In the threatened regions, the evacuation of factories and specialists to the eastern parts of the Soviet Union began. Thus, 1,500 factories were relocated to the Volga region, the Urals, Siberia, Kazakhstan, and Central Asia. Some estimates put the evacuated population at 10 million. But the great mass fled eastward without waiting, leaving homes and belongings. In areas farther from the front, evacuation was better organized. The factories moved to the east began producing for the front rather quickly. Workers and engineers toiled under the harshest conditions. The construction of industrial sites took place during the fall of 1941 and the winter of 1941—42, which was very severe. The factories were reconstructed with great speed: four months after being dismantled, many were already producing at full capacity. The workday was from twelve to fourteen hours long. Workers lived under the most unimaginable conditions, often in mud huts or tents. Food was in short supply.
The reconversion of the economy was basically completed during the first year of war. This was a particularly difficult time. Industrial production was 2.1 times lower than before the war. During the first six months of the war the output of ferrous metals decreased by a factor of 3.1 and that of nonferrous metals by a factor of 430(!). Ball bearing production was twenty- one times less than before the war.19
Airplane production also dropped sharply. In the last quarter of 1941, it was less than half that of the third quarter. In December 1941, only 35 percent of the plan for aircraft production was completed. At that point, four-fifths of the aeronautics industry was being transferred to the east. The plan for tank production for the second half of 1941 was completed by 61.7 percent. Ammunition production reached only 50—60 percent of that foreseen in the plan.20
During the war, the standard of living of the urban population was very low. The rationing system barely provided the minimum. People had to turn to the black market, where prices were astronomical. Many city dwellers went out into the rural areas regularly to exchange clothing or utensils for food. Practically all the earnings of the city dwellers went for food or rent. Industrial workers, especially those in heavy industry, received "first category" rations: 800 to 1,000 or 1,200 grams of bread per day (bread being the staple of the diet). Workers in other branches of industry were assigned to the second category: 500 grams. Office workers were allotted between 400 and 450; children up to twelve years of age, housewives, and other dependents received 300—400 grams. The usual monthly allowances of meat or fish were 1,800 grams; fats, 400 grams; macaroni or groats, 1,300 grams; sugar or sweets, 400 grams. There were also the categories of "higher rations" and "special higher" rations. Many industrial and office workers turned their ration cards over to the dining halls at their places of employment and had all their meals there. The privileged stratum (the party and government officials) had their own system of provisioning, which was very different from that of ordinary mortals, both qualitatively and quantitatively.
Many offices and firms were assigned collective farm lands as subsidiary enterprises that could be drawn upon to help feed their staffs. Industrial and office workers in the cities had received small private plots, to grow potatoes and other vegetables for their personal needs. During the war these gardens became the primary source of food for hundreds of thousands of families. Basic items like shoes, clothing, and textiles also became rare luxuries during the war. From time to time, some factories paid their workers with coupons usable for the purchase of shoes and clothing; these coupons, as well as the items they were supposed to buy, became the object of black market speculation.
The already critical housing situation was greatly complicated by the war, especially in Kazakhstan, Kirghizia, Uzbekistan, and the other Central Asian republics, where many evacuees went. The refugees concentrated in cities and regions where they could find industrial work and public services. The situation for those who did not find work in their field and were forced to perform agricultural tasks was even worse. Unfamiliar with the work, their productivity was far below that of the collective farmers; their earnings and living standards were accordingly quite low.
Almost half the cultivated land in the Soviet Union fell to the Germans, who soon controlled areas that had produced more than half the country's grain and animal products. The Germans were able to seize crops that had been harvested but not yet shipped, as well as tractors, combines, and other agricultural machinery. In the areas not reached by the Germans, livestock were removed, and tractors, trucks, and horses were mobilized for the war effort. Agriculture was thus deprived of hauling power. Almost all able-bodied men were either at the front, in German captivity, or in Soviet prison camps. Only the very young or the very old, the women, and the sick remained in the villages. Cows were used to till the land, and when there were none, women would harness themselves to the plow. Many farming tasks were done by hand. Virtually the entire harvest was turned over to the state in the form of obligatory deliveries. The amount to be delivered was frequently determined on the basis not of the actual harvest but of an imaginary "projected harvest," approximately 25 percent higher. Failure to meet these obligations was severely punished; people could even be sent to jail, as though they had been found guilty of sabotage. Often no seed grain was left for the next season's planting. The situation was particularly bad in Central Russia, where even before the war the peasants had had trouble making ends meet. The war put the finishing touches on the ruination of the collective farmers. The only hope was the small private plot each peasant household was allowed to cultivate. The produce from this could be used for personal consumption or profitably sold to city dwellers or exchanged for needed items. The peasants in the wanner regions of Transcaucasia and Central Asia, where they had some livestock, vegetables, fruit crops, and oil-producing crops, were better off.
All around the country, collections were taken for the Red Army. Objects of value, money, jewels, government bonds, all poured into the national defense fund. Money was also raised for particular projects, such as tank columns or airplanes. Often, in areas far from the front, enormous sums were contributed by individual "collective farmers" (100,000, 200,000 rubles). Where did this money come from? From the astronomical prices charged for food on the black market, where speculators built up enormous fortunes during the war. They contributed a tiny portion of their gains to the national defense fund. Thus, a part of the money cruelly extorted from the population, especially the evacuees, was placed at the disposal of the state. These donors were trumpeted as exemplary patriots, written about in the newspapers, and extolled over the radio.
No sooner had the war begun than the system of "socialist national relations" began to shake apart. The first fissures appeared in the newly acquired regions, the Baltic states and the western parts of Byelorussia and the Ukraine. The policy of "purges" and deportations of nationals, among the first measures carried out by the new Soviet authorities in 1939— 1940, had aroused sufficient fear and hatred among the population for them to welcome the Germans as liberators. The situation was not much better in the regions of the interior, a fact which can be blamed on the regime, with its policy of repression.
In August 1941 the autonomous republic of the Volga Germans was abolished. These were German settlers who had come to the Volga region two centuries earlier. The Volga Germans were accused of collaborating with Nazi Germany, when in fact they were among the most loyal inhabitants of Russia. They were deported to the East and the Far North.