Heroes Of Our Times

Elena Chernomazova

According to the sociological survey of the life of the Russian people after the August crisis conducted by the Center for International Sociological Studies in 30 regions of this country, 61 per cent of all respondents have some additional sources of income.
The most popular form of earning on the side is trading: 28 per cent sell foreign-manufactured foodstuffs and consumer goods, 25 per cent - those produced in Russia, with an overall total of 53 per cent. The overwhelming majority of traders are women.

The market-place was almost deserted. The last traders were packing their goods, carefully sweeping the snow from the counters. They were reluctant to talk to me.
- Which magazine do you represent? Have you got some sort of identification? You look suspicious. No, I am not going to talk. At last I found a woman who reluctantly agreed to talk to me. She was past forty, a livestock specialist, previously an employee of a research institute. She had been trading at this market for four years already.
- What can I say? No income to speak of. My daily proceeds are barely enough to pay for this place, about twenty rubles is left. It is only during the weekends that one can earn something. Before I went to purchase merchandise in Turkey almost every other week. Now it happens much more seldom. The money I earn is barely enough to buy foodstuffs and to pay the son's tuition at the institute. No prospects and no hopes. So far we have survived but what will happens next nobody knows.
- Are there many women traders with higher education at the market?
- Yes. Next to me is a woman candidate of sciences. There are many former teachers.

If life in this country did not make such sharp and unexpected turns the fate of many of those women would be different. Some would pursue their scientific career, others would enjoy their work at a school or kindergarten. Still others… but then, it is no good talking about it. Today all these people, unable to find any other way to earn their living, have gone out to work at a market . How do they perceive themselves? What do they expect from the future? Who are they, these "heroes of our times" who made the word "shortage" disappear from our vocabulary in record time?

"I liked all kinds of work"

Those who feel more or less comfortable at the market are the people who have managed to succeed in their own business, however small. They have achieved something, have begun to feel confident and know what they are going to do in the future.
Those who have no higher education adapt more readily to the conditions at markets ( these are places where they sell consumer goods and foodstuffs). They do not feel stigmatized by earning money in such a way. All work is good.
For some time Galya used to work at a wholesale market in Luzhniki selling such petty articles as deodorants, hair sprays etc. "When I first came to the big market I was afraid that I would suffer losses or somebody would cheat me. But then I started working and fell in love with my job. I liked everything. One thing was difficult - I had to get up very early to reach Luzhniki by seven o'clock from the suburban town where I live. And you have to stand in the open in any weather. But the employer paid well. Then there was no more work there, I found another job, worked for some time and now I like this job too. It seems to me that no matter what I turn to I am going to succeed. Especially if the pay is good."
Galya's present job is not as trying as the previous one, but she earns little. "I'll have to look for a new job", she says. "But it is not easy to find one. If someone offered me now 100 dollars I would not be squeamish and would agree to work as a cleaning woman at some prestigious company. There are people who earn their living tidying offices. I would put on gloves, vacuum the carpets, do the office and get my 100 dollars." Galya has only one condition as to her job: " Provided they pay I am prepared to like any work."

"It is wonderful that I don’t have to trade at the market any more."

People who depend on their employer and look upon their position of "hired traders" as a temporary evil are having a much harder time. This is especially true of those people who have a higher education. They as a rule are very bitter about their present situation. There is no doubt that the feeling of "utter failure" is aggravated by the traditional attitude to trading as a dishonest occupation unworthy of an educated person. Very often when former teachers or candidates of sciences run into their old colleagues they feel their open scorn. For instance, Ira, previously a nursery school teacher, a graduate of a teacher training college. Now she is an accountant with a small trading firm. However, several years ago she and her sister worked at a market selling petty merchandise purchased from Vietnamese. Her sister who was a single mother with a small daughter lived in abject poverty and Ira decided to help her.
"You cannot imagine how ashamed we were! From our childhood it was impressed upon us that speculation was an offense and for an educated person it was a disgrace to trade at a market. That is why to avoid meeting our acquaintances we went to trade in another city. Once my sister was spotted at the market by a woman who used to be her former boss, the leading engineer of a research institute, and did not know where to hide herself, so ashamed she was. On seeing us the woman twittered happily: "What a meeting, Lenochka! What are you selling? Shorts, T-shirts? And I am quite near, selling seed for parrots." Later when I had a chance to talk to my colleagues at the market I learned that among traders there were many college graduates, especially teachers who got a meager salary at their schools."
In the long run Ira was unable to adapt to the market. At the first opportunity she found a more suitable employment. "Now that I've got a job of an accountant at a commercial firm every time when I pass by the market I think with relief that I don't have to stand there and trade. I am through with the market and I only come here as a customer."

"How could you fall so low!"

Lyuba who some years ago taught at a nursery school and today is working in a container at a wholesale market remembers the following episode: "It was almost a year after I quit my job at the school. One of the teachers with whom we used to work together and were peers came to the market. She was full of scorn - how did I manage to fall so low! Certainly she did not say it directly, but the message was clear. To be frank, I myself shared this point of view. However, some time later this woman came up to me and asked me to find her some work during the long school vacation." Lyuba's acquaintance does not see anything bad in such a side job. Her conscience is clear - in her own eyes and in the eyes of other people she remains a respected teacher because for her it is just a casual job - contrary to those who, having forgotten their former occupation, spend all their time at the market.

"Trading is a dishonest business"

Lyuba often repeats that trading is a dishonest business. And this is true. Stealing and cheating are endemic. Theft and substitution of goods start with suppliers or carriers. As a result when the merchandise reaches the market it is either of inferior quality or short of the amount ordered and paid for by the buyer. If the receiving trader did not look carefully he would take the rap for it and either would have to pay from his own pocket or to give short weight or shortchange the customers. According to Lyuba, there are practically no former shop assistants at the market.
Employers prefer to hire people who have higher education in an "honest" profession and no experience in trading, for instance, teachers or former engineers. But having been repeatedly deceived by their employers even those people quickly learn how to solve their financial problems at the expense of customers. An old lady working together with Lyuba, previously a highly-skilled construction engineer, bitterly states: "I have never before lived in such shit" meaning of course the market. But she and Lyuba have been lucky - so far they have had no conflicts with their employer.
The sad truth is that customers, too, steal. Mostly it is elderly people. "During the first week of the New Year as many goods were stolen as during the whole of the last year. They said that the old people did not get their pensions", says Lyuba. "While the line is moving an old babushka is filling the whole bag with foodstuffs. If I happen to turn away she disappears. I caught up with one such old woman : "Excuse me, you forgot to pay!" Certainly she did not steal a pike-perch, only some inexpensive frozen herring but there was a bagful of it. How can I blame her - she's got a tiny pension and even this is often delayed. Everybody has to eat."

"I have never been idle"

Lyuba continues to suffer from a sense of bitterness and dissatisfaction over the fact that she cannot find a more dignified job though she says that in principle she cannot complain. "Many people are much worse off. Sometimes it is so bad that children faint from hunger. If one works at a state-owned enterprise one cannot earn his livelihood. Unless of course one steals or occupies such a position that everyone brings you money." And she adds: "Sometimes I have a wish to send everything to hell, but who is to blame and for what?"
Lyuba did not finish her higher education. When her child was born she had to drop out of the Moscow Aviation Institute. She divorced her husband and for several years has been raising her son alone. She gets no child support from her former husband and does not even know where he is at present. She was first a secretary at a nursery school, then after finishing special courses taught labor skills to preschoolers. With no financial support from her husband and her salary depreciated by soaring prices Lyuba decided that it was time to look for another, more lucrative job. There was no one she could look up to and in her opinion it was no use to expect support from the government "which can only take away one's earnings as it has already happened several times." For three years now Lyuba has been selling meat and fish at the market. As if trying to justify herself she says: "In our family there have been no tradesmen. If someone had told me five years ago that I would work as a saleswoman I would have spat in his face. I would never have believed it. But in this situation it is the only way out. Where else can one find work?"
No doubt in money terms her life has improved. Not only can she afford her son's grammar school, hired tutors who teach him English and mathematics and a season ticket to a swimming pool but also a large-scale redecoration of her apartment. But nowadays money does not come easy to people. To provide for herself and her child she has to work very hard. During the last two years she did not have a single holiday, and the number of days free from work could be counted on the fingers of one hand. "I am afraid that it'll all end up in a nervous breakdown. I am under constant stress. Sometimes I cannot control my temper at home, cannot stop though I realize that I am wrong. My poor child, he has to put up with it."
It would not be a mistake to say that today the most important thing is survival - not only for Lyuba but for most people. This is what life strategy is about. Many are afraid to lose their present jobs despite the fact that the August crisis depreciated their pay; they feel insecure about the future. And in this respect Lyuba is no exception. "I cannot be sure even of what will happen the next week", says she. "I live and hope that I will be able to work until spring. Despite the fact that I have a rather solid position in comparison with others and work in a well-established firm I am not sure that all will be well. I am afraid that my son would go hungry the next day after I lose my job." In the former predictable and measured life it was easy to make plans. Lyuba frankly admits that it suited her much better because she did not live in fear of the future. "In that situation I lived quite comfortably. I had some plans about getting an apartment, material well-being, career, job prospects. At any rate I did not see myself at the market." But it is interesting that despite the difficulties and uncertain future she does not long for the return of the old predictable socialist past. What is the way out? Lyuba who cannot expect any help from any quarters and who has only herself to rely on is full of determination. Certainly she does not want to spend all her life in a trading container because such work is not morally rewarding. But when one is 37 the chances of finding a decent job in a good place are minimal. Lyuba believes that in this case it is necessary to rely on one's own strength and to set up one's own business, though for that one has to have some starting capital. "In any situation it is much less profitable to work for somebody else than for yourself. I am a strong person and I am sure that I could achieve a lot. I am confident that I can set up my own business, in commerce for instance, and develop further". Lyuba is quite sure that she is strong enough for that. "I have never been idle. Even when I worked as a secretary and teacher I sewed bedding in the evening. I fell asleep at the sewing machine. Two hours later I got up, took a shower and went to the nursery school. And I did not die! And I will survive this time. If only God would grant me health!"
Rather than save money for a secure and comfortable old age - this is not in Lyuba's nature - she would prefer to have money to help the needy. "I would start a good school for children without parents so that they would have a chance to reveal and develop their abilities. Are there not many talented children among them?"
It is surprising that Lyuba who herself is in a difficult situation should now think not only about herself and her material well-being but also about others who are having a rough time.
"Children are our future. It is now that we must instill the good into them. In ten years those who today seven or eight will grow up and replace us. Our future will depend on how well we bring them up." Listening to her one is confident that she will really attain all that is within her power.