History of the United States (1918–1945) (especially poor people) and prevent inflation. Tires were the first item to be rationed in January 1942 because supplies of natural rubber were interrupted. Gasoline rationing proved an even better way to allocate scarce rubber. By 1943 one needed government issued ration coupons to purchase typewriters, sugar, gasoline, bicycles, footwear, fuel oil, silk, nylon, coffee, stoves, shoes, meat, cheese, butter, margarine, canned foods, dried fruits, jam, and many other items. Some items—like new automobiles and appliances—were no longer made. The rationing system did not apply to used goods (like clothes or cars). The ration system was complex and confusing, but
What Is to Be Done? What Is to Be Done? What Is To Be Done? Burning Questions of Our Movement () is a political pamphlet written by the Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin (credited as N. Lenin) in 1901 and published in 1902. Lenin said that the article represented "a skeleton plan to be developed in greater detail in a pamphlet now in preparation for print". Its title is inspired by the novel of the same name by the 19th century Russian revolutionary Nikolai Chernyshevsky. In "What Is to Be Done?", Lenin argues that the working class will not spontaneously become political simply by fighting economic