ONE PRIVATE MARKET

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22718, 2 November 1935, Page 17

ONE PRIVATE MARKET

BARGAINING IN RUSSIA CONCESSION TO CAPITALISTS WHERE SPECULATORS FLOURISH. Moscow has its "Caledonian Market" —a tiny island of private trade amid the sea of Socialism, This is the Yaroslavsky market, in Moscow, an open space surrounded by a dirty-green board fence, with stalls all round it. Bearded peasants haggle over the price of a pair of shoes or an accordion, and old women sit begging a few copecks for a dirty piece of cloth. And .here, too, watched carefully by the police, ia the despised speculator. The market represents Socialisms last concession to capitalism. You may buy and sell for proht only in this tiny spot in the entire Soviet Union, and then you must observe the rules. Every day thousands of men and women crowd this tiny market, fingering the goods, bargaining and munching food, while heavy peasant carts roll in loaded with farm produce, to be exchanged for manufactured goods. Some of the " stalls " consist merely of a piece of cloth spread on the ground. Scattered over it are pearl buttons, cheap ornaments, pins—odd scraps gleaned from the corners of forgotten cupboards. There are cobblers sitting on improvised stalls, fashioning crude shoes. Their hammers keep time to an accordion played by a.young man who hopes to sell it. Tho Yaroslavsky market is a country fair without its richness or gaiety, a shoddy Oriental bazaar without its cdlour. It is one of Moscow's most depressing sights. The rules governing private trade are plainly posted on a board in the centre of the market. Peasants bringing in a cartload of produce, left to them tor private sale after the Government has taken its share of the crops, pay a fee of one rouble (nominally 2s) to sell it. If their wares are so meagre as' to be carried in their hands, they pay only 20 copecks. Sellers of manufactured goods are charged one rouble if their goods are sold in the market square, two if they are caught selling just outside the market, and five if they sell from a cart. And they must pay income tax on their takings. The manufactured goods sold under thig sale of fees are supposed to be made by the seller or his immediate family. I£ outside labour is " exploited " the fees are much higher. Many artisans contrive to operate " home" factories, bringing in non-family labour secretly. If they are caught they go to prison or Siberia. Speculators or middlemen flourish in the market. They buy cheaply from a peasant anxious to return to the country quickly, and sell at a higher price when goods are becoming scarcer later in the day. When first discovered their names are taken by the market police. If they repeat the offence they are warned and fined. A third violation of the rules means prison. Pitiful as the Yaroslavsky market is, it is patronised by thousands, and large sums change hands daily. In July alone the total trade turnover was nearly £600,000.