ABSTRACT
Scarcity pervades popular constructions and images of daily life in the history of the Soviet Union. Shortages in Soviet Russia encompassed a wide range of goods and services, including basic personal necessities such as food, housing, and clothing. This chapter explores the urban side of this politics of scarcity, focusing on two crucial aspects of food distribution rationing and public dining by their nature brought urban populations into daily contact with governmental agen. European governments introduce rationing during World War I as way to compensate for the various shortages caused by the war effort. Thus it was not surprising to find Bolshevik officials in Petrograd including cafeterias as obligatory stopping points in the tours they gave to foreign visitors, such as the British trade union delegation that visited Soviet Russia in 1920, highlighting the achievements of the new Soviet republic. On the eve of World War II, food shortages had long been part of the fabric of Soviet daily life.
