“Russians’ Favorite Pastime Is Standing in Line”: Frank Whitson Fetter about Trade and Food Situation in Kazan (1930)

Abstract

The article examines trade and food situation in Kazan during the first five-year plan based on the analysis of written and visual sources created by American economist Frank Whitson Fetter (1899–1991) during his six-week visit in 1930. As a professional economist, Fetter used a wide variety of tools to study the economic situation in the Soviet Union: participant observation, interviews, photography, and filming. He visited Kazan cooperatives and markets daily and recorded field data in his notebooks. Based on them, Fetter made detailed records in his journal. Currently, a significant part of the collected materials, including more than 300 photographs, is kept at David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University (USA). Particular attention in Fetter’s materials is paid to the Kazan trade situation (the behavior of sellers and buyers, queues, range of goods, price dynamics, interruptions in government supply, sanitary condition of private markets and establishments of the state cooperative trading network) and consumers’ status (their salaries, rationing system, food, availability and quality of clothing and footwear). Fetter witnessed the growing shortage of goods and the growing discontent of Kazan citizens during a radical change in the economic system of the USSR. The article reveals his view of the situation and provides photographs taken by him.

Keywords

• frank whitson fetter
• kazan
• atssr
• foreign tourists
• soviet economy
• trade
• food situation
• american economists
• first five-year plan