Where did the gold of Russia go?
By the beginning of World War I, Russia had a sufficiently large supply of gold - 1233 tons in the vaults of the State Bank. This is not counting about 300 tons of yellow metal, which was in circulation in the form of coins. On the eve of the war, Russia was in second place in the world in terms of centralized gold reserves, second only to the United States.Russia accumulated its gold for several decades, the rate of accumulation was high. In the 1865 year, when the country only embarked on the path of capitalist development, the stock was only 57 tons. In 1895, it grew to almost 700 tons as a result of targeted government efforts. Gold was necessary for the monetary reform of 1897 of the year, as a result of which a golden ruble was born. Over the next two decades, Russia's gold reserves grew even 1,8 times.
After all, paper money circulation under the laws of the Russian Empire was the highest among the countries that set the gold standard (almost 100%). True, the golden ruble of Russia cost too much.
How did the gold reserve grow?
First, due to the extraction of the yellow metal inside the country. This is perhaps the main source of reserve formation. According to our estimates, over the period 1891-1914. in Russia, about 1 thousand tons of yellow metal was mined.
Secondly, due to the export of the main export goods of Russia - wheat and some other grains. During the period of preparation of the country for monetary reform (transition to the gold standard), the proportion of the distribution of the crop between domestic consumption and exports in favor of the latter has greatly changed. The implementation of the slogan “we’re not going to finish it better, but we will take it out” undermined the social basis of the village, and, therefore, of the whole country (its population was predominantly rural).
Thirdly, by attracting gold from abroad in the form of loans.
The First World War made it extremely difficult to secure a paper-money issue with a centralized gold reserve. During these years, it was no longer necessary to talk about the 100-percentage coverage of the issue of credit notes in gold; several times during the war, the norms for covering the issue of money with gold reserves were revised.
Over 1915-1916 The issue law of the State Bank has been extended four times. As a result of this liberalization of the emission policy, the amount of paper money issued during the war years increased almost 4 times, and the purchasing power of the ruble at the beginning of 1917 was less than 1 / 3 from the level of the beginning of 1914. The security of paper money in gold by the time of the February revolution of 1917 was at best 13%.
All this contributed to the transformation of the State Bank into a kind of “emission factory”, having completely curtailed operations in the commercial loan market.
Unlike the central banks of other European countries in Russia, the State Bank was under the direct supervision of the Ministry of Finance, which made it easier to transform it into a military spending financing body.
Despite the policy of increasing emissions, the monetary authorities did not abandon measures to preserve and centralize the gold reserves in the State Bank. The most important of these were the following.
1. Termination of the exchange of paper money (credit cards) for gold.
27 June 1914. Emperor Nicholas II approved the Law “On Suspending the Exchange of Credit Cards for Gold”. The cessation of the exchange of paper money for gold at that time was carried out in all the leading countries of the gold standard with the exception of the United States.
2. Measures against the leakage of gold abroad through private and commercial channels. Among them - the tightening of the rules for issuing foreign currency when individuals travel abroad, the introduction of control over foreign trade contracts, the payment of which required foreign currency, etc.
3. Refusal to maintain the exchange rate of the ruble with the help of gold interventions.
4. Appeal to the population to make contributions in gold in monetary and non-monetary forms for the needs of the war. “Under the influence of a call to the population, patriotic contributions began with gold coins and gold items both as a gift for the needs of war and in exchange for credit cards, which ensured an increase in receipts on the State Bank’s gold account in coins, bars and banknotes.” At the same time, this measure had limited effectiveness, since most of the gold coins that were in circulation before the war were in the hands of the population for a short time and were frustrated (that is, kept in the form of savings - Ed.).
5. Procurement of gold from mining companies and the public. “Along with gold mining, gold bars were bought for foreign currency at par with the retention of 8% commission, and later the premium was set to 30% for gold entering the treasury from gold-smelting laboratories and the Mint,” writes expert N.I. Smirnova ..
6. Attracting foreign loans and domestic loans to finance military spending, as well as partly to increase the position of "gold abroad"
During World War I, Russia's external debt continued to increase. New loans received from abroad were used not only to finance military spending. Part of foreign loans (primarily received from the UK) were “frozen” and consisted of funds that were deposited in the accounts of foreign banks and remained there without movement. In fact, these were fictitious credit operations, which gave the impression of growth in that part of the state gold reserve, which was classified as “gold abroad.” This fictitious build-up of Russia's gold reserve ultimately pursued the goal of increasing the issue of paper money by the State Bank of Russia for the allegedly increased supply of gold, which was necessary to finance military spending domestically.
Thus, the following operations were carried out sequentially:
1) transfer from Russia of physical gold to the UK as a pledge;
2) the provision by the UK of Russia on the security of received “target” credits gold to increase the volume of “gold abroad”;
3) the issue by the State Bank of the Russian Empire of an additional quantity of paper money supply, taking into account the allegedly increased gold reserves of the country.
These operations were of a rather secret nature, which made it possible to maintain the illusion, both in Russia and especially abroad, of providing the Russian currency with reliable gold. Such a scheme was imposed on Russia by Great Britain and had such unpleasant consequences as an increase in the country's external debt, a decrease in state reserves of physical gold, and a depreciation of the Russian ruble in the domestic money market.
The external depreciation of the ruble was much slower: the illusion of a significant increase in Russia's gold reserves contributed to maintaining its relatively high rate on international markets.
As a result of the export of physical gold and loans received from the "allies", the article "gold abroad" in the balance of the State Bank increased and amounted to (million rubles):
On 01.07.1914 - 143,8
On 01.01.1915 - 172,5
On 01.01.1916 - 646,1
On 01.01.1917 - 2146,7.
According to official data, the amount of the State Bank's gold reserve for 1914-1916. increased from 1695 to 3617 mln. rubles, but if at the beginning of this period gold accounted for a few percent, at the end of the period it was about 2 / 3.
During the First World War (before 1917 began), the gold reserve of the Russian Empire (without taking into account the “gold abroad” position) decreased by about 462 t. This decrease is almost exclusively due to the transfer of part of Russia's gold reserve to the Bank of England to form a special guaranteed gold reserve. , as mentioned above. It is known that at the beginning of the war, Russia transferred 498 tons of gold to the Bank of England; 58 t were soon sold, and the rest 440 t lay in the vaults of the Bank of England as security. In addition, the monetary authorities of the country actually lost most of the gold that was in circulation before the war: in the first month of the war, the gold coin disappeared from circulation and never returned to the treasury. By 1 in January, 1917 in the hands of citizens, according to State Bank estimates, remained a gold coin for 436 million rubles, which, in terms of pure gold, is equivalent to 337 tons of metal.
The United Kingdom and its other "allies" constantly put pressure on Russia, demanding additional supplies of Russian gold as a condition for the provision of military loans at the interstate level.
Russia in the first two years of the war managed to restrain these aspirations of the West. Where possible, she resorted to the financing of military purchases to funds that did not require the transfer of the precious metal abroad (commercial loans, government loans from the United States and Japan). However, in the future, gold began to leave the treasury outside the country, primarily to the UK.
During the war, Russia transferred 498 tons of gold to the Bank of England; 58 t were soon sold, and the rest 440 t lay in the vaults of the Bank of England as security.
According to the Soviet historian A.L. Sidorov, gold was supplied to England in December 1915, in June 1916, and in February 1917. As S.M. Borisov, “in return, interest-free obligations were issued for 3 to 5 years in returning gold after the war. These obligations were credited to the balance of the State Bank as “Gold Abroad”, which made it possible to use them as a formal security for the continued issue of credit notes. It is interesting to note that the last shipment abroad in February of 1917 around 147 tons of gold was not reflected in the official statistics of the State Bank: on October 23 1917, the article “Gold in Russia” showed the presence of 1000 tons of metal. Obviously, the gold shipped continued to be listed under the section “On the Road,” where the metal was taken into account which had already left the country, but had not yet arrived. ”
According to some reports, at the beginning of 1917, 5,5 tons of personal gold of Nicholas II (to the Bering Brothers' Bank) were also sent to the UK.
The first batch of gold to the UK was sent from Arkhangelsk to Liverpool in Mantua transport. In the future, due to the risk of the German submarines sinking transports, gold for Great Britain was sent through the Far East (especially since the UK determined that the final destination of gold was not the British Isles, but Canada, where it had its own stores).
The route of the gold is the vault of the State Bank (European part of Russia), then by rail through Siberia to Vladivostok, then across the Pacific Ocean on chartered military vessels of Japan to Vancouver (Canada) or San Francisco (USA), then to Ottawa (one of overseas repositories of the Bank of England) or across North America to the east coast, then to Liverpool or London (repositories of the Bank of England).
The total value of gold exported from August 1914 to October 1917 amounted to 643,36 million gold rubles, which, based on the official gold parity of the Russian currency, is equivalent to 498 tons of pure gold.
Once again, starting from 1915, almost all gold was exported abroad through the Far East, where the Japanese controlled sea communications. According to several sources, gold, which was intended for the United States and Great Britain, was intercepted in March 1917 by Japan.
It should be borne in mind that some of the "royal" gold that went abroad through the Far East, apparently, was not sent out of Russia before the 1917 revolution and settled in the vaults of the State Bank of the Russian Empire. Vladivostok. However, in the end, this gold went abroad. This happened already in the years of civil war and intervention.
In addition, it must be borne in mind that even before the outbreak of the war, Russia had a significant amount of foreign currency in gold francs and other "gold" currencies ("gold abroad") on accounts in French banks. Moreover, literally in the month preceding the outbreak of the First World War, Russia managed to transfer its “foreign” gold from German banks to French ones (from the Russian point of view, transferring “foreign” gold to France was a reasonable action, since Paris was considered our main ally in the expected war). After the start of the war, the "allied" France introduced a so-called "moratorium" on the use of these currency values, fearing that Russia would not fulfill its obligations to repay and service French loans.
In fact, that's how it happened: the “foreign” gold of Russia in French banks was mainly used not for the purchase weapons and equipment, so necessary to the Russian army, and to pay interest to the French rentier.
After the February Revolution, the Provisional Government also managed to contribute to the export of gold abroad: literally on the eve of the October Revolution, it sent a shipment of gold to Sweden to purchase weapons (worth 4,85 million gold rubles, i.e., about 3,8 tons of metal).
The share of gold abroad in the total gold reserves of Russia during the war years up to the October revolution of 1917 increased steadily and reached more than 2 / 3.
The structure of gold reserves includes not only metallic gold, but also the currencies of the gold standard countries. Such a sharp increase in the volume of “gold abroad” in the period under review is probably explained by the fact that it includes the amount of loans received by Russia from the Entente countries in the form of currencies. The share of metallic gold in the total volume of "gold abroad" at the end of the period under review was, apparently, quite insignificant.
After the end of World War I, gold from Great Britain, the United States, Sweden was not returned to Russia, although most of it was not used to finance military purchases.
After the war, Soviet and British historians calculated that until March 1917, the British industry was able to fulfill only 25% of the paid orders of Russia. This figure is also confirmed in the memoirs of A.F. Kerensky. But this is what the Russian émigré historian S. Petrov writes about this: “You can forget about the return of gold sent to the UK in 1914-1916. It was completely spent on military supplies. However, 187.800.000 W., sent to the UK on the eve of the February Revolution, and X. NUMX W., exported to Sweden in October, 4.850.000, are of considerable interest for the study.
It is known that “tsarist” gold has repeatedly appeared as one of the “cards” in various negotiations between Russia (first the RSFSR, then the USSR, and finally the Russian Federation) with Great Britain and some other countries that were part of the Entente during the First World War. For example, the issue of “tsarist” gold was discussed at the Genoa Conference in 1922 in the context of settling the mutual claims of Soviet Russia and the Entente countries (the negotiations, as we know, ended unsuccessfully). The West proceeded from the fact that the refusal of our country to the debts of the tsarist government automatically also meant the waiver of any of our rights to “tsarist” gold.
The negotiations of the Soviet Union with Great Britain on a wide range of issues of settling mutual claims and obligations, including the problem of “tsarist” gold, were also conducted after the Second World War until the last years of the USSR.
So, in August 1986g. M.Gorbachev and M.Tetcher signed an intergovernmental agreement on the settlement of mutual claims in the field of finance and property, relating to the period before January 1, 1939. According to this document, the UK withdrew its claims on “tsar's debts” (first of all, it refers to government bond loans placed in the United Kingdom before the First World War) on 900 million f. Art. Russia also refused to compensate for the damage caused by the British intervention 1918-1920, the amount of which was agreed at the Genoa Conference of 1922, for the sum of 2 bn. Art. Our country also abandoned the claims concerning the "royal" gold remaining in the UK on 60 million f. Art.
Until now, relations between Russia and Japan remain unresolved with regard to a part of the “royal” gold, which was intended for Great Britain and the United States, but was intercepted by the Japanese and is currently kept in the vaults of Japanese banks.
As for Russian currency accounts in French banks, nothing remained of them by the end of the First World War: France used these funds to pay interest to the French rentier on Russian loans that were placed there before the war.
By the time the Bolsheviks seized power in the state’s treasury, according to various estimates, 800-850 tons of metal remained. But soon a large lot of gold “leaked” from the treasury.
This is about gold, which Soviet Russia transferred to Germany as a contribution in the second half of September 1918, according to the agreements in the framework of the so-called “Brest peace”. The Bolsheviks managed to transfer only a part of the metal stipulated by the agreements (it is sometimes called “Lenin's” gold). Namely 93,5 t from 200 t.
It is noteworthy that the transfer of "Leninist" gold in Germany occurred a month before its surrender. Lenin, who was under treatment after the assassination attempt on him in August 1918, was against sending valuables around the “Brest Peace”. However, J. Sverdlov, who served as chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, acted differently. Here is how historian V.Shambarov writes about this: “During the period of his“ regency ”, Sverdlov ... undertook to zealously fulfill his obligations to the Germans under the Brest-2 agreement ... He sent millions of tons of Russian grain to Germany ... He also sent the first batch of the promised gold. 93,5 tons were shipped in 2 echelon and went to the Germans. What for? And who knows? However, the owners of Sverdlov knew. After a month, Germany capitulated, and the gold was safely inherited by the Entente powers. ”
Shortly after receiving the "Leninist" gold, Germany suffered a final defeat in World War I, and France as the winner country transported this gold to Paris from Berlin (based on the German-Belgian-French convention from 01.12.1918). Under the terms of the Versailles Treaty (Art. 259), gold remained in France in “temporary storage” until the issue was settled between Germany and France. According to some reports, half of Lenin's gold was later shipped to the UK, where it is kept in the vaults of the Bank of England. As for France, she tried to “cover up” the traces of “Lenin's” gold, by melting it.
There is evidence that in the 1963 year, N.S. Khrushchev settled the problem of "Leninist" gold, which at the end of 1918, went to the Bank of France. An agreement was reached on the offset of this gold in repayment of the claims of major French investors and creditors, among which were the banks Credit Lyonnais, Paribas, Societe General, the French National Railway Society and some others. The agreement between the Soviet Union and France did not extend to the claims of small French investors - holders of royal securities. The claims of the latter, according to some data, were settled as early as the beginning of the 2000s, after Russia paid 400 million to France.
Attention should be paid to another channel of the leakage of gold from Russia in 1918, when Lenin negotiated peace with Germany. We are talking about "Leninist" gold, but that part of it that was placed on the on-bank accounts of Swiss banks.
The fact is that, in conducting negotiations between themselves in the framework of the so-called Brest Peace, both the Soviet and the German sides in the autumn of 1918 had already fully realized that the world war could soon end (naturally the defeat of Germany). Therefore, they agreed that financial resources from Russia would be transferred to Swiss banks on so-called on-bank accounts (i.e. demand accounts, which would be available only to top German leaders) in order to protect funds from the claims of the winning countries (tons e. Entente countries). This agreement was implemented, but the Germans did not receive access to the accounts; at the last moment, accounts in Swiss banks were opened for individual party leaders of Soviet Russia. True, this is a question of transferring to the Swiss banks not physical but “paper” gold (that is, foreign currency, not metal).
At the end of 1918, Russia's gold reserves were still very solid. According to some reports - almost 780 million evils. rub. In terms of pure gold at the gold parity of the ruble, this was about 600 tons, i.e. almost ½ of the gold reserves of the State Bank of the Russian Empire on the eve of the First World War. Intensive leakage of the remaining gold reserves continued by the Bolsheviks over the next three to four years. By 1922, the state’s gold treasury was almost empty.
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