LIVING AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS IN THE USSR

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Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP80-00810A001300070006-3
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RIPPUB
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S
Document Page Count: 
4
Document Creation Date: 
December 19, 2016
Sequence Number: 
6
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Content Type: 
REPORT
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Approved For Release 2006/12/05: CIA-RDP80-0081OA001300070006-3 CENTRAL INT'ELLI.G:ENCE AGENCY INFORMATION REPORT SECRET SECURITY INFORMATION I UIJECT DATE OF INFO; NO. OF PAGES REQUIREMENT REFERENCES THE SOURCE EVALUATIONS IN THIS REPORT ARE DEFINITIVE. THE APPRAISAL OF CONTENT IS TENTATIVE. (FOR KEY SEE REVERSE) ?7 May 1953 25X1 1,ivina Conditions at Krasnogorsk 25X1 Zriees and Availability of Consumer Goods 1. There was a marked improvement in the standard of living in the Krasno- gorak area following the 1947 currency reform. Although prices were 25X1 generally decreased by this move, the Soviet population experienced some very hard times 4mnediately after the reform, as basic items such as bread had previously been rationed in limited quantities at lower 25X1. prices. In fact, the .improvement which set in after the price reform ARMY #x NAVY x JAIR FBI I JAEC .(N.1, Weabington Distribution Indk.kd By "X"; Fi.Id Distribution By "*"?) USSR (Moscow Oblast) This Document contains Information affecting the Na- tional Defense of the United States, within tbenietyti- Ing of Title 18, Sections 793 and 794, of the U.S. Code, as amended. Its transmission or revelation of Its contents to or receipt by an unauthorized person Isprohlbltrsd by law. The reproduction of this form is prohibited. Living and Social Conditions in the USSR DATE DISTR. Approved For Release 2006/12/05: CIA-RDP80-0081OA001300070006-3 Approved For Release 2006/12/0,5: CIA-RDP80-0081OA001300070006-3 25X1. SECRET 2 ., 25X1 25X1 25X1 so y n was serving as an army oa cer In the GnR. As he mailed them many packages of various products from Germany, this family realized that, consumer goods were readily available there, probably more available than in the USSR. Nevertheless, they oonw. sidered these goods tea be expensive and believed that workers in the GDR lived under worse.oonditions than workers in the Soviet Union. ope. a on believed that they enjoyed a t of living than inhabitants of Western countries. a poor Soviet famil whose :[ormer. a, of the Soviet Army, who had er a in Germany after the war all s id that they had been impressed w vnnrl housing and clothing' of the German population. However, impressions gained. abroad had little In- fluence on the average Soviet below a certain educational level. The average Soviet manwas little concerned with some comforts of life which we take. for. granted. He was satisfied if he merely had a bed._ a.n.d a' oimple wardrobe in, his home. He. was mainly in eating- well and having; enough to drink. if the F wages, of the average Soviet worker were suddenly increased to the levelof Western Eir.opean wages, he would squander it all on food and liquor. SECRET followed an irregular course. Some subsequent price cuts were more effective than others. Moreover, some price reduction laws were followed by an increase of production norms at Plant No. 393. 2. Prices-of consumer goods sold in Kraenogorsk stores and markets were generally the sam i e as n luoscow. K.rasnogorsk could be considered a suburb of Moscow in this respect. Perhaps a few articles sold in Krasnogorsk State stores were occasionally a. few kope' more ex-. pensive than in Moscow. The only noticeable difference concerned open-market prices. Moscow open markets sold some items at lower prices because they were larger9 and thus the scene, of more competition. Recent -price cuts introduced in Krasnogorsk primarily affected luxury items such as wine and vodka and had little effect on basic food products. The local Soviet population regarded this developme:ai; with dissatisfaction. There was some variation in the availability of goods in Moscow and in Krasnogorsk. It was simple to obtain raedium-and good quality suit material in Moscow. Only cheap material was available in Kra*nogorsk. It was also apparent that some goods which previously had been readily available in Kraenogorsk were difficult to obtain there after 1950. This was particularly true of textile goods. Butter and some meat products were also seldom available locally after 195O , although they had been Vcal -hivolt abundant in prrrtri rmc, Soviet Attiturlee toward Standard of Li vines 5. Some, maybe moet,of the Soviet workers and camployee,s at Plant No. 393 evidently realized that living conditions in Western Europe were better than in the Soviet Union. This was especially true of former Ok~_tarbciter J-ovi et s employed in Germany during the wary who favorably comIpared their living conditions in Germany during the war with present conditions In the Soviet Union. 6. On the other hand, undoubtedly a good. percentage of the Soviet 1 ti Approved For Release 2006/12/05: CIA-RDP80-0081OA001300070006-3 Approved For Release 2006/12/05: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA001300070006-3 SECRET 3 8. The Soviet women were different. It was astounding to see how well they dressed with the little money they had at their disposal. Tka-s'y evidently even out down oh their eating in order to dress a iitt :e . better0 $o.._.si. 9. The German specialists lived in a group of apartment buildings which belonged to Plant No. 393. Many Soviet workers and employees lived in the same type of apartment building. These were two-story buildings. each ,ontaining eight apartments. They contained two standard types of apartments. One consisted of a kitchens a toilet, and four rooms which were 18, 16, 119 and 11 square meter- in size. The second type of apartment consisted of a kitchens a toilet, a small room (five square meters) set aside for, but not used as9 a bate and three rooms which were. 17, 169?and 15 square meters in size. in an 18-s ware-meter room in the first -type of apartmen share:he kitchen and toilet facilities with .inhabi an s o e apartment. paid monthly rubles for rent, 11 rubles for heatTan.d three rubles for water. 10. .Althotigh the German specialists by no means had spacious accommodations, we were not packed in ge tightly as Soviet families. An many as four Germans lived in two rooms s 16 and five square meters in air,*. However, it was not uncommon for six Soviets to live in a 16-square- meter room. The Soviet plant worker's and employees oompl?ztned about 4-heir poor housing, their dirty, crowded apartments. 11. The higher plant offtoiala, as well as army officers from a nearby garrison, lived in apartment buildings which were far better furnished 'and maintained than those inhabited by common workers. Furthermore tainly were allotted more g space. For a ample,II one Soviet family of three lived in two 11-square-meter :rooms* 12. Soviet tenants paid Iona rent for the same space than 41d the Gevmar~ specialists, presumablT' bmoauxse they lived under more crowded oondi- .taions. , 13. A oommiderable amount of housing was constructed in Iraeno,3orsk in recent years., This construction included not only a large number of apartment buildings of the standard type as described earlier, but also many small private bungalows. These bungalows were Finnish prefabri,oated housee, as well as frame houses of Soviet eon< struotion. The latter houses were one-story structures with external dimensions of five by six zsaetgre. t interior of such houses oonsisted of nothing more than one r. oo such a house cost 10,000 rubles. A few people in the town- lived in privately owned houses which they had inherited. These property owners rented rooms at very high rates, ,F-- tenant paid 100 rubles per month for a room eight or. nine. square meters in size,,,. Corruption 15. Bribery and petty corruption were extremely common occurrences at Plant No. 393. Plant authorities did not regard such delinquencies in too.serious a light, perhaps because they themselves had to cover up for illicit activities. However, Party members were evidently not as susceptible to bribery as the general.population. They were evidently under strict discipline i:n this regard. For example, the female chief of, the guard detachment in our housing area, borrowed money from me for a period of about six months. 'She was in. Approved For Release 2006/12/05: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA001300070006-3 Approved For Release 2006/12/05: CIA-RDP80-0081OA001300070006-3 25X1 SECRY2 4 .- 25X1 16.. 25X1 A arse `, s,.1 -j would have been unable to fulfill his ;mop's plans if he did not "play ball" with this system. 25X1 17. The Soviet employees who ins.pectedipartment.s eagerly accepted financial difficulty as she had to pay for the upkeep of her husband in a tuberculosis sanatorium. Party authorities got wind of this practice. he woman wsa a Party member. Party officials then interrogated this woman regarding these loans. the woman was cleared it was an accepted practice to offer a shop boas something in :re urn for his services in filling a production order. bribes. A few rubles or a package of cigarettes were sufficient to seal the lips of an inspector if he caught you using a hot plate 25X1 illegally. The Fuards who were supposed to accompany us on trips to Moscow would also look the other way if they were offered five or ten rubles. Foreign Radio Broadcasts 25X1 it is noteworthy that Soviet plant employees were very a n execs e in buying radios from German specialists when the latter were repatriated. They were always particularly concerned about the short-wave reception of the radio:s they purchased. Most Soviet citizens purchasing radios in the local store bought "Baltika" models equipped with short-wavp^ reception. The "Ural" model which' was next in dewands; was also equipped to receive short-wave broadcasts. More ra loss were on sale in 194 in Kraj;noi orsk tstoreri than in later ~aaar . ,al i apartments in large apartment buildings in 25X1 2gX1 25X1 Trasnogorek were equipped with loud-speaker network outlets. The Finnish prefabricated houses were probably the only dwellings not connected to the loud.-speaker network. At any rate it was an established 'fact that Every apartment wa.?s furnished with such an outlet. I an increasing interest in television in the Krasnogorak area. some seven or eight television sets were to be found in. the own, o judge by the number of television aerials. Commentst statements presents almost no, general information on Soviet plant operations and working conditions which 'ham Yin+ 'hnnn i rHyiously reported in this aeZieo,- Soviet workars were sometimes raised soon arter t lip Introduction of prloe Approved For Release 2006/12/05: CIA-RDP80-00810A001300070006-3 production norms or