Shades of Orwell in this article http://www.firstnews.com.ua/en/article.html?id=112635 from FirsTnews
” … one of the largest and most unusual markets is something called the Seventh Kilometer in Odesa region, where the legal and the illegal have existed side-by-side for decades.”
… this combination of odd bits and pieces has become a merchandising attraction that draws hundreds of busloads of wholesale and retail buyers every day that together spend more money than the retail volume of some of the largest shopping centers in Europe and the United States.
The market, which dates back to World War II, has been an important trading center, a black market for inexpensive imported goods, where merchants have operated in the shadowy fringes of the law, avoiding high import duties by paying bribes. … ”
At the beginning of the 1970s, under pressure from the Soviet administration, the market was shut down, inducing vendors to move to the downtown area to trade illegally near entranceways. After years of unsuccessfully fighting the illegal trade, the city administration decided to rehabilitate the market. With the advent of perestroika, the market developed into Ukraine’s largest market, where the cheapest goods could be bought.”
Pragmatic perestroika or socialist sell-out? Whichever the case, so much for the lofty philosophy of “to each according to his needs from each according to his means” … Like it or not, the free market rules!
Orwell tried to warn the world that socialism would turn resourceful, independent individuals into criminals. Oh well, post-1984 http://www.liferesearchuniversal.com/orwell.html human nature seems to be prevailing… so far anyway.
Scythian Princess
That looks like a flea marketeers paradise
[...] a Ukraine Global Roundups Cyber Cossack discusses a Ukrainian market that survived all Soviet efforts to eradicate it. It still exists and is one of the largest markets in Europe. [...]
Maybe so, but where would *you* rather shop? Seventh Kilometer or that Soviet shoppers’ paradise G.U.M.? I found shopping a pretty grim experience there back in the USSR in 1983. Haven’t been back since but if I were going to Odessa I’d want to check out Seventh Kilometer. Looks like a lot more fun not to mention selection and quality. Gotta love the free market system!