Consumption of Non-Food Consumer Goods by Families of Collective Farmers of the Molotov Region in the First Five Years After the War (1946–1950)

Non-food consumer goods have always been, are and will remain important attributes of a person’s life. In addition to purely physiological, non-food goods satisfy a number of other needs that shape people as thinking creatures and distinguish them from animals. The article examines the problem of consumption of non-food consumer goods by collective farmers in one of the regions of the Urals, i.e. the former Molotov Region (presently, the Perm Region) during the first years after the Great Patriotic War (1946–1950). The topic of this article is relevant, since the problem of scientifically grounded and balanced consumption of non-food consumer goods by the population remains unresolved. The author turned to materials kept in two archives: Russian State Archives of Economics and State Archives of the Sverdlovsk Region. Some of these documents have never been published, including household budget surveys, which have a long history in Russia. Attention is focused on the fact that the determining factor in the material living conditions of collective farmers during the first post-war years was the permanent shortage of almost all consumer goods. The author demonstrates that in the period under study the consumption level of non-food consumer goods by collective farmers was unsatisfactory. It should be noted that such a low level of consumption by Molotov Region peasants in the first post-war years was no exception. It is concluded that there were no grounds for a rapid growth in the consumption of non-food consumer goods by this “secondary” category of the population (which collective farmers were at the time) during the period under study.

Organe um jeden Preis?

Asthereisa permanent shortage of human organs for transplantation purposes new methods to provide organs are being developed. The author deals with these new developments as there are artificial organs, genetically engineered animal organs (i.e. xenotransplantation) and therapeutical cloning or embryonie stem cells to cultivate human organs. The goal of the article is to give an overview on these approaches and to summarize ethical aspects related to research, development and application of these methods

Minority Situation Attitudes and Developments after the return to power of “Post-Communists” in Poland*

One of the most frequently heard phrases in Communist Poland was the notoriousnie ma“there is not, is not available, is out of stock,” reflecting the permanent shortage—of virtually everything—that was so characteristic of what was labeled “real socialism.” The phrase disappeared shortly after the introduction of a market economy overnight filled the hitherto empty shelves with an abundance of goods which had been unheard of throughout the postwar decades. The phrase became almost forgotten—only to make a sudden and seemingly unexpected (although foreseen by some) comeback, when the “post-Communists” were returned to power by the September 1993 parliamentary elections. It may not (yet?) concern Warsaw, which devours an unfair share of what the country can produce, and it may not (yet?) concern other larger Polish cities, but across the countryside chronic shortage is often felt only too bitterly. In spite of this most alarming development, however, the strong opinion prevails that there can be no return to the old centrally steered socialist economy. The changes have gone too far, enabling the people to resist attempts at revising the impressive economic, social and political reforms in Poland.