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A groundbreaking history of Russia, from empire to the Soviet era, viewed through the lens of its money.
Money seems passive, a silent witness to the deeds and misdeeds of its holders, but through its history intimate dramas and grand historical processes can be told. So argues this sweeping narrative of the ruble's story from the time of Catherine the Great to Lenin.
The Russian ruble did not enjoy a particularly reputable place among European currencies. Across two hundred years, long periods of financial turmoil were followed by energetic and pragmatic reforms that invariably ended with another collapse. Why did a country with an industrializing economy, solid private property rights, and (until 1918) a near perfect reputation as a rock-solid repayer of its debts stick for such a prolonged period with an inconvertible currency? Why did the Russian gold standard differ from the European model? In answering these questions, Ekaterina Pravilova argues that politics and culture must be considered alongside economic factors. The history of the Russian ruble offers an opportunity to explore the political reasons behind the preservation of a supposedly backward financial system and to show how politicians used monetary reforms to block or enact political transformations.
The Ruble is a history of Russia written in the language of money. It shows how economists, landowners, merchants, and peasants understood, perceived, and used financial mechanisms. In her definitive account, Pravilova interprets the well-known political events of the eighteenth to early twentieth centuries—wars, attempts at constitutional transformations, revolutions—through the ideas and politics of currency reforms and offers a new history of Russia's imperial expansion and collapse.
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Ruble's Stories
Part I: The Age of Assignats
Chapter 1: Assignats: From Paper Substitutes to Paper Money
Chapter 2: Autocracy or Representation? The Political Philosophy of Money in the Age of Napoleon and After
Chapter 3: The End of Assignats
Part II: Autocratic Capitalism
Chapter 4: Paper Money in the Era of the "Great Reforms"
Chapter 5: Ruble's Wars
Part III: The Gold Reform
Chapter 6: Witte's Rollercoaster
Chapter 7: The Autocratic Standard
Chapter 8: Practicing the Gold Standard
Part IV: Ruble, Wars, and Revolutions
Chapter 9: The Gold Syndrome
Chapter 10: War and the End of the Gold Ruble
Chapter 11: A Revolution That Did Not Happen
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Description
A groundbreaking history of Russia, from empire to the Soviet era, viewed through the lens of its money.
Money seems passive, a silent witness to the deeds and misdeeds of its holders, but through its history intimate dramas and grand historical processes can be told. So argues this sweeping narrative of the ruble's story from the time of Catherine the Great to Lenin.
The Russian ruble did not enjoy a particularly reputable place among European currencies. Across two hundred years, long periods of financial turmoil were followed by energetic and pragmatic reforms that invariably ended with another collapse. Why did a country with an industrializing economy, solid private property rights, and (until 1918) a near perfect reputation as a rock-solid repayer of its debts stick for such a prolonged period with an inconvertible currency? Why did the Russian gold standard differ from the European model? In answering these questions, Ekaterina Pravilova argues that politics and culture must be considered alongside economic factors. The history of the Russian ruble offers an opportunity to explore the political reasons behind the preservation of a supposedly backward financial system and to show how politicians used monetary reforms to block or enact political transformations.
The Ruble is a history of Russia written in the language of money. It shows how economists, landowners, merchants, and peasants understood, perceived, and used financial mechanisms. In her definitive account, Pravilova interprets the well-known political events of the eighteenth to early twentieth centuries—wars, attempts at constitutional transformations, revolutions—through the ideas and politics of currency reforms and offers a new history of Russia's imperial expansion and collapse.
