The Economic Failures of Bessarabia in the Proximity of the Soviet State (1921–1940)

Until 1918, Bessarabia was a guberniya of Russia and had the development specific of a periphery. On the one hand, this resulted in the lack of an economic dynamic in the region, and on the other hand, it ensured a climate of stability and a moderate growth in certain branches of the light industry. The neighbouring areas, on the left bank of the Dniester River, with the exception of the port city of Odessa, were even more autarchical than Bessarabia. The Union of March 1918 brought Bessarabia in an entirely new economic situation. Compared to the other Romanian provinces (Banat, Bukovina, Western Moldavia, Greater Wallachia and Transylvania) it was the least industrialised and developed. Furthermore, the Eastern “wall”-border – with the emerging Bolshevik state – led to the loss of access to the Eastern market for the agricultural products and food industry of Bessarabia. There only existed some contraband channels which functioned intermittently. The climate in Bessarabia was not favourable to investments, in the context of constant rumours of a possible Soviet invasion. Bessarabian economists worked to find solutions in the new conditions. They mainly insisted on the export of grapes, wines, nuts, dried fruit, furs, etc. One of the priority destinations was the Polish market. As a result of the different views of the Polish and Romanian political classes, the market share of Bessarabian products went down after 1926. Regarding imports, there was a competition between Germany, Poland and Czechoslovakia. The Bessarabian market was used as a testing ground for different marketing strategies, mostly for agricultural technology, footwear, ceramic, perfumes, fertilisers, fish, etc. In the second half of the 1920s, Poland and the port of Danzing (Gdańsk), Czechoslovakia and Austria were the largest importers. The main destinations of Bessarabian export were Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Great Britain. The present work outlines the appraisals and perspectives reflected in the Bessarabian economics journals in the interwar period.