Handicrafts in the Soviet Union

Extract

The many different peoples of the Soviet Union have certain traditional handicrafts, and the Soviet administration is fostering them. Their practice is growing rapidly, and the products are every year appearing in much greater quantities and spreading more widely over the Union as a whole. There are two large shops in Moscow dealing solely in native peasant handicrafts. Their goods come from all over the Soviet Union, and they do a roaring trade although prices are by no means low. A Russian friend of mine bought a charming set of carved mammoth-tusk chess-pieces, made in the Arctic; the pawns were reindeer, the king a hunter, the queen an old nanny, the castles nomad tents, and so on. He paid a thousand roubles, which at that time—1935—represented about six weeks' average Russian income. At the present exchange rate it would be about £40. The set was worth quite that much.