It is with the memory of this scene in mind
that I went to the Sukharevsky market, where the Government has recently allowed the small farmer and trader to sell their wares.
There were no stalls or booths. Men held little pieces of meat in their hands, others a pair of boots, or a cap. To sell anything was a day's work accomplished. A- moujik exhibited to us a discoloured and flyblown piece of pork, weighing about 11 pounds : the price he asked. was £2 10s.,* but he could find no buyers. The public sniffed and passed on.
A dozen dejected looking herrings were being sold for 7s. Half a pound of butter cost 24s. Tomatoes were s. 3d. each, potatoes 2s. a pound, onions and eggs Is. apiece. Amongst luxuries a two-pound bag of sweets was being sold for £3 10s., grey cotton stockings at 12s. a pair, and a man's peaked cap at 30s. A pair of old slippers cost £4, canvas shoes £8, boots £16.
How can the people purchase anything at such prices ? I do not know : they may have so little on which to spend their money that they can afford an occasional extrava- gance, but in truth there are few buyers and few goods being offered, considering that this is the chief free market in a town of 2,800,000 inhabitants.
A Gu6peou policeman wanted to know what I was doing in the market ? My companion (not an official
* Calculated, as in my previous article, not on the official or " black " exchange rates, which bear no relation to real value, but on relative wages in England and Russia. Taking £12 in England and 100 roubles in Russia as the average monthly wage for un- skilled labour, two pounds of a scraggy neck of mutton sold in the Sukharevsky market for 10 roubles represents three days' work, Or 24s. This is the only reliable comparison possible.
guide) convinced him that I was harmless, but I had a feeling that after this my every movement was being watched. It was time to go, or I should have been late for a banquet to which the visiting journalists had been summoned.
Our kind hosts had provided us with two kinds of vodka, and with caviare, beluga, sturgeon, plump pullets, ice-cream. For the thirsty there were also strong Caucasian wines and brandy. " And yet people say that there is famine in Russia ! " Mr. Shaw is alleged to have exclaimed, surveying a similar table, groaning under good things. Mr..Shaw may have had his tongue in his cheek. There must be contrasts between modes of living, even in Russia, until the Marxian millennium arrives.
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