Challenges in Organizing Trade of Consumer Goods during the Mass Settlement Period in the Kaliningrad Region (Based on Materials from the "Kaliningrad Truth" Newspaper)

The objective of the study is to examine the problems of organizing trade in consumer goods: food products and light industry items, during the years of mass settlement of the Kaliningrad Region, based on publications of the newspaper "Kaliningradskaya Pravda". Objectives: to identify and analyze materials on the problems of trade in consumer goods and meeting the needs of people who moved to the Kaliningrad Region for food products and light industry items during the years of mass settlement of the region. The object of the study is retail enterprises of the Kaliningrad Region that traded in light industry products and food products. In the course of studying the organization and functioning of various stores, shops, stalls and consumer cooperatives, difficulties in the development of Soviet trade in the region after the abolition of the rationing system were revealed. The problems of the assortment of stores, the quality of goods, and the culture of trade are characterized. The difficulties associated with satisfying the physical, material and aesthetic needs of people who moved to the Kaliningrad Region are analyzed. The study is based on the analysis of materials from the newspaper "Kaliningradskaya Pravda" for 1946-1953. During the specified period, this periodical was the organ of the Kaliningrad Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) / the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Executive Committee of the Kaliningrad Regional Council of Workers' Deputies. Initially, the newspaper was published 2-3 times a week, but over time, its publication became daily. Since 1948, “Kaliningradskaya Pravda” was printed in a circulation of 40,000 copies. The results of the study allowed us to conclude that the newspaper reflects a wide range of problems associated with the organization of trade in consumer goods during the years of mass settlement of the Kaliningrad Region. Prospects for further research are associated with the possibility of comparing the problems of organizing trade in consumer goods in the Kaliningrad Region with the problems of trade in other regions of the country in order to identify specific and common features.