After the collapse of the Soviet Union , some “interesting” facts about the activities of the CPSU became known. One of the high-profile incidents was the disappearance of the party’s gold reserves. In the early nineties, various versions appeared in the media. The more publications there were, the more rumors circulated about the mysterious disappearance of the values of the CPSU.
Gold in Tsarist Russia
One of the main factors determining stability in the country is the presence and size of the state gold reserve. By 1923, there were 400 tons of state gold in the USSR, and by 1928 - 150 tons. For comparison: when Nicholas II ascended the throne, the gold reserve was estimated at 800 million rubles, and by 1987 - at 1,095 million. Then a monetary reform was carried out that filled the ruble with gold content.
From the beginning of the twentieth century, reserves began to deplete: Russia was preparing for the Russo-Japanese war, was defeated in it, and then a revolution occurred. By 1914, gold reserves were restored. During the First World War and after it, gold was sold (and at dumping prices), it was pledged to creditors, moving to their territory.
Stock recovery
Trust "Soyuzzoloto" was created in 1927. Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin personally directed gold mining in the USSR. Industry rose, but the young state did not become a leader in the extraction of valuable metal. True, by 1941, the USSR's gold reserve amounted to 2,800 tons, twice exceeding the royal. State stock reached a historic high. It was this gold that made it possible to win the Great Patriotic War and restore the destroyed economy.
USSR Gold Reserve
Joseph Stalin left about 2,500 tons of state gold to his successor. After Nikita Khrushchev, 1,600 tons remained, after Leonid Brezhnev - 437 tons. Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko slightly increased their gold reserves, the "stash" amounted to 719 tons. In October 1991, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian SSR announced that 290 tons remained of valuable metal. This gold (together with debts) passed to the Russian Federation. Vladimir Putin took it at a rate of 384 tons.
Gold value
Until 1970, the value of gold was one of the most stable parameters in the world. The US leadership regulated the price at $ 35 per troy ounce. From 1935 to 1970, America’s gold reserves were rapidly declining, so it was decided that the national currency would no longer be backed by gold. After that (that is, since 1971), the price of gold began to skyrocket. After the jump in prices, the price fell a bit, reaching $ 330 per ounce in 1985.
The cost of gold in the Land of Soviets was not determined by the world market. How much did a gram of gold cost in the USSR? The price was approximately 50-56 rubles per gram for metal 583 samples. Pure gold was bought at a price of up to 90 rubles per gram. On the black market, a dollar could be bought for 5-6 rubles, so the cost of one gram did not exceed $ 1.28 until the seventies. So, the cost of an ounce of gold in the USSR was a little over 36 dollars.
The myth of party gold
Party gold is called the hypothetical gold and currency funds of the CPSU, which supposedly disappeared after the collapse of the USSR and have not yet been found. The myth of the existence of the myriad wealth of the leaders of the Union became popular in the media in the early nineties. The reasons for the increased interest in this matter were the participation of the leaders of the Communist Party in privatization, while most of the country's population was below the poverty line.
The first publication devoted to this issue is the book “Corrupt Russia” by Andrey Konstantinov. The author cites the following possible scheme of receipt of funds in the "black box office" of the party on the example of the scheme, which was revealed during the verification of the party organization of Lenrybholodflot.
So, prosecutors found that the result of high earnings were significant contributions to the party cashier. In this case, double statements were used, and most of the funds were directed to higher authorities, that is, first to the regional committee, and then to Moscow. The incident was settled with the participation of senior party officials.
Where did the gold of the USSR go? Many public and political figures dealt with this issue: Russian writer Alexander Bushkov, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Gennady Osipov, international observer Leonid Mlechin, chairman of the KGB of the USSR and closest associate of Yuri Andropov Vladimir Kryuchkov, dissident historian Mikhail Geller and others. The experts did not come to the unequivocal conclusion about the existence of party money and their whereabouts.
Three suicides in a row
At the end of August 1991, Nikolai Kruchina, the CPSU affairs manager, fell out of the window. The chief treasurer of the party was considered close to Mikhail Gorbachev. A month later, Georgy Pavlov, Brezhnev's comrade-in-arms, Nikolai Kruchina's predecessor at the post, died in a similar way. He held this position for eighteen years. Of course, these two people were aware of the affairs of the party.
A few days later Dmitry Lisovolik, the head of the Central Committee department who was involved in the American sector, fell out of the window of his own apartment. This department carried out communications with foreign parties. The death of three officials at once, who were well aware of the financial activities of the Communist Party, gave rise to the legend of the existence of gold of the USSR, which disappeared in the last year of the existence of the state of peasants and workers.
Was there gold
The Communist Party ruled the state for 74 years. At first it was an elite organization, consisting of several thousand elected, but towards the end of its existence, the Communist Party grew thousands of times. In 1990, the number of officials was almost 20 million people. All of them regularly paid party contributions, which amounted to the treasury of the CPSU.
Some of the funds went to the salary fund for nomenclature workers, but how much money was really in the treasury and how was it spent? This was known only to a select few, among whom were the mysteriously dead Dmitry Lisovolik, Nikolai Kruchina, and George Pavlov. This important information was carefully hidden from the eyes of strangers.
The Communist Party received considerable income from publishing. Literature was published in huge print runs. The most minimal estimates indicate that monthly amounts of hundreds of millions of rubles were received in the treasury of the party.
No less big money was accumulated in the Peace Protection Fund. There, voluntary-compulsory deductions were made by ordinary citizens and the church. The foundation was a non-profit organization, but the actual ones were controlled by the same Communist Party. The Peace Fund did not publish any financial statements, but (according to rough estimates) its budget was 4.5 billion rubles.
The problem of transition to state ownership
It was from the above funds that the party’s gold was formed. How much gold was in the USSR? It is impossible to even estimate the assets of the USSR. When Yeltsin, after the coup, issued a decree on the transfer of party property to state ownership, it turned out that this was impossible. The court ruled that the uncertainty of ownership of property owned by the party does not allow the CPSU to be recognized as its owners.
Where did the gold go
Where is the gold of the USSR? The search for the party box office was quite serious. The existence of the party’s gold was more than just an urban legend or a newspaper sensation. In the difficult conditions in which Russia was in 1991-1992 and beyond, there was an urgent need for party money.
The State Bank first published information on the amount of gold in 1991. It turned out that only 240 tons remained. This shocked Western experts who estimated gold reserves of the Soviet era at 1-3 thousand tons. But it turned out that even Venezuela has more valuable metal than the Country of Soviets.
Simple explanation
Immediately after the official publication of the data on the size of the gold reserves, rumors spread that the party treasury was secretly exported to Switzerland. Of course, the top leaders of the Communist Party led this process. In the future, a very simple explanation was found for the depletion of the stock of valuable metal.
The fact is that in the last years of the USSR, the government actively received loans secured by gold. The state urgently needed a currency whose flow cut off due to a sharp drop in oil prices and the collapse of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance.
Party - not state
In addition, that gold, of which 240 tons remained, was state, not party. Here it must be remembered that in the days of the USSR, the party borrowed funds from the state treasury, but the state treasury didn’t. Searched for a party stock both the western detectives, and the Russian prosecutor's office. Small amounts were found on official accounts, but they were significantly less than expected. It was necessary to be satisfied only with the real estate which was privatized.
Versions of Western Specialists
The search for mysterious party gold was also conducted in the West. The government used the services of the world famous agency Kroll. The organization’s staff included former secret service employees, accountants who worked for well-known companies, and other experts. The firm was seeking money from Saddam Hussein, dictator Duvalier (Haiti) and Marcos (Philippines).
Soon after the conclusion of the treaty, the Americans sent materials to the Russian government, which featured high-ranking statesmen of the Soviet era, but there was no specifics. The leaders of Russia decided to abandon the services of Kroll. This was motivated by significant cash costs to pay for agency services. In difficult years, the Russian treasury would not have withstood such expenses.
So where is the money
Obviously, the Communist Party had an impressive cash register and managed the money of some organizations. But where is the money of the USSR? It is unlikely that billions of rubles could be withdrawn abroad, although part of the money could really go there.
The USSR had a sufficient number of banks abroad. Some were involved in servicing foreign trade operations, others worked like ordinary private banks. Branches were located in London, Paris, Singapore, Zurich and several other cities.
It was possible to withdraw money through these banks, but their employees were foreigners, so it was extremely risky to conduct such operations. And it was precisely these financial organizations that would begin to check in the first place if they seriously engaged in the search for party money.
Believable version
Most likely, the gold of the USSR remained in the USSR itself, that is, in circulation. The Law on Cooperation of 1988 allowed citizens to conduct commercial activities, but people did not have initial capital for this. The party paved the way with its example. The following year, the first private banks began to open. But where did the Soviet people get that kind of money? This is despite the fact that the authorized capital of a Soviet bank fund should have been at least 5 million rubles. Here, too, could not have done without the help of the Communist Party.
The main bonanza was, of course, international activity, which for a long time remained the monopoly of the CPSU. In the late eighties, private organizations entered this area. But foreign trade relations were supervised by the party and law enforcement agencies. Rubles were exchanged at a lower exchange rate for foreign currency, and then inexpensive equipment was purchased for the money. Most often, computers were imported, for which there was simply a huge demand.
So, the gold party really existed. But these are underground gold vaults or planes loaded to the top with banknotes. State and public figures could pocket some of the money, but it was unlikely that these were really significant amounts. Most of the money just turned into pieces of paper in 1992. But really the real gold was the leverage that allowed the leaders to form their capital in recent years of the USSR.