people had to rely on barter, black market and food cards.
And this is how you blab out that you didn’t live in USSR as an adult. Food cards were not alternative to money, they were additional requirement to paying price in order to buy deficit food.
Also I noticed that you did not mention homegrown food for some reason… In what part of USSR barter and black market was more popular than homegrown food?
The Soviet ruble was pretty much useless in the late 1980-s as people had to rely on barter, black market and food cards.
And this is how you blab out that you didn’t live in USSR as an adult. Food cards were not alternative to money, they were additional requirement to paying price in order to buy deficit food.
Also I noticed that you did not mention homegrown food for some reason… In what part of USSR barter and black market was more popular than homegrown food?
So money
Barter.