Authors

Discussion

This paper explores a body of petitions written in the aftermath of the Second World War by some of the poorest and most vulnerable of Soviet citizens, and what they reveal about marginalised individuals’ attempts to resolve problems through letters. In 1944, faced with rural devastation the Soviet party-state instituted a series of government-backed reconstruction loans at preferential credit rates which allowed individuals who had lost homes to borrow up to 10,000 roubles, repayable over 10 years. Large sums were lent to those least able to repay, creating in effect a Soviet subprime crisis. The war disabled, widows, and orphans were often forced to spend the capital on food or medicine. Repayments pushed borrowers further towards poverty. Those who failed to repay risked eviction and repossession. Petitioning and letter writing offered a mechanism to effect change, and gave officials information about the unintended consequences of a policy designed to help. From 1947 on the Reception Room of the Russian Republican Soviet began to receive thousands of letters complaining about individual housing construction loans. The paper explores how officials responded to these petitions, the acknowledgment of a problem signalled from below, and how pressure from letter writers led in July 1948 to legislation granting payment holidays, and eventually in 1954 writing off the loans.