Google Scholar; “Vypolniat' Plan Tovarooborota,” Sovetskaia Torgovlia (May, 1961), p. 3. Official reports have been supplemented by illegal operations. A flourishing black market in Western products has existed throughout the Soviet Union. Until punitive measures were increased in 1961, it appeared to some as if such activities were actually condoned by the State. Western clothes and accessories have been purchased from tourists and smuggled in by Russian sailors and travelers. Of course, it is impossible to evaluate the significance of these activities, but undoubtedly they have helped to improve fashion and reduce the dreary uniformity of a developing state.

10 Krokodil, March 30, 1962.

11 “Nekotorye Problemy Torgovli,” Novyi Mir (August, 1960), p. 192.

12 Ekonomicheskaia Gazetay February 5, 1962.

13 Ibid.

14 Kirillov, S. and Rudakov, A., “Chto Meshaet Proizvodstvu Khoroshei Odezhdy,” Sovetskaia Torgoclio (March, 1962), p. 7.Google Scholar

15 New York Times, August 3, 1960.

16 Sovetskaia Torgovlia, June 24, 1961.

17 Ibid., July 4, 1960, June 20, 1961.

18 Ekonomicheskaia Gazeta, July 7, 1961.

19 Sovetskaia Torgovlia, October 15, 1960.

20 New York Times, December 12, 1959. For the disposal of unsalable stock, see below.

21 Feoktistov, F., “Odezhda Dolzhna Byt' Raznoobraznoi i Krasivoi,” Sovetskaia Torgovlia (March, 1962), p. 9.Google Scholar

22 Ekonomicheskaia Gazeta, December 25, 1961.

23 “Trebovaniia Potrebitelei — Zakon dlia Proizvodstva,” Novye Tovary (June, 1961), p. 19; Sovetskaia Torgovlia, December 15, 1960.

24 Sovetskaia Torgovlia, December 22, 1959, December 20, 1960.

25 Sovetskaia Torgovlia, November 29, 1960.

26 Serebrennikov, I., “Nekotorye Voprosy Organizatsii Optovoi Torgovli,” Sovetskaia Torgovlia (October, 1960), p. 40Google Scholar; Iakhnina, N., “Zakazy i Dogovory na Postavku Tovarov,” Sovetskaia Torgovlia (June, 1961), p. 40Google Scholar; Sovetskaia Torgovlia, December 20, 1960.

27 Goldman, Marshall I., Soviet Marketing: Distribution in a Controlled Economy (New York, 1963), Chap. VIII.Google Scholar

28 Ushakov, V., Kreditovanie Torgovykh Organizatsii (Moscow, 1956), p. 51.Google Scholar

29 Ironically, in two years bicycles were again in short supply. Sovetskaia Torgovlia, August 20, 1960. Tsentral'noe Statisticheskoe Upravlenie, Narodnoe Khoziaistvo SSSR ν 1960 Godu (Moscow, 1961), pp. 320, 340. Ekonomicheskaia Gazeta, March 12, 1962.

30 Report of the American Electronics Delegation to the Soviet Union (Privately printed, 1959).