Close to a National Food Fight : The West can, and should, send Moscow food; would it get distributed?

Facing a winter made all the harsher because of growing shortages, some major areas of the Soviet Union are taking advantage of the greater independence of perestroika to make sure that their own people get first crack at scarce supplies. The agriculturally rich Ukraine has banned some food shipments to other republics and instituted a voucher system aimed at keeping certain products away from non-Ukrainians. Now Moscow, home to 9 million people, is getting ready to assure that Muscovites get preference when limited supplies of staples are handed out.

Moscow, like other parts of the country, is no stranger to shortages and rationing. Once-abundant sugar became scarce several years ago when huge quantities of it were diverted to home-produced alcohol in response to the official anti-drinking campaign. Sugar, and more recently cigarettes, are now sold on the official market--when they’re available at all--only to those with coupons for them. Starting on Dec. 1, according to a Moscow newspaper, additional coupons will be distributed to buy meat (3.3 pounds a month), butter ( 1/2 pound) and flour (1.1 pounds). The cost of the coupons will be about $56 for a month’s supply. The aim is to keep non-residents, who traditionally flock to Moscow to shop in its usually better-stocked markets, from buying up scarce products.

The effort to equalize hardship is one way to try to reduce social discontent. But even if the perception takes hold that everyone is more or less suffering to the same degree, the basic problem of severe and persistent shortages of staples and essential consumer goods will remain untouched. The past fall saw some record harvests reported. But an abundance of food in the fields doesn’t translate into a plenitude of staples in the shops. A high price is now being paid in the Soviet Union for the government’s past failures to invest adequately in improving the food storage and distribution systems.

Before winter’s end the Soviet Union may need emergency food shipments from the West, just as it needed such help after World War I. Germany has already sent tons of potatoes. If more is asked for, the United States and other countries should be prepared to respond humanely and urgently. But transporting such supplies from entry ports to consumers’ tables, especially over what even in the best of times is a poor road system, could present an enormous challenge. It is a hard time for Soviet citizens. Long forced to live with scarcity, they now face the dire possibility that shortages this year will be worse than at any time since World War II. The Russian Revolution occurred amid demands for “peace, land and bread.” After more than 70 years, the cry for bread has not abated. The West must help with aid, but more to the point, the Soviet Union has got to begin to help itself.