From the Activity Report of the Transport Consumers' Society of Workers and Employees of the Perm Railway for the 1st half-year of 1924–25.
Membership.
As of October 1, 1924, the Society had 23,418 shareholder-members, and by April 1 their number already totaled 29,243, thus increasing by 25%. In relation to the total number of railway workers, the percentage of cooperative members equals 92%.
The situation with procurement of essential goods and foodstuffs.
Bread — In the second quarter of the reporting period, the Society faced, in full measure, the task of establishing an uninterrupted supply of bread to its members, in view of the situation that had emerged by that time and that made it necessary to adopt a series of extraordinary measures. The contract concluded with the Ural Regional Union for the delivery of 1,100,000 poods of various grains, with the right to increase it by another 200,000 poods in the first quarter of the year, was being carried out with interruptions and delays; for a whole range of reasons, the Ural Regional Department of Internal Trade cut it by 300,000 poods, and this portion was transferred for fulfillment to the State Bank, while the contractual right to increase the volume was annulled altogether. Having found itself in such a position, the Board had no choice but to introduce a ration and to stop selling bread to non-members, since the remaining quantity could only meet members' needs through August of the current year. The shift to rationing went rather painfully. The steady rise of market bread prices created a tense atmosphere, as a result of which every member of the Society, even those who had some stocks, still tried to make full use of their ration.