How much was the dollar in the USSR? In order not to torment the reader, we immediately make a reservation: on average, sixty cents! And now in more detail.
Shortly after the emergence of the USSR, a decree was issued stating that exchange rates would be set by the state. Foreign exchange operations were minimized, and the dollar exchange rate was strictly controlled.
Throughout the second half of the twentieth century, the dollar in the USSR was worth less than one ruble, and only a few citizens had it, and then in a limited amount, necessary for traveling abroad or in other exceptional cases.
All calculations were carried out only in rubles, and only the State Bank could buy and sell foreign currency.
The dollar exchange rate in the USSR in the first half of the twentieth century
After the reform of 1924, it was equal to 2 rubles 22 kopecks.
The monetary system of the USSR withstood dignity of the Great Patriotic War, although the mass of money increased almost four times. For comparison: in Italy it increased ten times, and in Japan - eleven.
However, along with surplus money there were other problems: commercial, ration and market prices, as well as money settled in the pockets of speculators.
Bretton Woods Conference and the fate of the dollar
At the end of the war, in 1944, in Bretton Woods (USA), the International Monetary and Financial Conference was held, in which forty-four states, including the Soviet Union, took part. At that time, the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development were established.
America proposed fixing the price of gold at $ 35 per troy ounce - the so-called gold standard. The dollar was proclaimed a world reserve currency. Gold and some European countries were transported to Fort Knox, where the American gold reserve was stored. As a result, 75 percent of the world's gold was stored there.
The Soviet Union was offered special conditions for joining a team without storing gold in the United States. But other conditions proposed for joining the organization seemed unacceptable to the country's leadership, and the USSR did not ratify the treaty.
Stalin's post-war reforms
Stalin headed for independence of the national currency. Monetary reforms, however, had been planned before the international conference, but they had already decided on them only at the end of 1947.
An exchange of money was made, which the vast majority of citizens survived without prejudice. Salary remained the same. Deposits of up to three thousand rubles were exchanged one to one, from three to ten thousand - one third was reduced, and more than ten thousand - two thirds of savings were subject to reduction. At the same time, the card system was canceled. This happened earlier than in other winning countries. The prices of retail goods - products and industrial products also fell. Thus, the consequences of the Great Patriotic War in the monetary system were eliminated, and the money supply decreased at least three times.
In early 1950, Stalin ordered the exchange rate of the new ruble to be recalculated. Financiers, having calculated everything, offered 14 rubles for one US dollar. How much was a dollar in the USSR before recounting? 53 rubles. Joseph Vissarionovich, however, ordered to further reduce the ruble against the dollar. The most that could be expected was 4 rubles for one US dollar.
The national currency of the USSR was transferred to a gold basis, thereby canceling the dollar peg. The purchase price for one gram of gold was set by the State Bank at 4 rubles 45 kopecks. Thus, Stalin protected the ruble from the dollar, as the United States of America intended to transfer the surplus money accumulated in its country to other countries, solving its problems in such a way and imposing them on others.
Moscow International Forum
In 1952, the Moscow Forum was held, where it was proposed to create a common market that would be free from the influence of the US dollar and would serve as a counterweight to US expansion and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. Most European countries are already under US pressure.
Forty-nine countries unwilling to obey the dollar participated in this forum. Many agreements were signed and the principles of exclusion of settlements in dollar terms, the possibility of barter, coordination of policies, various kinds of benefits and so on were proclaimed.
But in 1953, Stalin passed away. And countries gradually began to move away from the proclaimed principles, adjusting to the dollar. The gold content of the ruble was reduced ten times, and in the late seventies it was completely liquidated. The USSR began to provide other countries with cheap raw materials, and the gold reserve began to melt rapidly. But it is later.
Moscow People's Bank in London
In 1956, the USSR, in order to avoid American sanctions, decided to transfer the available funds from American banks to the United Kingdom - to the Moscow People's Bank in London. He gives a small loan, but does not overlap with the US banking system. Funds were also transferred to another Soviet bank located abroad - the Paris Eurobank. Later, dollars in circulation on the European financial market began to be called Eurodollars.
The first threats to the world currency and their consequences
The system began to shake. In the sixties, the number of dollars outside the United States reached the level of America's entire gold reserve. At the same time, Charles de Gaulle demanded French gold back in exchange for dollars and received it. After France, leaders and other countries began to say the same thing. Then partially abandoned the right to exchange for gold.
In the seventies, the United States had to lower the gold content of its currency. In 1971, the conversion of the dollar to gold ceased.
How much was the dollar in the USSR
The dollar was no longer a safe currency, and any dollar account could be closed. Many arrests were imposed on dollars belonging to the Soviet Union. At that time, the dollar exchange rate in the USSR (1975) was 75 kopecks. He had a smooth downward trend to 60 cents.
In the eighties, the level of industry continued to grow. From 679 billion rubles in 1980, industry grew to 819 billion rubles by 1990. Industrial exports accounted for only 10 percent. Both imports and exports varied over the years in the range of plus or minus 70 billion rubles.
Valorous democrats like to say that the dollar against the ruble in the USSR during these years was exchanged on the black market at a rate that was very, very different from the official one. Well, here you just need to do a little analysis. If a huge difference, as some have argued, would have taken place, then import and export would inevitably have been very different. However, the figures are approximately equal.
The official dollar exchange rate in the USSR from 1970 to the end of the eighties ranged from 90 kopecks to 60. At the end of the eighties and until the collapse of the Soviet Union, it kept at a minimum change of 60 kopecks.
The end of the Soviet Union
In 1991, the dollar price in the USSR became equal to 1 ruble 85 kopecks. This happened because the State Bank began selling the dollar at that price — commercial. However, by that time, in fact, on the black market, the value of the dollar in the USSR reached from 30 to 43 rubles. Since mid-1992, the dollar has become a market rate. And at the end of 1992, the Soviet Union died.
Today's realities
How much a dollar was worth in the USSR must be remembered in the light of today's realities. In the nineties and two thousand years, so many dollars settled in the pockets of the citizens of the Russian Federation that a greater amount circulated only in the United States of America itself.
At present, the state has again embarked on the course of ruble independence. However, now there is no iron curtain, everyone in Russia can freely express their point of view, and there is no that ruthless attitude towards people that was in Stalin's time. Therefore, in a few days it is impossible to carry out all the necessary reforms, as it was seventy years ago. Russia is too deeply mired in dollar dependence, while inside the liberal elites continue to push the state to the old dollar path. It will take patience, courage and a willingness to resist US expansion in order to become a fully independent state.