Fartsovka

Fartsovka (Russian: фарцовка)  is a slang term for the black market profiteering, illegal in the Soviet Union, that consisted in resale of goods manufactured abroad, which were hard to find and inaccessible to an average Soviet citizen. Clothing and fashion accessories were the overwhelming majority of supply and demand for fartsovka. Also popular were audio media (vinyl records, cassette tapes, and reels), cosmetics, household items, and books. Fartsovka items, or the phenomenon itself, was generally called fartsa. The traders of this type were called fartsovshchiki.

Etymology
The exact origin of the term fartsovka is uncertain, but one account suggests that it was derived from an archaic word from the Odessa dialect of Russian, "forets" (форец): a man who bought cheap items and sold them at dishonestly expensive prices.

Description
There were two main sources of purchase of fartsa: from foreigners visiting the Soviet Union, and from contrabandists. Fartsovshchiki were mainly young people, as well as people who had the opportunity to closely communicate with foreigners, such as guides, translators, taxi drivers, and prostitutes.

The vast majority of buyers in the market for goods sold on the black market in the 1950s and 1960s were the so-called stilyagi. Later, in the 1970s and 1980s, everyone who had money and wanted to dress in an original way purchased imported consumer goods or equipment, books, or imported musical records, and resorted to the services of black marketeers. During these years, the sources of fartsovka also changed, and the concept itself acquired a broader meaning. The main occupation of most of those who were called black marketers became buying through acquaintances who had connections or the opportunity to travel abroad, allowing them to acquire scarce goods and foodstuffs.

A notable fartsovshchik and foreign currency speculator was Yan Rokotov, involved in the Rokotov–Faibishenko case.

Links

 * Pavel Romanov, Elena Yarskaya-Smirnova . Fartsa: The underground of the Soviet consumer society
 * P. Romanov, M. Suvorova "Pure Fartsa"
 * Mikhail Weller . The legend about the founder of Fartsovka Fima Blyaishits  - the history, essence, mechanism of fartsovka are presented artistically.
 * "How the blacksmiths of the 80s died out"
 * Baikov V.D. Leningrad Chronicles: from the post-war 50s to the "dashing 90s". M. Karamzin, 2017 .-- 486 p., Ill. - ISBN 978-5-00071-516-1