A Golden Idea

Abstract

This chapter examines how the currency interventions of the New Economic Policy (NEP) are important for Torgsin's story because they allowed Soviet people to enhance their gold and foreign currency savings significantly, and some of these valuables ended up in Torgsin. In 1930, when Torgsin was born, the Soviet population already lived on scarce rations, and mass famine was looming. On June 14, 1931, Narkomfin finally allowed Torgsin to accept tsarist gold coins in payment for its goods. The government needed hard currency and gold, but driven by hunger, it was the people who took the initiative. In this respect, Torgsin, the enterprise to drain people of their wealth, was no less the brainchild of the people who fought to survive than it was a product of resolutions of the country's leadership seeking for currency valuables. However, the true currency revolution happened when the government allowed Torgsin to accept personal and household items made of gold. The chapter then provides a comparison between Torgsin and the state rationing system of the same period.