The Soviet Government, hoping to impress the world with its
energy in industrial reconstruction, recently began an assiduous propaganda in its Press for the revival of the Fair of Nijni- Novgorod, which was before the War the chief commercial event in Eastern Europe. In that picturesque old town on the Volga crowds of buyers from all over Europe and Asia met annually, and the amount of goods actually brought for exchange, aside from whole herds of horses and cattle, ran into hundreds of thousands of tons. This year, when a correspondent of the levestiya went to observe the preparations for the revival of the Fair, he found a dead city. There was not a house with roof, doors and windows left. Later, this devastation was explained by Soviet officers as the result of " the bad manage- ment of the nation's prosperity." With a great effort, however, the Fair was opened on August 1st by the .Assistant-Commis' - sary for Trade. He had visited the Fair fifteen years before and was now appalled at the present state of the city. Yet the Moscow Press declares that the opening was most impressive. It must have been I Of the 146 firms registered for the Fair, only 31 are private undertakings. The rest are either co-opera- tive societies or departments of the Soviet Government. The amount of goods delivered is about 8,000 tons. Later reports, however, state that business is being transacted and that repre- sentatives of 100 new firms have arrived. It is interesting to note this final and absolute admission on the part of the Soviet Government of the necessity of internal private trading. The next step will no doubt be to recognize the property rights of Foreign traders past and present.
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