The article examines the consequences of borrowing by Russian liberal reformers of the 60s. XIX century Western economic recipes for modernization (industrialization), which supposedly could not do without the widespread attraction of foreign capital. The result of this economic policy was the introduction of the gold standard of the ruble in 1897, which led to the establishment of debt external dependence of Russia on foreign capital. For the complex of mining enterprises of Ossetia (Sadonsky mine, Alagirsky silver-lead plant), the above processes led not only to unprofitable enterprises, due to a sharp depreciation of the silver produced by enterprises, but also accelerated their transition from state ownership to lease into private hands, since the state allegedly could not to be an effective owner, and then to the establishment of foreign control over these strategically important enterprises for Russia (the lead smelted at the plant was in demand by the military department, and Russia imported zinc from abroad).
foreign capital
Liège Bank
Vladikavkaz Silver Lead Plant
Mizurskaya concentration plant
Sadonsky mine
enterprises of the society "Alagir"
gold standard of the ruble
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Its economic, political and cultural life depends on the spiritual foundation of a society. By the middle of the 19th century, after the defeat in the Crimean War, Russian society, in search of a way out of the crisis, turned its gaze to the West for European experience.
Purpose of the article: to trace, using the example of the mining enterprises of Ossetia, how the spiritual and moral guidelines of society influence its economic life, how the borrowing of the values of the Western consumer society, its liberal theories (on the non-interference of the state in the economy, rejection of the nationally-oriented model of the economy, the hope for a saving role foreign capital and the introduction of the gold standard of the ruble) affected the activities of enterprises in Ossetia in the late 19th - early 20th centuries. At the time in question, North Ossetia was part of the Tersk region and covered the cities of Vladikavkaz and Mozdok, the Vladikavkaz district, parts of the Mozdok and Sunzhensky districts.
In post-reform Russia in the middle of the 19th century, the spiritual postulates of the Western Enlightenment thought about the freedom of the individual, the idea of the "divine equality" of man were taken as a model. European society was going through complex processes when "the Enlightenment and the French Revolution intensified and catalyzed parallel processes: the devastation of the soul and the deification of earthly nature, the idea of godlikeness was ugly transformed into godliness, reached its apogee in the concept of godliness ...". The European experience focused a person on transforming the outside world, while the Russian person was primarily focused on internal work, the struggle with passions, and spiritual perfection. The Russian person (the person of the Russian civilization) had his own hierarchy of values: the spiritual were higher than the material ones. And Western theories stimulated a person to consume, but it was precisely the influence of these liberal theories that Russian society of the mid-19th century was exposed to. Darwin's theories of "natural selection" were directly projected onto a person and social life ("theory of competition" between commodity producers). According to A.S. Panarin, in the era of modernity in Western countries, a society of "social Darwinism" is taking shape. The fact that the pursuit of material values also struck the upper classes of Russian society in the era of liberal reforms is clearly illustrated by the decision to sell Alaska, “... adopted at a meeting of two figures of the banking world in May 1864 (an agreement with the United States was signed in 1867) - James Rothschild and Baron Alexander von Stieglitz ("court banker" of the Russian emperor, and manager of the State Bank), 7.2 million dollars only for a land area of 1.519.000 sq. Km (excluding the coastal strip), i.e. cost of 1 sq. km. amounted to $ 4 73 cents ... The money received was plundered at the very top without leaving the cashier and did not arrive in Russia, so the public was completely unaware of who had put the money for Alaska into his pocket. It is perfectly organized financial transaction A. Stieglitz and M.Kh. Reitern ".
Along with spiritual guidelines, Western financial-liberal theories were borrowed, according to which the market “will do everything by itself”. “The place of serious host ministers, like E.F. Kankrin, P.D. Kiselev, were occupied by completely frivolous people who denied even the idea of leadership national economy". The management ceased to exist. A team of "young financiers" with "new thinking" (finance ministers under Alexander II P.F. Brock (1852-1858), A.M. Knyazhevich (1858-1878), M.H. Reitern (1862-1878), S. A. Greig (1878-1880), A.A. Abaza (1880-1881)) in the 19th century argued that “the free play of market forces should not be hindered” (that is, “not to prevent stock dealers and usurers from engaging in market robbery "). The well-known Russian businessman Vasily Kokarev wrote that “the“ new financiers ”of the era of Alexander II conspired with our western envious people ... to carry out the idea ... about the impossibility of the Supreme Power to allow - without a financial shock - the printing of interest-free banknotes for any production and generally useful state needs ... We could use this money to build houses at home, all the factories necessary for the railway business; but we, for some unknown reason and why, did not dare to deviate from the fulfillment of a foreign dogma, which did not at all fit the image of All-Russian rule, and completely obeyed the instructions of foreign economic writings ... Now we have shouldered such a debt of payment on the people's backs, which absorbs almost a third of general results of state parishes ”. That is, according to these theories, the state needs to intervene in the economy as little as possible: the economy should not have an excess of money so that money will be replaced by gold, which will automatically provide the economy with the necessary amount of money. In 1860, as a result of the financial reform, these liberal ideas began to be implemented in the Russian economic space, Russian market was opened for the inflow of foreign capital, the ruble became convertible.
The introduction of the gold standard for the ruble by S.Yu. Witte. “As a result, Russia became addicted to the Rothschilds' golden needle. For the period 1895-1914. the external debt of Russia, which received a number of large loans in London and Paris, increased from 1.7 to 4.2 billion rubles, while the share of external debt in the total public debt Russia has grown from 30 to 48%. On the eve of the First World War, Russia had the largest external debt. The cost of servicing a huge external debt from 63 million rubles. in 1895 jumped to 194 million rubles. in 1894 Such a serious dependence of Russia on external debts became one of the reasons for the tragic events in the history of our country at the beginning of the last century ”. The fact that the main factor of the country's financial dependence was the foreign loans of tsarism was convincingly shown by the studies of B.V. Ananich "Russia and International Capital 1897-1914: Essays on the History of Financial Relations" and others. Professor V.Yu. Katasonov believes that the introduction of the gold standard was “a deadly step that led Russia to 1917 ... Any competent financier understands that if you introduce the gold standard, then you are putting your economy, your finances on the needle of gold loans ... as a result of this policy, Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century. in terms of external debt was in first place ... foreign investors in many sectors of Russian industry captured more than half of all authorized capital... the possibilities of exporting from the country (especially grain) were complicated ”. Quoting the Russian economist Sharapov, V.Yu. Katasonov explains that “the gold currency was decided by Count Witte alone and was introduced in an obviously dishonest way, bypassing the State Council and in violation of the direct will of the Sovereign. ... The Count was only a conductor of the Roschilds' decision. With the French banking house S.Yu. Witte was connected through the agent of the Ministry of Finance A.G. Rafalovich (from 1894 to 1917), directors of the St. Petersburg International Commercial and Russian-Asian Bank Adolph Rothstein and Herman Spitzer ("his brother Jacques Spitzer was an authorized representative of the large French banking house" N. Zh. And S. Bardak ", and his other relative, Adolf Spitzer, headed the German bureau of the Parisian banking house of the Rothschilds. ”From the correspondence between A. Rothstein and G. Spitzer in 1895, it is clear that Witte agreed on the decision to introduce the gold standard with the Rue Lafite (Rothschilds):“ the decree , by which the fund of gold provision of the State Bank increased ... and the pitiful remnants of silver from the fund are removed ... this is just a step along this path and others will follow, if only the merciful God is in good health, that is, Lafite Street remains in a good location spirit and support these steps. "" Rothstein already had well-established personal ties with S.Yu. Witte, who in 1891 was still the Minister of Railways, and from the next year became Minister of Finance ... Rothstein is characterized by the desire to rely, like Witte, on both German and French banking capital at the same time. " The compiler of a collection of documents on the activities of A. Rothstein and G. Spitzer in Russia I.A. Dyakonova draws attention to the fact that the peasant reform, construction railways in Russia were financed by the placement of government loans through an international banking syndicate with the participation of German bankers Mendelssohn and Co, S. Bleichroeder ”,“ Discount Gesellschaft ”and the French Rothschilds. As a result of foreign loans, Russian landowners gradually went bankrupt and became dependent on foreign banks, so Professor Yu.V. Katasonov draws attention to the fact that "the financial shield for the country is no less important than the nuclear one." Gold loans from the tsarist government, leading Russia into a debt loop, were beneficial to government officials, since foreign bankers generously paid the costs of their monetary bribery. So, for the placement of only one 3% gold loan in the amount of 43 million francs, Witte's predecessor, Minister of Finance I.A. Vyshnegradskiy received from the French and German bankers a "reward" (Verguntung) in the amount of 180 thousand francs ....
Thus, “the creation of a money deficit was beneficial to those who trade in money, ie. to usurers, it depresses the main economic resource society is labor. " “The Russian people, as best they could, resisted this kind of deflationary experiments carried out by the financial authorities: they created credit cooperatives and mutual lending societies. Merchants and entrepreneurs, where they could, replaced money with bills of exchange or barter. And some of the more energetic entrepreneurs have even created their own money. The most striking example is the money of S.I. Maltsov ... Russian industrialist, cavalry guard, retired major general, honorary member of the Society for the Promotion of Russian Trade and Industry ... created and used his own money in his fairly autonomous economy, which was spread over several provinces and included several dozen factories, factories and other enterprises. This local money was called cash receipts of the Maltsovsky factory district and was circulated in this district along with legal credit cards. "
Research material. The introduction of the gold standard of the ruble and wide access of foreign capital to the Russian market hit hard on a large state-owned enterprise in Ossetia, launched in 1853 - the Alagir silver-lead plant and the associated Sadonsky mine and the Mizur enrichment plant. Before the introduction of the gold standard for the ruble, silver from the Alagir plant was purchased by the Treasury, and it was sent to the Mint for minting a silver coin. Even at the stage of preparation for the introduction of the gold standard in 1892, for a pood of silver produced by the Alagirsky plant, the treasury began to pay instead of 1270 rubles. - 910 rubles, and then 600 rubles. This led to the unprofitableness of the state-owned enterprise, so that the Ministry of Finance demanded the closure of the plant or the restoration of the profitability of the enterprise. Lead was in demand by the military department, and zinc was not used at the plant, it was considered an obstacle in the production of silver and was thrown away as a waste. “A colossal mountain of zinc blende crushed the territory of the mine with a million poods, crumbled, rolled into the Sadonka River, rammed the Georgian Military Highway. That is, in conditions of devaluation of silver, the productivity of the plant, without the production of zinc, became unprofitable. The most interesting thing is that Russia imported zinc from abroad.
At the end of the nineteenth century. zinc production in Europe was a monopoly of the Belgian capitalists. The Belgian society Jine de Campine in Budel (on the border of Belgium and Holland) sent its representative N.V. Filkovich, lieutenant of the fleet reserve for the Caucasus. In 1890, when Filkovich got to the Sadonsky mine, he immediately (in 1891) received the right from the Mining Department to use the zinc blende accumulated in the waste of the plant and send it abroad through Novorossiysk. On the export to Belgium of zinc blende, which had previously gone to the dump at the Sadonsky mines, N.V. Filkovich made a fortune.
By this time, in government circles there was an opinion that the reason for the unprofitability of enterprises is their state ownership. N.V. Filkovich took advantage of this and began to strive for the Sadonsky mine to be in private hands. Filkovic managed to convince the government that the Belgian capital would build a large zinc distillation plant and save Russian industry from imports of zinc. “He signed a 60-year contract with the department on leasing the Sadonsky mine, the Alagirsky silver-lead plant, as well as the adjacent section of the Tseisko-Kassarsky forest dacha, with an area of about 2929 dessiatines. The contract provided for the payment of 20 kopecks to the treasury by the tenant from each pound of lead and hardwood. from each pood of pure silver 100 rubles. and from a pood of zinc ore for 8 kopecks. " ...
In 1896, with the consent of the government, the Russian-Belgian "Mining and Chemical Society" Alagir "was established with a capital of 4.5 million rubles. Russian subjects owned 40% of the shares, Belgians - 30% (Liege and Brussels banks), French - 12%, Dutch 9%, German 7%, English 2%. In parallel, there was another board in Liege, headed by F. Sepulkr. The new owners were in no hurry to intensify production, since zinc production in Europe was a monopoly of Belgian capitalists, they were afraid that with the introduction of new technologies in zinc processing in Russia, the plant in Ossetia could become a serious competitor to similar enterprises in Belgium. Therefore, the Belgians focused on increasing ore production, in 1897 they closed the silver-lead plant in Alagir and the lead concentrates were sent for smelting to Belgium, that is, they grossly violated the terms of the contract ... mine Desiree Hariga - a Belgian citizen of Spanish origin "with the character of a mad animal." Dismissing old workers and increasing the number of workers to 400 people, and the duration of the working day from 8 to 12 hours, introducing countless fines, brought the extraction of ore in 1898 to 751.443 poods, which was exported to Belgium. Hariga received a commendation from the Managing Director of Alagir Island in Belgium, F.F. Sepulkra, who promised to seek to reward him with the Order of Merit for the development of mining in Russia. On this occasion, the mining engineer of the Tersk regional administration Omarov wrote to the director of the mining department: “What is the merits of the named Harig in the development of mining business in Russia, I positively do not know; his activity in this regard was expressed only in the construction of ordinary adits with primitive haul routes. The only news - the transmission of power over a distance, from the engine to the enrichment plant - was arranged specially for this by the dispatched engineers, without any participation of Harig. The attitude of the aforementioned manager towards the workers is the most undesirable and deserves blame rather than encouragement. More than 100 old experienced workers left their jobs at the Sadonsky mine thanks to Hariga. The latter is one of the main opponents of the existence of the Alagirskaya Mining and Works Fund, which, by the mercy of Harig, lost more than 150 people, the number of members of this fund is no more than 16 people. In general, the situation of workers at the Sadonsky mine is worse than at other mines and fields. For violations of the rules on hiring workers, Hariga is accused and fined by the presence in the mining business for more than 2,000 rubles. Hariga is under investigation for five fatalities. " That is, for Belgium, Hariga's merits were obvious, which cannot be said about the merits to Russia and Ossetia.
When the company's share price began to fall, the company's shares were not bought, then the decision to build a new plant in Vladikavkaz was ripe, which was delayed in every possible way. Shipping of raw ore to Belgium continued. Filkovich applied to the Ministry of Agriculture and State Property with a request to reduce the rent, but he was refused. In 1901, the Bank of Liege provided a loan of 1.5 million rubles. Built in 1901 in Vladikavkaz new plant with silver-lead and zinc workshops, the Belgians installed obsolete equipment “removed from the corresponding factories in Western Europe, including Belgium, and based mainly on the use of hard physical labor”. Using outdated equipment, which made it possible to extract only 37.5% of zinc, most of it was thrown into a dump with a raimovka slag. The Mizurskaya enrichment plant, workshops and power plants were built at the plant in Vladikavkaz. In 1902 the Vladikavkaz plant produced the first products.
Soon the company's cash desk was empty again, Filkovich applied for a loan of 500 rubles. to the director of the Bank of Liege G. Duquesne. But G. Duquesne not only refused, but demanded to immediately return the debt of 1.5 million rubles. Filkovich also addressed the Minister of Finance S.Yu. Witte and the director of the State Bank for a loan of 1 million rubles, he was refused. In January 1903, the company stopped paying for shares, all work at the mine was stopped, workers were dismissed. Shareholders for a song were in a hurry to get rid of the shares that G. Duquesne had bought, becoming the de facto owner of the enterprise. These business takeover schemes are often used and modern banks... All management of the affairs of the society "Alagir" was given to G. Duquesne without any interference from the shareholders.
As one of the Russian shareholders of the Alagir company, collegiate adviser A. Skaron, wrote to the governor of His Imperial Majesty in the Caucasus during the First World War in 1916, “the shareholders were not only completely removed from any participation in the business, but general meeting shareholders have never been convened by the administration ... Having bought up a significant part of the island's shares for a pittance, having concluded an agreement with it that was clearly unprofitable for him, Mr. Duquenne formed a special Belgian island in Belgium, closely connected with the Russian, as seen with careful consideration of the reports of the administration. At the same time, the Bank of Liège ceded part of the joint-stock island to a group of German capital, which appointed Sauer, an authorized German subject, who had been in this position for many years and had left for Germany shortly before the start of the war, as one of the administrators. Currently, according to private information, the shares of the Belgian island also fell into the hands of the Germans, and thus the actual owners of the Russian enterprise are the subjects of the hostile state, and the shareholders who have invested their funds in the enterprise, and among whom are the highest persons, are deprived of every right to take part in the fate of this case. The richest in the Caucasus zinc and silver-lead mines are not properly exploited, despite the presence of zinc lead and chemical plants, and the state currently feels an acute need for these metals and, mainly, for chemical products produced by the factories of society. " Thus, the transfer of strategic enterprises into the hands of foreign capital posed a threat to the national security of the country, for its national interests, and taking into account the foreign loans Russia had to make due to the transition to the gold standard, led the country to catastrophic consequences - drawing Russia into World War I, and then to the revolutions of 1917
According to Professor I. Ya. Froyanov, the world financial oligarchy pursued the goal of dismembering Russia, which became the subject of discussion during the Versailles Conference of 1919.
Liberal Western theories of the 19th century, as well as those borrowed by Russian scientists in the 90s. XX century, did not reveal the secrets of the success of the industrialization of Western countries, the fact that none of them could carry out modernization in the conditions open economy... So, the industrialization of England at the end of the eighteenth century. was carried out in conditions of strict protectionism, after which it turned into a "workshop of the world." In the history of the twentieth century, the secrets of the "Japanese miracle" were "the strictest state control over the export of capital and effective state protectionism of the national industry ”. Multinational companies were not allowed into Japan until the national industry was ready to compete with them. A.S. Panarin draws attention to the fact that "modern liberal theory deliberately ignores the real prerequisites for the" Pacific miracle "- the post-war rise of Japan, South Korea, Taiwan. And this is understandable: this rise was accomplished according to recipes directly opposite to the basic postulates of liberal anarchism. Instead of consumer egoism, freed from the need to obey collective priorities, the "Pacific Tigers" relied on sacrifice and national pride, requiring the speedy rise of their societies. There was no society of privileged consumption, no transfer of income abroad. That is, in an open economy with borrowed liberal attitudes towards the education of consumer egoism, Russia was turning into a field for robbing Western financiers. “The liberal-minded intelligentsia tried to overcome the“ traditional mentality ”of other peoples, to impose on them the race of“ catch-up development ”- as if, in fact, history develops only in a single direction defined in the West, and therefore the whole world is doomed to become an adherent of the West. Western liberalism does not recognize either the pluralism of culture or the pluralism of the paths of history, and this fully reveals its non-reformational character. "
Research methods. The author, comparing the processes of modernization of Russia with the English, Japanese and models of other countries and analyzing the archival sources on the economy of the Terek region for the first time introduced into scientific circulation, applies comparative historical research method.
Research results and discussion. The work summarizes some of the results of financial and economic reforms in the outskirts Russian Empire(Terek region) in the XIX - early XX century. In the discussion that began more than 100 years ago (V. Kokorev, S.F.Sharapov and others) and continues to this day (V.Yu. Katasonov, I.Ya. Froyanov and others), about the results of reforms by S.Yu. Witte on the introduction of the gold standard and attracting foreign capital to Russia, the author, based on an analysis of sources on the mining industry of Ossetia in the late 19th - early 20th centuries, confirms the conclusions previously made by Dr. economic sciences V.Yu. Katasonov, Doctor of Philosophy A.S. Panarin, Doctor of Historical Sciences I.Ya. Froyanov and other representatives of Russian economic and historical thought.
According to the author, the borrowing of Western liberal values, the rejection of the nationally oriented economic model, the reliance on the use and uncontrolled attraction of foreign capital and the transition to the gold standard of the ruble for this pose a threat to the national security of the country.
Reviewers:
Aylarova S.A., Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, Head. Department of History of the Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution "North Ossetian Institute of Humanitarian and Social Research named after IN AND. Abaev VSC RAS and the Government of North Ossetia-Alania ", Vladikavkaz;
Khubulova S.A., Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor of the Department recent history and the policy of Russia FSBEI HPE "North-Ossetian State University named after K.L. Khetagurov ", Vladikavkaz.
Bibliographic reference
Chshieva M.Ch. INTRODUCTION OF THE GOLD STANDARD OF THE RUBLE AND ITS IMPACT FOR MINING ENTERPRISES OF OSSETIA AT THE LATE OF THE NINETY-BEGINNING OF THE XX CENTURY // Contemporary problems science and education. - 2015. - No. 2-2 .;URL: http://science-education.ru/ru/article/view?id=22232 (date accessed: 03/07/2020). We bring to your attention the journals published by the "Academy of Natural Sciences"
What was the country we lost forever? What was its economy based on when oil was not the main item of Russian export and the main source of treasury income? At the disposal of the editorial board of "AiF" was a unique brochure, first published in 1958 in New York in the amount of 8 thousand copies. In it, edited by B. Brazol collected statistical data showing that in the last 15-20 years before the First World War, Russia made giant strides forward both in the economy and in the development of social structure and education.
"AiF" begins a series of publications in which we will talk about how our country developed at the beginning of the 20th century. This issue will focus on the gold ruble and gold reserves, income and expenditures of the state budget, taxes and savings of citizens.
Strong currency
Into the reign emperor Nicholas II the law of 1896 introduced a gold currency in Russia. That is, the issue of each ruble was tied to the volume of the country's gold reserves. In emergency cases, the State Bank was granted the right to issue 300 million paper rubles, not backed by gold, but it never exercised this right. The ruble was equated to 0.7 grams of pure gold. This applied to both paper money (banknotes) and gold coins - they were of equal value. In terms of precious metal content, the gold ruble surpassed gold coins of other countries. The ruble as a monetary unit was in steady demand within the country and in the world.
During that period, the financial systems of all developed countries were also based on the gold standard - the amount of money had to match the size of the country's gold reserves. Today, the exchange rate is determined by its ratio to the dollar, and gold is a common market commodity.
Income budget
Russia at that time built its policy not only on deficit-free budgets, but also on the principle of a significant accumulation of gold reserves. Despite this, and without the slightest increase in the tax burden, state revenues from 1.410 billion rubles. in 1897 they grew steadily, while the state expenditures remained more or less at the same level. Over the past ten years before the First World War, the excess of state revenues over expenditures amounted to 2.4 billion rubles. This amount is all the more impressive since during the reign of Nicholas II, railway tariffs were lowered and redemption payments for land that were transferred to the peasants from their former landowners in 1861, as well as some taxes, were canceled.
Low taxes
The total amount of taxes per capita in Russia was more than half as much as in Austria, France and Germany, and in comparison with England - more than four times less.
Welfare of citizens
In 1914, the State Savings Bank had deposits for 2.236 billion rubles. Since 1904, Russians' savings in savings accounts have steadily increased - with the exception of 1905, which saw the Russo-Japanese War and Revolution.
Bread and tariff
The treasury of the Russian Empire is a dream of any Ministry of Finance: a minimum of social spending, - believes Sergey Bespalov, historian, leading researcher at RANEPA.
- Russia at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. more fortunate than at the beginning of the 21st century. - its Ministry of Finance has been successively headed by several talented administrators. At first N. Bunge, then I. Vyshnegradskiy and finally S. Witte... They were engaged in replenishing the gold reserve, and Vyshnegradskiy began training monetary reform by Witte. The reform made the ruble not only convertible - it was also valued domestically, which was more important. In addition, Witte skillfully borrowed money from foreign banks - under low interest... Over-borrowing, he managed to reduce payments on previous debts.
Vyshnegradskiy is credited with the phrase: “We’re undernourished, but we’ll take it out,” which refers to the export of bread. But he could well say this, because the export of grain for the Russian Empire was the most important item of income for the treasury - almost like oil today. And the volume of grain exports had to be maintained at a high level. Bread exporters were mostly not peasants, but large landowners' farms - like agrofirms today.
The flourishing of the Russian economy at the beginning of the XX century. was carefully prepared. And the main achievement of the Ministry of Finance, in addition to the gold ruble, can and should be considered the Customs Tariff of 1891, developed by Dmitry Mendeleev... There is a legend that it was the Customs Tariff, and not the periodic system of chemical elements, that the scientist considered his main achievement. Mendeleev was the closest associate of Sergei Witte. The customs tariff helped to protect the market from cheap imports and to develop domestic industry. At the same time, high tariffs led to an increase in import prices, which caused the tariff to have many opponents.
Taxes were a serious source of income for the treasury. It is believed that they were lower than in other countries. However, the standard of living in Russia at the beginning of the XX century. was lower. Taking this into account, it turns out that the tax burden was comparable to other countries - there was no difference "at times". In addition to taxes, “redemption payments” went to the treasury - peasants until 1905 paid for the redemption of land from landowners during the abolition of serfdom.
State expenditures were incomparably lower - there were almost no social items, pensions were paid to narrow groups of the population. But when they paid ... Retire after the death of the director of public schools in Simbirsk province Ilya Ulyanov his entire large family lived for more than one year, including the future leader of the proletariat.
Thanks for the help of Grigory Yesayan.
Read the continuation in the next issue of "AiF".
Even during the reign of Emperor Alexander III, the reform of Russian money was a foregone conclusion, but it was carried out only under his son Nicholas II through the efforts of the Minister of Finance Sergei Witte and having numerous enemies and opponents.The monetary system of Russia at that time was based on credit notes. And Russia has not known any other monetary circulation for many years (since the time of Catherine II), and the financiers of that time, having established themselves in paper currency, did not even consider the idea of pegging the monetary currency to metal circulation. As Witte writes in his memoirs: “ Bunge (a member of the State Council) told me the following: - Sergei Yulievich, it will be very difficult for you to carry out this reform, because there is not a single person in the financial committee who would know this matter". And so it was, but Witte, using his post and the trust of the sovereign, nevertheless insisted on his own, and it was decided to carry out a monetary reform, and tie the credit supply to the precious metal.
Then the question arose - to tie money to gold or to silver, or together - to gold and silver? Since Russia was part of the global financial system, the Minister of Finance Witte negotiated with the financiers of European countries on this matter and, having accepted for himself that the Russian ruble should be backed by gold, he had to argue about this with the financial tycoons of that time Alphonse Rothschild and Leon Xie, who insisted that money turnover Russia was founded on silver. The fact is that France was the country that had the largest amount of silver in circulation (about three billion francs). Thus, if Russia decided to introduce the silver circulation of the ruble, it would be beneficial to France and Europe. The franc and other currencies, which were based on cheaper silver, could be adjusted in value to the Russian ruble, and Russian goods and raw materials for European factories could be bought for a cheap price. The UK currency was more appreciated and pegged to gold. And Witte firmly decided - Russian currency should only be gold.
This decision was so unpleasant and inconvenient for Europe that Nicholas II was overwhelmed with notes and dispatches from the royal houses and ministries of Europe, warning the Russian sovereign against gold circulation and persuading him to turn to silver. However, the emperor infinitely trusted his minister and left Witte to decide for himself which metal to choose, and the finance minister, who bet on gold, was right.
Witte bet on gold, because the price of silver was falling uncontrollably and steadily, and the silver ruble would not become a reliable means of payment for the Russian Empire, but would constantly fall in price.
As Witte himself writes: “ One of the biggest reforms I had to make during my time in power was monetary reform, which finally consolidated credit to Russia and placed Russia financially alongside the other great European powers. Thanks to this reform, we withstood the unfortunate Japanese war, the turmoil that broke out after the war, and all the alarming situation in which Russia is to this day. Almost all thinking Russia was against this reform: firstly, because of ignorance in this matter, secondly, out of habit and, thirdly, because of the personal, albeit imaginary interest of certain classes of the population».
And that was the explanation for these opposing classes: “ Since all persons interested in the export of our products believed that paper-credit circulation was beneficial for them, since with a decrease in the price of our monetary currency, they seem to receive more for their products precisely in the signs of this upset monetary currency. This opinion, of course, is erroneous, because, depending on the decrease in the ruble, the same landowner, receiving, for example, more rubles for bread, but paid more rubles for most of what he consumes and what he uses. But the landowner did not take this last circumstance into account, since, not being a financier and economist, he could not understand the dependence of one price on another.»
It was the most painless reform in Russia during its entire existence. Witte devalued the ruble, on the grounds that the price of the ruble against its face value was lowered. the pre-reform ruble was not really worth the declared value and should have been brought to a more stable indicator, which was gold. The monetary reform did not hit the population, it did not even notice it, because the price of all items and goods remained the same, only the ruble changed for the better.
Few people know that in the process of working out the gold financial reform, Witte also considered the option of introducing a gold financial unit "Rus", which would represent a price less than a ruble, and would be equal to 100 kopecks, also reduced in price. The first gold samples of this coin have already been minted. 15 Rus (Rus) would be 1 Imperial. 
But Witte did not use this currency for one reason, a change in the payment currency would cause thousands of complaints and misunderstandings in the population related to the exchange of the old Ruble for Russia, and swindlers and speculators would not fail to warm their hands on this.
Coin issued with the image of Emperor Alexander III, 1886.
By the law of May 8, 1895, it was allowed to conclude transactions in gold, at the same time all the offices and branches of the State Bank were given the right to buy a gold coin, and 8 offices and 25 branches also make payments with this coin. In June 1895, the State Bank was allowed to accept gold coins into a current account (this example was followed by private St. Petersburg banks); in November 1895, gold coins were allowed to be accepted by the cash desks of all government agencies and state railways. In December 1895 the rate of the credit (paper) ruble was set at 7 rubles. 40 kopecks. for a gold semi-imperial denomination of 5 rubles. (from 1896 - 7 rubles 50 kopecks).
By 1897, the State Bank had significantly increased its gold cash - from 300 million to 1,095 million rubles, which almost corresponded to the amount of banknotes in circulation (1,121 million rubles).
On August 29, 1897, a decree was issued on the issue operations of the State Bank, which received the right to issue banknotes backed by gold. Credit tickets backed with gold cash were exchanged for gold without restrictions. In general, 5-ruble (semi-Imperial) and 10-ruble gold coins (Imperial) were minted. 
A number of gold coins were minted with a 15-ruble denomination.
Interestingly, in 1902, gold coins of 37 rubles - 100 francs were also issued, which did not at all correspond to the exchange rate of that time (37 gold rubles could buy many times more francs).
But, according to numismatists, this royal coin was not issued for circulation, but either for playing in a casino, or in the form of an original gift coin.
The reform strengthened the external and internal exchange rate of the ruble, improved investment climate in the country, contributed to the attraction of domestic and foreign capital to the economy.
With the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, the exchange of money for gold was discontinued; all 629 million gold rubles disappeared from circulation. But by that time, Witte was no longer in the government, did not control the situation and could not influence it. Due to the intrigues of ill-wishers, in 1906 he was completely removed from the court of the emperor and dismissed from the public service. The new Minister of Finance, who was not a competent financier, and got to a high position only for protection, immediately printed a heap of paper money, not backed by the country's gold reserves. The ruble was rapidly depreciating, and the population hid all the gold coins.
So ineptly failed one of the greatest financial endeavors that brought the Russian economy to the highest world position in the economy. The failure of the Russian economy, coupled with the mediocre war with the Germans, did not hesitate to affect the significant deterioration of the life of the peasantry and workers, which subsequently led to the collapse of the Russian Empire.
This is a story about Stalin's last unfinished project, Stalin's golden ruble, which has not lost its relevance today, although 60 years have passed. It could become one of the world's reserve currencies back in 1950.“... If a socialist country pegs its currency to the capitalist currency, then the socialist country should forget about an independent stable financial and economic system. .. I.V. Stalin ".
This is a story about Stalin's last unfinished project, Stalin's golden ruble, which has not lost its relevance today, although 60 years have passed. It could become one of the world's reserve currencies back in 1950.
For reference; Today, the world's reserve currencies are: US dollar, Euro, Japanese Yen, British pound sterling, Swiss franc. There is also another special currency of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) - SDR.
A LITTLE HISTORY
By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War (June 22, 1941), the gold reserve of the USSR was 2600 tons of gold, and it was located on our territory.
Thanks to gold, the USSR from August 1941 began to receive urgently needed, in the first months of the war, weapons and strategic materials from the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition (primarily from England and the USA). By 1942, the USSR joined the Lend-Lease international program, which united the economies of 27 countries. (Officially, the decision on lend-lease for the USSR was recorded by the US President only on June 11, 1942).
In the Soviet Union, by that time, a powerful gold-mining industry had been created, which provided an annual increase in the country's gold reserves by more than 100 tons (annually!). Gold mining was declared a strategic industry, and everything related to gold and especially mining was secret. LP Beria, the head of the NKVD, was responsible for gold mining, and most of the gold in the country (70%) was mined in Kolyma by prisoners and civilian employees of the Dalstroy trust (Magadan). All gold mined in the country went to the State Treasury.
The Soviet ruble has been pegged to the US dollar since 1937. And the price of gold, at that time, was also calculated in US dollars.
GOLDEN RUBLE
In February 1950, the Central Statistical Office of the USSR, on an urgent assignment from Stalin, recalculated exchange rate new ruble. To compare the purchasing power of the ruble and the dollar, the most profitable goods for the Soviet Union were chosen.
For example, the “Clothes” group compared prices for expensive North American gabardine coats and affordable repainted Red Army overcoats from military stocks;
in the “Shoes” group - they compared leather boots and tarpaulin boots, etc. Considering Soviet goods potentially of better quality and more durable, experts added, as they say, "to the total" another 13-15% (adjustment for the variability of the dollar price), and the figure was 14 rubles per dollar.
According to A. Zverev and the then head of the Union State Planning Committee M.Z. Saburov (Minister of Heavy Engineering in 1954-58), as well as Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai and Enver Hoxha (who ruled Albania from 1947 until 1985), who were present with the famous blue pencil, Stalin crossed out the calculations on February 27 and wrote: "At most - 4 rubles." Before, (until 1947!) 53 rubles were paid for the American dollar.
A decree of the USSR Council of Ministers of February 28, 1950 transferred the ruble to a permanent gold base. The declared gold content of the ruble was equal to 0.222168 grams of pure gold; the selling price of 1 gram of gold was set at 4.45 rubles.
Signing the document on the gold backing of the ruble, I.V. Stalin said: “The Americans will certainly, by all possible means, get rid of the dollar surpluses accumulated during the war years and released to help many countries dependent on them. We and our allies must prevent such a development of events. "
On March 1, 1950, Soviet newspapers published a Resolution of the Government of the USSR with the following content: “In Western countries, the depreciation of currencies has occurred and continues, which has already led to the devaluation of European currencies. As for the United States, the continuing rise in the prices of consumer goods and the continuing inflation on this basis, as repeatedly stated by the responsible representatives of the US government, have also led to a significant decrease in the purchasing power of the dollar.
Due to the above circumstances purchasing power ruble has become higher than its official rate.
In view of this, the Soviet government recognized the need to raise the official exchange rate of the ruble, and the calculation of the ruble exchange rate should not be based on the dollar, but on a more stable gold basis, in accordance with the gold content of the ruble.
Based on this, the Council of Ministers of the USSR decided:
1. To stop, from March 1, 1950, the determination of the ruble exchange rate against foreign currencies on the basis of the dollar and transfer to a more stable gold basis, in accordance with the gold content of the ruble.
2. Set the gold content of the ruble at 0, 222168 grams of pure gold.
3. To establish, from March 1, 1950, the purchase price of the State Bank for gold at 4 rubles 45 kopecks per 1 gram of pure gold.
4. Determine from March 1, 1950 the exchange rate in relation to foreign currencies, based on the gold content of the ruble, established in paragraph 2:
RUB 4 for one American dollar instead of the existing 5 rubles 30 kopecks.
11 rubles 20 kopecks for one British pound sterling instead of the existing 14 rubles 84 kopecks.
Instruct the USSR State Bank to change the ruble exchange rate in relation to other foreign currencies accordingly.
In the event of further changes in the gold content of foreign currencies or changes in their rates, the USSR State Bank shall set the ruble exchange rate in relation to foreign currencies, taking into account these changes. "
According to the memoirs of the PRC Premier Zhou Enlai, “Stalin recommended to strictly regulate the rate of national money - at least until economic and social stabilization in the country.
Quote: “..If a socialist country pegs its currency to the capitalist currency, then we should forget about an independent stable financial and economic system of the socialist country. I.V. Stalin ".
As an example of indefinite financial and, therefore, political dependence on the West, Stalin cited Yugoslavia, whose currency was tied to the "basket" of the US dollar and the British pound sterling. Stalin said: "... that sooner or later the West will" collapse "Yugoslavia economically and dismember politically ...".
(This forecast came true 40 years after Stalin's death, in 1991-1999, when the NATO military bloc, supporting separatism in Yugoslavia, unleashed military aggression and dismembered a single country)
INTERSTATE GOLD CURRENCY OF COMECON COUNTRIES
Reforms were carried out in almost all socialist countries, which made it possible to pursue a coordinated monetary, financial and general economic policy, including the creation of an interstate gold ruble.
By the way, it was in those years that the CMEA (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance) was formed. In January 1949, the USSR and most of the countries of Eastern Europe (except Yugoslavia) joined it, and in February 1950, the GDR and Albania. Since January 1953, all CMEA member countries have switched to a unified classification of foreign trade goods and foreign trade statistics.
According to him, in April 1952, an international economic meeting was held in Moscow, at which the USSR, the countries of Eastern Europe and China proposed to create a world trade zone, alternative to the dollar. Moreover, Iran, Ethiopia, Argentina, Mexico, Uruguay, Austria, Sweden, Finland, Ireland, Iceland also showed tremendous interest in this plan.
At the meeting, Stalin proposed to create his own "common market". Moreover. The meeting also voiced the idea of introducing an interstate settlement currency. Considering that the Soviet Union was the initiator of the idea of creating an alternative to the dollar trade zone, in fact, the transcontinental "common market" on a gold base.
In simple terms, a new world currency could appear - the Golden Stalinist Ruble. What it would be called does not matter - the Soviet ruble, the Russian ruble, the Stalinist ruble, or the "Stalinist" Lenin's Golden Sower ").
At a meeting of the heads of state and government of the CMEA member countries, China and Mongolia in 1951, in Moscow, Stalin said:
“.. After we transfer our money to a gold basis, it will be possible to talk about the international gold equivalent of money in our mutual settlements. For this we will create a special international commission .. ".
The commission included Rakosi (head of Hungary in 1948-1956), Gottwald (head of Czechoslovakia in 1948-53), Grotewohl (head of the GDR in 1949-62) and Zhou Enlai (China).
According to the memoirs of Maxim Saburov, the then head of the allied State Planning Committee:
“… Specialists from socialist countries already in 1952-53 presented 5 options for transferring mutual settlements between these countries into a currency with a gold content, not pegged to the dollar. It was planned to introduce it from 1955 or from 1960. Stalin first insisted on 1955, but we managed to convince him that we must first achieve constant growth national economies and the purchasing power of national money, to bring together the nature of socio-economic planning in socialist countries and only then introduce such a currency. Stalin in February 1953, half a month before his death, agreed with the "deadline" - no later than 1957, by the 40th anniversary of the October Revolution. He feared that after him this project would be "buried". So later it happened ... ".
I. Stalin understood that world financial circles, and above all the United States, would not calmly observe the process of creating an alternative world currency, backed by gold and not tied to the dollar, and would seek various methods of counteraction. But how to weaken the USSR and prevent the emergence of a gold ruble? To impose a war on the USSR on foreign territory. This is what happened in Korea in 1950. On June 25, 1950, the Korean War began.
The results of the war for the United States: more than 1 million killed, wounded and captured, a huge amount of lost military equipment and weapons, 20 billion dollars of spent funds.
but the main objective The United States has been achieved, which they simply do not know about now, or prefer not to talk, because among the Russian intelligentsia now, it is not customary to speak badly about America.
The US had a strategic goal: to prevent the USSR from introducing an alternative to the dollar, a gold interstate currency.
After the end of the Korean War, China, North Korea, Mongolia, and Vietnam planned to join the CMEA. But the Korean War ended after Stalin's death, and the new leadership of the USSR and the CPSU and personally Nikita Khrushchev changed their economic orientation to a pro-Western one.
Nikita Khrushchev, having come to power, made it clear to everyone that the idea of an interstate gold ruble was untimely. And returned the peg of the ruble to the dollar.
Reforming its Agriculture forbidding vegetable gardens and household plots, and fighting religion (he even promised "... to show the whole world the last priest ..."), he was punished with drought and crop failures in the country. And he began to buy grain on the American continent for gold.
In just a few years, N.S. Khrushchev managed to sell abroad 2,900 tons of gold (the only case in world history!), Accumulated by I. Stalin, and which were supposed to provide the gold content of the planned gold international currency - the Golden Stalin ruble.
If it were not for the sale of gold abroad, then the gold reserve of our country in 1964 would have been at least about 3150 tons.
The entire IMF, the International Monetary Fund, has approximately the same gold reserve in 2010.
For comparison: the state gold reserve of the United States, stored in the United States, is - 8133.5 tons.
Today in Russia, our national currency is the ruble. The ruble is not tied to solid gold backing, as under Stalin, back in 1950, but to the US dollar. And what more dollars Americans will print and release into circulation for their needs, the “thinner and thinner” our ruble.
These are real photographs of an existing medal (silver + gold), which was issued in a very limited edition. It seems to me that this is the design variant of the "Golden Stalinist Ruble", which never saw the light of day in 1957.
And one more unexpected fact.
Precious pennies.
Test coins of 1953 are one of the last secrets of Joseph Stalin.
It is not known what it was, the development of a new design or the preparation of a monetary reform (no documentary evidence has been found in this regard so far). On the one hand, only five years have passed since the last exchange of money (- we are talking about the monetary reform of 1947!) On the other, some design options were used in 1956 and 1958 for the manufacture of new "probes" and in 1961 for the release coins of Khrushchev's monetary reform. Then, 50-kopeck coins reappeared in circulation, which had not been minted in the USSR since 1927.
50 kopecks 1953. (one of the later not approved design options, a copy in an aluminum alloy) were exhibited at the October auction of the Imperia auction house and "left" for 480,000 rubles. A week later, a similar coin, but in a copper-nickel alloy, was sold at the Coins and Medals auction for 1 million rubles.
