Alexis Babine at the Library of Congress

Saratov Journal

Among the most interesting documents in the Babine Papers are Alexis Babine's notebooks, which show price changes in Saratov. For a long time Saratov was a provincial capital in the Volga region, a center of industry and trade, and one of the largest cities in the Russian Empire. In October 1917 Babine, a former superintendent of public schools in Vologda province, was appointed an instructor of English at Saratov University. It was here that he began to keep his diaries.

Soon after Babine's arrival, the Bolsheviks established a Soviet government in the city. Their reforms deeply influenced not only the economical and political structure of the region, but also the everyday life of the population. Although the situation with food supplies was not as bad as it would become later, prices had gone up more than 900 percent since 1914. In November 1917 the cost of two pounds of bread was only 0.48 rubles, and remained stable until the beginning of the next year. In March 1918 the cost of the same amount of bread ranged from 1.80 to 3.50 rubles. Changes in the rations of Saratov's middle class were also influenced by the increase in prices. Foods that were common in the pre-Revolutionary period: cheese, cocoa, smoked beef, etc., were replaced by potatoes, millet, and flour. Afraid of starvation, people began to hoard food. For example, in June 1918 Babine bought 44 pounds of flour and about 100 eggs. Hoarding was common until the beginning of the Great Famine in the Volga region, in January 1921.

With the Bolshevik introduction of War Communism, the entire working population began to receive bread coupons. The Soviet authorities distributed food, raw materials, and manufactured goods. Any kind of private trade was prohibited and all market operations became illegal and were classified by the Soviet government as speculation. This gave rise to a black market. Unlike official prices, which remained practically unchanged during the entire Civil War, the increase in black market prices can be characterized as inflation and later hyperinflation. For example, the black market price of four pounds of pork before the famine was 1,100 rubles, while the price for "meat sovetique [Soviet]" was about twenty times lower--42 rubles for 1½ pounds. The absence of all agricultural products made the prices of even such things as "beef syrup" and "wheat meal" unbearably high. The population could no longer make large purchases. In Babine's materials we can often find such notes: "1 egg--650 rubles" (at the beginning of 1918 the price of 30 eggs was only 10.50 rubles).

Babine was saved from starvation by his participation in the activities of the American Relief Administration (ARA), which supplied its employees with food, as well as by packages from his friends in the United States. During the period between January and April 1921 there is no evidence that he bought any food for himself. Black market prices were too high for the great majority of citizens, most of whom had sold practically everything that they owned by that time. At the same time the Soviet authorities were not able to assist the region's population. They cut rations and did not send their regular shipments to the region. In November 18, 1921, Babine wrote: "The October University ration was issued only today. It contained 36 lbs. of rye flour, 7 lbs. of "meat" (which I had to throw away), 1 lb. of country butter, 1 lb. of damp granulated sugar, 2 lbs. of coarse dirty salt, 1 lb. of barley coffee, 20 lbs. of worthless Soviet matches. This is the best ration we have had yet." The last notes he made in Saratov were "April, 14: 10 eggs are 3,000,000 rubles. . . . black bread is 140,000 Soviet rubles a pound, granulated sugar--500, 000, rice--350, 000, American lard--1,000,000, butter--800,000, meat--500,000".

By that time Babine had decided to emigrate from Russia. In June 1922 he arrived in Moscow where he found a situation quite different from the suffering of the Volga region. The Soviet government had replaced its distribution system with an open market and legalized practically all kinds of trade. It also fueled further price increases. Just before his departure for the United States Babine wrote in his diary: "White bread is 650,000 Soviet rubles a pound, and that not of the best kind. Coal oil is 1,400,000 rubles a pound, eggs 1.2 million rubles a dozen, a pound of apples 400,000 rubles, a small bun--200,000 rubles."

The increase in prices, together with other factors, resulted in the destruction of the middle class in the entire region. Merchants, teachers, engineers, and craftsmen lived in equal poverty. They sold practically everything they had before the revolution and food became "a great blessing" for most of them.

The published edition of Babine's diaries, (A Russian Civil War Diary: Alexis Babine in Saratov, 1917-1922. Edited by Donald J. Raleigh. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1988. DK265.7 .B3 1988), which contains an emotional description of the horrors of the Civil War and the Great Famine in Russia, can be found in the European Reading Room.

Prices for:

1917 - 1918 - 1919 - 1920 - 1921 - 1922