Economic activities of Klaipėda seamen in the context of soviet entrepreneurship in the 1970s-1980s

Deficit was one of the most striking characteristics of the Soviet era, when Lithuanian citizens from all over the country searched for alternative ways of buying shortage goods. The trade based on personal connections, production, buying and selling for profit became a part of everyday life for many people and constituted the basis for forming Soviet black economy and entrepreneurship. Even though entrepreneurship in the form of smuggling and local production satisfied the needs of the many, it was still hardly possible to purchase luxury products in Lithuania. As luxury goods were usually associated with Western countries, the sea route was one of the most common ways to import them illegally. This was done absolutely by Klaipėda seamen, who took the risk driven by the thirst of profit and the need to satisfy the growing demand in the country. The paper aims at revealing the methods that seamen used in order to smuggle goods they purchased in Western seaports to Lithuania and what range of those goods was. What is more, the impact of such activities on general Soviet entrepreneurship is examined