Bag people
Encyclopedia
Bag people is a term in Russian
and other Slavic languages
that refers to people doing small trade for personal profit, recognizable by their large sacks.
Some of them were people from the cities travelling to the countryside to buy food for small scale trade or for personal consumption, often exchanging it for material goods from farmers due to collapse of the monetary system
. Others were people from the countryside doing the opposite trade.
Historically, the bag people have appeared in response to economic and political collapse that ended organized delivery and distribution of food in the cities. The phenomenon was very widespread during and soon after the Russian Revolution
. It also flourished throughout Eastern Europe
and Germany
after the devastation of World War I
. No well-known English language
term for this phenomenon exists.
With the devastation of the economy during the Russian Civil War
and the period of war communism
with its policy of prodrazvyorstka
(food requisition by state), meshochniks from countryside were seen as profiteers and persecuted by the Cheka
.
The meshochnik phenomenon was revived on a different scale in the Soviet Union
in the end of 1980s. Soviet people traveled abroad (e.g. to Poland
) to exchange cheaply purchased Soviet goods for goods scarcely produced or altogether absent in Soviet Union (and post-Soviet states). See also Shuttle trading
.
In literature, bag people are mentioned, for example, in Remarque's The Road Back
and Karel Čapek
's The Absolute at Large
.
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
and other Slavic languages
Slavic languages
The Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia.-Branches:Scholars traditionally divide Slavic...
that refers to people doing small trade for personal profit, recognizable by their large sacks.
Some of them were people from the cities travelling to the countryside to buy food for small scale trade or for personal consumption, often exchanging it for material goods from farmers due to collapse of the monetary system
Monetary system
A monetary system is anything that is accepted as a standard of value and measure of wealth in a particular region.However, the current trend is to use international trade and investment to alter the policy and legislation of individual governments. The best recent example of this policy is the...
. Others were people from the countryside doing the opposite trade.
Historically, the bag people have appeared in response to economic and political collapse that ended organized delivery and distribution of food in the cities. The phenomenon was very widespread during and soon after the Russian Revolution
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
. It also flourished throughout Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
after the devastation of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. No well-known English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
term for this phenomenon exists.
With the devastation of the economy during the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
and the period of war communism
War communism
War communism or military communism was the economic and political system that existed in Soviet Russia during the Russian Civil War, from 1918 to 1921...
with its policy of prodrazvyorstka
Prodrazvyorstka
Prodrazvyorstka , translated as food apportionment or surplus appropriation system, was a governmental program in Russia which obliged peasantry to surrender the surpluses of almost any kind of agricultural produce for a fixed price...
(food requisition by state), meshochniks from countryside were seen as profiteers and persecuted by the Cheka
Cheka
Cheka was the first of a succession of Soviet state security organizations. It was created by a decree issued on December 20, 1917, by Vladimir Lenin and subsequently led by aristocrat-turned-communist Felix Dzerzhinsky...
.
The meshochnik phenomenon was revived on a different scale in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
in the end of 1980s. Soviet people traveled abroad (e.g. to Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
) to exchange cheaply purchased Soviet goods for goods scarcely produced or altogether absent in Soviet Union (and post-Soviet states). See also Shuttle trading
Shuttle trading
Shuttle trading is a term used for a Russian economic practice in which traders shuttle backwards and forwards across the country buying goods from cheap sources in Moscow, major port cities or outside Russia and selling them in the Russian interior...
.
In literature, bag people are mentioned, for example, in Remarque's The Road Back
The Road Back
The Road Back is a novel by German author Erich Maria Remarque. The novel was first serialized in the German newspaper Vossische Zeitung between December 1930 and January 1931, and published in book form in April 1931. It details the experience of young men in Germany who have returned from the...
and Karel Čapek
Karel Capek
Karel Čapek was Czech writer of the 20th century.-Biography:Born in 1890 in the Bohemian mountain village of Malé Svatoňovice to an overbearing, emotional mother and a distant yet adored father, Čapek was the youngest of three siblings...
's The Absolute at Large
The Absolute at Large
The Absolute at Large , is a science fiction novel written by Czech author Karel Čapek in 1922...
.