The Soviet Dream World of Retail Trade and Consumption in the 1930s

by A. Randall

Overview

In the early 1930s Soviet authorities launched a campaign to create "socialist" retailing and also endorsed Soviet consumerism. How did the Stalinist regime reconcile retailing and consumption with socialism? This book examines the discourses that the Stalinist regime's new approach to retailing and consumption engendered.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780230573963
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	10/01/2008
Series:	Consumption and Public Life
Edition description:	2008
Pages:	251
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

AMY RANDALL is Assistant Professor of History at Santa Clara University, USA.

Table of Contents

Introduction A New Approach to Retailing and Consumption: The Campaign for Soviet Trade The 'Perestroika' of the Retail Sector: Visionary Planning for Revolutionary Retailing Legitimizing Soviet Trade: Gender and the Feminization of the Retail Workforce 'Revolutionary Bolshevik Work': Stakhanovism in Retail Trade The 'Kontrol' of Soviet Trade from Above and from Below The Making of the New Soviet Consumer Soviet Retailing and Consumer Culture in Comparative Perspective Epilogue

Editorial Reviews

'Randall's book...makes a welcome and timely contribution to the emerging literature on Soviet consumption, living standards and everyday life in the 1930s and serves as a useful reminder that a consumer society was already in evidence in the Stalin period.' - Business History

'The Soviet Dream World is an excellent contribution to studies of Soviet trade and consumption and a great read for undergraduate, graduate students, scholars, and the general public interested in Soviet history and the history of consumerism.' - Slavic Review

From the Publisher