Selling to the Masses: Retailing in Russia, 1880–1930

7. Retailing the Revolution

195 A 1926 newspaper article headlined “Under GUM’s Glass Heaven” presented a vision of socialist retailing that depicted Soviet citizens indulging in the pleasures of shopping in the fabulous Red Square premises of the State Department Store (Gosudarstvennyi universal’nyi magazin, or GUM).1 The article opened with a description of GUM’s giant display windows, exhibiting “everything needed to clothe and feed a person,” from suspenders to forks, starched shirts, shiny patent-leather shoes, stockings in all colors of the rainbow , and “proud, brilliant” Primus paraffin stoves, in short, hundreds of wonderful things to draw the attention of passersby. Inside, shoppers bustled and browsed, treating themselves to purchases made possible by the workers’ credit program.2 The journalist noted among the clientele a “thick-set peasant,” who stood for a long time longingly stroking a sheepskin coat. Turning the purchase over and over in his mind, the peasant tried on the coat five times and even smelled it before finally deciding to buy it. Women who were laborers or office workers excitedly thronged the women’s ready-to-wear department, trying on clothes for hours in front of mirrors. Publicizing GUM’s commitment to democratizing consumption, this lighthearted scenario suggests the importance of a Soviet-style consumer culture in the building of socialism. As discussed previously, nationalizing or municipalizing private enterprises and redistributing wealth were central to the revolution. But revolution meant more than simply taking the means of production and distribution out of the hands of 7 Retailing the Revolution 196 retailing the revolution private entrepreneurs. In cultural terms, the revolution meant bringing the comfort and delights of life to those previously denied them and turning them into modern, socially conscious consumers. Indeed, the goals of eliminating private enterprise, social leveling, and retraining the population in conscientious , rational, cultured modes of living and working intersected. In order to build a socialist society in which workers and peasants enjoyed the benefits of an urban, industrial society, the state was obliged to create places where workers and peasants not only obtained coats, shoes, and other material goods but even dreamed about and shopped for them. The conversion of the Upper Trading Rows, once the centerpiece of Moscow ’s retail marketplace and a bastion of merchant culture, into the State Department Store epitomized the state’s liberation of society from capitalism and its plan to create a socialist retail economy and working-class culture of exchange . Founded as a model retailer, GUM dedicated itself to “retailing the revolution,” a phrase used here to suggest several interrelated activities, which can be broadly grouped as either instrumental or symbolic. The instrumental activities include GUM’s participation in achieving the regime’s socioeconomic goals in the commercial sphere, including the struggle against private enterprise , the democratization of consumption, and the establishment of efficient, dignified norms of buying/selling and patterns of consumption compatible with socialist values. Symbolic activities included GUM’s utilization of the tools of mass marketing, especially advertising, to publicize the regime’s achievements and goals and to retrain the population. GUM integrated these instrumental and symbolic activities into its operations and thus served as both agent for the creation of a Soviet-style mass consumer society and vehicle for communicating with and educating the public. The state established GUM as a model retail venue where the revolution would be enacted, a place where the state would remake the population into model Soviet citizen-consumers who supported state enterprises and learned ethical and courteous behaviors while making their daily procurement rounds. In essence, GUM was intended to achieve nothing less than economic, social, and cultural transformation. GUM was thus not simply a department store but a diversified commercialpolitical venture slated to deliver consumerism through socialism, and vice versa. According to the image the retailer cultivated, working-class men and women could indulge in fantasies of consumption and shop for clothing and other desirable goods in a luxurious environment made possible by a benevolent socialist regime. In this brand of socialism, access to and acquisition of consumer goods was a primary right, an integral part of the agenda of eradicating socioeconomic privilege. Conversely, the simple act of buying goods from a state retailer constituted a purposeful revolutionary act, fundamental to the retailing the revolution 197 installation of new norms and values and, ultimately, the transformation of the economy and society. The retailer’s role in constructing and implementing the revolution...