"the resulting situation was extremely complex. to fix current wage rates from month to month in terms of the goods ruble price-index was a matter of expert computation. to fix the rate of exchange between the goods ruble and the soviet ruble in which payment would actually be made to the worker involved another delicate and highly controversial calculation, in the course of which many devices were employed to force down real wages below the rates agreed on and ostensibly paid... the absence of a wages policy combined with rivalry between departments to produce almost inextricable confusion."