We have already seen that outside of the economic organizations of production and consumption maintained by the state, the workers help themselves, and that a large part of the economic activities of the country takes place outside the limitations fixed by the state.
A special chapter in Russia is shuffling. In order to get an idea of it, it is sufficient to refer to the statements of the bolsheviks themselves. Thus, as an example, the Moscow paper "Communist Labor" writes in the second half of June, 1920, in regard to goods which had been located in several sections of Moscow, and which could be labeled as shuffle-goods, that is, as goods which had nowhere been entered, and which consequently had been shuffled to one side by "responsible soviet employees." In the Rogoschevsky-Simenovski-Rayon were found 1,546 lots of shuffle-goods. Among these were 59,149 pud (1 pud equal to 34 Ibs.) nickle, 30,135 pud aluminium; 25,071 pud tin; 237,076 pud zink; 18,332 pud lead plate; 921,857 pud brass; 535,979 pud steel; undetermined quantities of wire; 18,000 two-handle saws; 20,610 axes; 32,330 pairs of boots; 5 million archins of woolen-goods; 110,566 archins (21-3 feet) of linen; 20,426 pud coffee and tea, and many other things that are mentioned in the paper but which it is useless to enumerate here, as this already is sufficient to show that through the centralist system the biggest kind of conscious shufflings are possible. It remains to mention that in another rayon, among other goods, were found 1/2 million pairs of stockings and 47 carloads of agricultural machinery. This would, of course, be impossible if a decentralistic, that is, a federalistic system were applied, and the workers of every rayon or the workers handling it, had control over the goods. As it is now, under the centralistic system, only one central needs to know where the goods belong, and all other sub-departments have to follow the order of the central. Through this system nothing is easier than that shuffling will sneak in, for if there is only one shuffler at the central, goods to the value of millions can be shuffled, because the workers who are handling it are only the horses that pull the chariot of the Central.
Another example given by Zinoviev himself shows how wonderfully the "apparatus" of the centralistic organization of national economy functions. At ,a conference of the Communist Party of Russia, which was held in Moscow in October, 1920, Zinoviev spoke of the shortcomings and weaknesses of the party and in the organizations created by it. He related that, on the Murman coast there is, as is well known, a rich run of fish, but particularly so in recent weeks, when the season had been at its height. The comrades there say that the fish is so plentiful that it is sufficient only to pull about three times in the water with a stick with a hook attached, in order to catch fish. But in spite of that the Murman railroad workers and laborers do not get a single pound of fresh fish and are compelled to live from dried fish, at best. How does that come about? It arises from the fact that we have a fish central ("Glavryba'), which says: "First you must catch the fish, thereafter register it on the books and throw salt on its tail," and only then can the workers receive it But the workers try to get in touch with the fish central, the latter tar out of range." Another example quoted by Zinoviev: "I
want to tell you about another case. In Ussolje immense supplies of salt were stored up. The peasants asked for permission to fetch the salt quantities due them on their own wagons, under the control of food stuffs authorities. The chauncery nag began its trot, but in the meantime the river rose above its banks and licked up all the salt. What do you expect the peasant to say to this? Fifty miles from the Baku the workers and the peasants are without petroleum. And there in Baku is the main spring of petroleum! That is due to the shortcomings of our organization."