The daily worker., 1932-08-08
The Neev Developments in Soviet Trading
ay BURcK q

trading must follow on the aboli-
ton of private trading And it is
a movement in this direction which
we are now seeing. This is the
explanation of the appearance in
Moscow of signs announcing
"kolkhoz bazaars," of the rapid as
phalting of waste pieces of land
and the erection thereon of booths
which are filled with shoes, cloth
ing, household goods, sweets, ETC.,
and the appearance of peasant
carts filled with potatoes, straw
berries, cabbages, eggs, milk and
occasionally butter and cheese.
But this does not mean that the
problem of supply and demand has
been solved. Far from it. 1t is
only the beginning. But why have
these new markets appeared now,
and why is there this sudden stim-
lllus to trade? When Lenin wrote.
learn how to trade" the basis of
trading was the produce of the
individual peasant and the kulak
Now, the position is radically al
tered. The basis is now the prod
uce of the collective and state
farms. The new marketing meas
ures are only possible because the
kulak, the exploiting, rich peasant.
as class, has been eliminated. We
are seeing a change in methods of
marketing which is based on
change in methods of production,
the change from individualism to
socialism.
While it is true that the gap
between supply and demand is still
very wide, it has already been
much reduced by collective farm
ing. The old fashioned small in
dividual peasant farm could never
develop very high rate of prod
uction for the market. Very often,
the poor peasant actually failed to
reproduce his seed and labor. But
the collective farms have already
shown gigantic increase in the
production of marketable produce.
The two years of struggle for col
lectiviZationAa period of intense
class struggle involving the elimin-
alton OF the kulak class - have
brought us to the point at which
produce can be marketed and
prices regulated without the inter
vention Of the speculator or mid
dleman.
This is not to say that the
speculator or middleman is finally
banished from the Soviet scene. He
is still doing his best to gather
enough pickings to live on. But
certainly his days are numbered.
The possibility of developing So
cialist trade without the aid of
middlemen enables the Soviets to
prohibit the opening of shops by
private traders. The spectators,
who fight to the last rather than
submit to life of honest toll, are
thus driven underground. With
wares illicitly obtained by fraud or
robbery, they creep into the vii
lagos, and try to sell to the peas
ants, eager for manufactured goods,
at thievish rates. An energetic
campaign to rout them out of
these retreats is proceeding. The
quicker the development of the
"kolkhoz bazaars," the greater the
amount Of produce and manufac-
lures thus placed at the disposal
of the worker and peasant, the
more enthusiastic support will be
given to this rat-hunt of specula-
tors.
The successful conclusion OF this
section of the class struggle, the
development of free socialist trade,
will mean rapid advance in pro-
duction and distribution and,
again, in reproduction. Thus the
standard of life will rise In the
o. S. S. r. These gene-ali.ations
VII, I hope, make It possible to
rai1 some understanding Ct the
new marketing methods. .-A--11l -