Blat (favors)

In Russian, blat (Russian: блат) is a form of corruption which is the system of informal agreements, exchanges of services, connections, Party contacts, or black market deals to achieve results or get ahead.[1]

Not to be confused with blyat.

In the Soviet republics, blat, a form of corruption, was widespread because of the common deficit of consumer goods and services. In Soviet times, the price of consumer goods was dictated by the state rather than set by the free market, which often resulted in a deficit of said goods. The networks of blat would make it easier for the general public to gain access to said goods.[2][3]

The system of blat can be seen as an example of social networks with some similarities to networking (especially 'good ol' boy' networks) in the United States, old boy networks in the United Kingdom and the former British Empire,[4] or guanxi in China.[5]

However, the noun blatnoy (блатной) has a criminal meaning in Russian and it relates to a status in the criminal world. It usually means a member of a thief gang, (blatnoy/блатной) itself means professional criminal in Russian.

Usage

The word was primarily used to describe networks, when people made each a favour in exchange for another favour.

According to Max Vasmer, the origin of the word blat is the Yiddish blatt, meaning a "blank note" or a "list".[6] However, according to both Vasmer and N. M. Shansky, blat may also have entered into Russian as the Polish loanword blat, a noun signifying "someone who provides an umbrella" or a "cover".[6] The word became part of Imperial Russian criminal slang in the early 20th century, where it signified relatively minor criminal activity such as petty theft.[6]

Blatnoy originally meant "one possessing the correct paperwork", which, in the corrupt officialdom of Imperial Russia and the Soviet Union indicated that the blatnoy was well connected.

In addition, the word blatnoy came to indicate career criminals because they had a blatnoy or special status in the Russian criminal underworld. The word is used to indicate association with the criminal underworld (e.g. "blatnoy language"/Fenya, "blatnoy behavior", "blatnoy outlook").

The adverbial usage of the word is po blatu (по блату), meaning "by or via blat".[6]

A notable operation of blat system was the institution of tolkachs. Because in the Soviet Union, the Gosplan wasn't able to calculate efficient or even feasible plans, enterprises often had to rely on people with connections, who could then use blat to help fulfill the quotas. Eventually most enterprises came to have a dedicated supply specialist – a tolkach (literally pusher) – to perform this task.[7]

See also

References
  1. Ledeneva, Alena V. (1998). Russia's Economy of Favors: Blat, Networking and Informal Exchange. Cambridge Russian, Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies. Cambridge University Press. p. 1. ISBN 0-521-62743-5.
  2. Žiliukaitė, Rūta (2014). "Analysis of Blat Relations During the Late Soviet Period in Lithuania". Sociology. Thought and Action. 35: 252–270.
  3. Ledeneva, Alena V. (1998). Russia's Economy of Favours: Blat, Networking and Informal Exchange. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  4. Ledeneva, Alena V. (1998). Russia's Economy of Favors: Blat, Networking and Informal Exchange. Cambridge Russian, Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies. Cambridge University Press. p. 52. ISBN 0-521-62743-5.
  5. Yang, Mayfair Mei-Hui (January 1989). "The Gift Economy and State Power in China". Comparative Studies in Society and History. Cambridge University Press. 31 (1): 47–48. JSTOR 178793. In blat, there is a 'personal basis for expecting a proposal to be listened to,' while bribery is conceived of as a relationship linked only by material interest and characterized direct and immediate payment. In the Chinese cultural discourse, there is on the one hand often a fine line between the art of guanxi and bribery (xinghui).
  6. Ledeneva, Alena V. (1998). Russia's Economy of Favors: Blat, Networking and Informal Exchange. Cambridge Russian, Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies. Cambridge University Press. p. 12. ISBN 0-521-62743-5.
  7. Ledeneva, Alena V. (1998). Russia's Economy of Favors: Blat, Networking and Informal Exchange. Cambridge Russian, Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies. Cambridge University Press. p. 25. ISBN 0-521-62743-5.

Further reading
  • Shelia Fitzpatrick. Everyday Stalinism: ordinary life in extraordinary times; Soviet Russia in the 1930s. Oxford University Press 2000.
  • Prison casts of Russia
  • Velez‐Calle, A., Robledo‐Ardila, C., & Rodriguez‐Rios, J. D. (2015). On the influence of interpersonal relations on business practices in Latin America: A comparison with the Chinese guanxi and the Arab Wasta. Thunderbird International Business Review, 57(4), 281-293.
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