Our Daily Bread

Know about the book -

Our Daily Bread is written by Kate Transchel and published by Routledge. It's available with International Standard Book Number or ISBN identification 1317463374 (ISBN 10) and 9781317463375 (ISBN 13).

Drawing on newly available archival materials including official documents, reports, and personal accounts, this remarkable study presents a detailed picture of the living standards of various social groups in prewar Soviet Russia, and the role of state-controlled distribution of food and goods as a tool of the Stalinist dictatorship. The study offers a new perspective not only on the period of collectivization, industrialization, and terror but also on the regime's most rudimentary method of controlling human behavior and reshaping the social order. In her conclusion the author analyzes the long-term impacts of the Stalinist "dictatorship of distribution", from bureaucratization to rural depopulation to the emergence of a distinctive type of black-market economy.