TOOTHPASTE PARADOX: THE SOVIET ECONOMY OF INVISIBLE GOODS

The article explores the transformation of toothpaste production in the USSR as an example of the evolution of the Soviet planned economy and consumer culture. The author analyses how the state gradually incorporated this commodity into the centralised planning system, beginning from the 1920s. Particular attention is paid to the contradictions between planned indicators, technological limitations and the real needs of citizens in the 1960s-1980s. In the late 1970s, the authorities faced the problem of a shortage of quality products, despite the growth of output and considerable eff orts to upgrade industrial equipment. The article shows how the quantitatively oriented Soviet industry failed to fully ensure competitive quality of goods, which led to an imbalance: warehouses were overfl owing with cheap paste, while consumers were looking for quality analogues. The study is based on archival documents of GARF, RGAE, TsGAM, including materials of the USSR Council of Ministers and reports of enterprises, as well as diary entries and memoirs.