black market

Abstract

This paper describes a special case of so‑called Tuzex trades in socialist Czechoslovakia. Tuzex stores were opened to sell luxury foreign and selected domestic “export” products. Only hard currency or special vouchers (Tuzex Crowns – TK, “bon/bony”) were accepted as means of payment. Tuzex stores were originally intended for customers such as foreigners or Czechoslovak citizens, who had official access to foreign currency (specialists working abroad, etc.). Eventually, however, a huge black market with foreign currency and Tuzex vouchers was emerged, allowing “ordinary people” to buy the desired foreign electronics, clothes, food, cars, etc. at Tuzex stores. The aim of the study is to analyse the causes of the establishment Tuzex in the late 1950s and its development and significance for the Czechoslovak centrally planned economy. From humble beginnings, the number of Tuzex stores, as well as foreign money revenues, grew until the late 1980s. In addition to the economic principles of Tuzex, the range of goods sold or its structure and staff, the text also focuses on undesirable but partially tolerated forms of crime that are related to the existence of Tuzex.