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Retailing the revolution: the State Department Store (GUM) and Soviet society in the 1920s.

From: Journal of Social History  |  Date: 6/22/2004  |  Author: Hilton, Marjorie L.

A 1926 newspaper article entitled "Under GUM's Glass Heaven," presented a vision of socialist retailing and consumption that depicted ordinary Soviet citizens indulging in the pleasures of shopping in the fabulous Red Square premises of the State Department Store (Gosudarstvennyi Universal'nyi Magazin or GUM). (1) The article opened with a description of GUM's giant display windows, exhibiting "everything needed to clothe and feed a person," from suspenders to forks, starched shirts, ...

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