The Proletarian Tourist in the 1930s 105
perhaps too specialized or too familiar to be attractive; even proletarian tour-
ists on vacation wanted to be elsewhere both geographically and in terms
of occupation. While an occasional factory, site of socialist construction, or
model farm might be included in a more general itinerary, Soviet package
tours would henceforth emphasize the regional tour, acquainting the tourist
with the whole complex of sights and culture of the places to be visited.
A tourist who wished to take one of these tours could join a group orga-
nized through a trade union, educational institution, or place of work, or he
or she could sign up in person or by mail at one of the Sovtur or later OPTE
offi ces. In fact, package tourists in the 1930s tended to belong to one of two
groups. Some individuals made an active choice to take a vacation by pur-
chasing a putevka at their own expense, through an offi ce of the OPTE or
trade union TEU. Others received a tourist putevka from their trade union or
enterprise organization, often as a reward for exemplary work. Trade union
central committees obtained these putevki in bulk, along with their alloca-
tion of tickets to rest homes and sanatoria; they passed them on to individual
enterprises, which in some cases distributed them to “deserving” employees
without concern that a tourist vacation might involve rigors inappropriate for
the physical condition of the prize-winning worker.^44
The putevka assigned the traveler to a group of twenty-fi ve to thirty travel-
ers for a particular itinerary; the group would typically consist of individuals
and smaller groups combined by the tour organizer. The tour began at the
fi rst base of the itinerary or sometimes in Moscow. Meeting their groups on
the eve of the tour, organizers gave instructions and assigned responsibilities,
as was done with independent tourist groups. As part of the package, Sovtur
and OPTE would help to arrange train transportation to the start of the route.
This was not included in the price of the putevka, but the tour organization’s
logistical assistance helped the tourist navigate the complexity of Soviet rail
journeys.^45
The price of a tour depended on the destination and the means of loco-
motion. In 1929 a twelve-day cruise on the Volga cost between 64 and 70
rubles, depending on the class of travel, or 5.30 rubles a day for the least
well-off tourist. A fourteen-day hiking trip on the Ossetian Military Highway
cost from 51 to 58 rubles, again based on income, amounting to 3.60 rubles
a day for the lowest-paid traveler. In 1929 the most popular tours ranged in
cost from 40 rubles to 95 rubles at a time when the average monthly wage of
a Soviet working person was 66.70 rubles (85 for administrators). By 1935
the price of a ten-day trip through Crimea came to 180 rubles, or 18 rubles
a day; the average monthly wage had also risen, to 155 rubles, or 225 rubles
- Pravila priobreteniia putevok na vsesoiuznye marshruty i v uchebnye al'pinistskie
lageri TEU VTsSPS na 1938 god (Moscow, 1938); Trud , 21 March 1936; 6 May 1936; 16 De-
cember 1936; NSNM , no. 4 (1938): 14; no. 7 (1939): 14.
- Sovetskii Turist, Marshruty ekskursii na leto 1930. Although this was a publication
of Sovtur, the mechanisms for packaged tours remained the same under OPTE and TEU.
