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 \u200b\u200bpegging monetary currency to metal circulation. As Witte writes in his memoirs: Bunge (a member of the State Council) told me the following: - Sergey 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". So it was, but Witte, using his post and the confidence of the sovereign, nevertheless insisted on his own, and it was decided to carry out a monetary reform, and tie the credit mass to the precious metal.
Then the question arose - to tie money to gold or to silver, or jointly - on gold and silver? Since Russia was part of the global financial system, Finance Minister Witte negotiated with the financiers of European countries on this issue 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, Alfons Rothschild and Leon Xie, who insisted that the monetary circulation of Russia be based 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 for 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 at a cheap price. The British currency was valued more and was 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 bombarded with notes and dispatches from the royal houses and ministries of Europe, warning the Russian sovereign against gold conversion and inducing him to silver conversion. However, the emperor had unlimited trust in his minister and left Witte to decide for himself what metal to choose, and the finance minister, who bet on gold, did not fail.
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 Russian Empire, but would constantly fall in price.
As Witte himself writes: One of the biggest reforms that I had to make during my time in office was the monetary reform, which finally strengthened the credit of Russia and placed Russia financially along with 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 finds itself to this day. Almost all thinking Russia was against this reform: firstly, out of ignorance in this matter, secondly, out of habit, and thirdly, out of personal, although imaginary interest of some classes of the population».
And this was the explanation for these resisting classes: Since all persons interested in the export of our products believed that paper-credit circulation was beneficial to them, since with a decrease in the price of our monetary currency, they, as it were, receive more for their products precisely in terms of this detuned monetary currency. This opinion, of course, is erroneous, because depending on the depreciation of the ruble, the same landowner, for example, receiving more rubles for bread, also 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 for all the time of its existence. Witte devalued the ruble, on the grounds that the price of the ruble had been lowered against its nominal value. 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, they 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 financial gold reform, Witte also considered the option of introducing the golden financial unit "Rus", which would be a price less than the ruble, and would correspond to 100 kopecks, also reduced in price. The first gold samples of this coin have already been minted. 15 Russ (Rusei) would be 1 Imperial. 
But Witte did not launch this currency for one reason, the change of payment currency would cause thousands of complaints and misunderstandings in the population related to the exchange of the old Ruble for Russia, and scammers and speculators would not fail to warm their hands on this.
Coin issued with the image of the Emperor Alexander III, 1886
The law of May 8, 1895 was allowed to conclude transactions for gold, at the same time all offices and branches of the State Bank were granted the right to buy gold coins, and 8 offices and 25 branches also made payments with this coin. In June 1895, the State Bank was allowed to accept a gold coin on a current account (private St. Petersburg banks followed this example); in November 1895, the cash desks of all government agencies and state-owned railways were allowed to accept gold coins. In December 1895, the rate of the credit (paper) ruble was set at 7 rubles. 40 kop. for a gold semi-imperial with a face value of 5 rubles. (since 1896 - 7 rubles 50 kopecks).
By 1897, the State Bank had significantly increased gold cash - from 300 million to 1095 million rubles, which almost corresponded to the amount of credit notes in circulation (1121 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 notes secured by gold cash were exchanged for gold without restrictions. In general, 5-ruble (semi-Imperial) and 10-ruble gold coins (Imperial) were minted. 
A certain 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 the investment climate in the country, and contributed to attracting 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 public service. The new Minister of Finance, who was not a competent financier, and who got to a high position only through patronage, immediately printed a pile of paper money, not backed by the country's gold reserves. The ruble rapidly depreciated, and the population hid all the gold coins.
Thus, one of the greatest financial undertakings, which led the Russian economy to the highest world position in the economy, failed mediocrely. The failure of the Russian economy, coupled with a mediocre war with the Germans, was not slow to affect the significant deterioration in the life of the peasantry and workers, which subsequently led to the collapse of the Russian Empire.
The magazine "Dengi" together with the Russian State Archive of Economics continues to talk about the monetary reforms in Russia. This time we will talk about one of the most successful reforms of tsarist Russia. Through the efforts of the Minister of Finance, Sergei Yulievich Witte, the gold standard was introduced, and the paper ruble became, in fact, a gold certificate.The information was provided by the compilers of the exhibition catalog of candidates of historical sciencesMaria Altman and Sergey Degtev.
The monetary reform of Sergei Yulievich Witte was largely prepared through the efforts of his predecessors as Minister of Finance Nikolai Khristianovich Bunge and Ivan Alekseevich Vyshnegradsky in 1881-1892. They put a lot of effort into building a deficit-free budget for the Russian state, accumulating gold reserves, and strengthening the exchange rate of the paper ruble.
At the beginning of 1895, the Ministry of Finance put an end to speculation with the Russian credit ruble. The government at the rate of 219 marks for 100 rubles bought Russian credit cards on the Berlin Stock Exchange and banned domestic bankers from exporting credit rubles abroad. In order to continue their operations, German stockbrokers were forced to purchase in Russia the required number of rubles at an even higher price - 234 marks per 100 rubles. According to some reports, the free cash of the Russian treasury grew by 20 million rubles at once. The new exchange rate of the ruble was set at an acceptable level for Russia, 2/3 of its gold parity.
The government accumulated a significant gold reserve (678 million rubles in 1895), bought a large amount of silver for minting rubles and fifty dollars. A coin made of cheaper silver psychologically helped the population to switch to metallic money.
The first milestone of the reform was the law of May 8, 1895, which allowed transactions for a gold coin and the acceptance of gold into bank accounts, as well as payments and payments in gold rubles. On March 15, 1896, the Novoye Vremya newspaper published a message about the monetary reform. In general terms, it looked like this: the main monetary unit was the new gold ruble, equated to one and a half old gold rubles; the gold ruble was equated to the credit ruble; the free exchange of paper money for gold was restored.
Nevertheless, skeptics criticized the reform. They believed that gold from poor Russia would go abroad. Admirers of the credit ruble saw in it an effective protection against foreign goods and a means of enrichment. Advocates of state prestige objected to any devaluation, although de facto it took place 40 years ago. Supporters of bimetallism defended the simultaneous circulation of gold and silver currency.
On January 3, 1897, it was decided to start minting a new gold coin. And the key date of the reform is August 29, 1897. From that moment on, any holder of Russian paper money could freely exchange them for gold in the legalized ratio, receiving 66.6 kopecks in gold for each banknote presented. credit ruble. The gold parity of the ruble thus fell by about a third, approaching the market money rate.
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Meanwhile, the position of a universal means of payment was gradually assigned to paper money. Credit notes were issued in a very wide range - from 1 to 500 rubles. The issue of paper money was limited by the strict law of 1897, which prohibited the issuance of money not backed by gold content in the amount of more than 300 million rubles. The State Bank almost did not use its issuing right, and in 1900 the percentage of coverage of banknotes with gold reached 170%. In fact, before the start of the First World War, not banknotes, but gold certificates were circulating on the Russian money market.
The minting of gold imperials and semi-imperials was discontinued in 1899, and they were gradually withdrawn from circulation. In the same year, the results of the reform were enshrined in the new Coin Charter. The reform contributed to the influx of foreign capital into Russia. Over the last four years of the 19th century, Russia repaid 258 million rubles on foreign loans, while new international borrowings amounted to 158 million rubles. For the first time after the appearance of paper money in Russia, normal gold circulation was established.
Perhaps one of the main results of the monetary reform was summed up by Sergei Yulievich Witte himself: "I made the reform in such a way that the population of Russia did not notice it at all, as if nothing, in fact, had changed."
I have been trying to write this article for a long time, but each time I pulled myself up, due to the complexity of the presentation of the topic, bypassing economic terms that are incomprehensible to most readers. However, the development of the situation in modern conditions motivated me to do this work. Therefore, do not blame those who own the terminology - here it will be simplified as much as possible in order to convey the meaning, and there will be a lot of letters ...
So, "golden ruble" - everyone has heard this term. But not everyone understands its meaning and how it differs from just a ruble in its modern form. Any currency is ultimately backed by the goods produced in the country (GDP) and a credibility to it. In other words, a banknote is a credit note (obligation) of the state for a certain amount. Let's say you have a friend - let's call him Vasya - not a fool, hardworking, prosperous. And he borrows from you, providing a receipt (a bill of his own production). You know that Vasya is a reliable borrower and that his receipt can be trusted. Therefore, Vasya's currency will be convertible, that is, his banknote can be easily used to pay with other people (it is provided by the goods produced by Vasya). And even if at the moment Vasya does not have enough goods to pay for his credit obligations, you are sure that tomorrow he will still pay you off. This is a credit of trust, allowing Vasily to borrow more than he is actually able to repay at the moment.
But the goods produced by Vasily are not the most reliable means of securing debt, since they can deteriorate, prices for them can change depending on market conditions, besides, Vasya can get sick and produce less than usual, and so on. Therefore, for reliability, Vasily creates a reserve - an inviolable warehouse of goods, designed to ensure his obligations. And the best collateral stored in such a warehouse would be gold. Gold is a limited product, meaning it cannot be produced indefinitely, which makes it a stable price, and it can be stored forever. And then Vasya's receipts will become "gold", that is, backed by a specific amount of precious metal. Here, many will object that gold, in fact, is the same commodity as all others, and the price for it also dances depending on market conditions ... Yes, it is. But this became possible only during the last century, when world gold turned from a means of securing currencies into an ordinary commodity, along with bread, coal, shirts and others, and its consumption was noticeably narrowed to the needs of the jewelry and high-tech industries, where gold is used as a its conductive and other properties, like a material. Up to this point, for thousands of years, gold has been the most stable collateral for financial obligations in the world. At the same time, the real value of gold has not disappeared anywhere - it still lies in the reserves of many countries of the world, BUT (!) Is not a fixed guarantee of their currencies. Why?
Here we come to another common saying: "The dollar is a pyramid scheme." Many also heard it many times, but did not go into details. Why pyramid? Why is it said that “the dollar is not backed by anything”? And why, then, is it constantly rising in price?
The fact is that the gold backing of the currency is a means of giving money reinforced concrete reliability and stability. With such stability, you are insured against inflation and can plan your finances literally for decades (and even centuries) ahead. In this case, your key economic task will be to replenish your reserves at the expense of other countries, through trade, wars, or in some other known way. In any case, we will talk about the redistribution of the final resource, the cost of which will only grow from year to year. This, in a certain sense, can be considered healthy competition.
But imagine that you have a way to replenish your wealth, literally, from thin air, bypassing trade, wars and other competition, and specifically by printing wealth on a printer. And God bless him that it will constantly depreciate - you can print much faster than the inflation rate and still be in profit. The American dollar is exactly that! And the whole world knows it. And he accepts this state of affairs. How did it happen?
During the first halfXXcentury, the United States has concentrated in its vaults a huge amount of physical gold. In 1933, the American government nationalized all gold within the United States - without exception, citizens and legal entities were ordered to hand over all private gold savings to the state treasury at a price of $ 20.66 per troy ounce. After that, its official price was immediately raised to $35 per ounce. As a result of the Second World War, due to the fall of the economies of European powers, a myriad of precious metals migrated to America from the gold reserves of Europe. The USSR also paid off Lend-Lease in pure gold. American stocks during that period reached their maximum - 20,205 tons. But this seemed not enough to America, and then the US government made the ruined European states “an offer that they could not refuse” (c) - the so-called Bretton Woods agreement.
In mid-1944, in the American city of Bretton Wood, a monetary and financial conference was held under the auspices of the United Nations, in which representatives of 44 states of the anti-Hitler coalition took part. The result of this conference was the creation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD). The declared purpose of the creation of the IMF was to expand international trade after the end of the war, and the bait that world powers bought was to maintain the stability of the exchange rates of member countries by providing funds to equalize their balance of payments. At the same time, the United States offered the ruined partners in truth a “magic wand” in solving their problems. economic problems. Since the lack of gold reserves did not allow them to independently ensure the stability of their currencies, such a means of security was appointed American dollar, which in turn was backed by a gigantic gold reserve at a firm price of $35 per troy ounce. The dollar received the status of the world's reserve currency, replacing gold!
At first glance, nothing terrible happened - instead of gold there will be a dollar, which, in turn, is backed by the same good old gold. But in reality, everything turned out to be completely different. After 27 years, the United States unilaterally refused to fulfill its direct obligations as the guarantor of the Bretton Woods agreement. And over the years, something happened that allows America today to print an unsecured dollar in any quantity.
Bretton Woods financial system was ideal on the condition that all its participants were honest with each other and none of them cheated. In fact, only the United States initially had the opportunity to cheat. And this underlying reason, in principle, was immediately visible. Therefore, the Soviet Union, which took part in the conference in 1944 under the threat of signing a separate agreement between the allied countries with Hitler and preventing Soviet troops from entering Europe, did not ratify it in 1945, when the situation changed dramatically. Other countries did not have such a choice, and they fell into the trap. And the USSR, which refused to ratify, received the Iron Curtain and the Cold War starting in 1946.
What exactly did the US do under the Bretton Woods system?
Taking advantage of its monopoly position and a virtual ban on the audit of the gold reserves, designed to ensure the stability of world currencies, America almost immediately began printing dollars without any restrictions. The ensuing dollar inflation was forced to cover the economies of all countries participating in the Bretton Woods agreement. Thus, the "export of inflation" was created, when the provision of IOUs by the US Federal Reserve (the inscription on the dollar: "FEDERAL RESERVE NOTE”) was transferred to the entire world economy. The dollar supply grew especially strongly in the 60s, when the United States needed additional funds for the Vietnam War. And they just printed this money (!) And financial markets all countries very soon felt it for themselves.
So on February 4, 1965, French President Charles de Gaulle announced his intention to exchange $1.5 billion for gold at a fixed price of $35 per ounce. In the event that the United States refuses to fulfill its obligations, he threatened France's withdrawal from NATO and the liquidation of 189 NATO bases on the territory of his country. America was forced to make an exchange of 700 million dollars. The rest of France's demands were denied. There were no more exchanges. This became an alarming bell, and other countries hurried to follow de Gaulle's example, also making similar statements.
On August 15, 1971, US President Richard Nixon announced the abolition of the gold backing of the dollar. This event went down in history as the Nixon Shock. In March 1972, the US government devalued the dollar to $38 an ounce. A year later - up to $ 42.22. In 1995, a troy ounce cost about $400. Today, the price of a troy ounce of gold is over $1,200. This is the level of dollar inflation close to reality - 3,450% in 40 years (!)
Thus, since August 15, 1971, the United States, having removed all the financial cream from the Bretton Woods agreement, officially unilaterally withdrew from it and switched to printing its own currency, which is no longer regulated by anything de-ure. Why did the dollar not collapse then and continues to be the main world reserve currency to this day?
First, the US economy, swollen by leaps and bounds, is still the largest economy in the world. Secondly, the United States has secured its military presence in almost all regions of the world, thanks to which it zealously supports the system of petro-dollar settlements. Those who even try to get out of it (Hussein, Gaddafi) will face immediate military intervention. Well, and thirdly, imagine the situation: in your reserves are dollars, valuable because they have a gold reserve behind them. And now they announce to you that now there is no security and everything that you have accumulated is empty paper. To agree with this is to ruin yourself. But, if you pretend that nothing significant has happened, along with the fact that the rest of the holders of green papers will do the same, then you can save the conditional value of your wealth. Yes, besides: “You know that Vasya is a reliable borrower, and that his receipt can be trusted.” Well, just think, inflation will accelerate ... But not immediately ... That's what all the holders of the dollar, as a reserve currency, did. Remember(?): “This is a credit of trust, allowing Vasily to borrow more than he is really able to repay at the moment.” And our American "Vasily" since then, don't be a fool, has continued uncontrolled printing of receipts and today has created such a debt that he will never be able to really repay ...
If the participants in the Bretton Woods agreement in 1944 knew how things would end, they certainly would not have ratified this document. As an experienced drug addict, if he had a chance to change everything by returning to the past, he would hardly have taken his first dose, kindly provided by the drug dealer for a trial for free. But what happened happened, and today most of the world's currencies are "addicted" to the dollar and are paying for it, forced to absorb more than half of its inflation, which is simply a means of endless enrichment of the United States at the expense of the rest of the world.
What did the USSR oppose to the Bretton Woods system?
Tov. Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin, refusing to join the Bretton Woods Treaty, set about creating his own system of the golden ruble, which immediately brought positive results. The gold mining system in the USSR was under a strict state monopoly and all information about it was strictly classified. Thanks to the growth of the gold mining industry, the country increased its gold reserves by more than 100 tons annually. With the explosive growth rate of production in the post-war years, the ruble mass remained unchanged, which led to a deflation (raise in price) of the ruble, as a result of which an annual decline in the prices of consumer goods followed, which lasted for several more years even after Stalin's death - an incredible situation for modern market economy, where inflation is an inapplicable condition of "economic development". In the USSR, much earlier than in the same Great Britain, which suffered from the war to a much lesser extent, ration cards were canceled. In 1950, the ruble was officially transferred to a permanent gold base at the rate of 4.45 rubles per 1 gram, that is, the ruble was pegged to gold. Against the backdrop of rising inflation in Western countries, the purchasing power of the gold ruble surpassed its market rate, which was adjusted from 5.30 rubles. for 1 dollar to 4 rubles. for 1 dollar. Finland and Sweden have officially expressed their desire to enter the gold ruble settlement system. The system was gaining serious momentum and threatened to become a real competitor to the unsecured dollar ... But the death (murder (?)) of Stalin put an end to this trend - Khrushchev, who came to power, agreed to trade for dollars, which actually crossed out the successes achieved and marked the beginning of the end of the independent economic development USSR, which three decades later led to the collapse of the Soviet economy, hooked on currency injections in the conditions of the total dependence of oil markets on the dollar.
And here we turn to the question voiced in the title of the article:
Is it "threatening" modern Russia transition to the gold ruble in the near future?
That's right - in quotation marks, implying: is such a transition real and are there any prerequisites for it ...
I believe that it is real and there are prerequisites - we observe them with our own eyes. First of all, these are political preconditions. Russia has entered into a serious confrontation with the United States against the backdrop of the Ukrainian crisis. Economic sanctions have been imposed against us. We are “the second threat to the world after Ebola.” The situation for an unfriendly step on the part of Russia to decouple from the dollar and the dollar provision of its reserves, as well as to switch to settlements on oil and gas contracts in rubles, is more successful than ever. And such a step, of course, will be perceived in the United States as unfriendly. The fate of Hussein and Gaddafi in these matters is a litmus test. But the United States does not have such possibilities of influence as on Iraq and Libya in relation to Russia. And those that were already involved. So there is no reason for Russia to lick its wounds quietly. #CrimeaOurs and #ALWAYSWILLOurS is only a preliminary application for the seriousness of intentions. Putin burned bridges. He will no longer have to, like Saakashvili, look for work in America after his presidential term. The point of no return in relations with the United States has been passed and there is only one way left - forward. The only thing Putin should really fear now is phrases from his inner circle: “Comrade Putin is just sleeping, don’t disturb him. Khrustalev, the car!
In addition, the transition to the settlement of gas contracts in rubles has already begun - China, Iran, India, the CIS countries ... In the process of two ruble collapses at the beginning and end of 2014, Russia actively bought up its own valuable papers on the world stock markets. Despite the depreciation of the ruble in recent months, China confirmed the invariability of previously reached agreements on currency swap ruble-yuan. Prudent, a hundred times thinking China! Why did it happen? One gets the feeling that in the Middle Kingdom they generally know more than they say. This is indirectly confirmed by the active purchase of physical gold into national reserves that began almost simultaneously in Russia, China and Kazakhstan. Of course, we are still far from the "official gold reserves" of the United States, but when switching to gold backing, it is not so much the amount of gold that is important, but the ratio of its reserves to money supply. And here we are clearly hiding America, and we still even have room for maneuver. But the overseas "Vasya" in this case will no longer be able to get off with empty promises ...
Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
Conditional currency unit Russia (0.774235 g of pure gold), introduced after the monetary reform of 1895 97, which established gold monometallism. Gold coins were minted in denominations of 5 and 10, as well as 15 rubles. (imperials) and 7 p. 50 k. (semi-imperials), ... ... Political science. Dictionary.
See Ruble gold Dictionary of business terms. Akademik.ru. 2001 ... Glossary of business terms
Monetary unit of Russia from 1897 to 1914 The gold content of the ruble was 0.774 g of pure gold. See also: Former monetary units Russian Federation Finam Financial Dictionary ... Financial vocabulary
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Modern Encyclopedia
golden ruble- GOLDEN RUBLE, the conventional monetary unit of Russia (0.774235 g of pure gold), introduced after the monetary reform of 1895 97, which established gold monometallism. Gold coins were minted in denominations of 5 and 10, as well as 15 rubles. (imperials) and 7 rubles. fifty… … Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary
Monetary unit introduced in Russia according to the monetary reform of 1895-1897. The gold content of the ruble was 0.774 g of pure gold. Gold coins circulated in the form of imperials, semi-imperials, as well as 10 and 5 ruble coins. After starting... ... Economic dictionary
The conventional monetary unit of Russia (0.774235 g of pure gold), introduced after the monetary reform of 1895 97, which established gold monometallism. Gold coins were minted in denominations of 5 and 10, as well as 15 rubles. (imperials) and 7 rubles. 50 kopecks… … encyclopedic Dictionary
golden ruble- the conventional monetary unit of Russia (0.774235 g of pure gold), introduced after the reform of 1895-1897, which established gold monometallism. Gold coins were minted in denominations of 5, 10, and 15 rubles. (imperials) and 7 rubles. 50 kop. (semi-imperials) ... Big Law Dictionary
Books
- Golden scammer. The world economy as a financial pyramid, Katasonov Valentin Yurievich. MGIMO professor and famous publicist V. Yu. Katasonov in his book shows how the world economy is controlled by "banksters" (the word is a derivative of "banker" and "gangster"), striving ...
In February 1895, the Minister of Finance of the Russian Empire, Sergei Yulievich Witte, prepared a report on the need to introduce free circulation of gold in the country. Already in 1987, a decree on the gold standard was issued, regulating the exchange rate of the gold ruble.
The need for reform has existed since the 1880s. In reports to Nicholas II, Witte noted the instability of the current monetary system. Before the introduction of the gold standard in Russia, the silver standard was adopted, which did not give any advantages over the economies of developed European countries.
Witte took the economic structure of England as the basis for the future reform, where he had already been adopted.
As early as May 8, 1895, the subjects of the Empire were able to conclude transactions for gold, and the offices of the State Bank received permission to buy. Some of the offices got the opportunity to give out coins in hand. And in June, the State Bank was able to accept gold coins into the account, and from November it was possible to pay with gold coins at the cash desks of state institutions and railways. Rates were set by December: a gold semi-imperial with a face value of 5 rubles was sold for 7.4 rubles, the next year for 7.5 rubles.
By the time of the reform in the State Bank, the volume of gold coins amounted to 1,095 million rubles (as opposed to 1,121 million rubles in banknotes). On August 29, the State Bank received the right to issue credit notes that could be freely exchanged for gold. By the time the gold standard of the ruble was introduced in the Russian Empire, the volume of credit notes was almost equal to the volume of gold coins.
The results of the introduction of the gold standard of the ruble
The reform not only allowed to stabilize the economy of the Russian Empire, but significantly strengthened the ruble. The gold standard of the ruble became the most reliable in the whole world, and the ruble was trusted even in England, France and the USA. The policy of the authorities also contributed to this: already in 1899, the strictest requirements were introduced for the issuance of credit notes, which were provided with cash gold coins. Only the first 300 million rubles were not fully backed by gold. In the future, the issue was made only on the condition that the entire volume of bank notes was backed by monetary gold. By the beginning of the First World War, all tickets are 100%.
From 1914, gold coins disappeared from circulation, and the free exchange of credit notes for gold was stopped. The total supply of monetary gold by that time was 2170 million rubles and could increase even more, including after the end of the war. But the revolution of 1917 prevented this.
Attempts to return to the gold standard of the ruble
With the emergence of the USSR, the country's economy was in decline and required significant support. To do this, already in 1923, the government tried to introduce a new gold standard for the ruble. The main goal was the improvement of monetary circulation and the strengthening of the Soviet currency. New coins were issued with a face value of "one chervonets", which coincided in weight with a coin with a face value of 10 rubles in 1987 (7.74235 grams). This did not give any results: the number of coins turned out to be too small (after the war and the revolution, gold reserves practically disappeared), and the exchange was limited.
The introduction of the gold standard of the ruble in the USSR pursued another task - the stabilization of foreign trade relations. In particular, in parallel with the chervonets, which circulated only within the borders of the country, coins with a face value of 10 rubles were minted, which were used on the foreign market. It was these coins that helped the government to purchase all the necessary goods abroad: they were accepted unconditionally.
The end of the new gold standard of the ruble came already in the 1930s: with the beginning of industrialization, the ruble noticeably weakened, and the new gold coins of 1937 could not be converted into gold even with the permission of the authorities.
