The activities of the “Torgsin” system in Ukraine in the years of 1931–1935

• Authors: Viktoriia Tanasiuk

Title variants

Funkcjonowanie systemu „Torgsin” na Ukrainie w latach 1931–1935

• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The paper studies the activities of the All-Union Association “Torgsin” in Ukraine between 1931 and 1935. It proves that the Soviet state needed to mobilize financial resources for implementing the industrialization programme and, therefore, sought additional sources of income. The Soviet authorities elaborated complex measures for this purpose. The grain procurement policy caused mass famine in Ukraine. The establishment of the Torgsin system demonstrated a pseudo-concern of Soviet authorities about the starving population. The Torgsin trade network, founded in the years of mass famine in the early 1930s, extended to the territory of Ukraine and strengthened its organizational structure due to exporting food and industrial goods of high quality. It enabled the state to swindle gold, family values and antiques from the starving population in exchange for foodstuffs and trade currency with foreigners and Soviet citizens through the Torgsin network.

PL

W artykule przeprowadzono analizę działalności Wszechzwiązkowego Stowarzyszenia „Torgsin” na Ukrainie w latach 1931–1935. Jego utworzenie było to spowodowane tym, że państwo radzieckie musiało zmobilizować ogromne środki na realizację programu industrializacji i w związku z tym poszukiwało dodatkowych źródeł dochodu. Władze radzieckie opracowały skomplikowany system ich pozyskania. Państwowa polityka skupu zboża doprowadziła do wielkiego głodu na Ukrainie. Utworzenie systemu „Torgsin” było przejawem rzekomej troski władz sowieckich o głodującą ludność. Sieć handlowa „Torgsin” została utworzona w czasie wielkiego głodu, na początku lat trzydziestych XX w. Zorganizowanie sieci sklepów „Torgsin” na terytorium Ukrainy wzmocniło strukturę organizacyjną Stowarzyszenia dzięki pozyskiwaniu wysokiej jakości artykułów spożywczych i przemysłowych. W sklepach sieci realizowano politykę „eksportu wewnętrznego”, sprzedając towary za złoto oraz dewizy. Nabywcami sprzedawanych tam towarów mogli być cudzoziemcy oraz obywatele radzieccy. Umożliwiło to państwu sowieckiemu pozyskanie niemal za bezcen złota, dewiz, pamiątek rodzinnych i antyków od głodującej ludności Ukrainy w zamian za żywność sprzedawaną w sklepach sieci „Torgsin”.

Keywords

EN

USSR; UkrSSR; “Torgsin”; all-Ukrainian agency; trade network

PL

ZSRR; Ukraińska SRR; Wszechukraińska agencja; sieć handlowa; ZSRR; Ukraińska SRR; Wszechukraińska agencja; sieć handlowa

• Publisher: Uniwersytet Łódzki. Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
• Journal: Przegląd Nauk Historycznych
• Year: 2020
• Volume: 19
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 163-182

Dates

published

2020-12-30

Contributors

author

Viktoriia Tanasiuk

• Pavlo Tychyna Uman State Pedagogical University, Department of History of Ukraine

• https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2838-5972

References

• Central State Archive of Public Associations of Ukraine [CSAPAU] Draft Decree of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (Bolshevik), statements of the Department of Agitation and Mass Campaigns of the Central Committee of the Party, the People’s Commissariat for Foreign Trade in the USSR , the All-Ukrainian Office of Torgsin about the activities of Torgsin to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (Bolshevik), repository 1, specification 20, file 5444, sheets 7, 8.
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Identifiers

DOI

10.18778/1644-857X.19.02.06