Joseph Stalin Access To Special Privileges Essay

Access to special privileges was an essential part of soviet life underneath the regime of Joseph Stalin. Under Stalin acquiring goods became all about who you know. In her research Sheila Fitzpatrick comes across a quote from one of the participants in the Harvard Project who sums up the system, “One must have not 100 rubles but 100 friends.” Those lucky enough to have connections had access to special privileges and goods that were hard to come by. These privileges ranged from access to food, housing, clothing, and even cars. Goods for the privileged also ranged from where you stood in the social hierarchy. The elites like Communist officials and the intelligentsia were able to access higher quality goods than lower ranking officers and …show more content…
The food privileges that were available to people meant that they had access to goods that the common people could only dream about. These ranged from access to “special rations, special elite closed stores, and special cafeterias at the workplace.” However just because people had the access to these goods did not mean they would get the same thing. Fitzpatrick uses the example of a family where both parents worked decent jobs for the communist party received different types of rations. The father’s package which included various assorted food items was delivered right to their door while the mother’s package had be picked up and was in general not close to the items that the father received. Among the goods that the special elite closed stores had were “sausage, eggs, and dried fruit, clothing, shoes, and other vital goods such as soap.” Even though those had access to the shops were already well off, it just enhanced their status as being among the Elites. These stores only regressed in quality the further they got into the country side and access to them would become even stricter. Indicative of the privileged system that these stores belonged to, these stores sold their stock at a lower price than