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160-451: In addition to regular cash rubles, other types of rubles were also issued, such as several forms of convertible ruble , transferable ruble, clearing ruble, Vneshtorgbank cheque, etc.; also, several forms of virtual rubles (called "cashless ruble", безналичный рубль ) were used for inter-enterprise accounting and international settlement in the Comecon zone. In 1991, after the dissolution of

320-659: A $ 10 gold eagle was also approved, containing 247.5 grains (16.0377 g) fine gold. Hamilton therefore put the U.S. dollar on a bimetallic standard with a gold–silver ratio of 15.0. American-issued dollars and cents remained less common in circulation than Spanish dollars and reales (1/8th dollar) for the next six decades until foreign currency was demonetized in 1857. $ 10 gold eagles were exported to Europe where it could fetch over ten Spanish dollars due to their higher gold ratio of 15.5. American silver dollars also compared favorably with Spanish dollars and were easily used for overseas purchases. In 1806 President Jefferson suspended

480-545: A customs union and economic integration of Central and Eastern Europe date back at least to the Revolutions of 1848 (although many earlier proposals had been intended to stave off the Russian and/or communist "menace") and the state-to-state trading inherent in centrally planned economies required some sort of coordination: otherwise, a monopolist seller would face a monopsonist buyer, with no structure to set prices. Comecon

640-412: A fixed exchange rate , governments were hamstrung in engaging in expansionary policies to, for example, reduce unemployment during economic recessions . According to a 2012 survey of 39 economists, the vast majority (92 percent) agreed that a return to the gold standard would not improve price-stability and employment outcomes, and two-thirds of economic historians surveyed in the mid-1990s rejected

800-469: A gold bullion standard whenever gold bars are offered, or a gold exchange standard whenever other gold-convertible currencies are offered. John Maynard Keynes referred to both standards above as simply the gold exchange standard in his 1913 book Indian Currency and Finance . He described this as the predominant form of the international gold standard before the First World War, that a gold standard

960-471: A gold exchange standard , where the government guarantees a fixed exchange rate, not to a specified amount of gold, but rather to the currency of another country that is under a gold standard. This became the predominant international standard under the Bretton Woods Agreement from 1945 to 1971 by the fixing of world currencies to the U.S. dollar , the only currency after World War II to be on

1120-498: A parallel bimetallic standard (where gold circulates at a floating exchange rate to silver) or reverted to a mono-metallic standard. France was the most important country which maintained a bimetallic standard during most of the 19th century. The English pound sterling introduced c.  800 CE was initially a silver standard unit worth 20 shillings or 240 silver pennies. The latter initially contained 1.35 g fine silver, reduced by 1601 to 0.464 g (hence giving way to

1280-689: A 1% premium, and by the German Reichsbank partially suspending free payment in gold, though "covertly and with shame". Some countries had limited success in implementing the gold standard even while disregarding such "rules of the game" in its pursuit of other monetary policy objectives. Inside the Latin Monetary Union , the Italian lira and the Spanish peseta traded outside typical gold-standard levels of 25.02–25.42F/£ for extended periods of time: In

1440-495: A call for "a common single planning organ." This was resisted by Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland, but most emphatically by increasingly nationalistic Romania, which strongly rejected the notion that they should specialize in agriculture. In Central and Eastern Europe, only Bulgaria happily took on an assigned role (also agricultural, but in Bulgaria's case this had been the country's chosen direction even as an independent country in

1600-610: A commemorative series of 10-, 15-, 20- and 50-kopeck and 1-ruble coins was released, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Russian Revolution and depicted Lenin and various socialist achievements. The smaller bronze denominations for that year remained unchanged. Many different circulation commemorative 1-ruble coins were also released, as well as a handful of 3- and 5-ruble coins over the years. Commemorative coins from this period were always slightly larger than general issues; 50-kopeck and 1-ruble coins in particular were larger, while

1760-415: A country could still veto, but the hope was that they would typically choose just to step aside rather than either veto or be a reluctant participant. This aimed, at least in part, at allowing Romania to chart its own economic course without leaving Comecon entirely or bringing it to an impasse (see de-satellization of Communist Romania ). Also until the late 1960s, the official term for Comecon activities

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1920-805: A deputy prime minister, the executive committee met quarterly, usually in Moscow. In 1971 and 1974, the executive committee acquired economic departments that ranked above the standing commissions. These economic departments considerably strengthened the authority and importance of the executive committee. There were four council committees: Council Committee for Cooperation in Planning, Council Committee for Scientific and Technical Cooperation, Council Committee for Cooperation in Material and Technical Supply, and Council Committee for Cooperation in Machine Building. Their mission

2080-476: A fixed maximum rate in terms of the local currency, the reserves necessary to provide these remittances being kept to a considerable extent abroad. Its theoretical advantages were first set forth by Ricardo (i.e. David Ricardo , 1824) at the time of the Bullionist Controversy. He laid it down that a currency is in its most perfect state when it consists of a cheap material, but having an equal value with

2240-468: A fixed price. First emerging in the late 18th century to regulate exchange between London and Edinburgh, Keynes (1913) noted how such a standard became the predominant means of implementing the gold standard internationally in the 1870s. Restricting the free circulation of gold under the Classical Gold Standard period from the 1870s to 1914 was also needed in countries which decided to implement

2400-512: A form of associate status in the organization, specified in its 1964 agreement with Comecon. Collectively, the members of the Comecon did not display the necessary prerequisites for economic integration: their level of industrialization was low and uneven, with a single dominant member (the Soviet Union) producing 70% of the community national product. In the late 1980s, there were ten full members:

2560-666: A formal or informal way, often the countries were discouraged from developing their own designs that competed with the main Comecon design. Although not formally part of the organization's hierarchy, the Conference of First Secretaries of Communist and Workers' Parties and of the Heads of Government of the Comecon Member Countries was Comecon's most important organ. These party and government leaders gathered for conference meetings regularly to discuss topics of mutual interest. Because of

2720-521: A gold–silver ratio of 15.2, higher than prevailing ratios in Continental Europe. Great Britain was therefore de jure under a bimetallic standard with gold serving as the cheaper and more reliable currency compared to clipped silver (full-weight silver coins did not circulate and went to Europe where 21 shillings fetched over a guinea in gold). Several factors helped extend the British gold standard into

2880-618: A high number of passenger seats, and was lightweight. According to the designers, the train was technologically more advanced than the trains used in New York's Subway, London's Tube or the Paris Metro. However, due to the plan of Comecon, older Soviet trains were used, which guaranteed profit for the Soviet Union and work for workers in Soviet factories. That economical change lead to the cancellation of

3040-461: A lesser extent, Hungary and Poland. (This principle would weaken after 1968, as it became clear that it discouraged new research – and as the Soviet Union itself began to have more marketable technologies.) In a recent paper by Faudot, Nenovsky and Marinova (2022) the functioning and the collapse of the Comecon has been studied. It focuses on the evolution of the monetary mechanisms and some technical problems of multilateral payments and

3200-526: A more "law-governed" and technocratic price-based approach. However, with the August 1948 death of Andrei Zhdanov , Voznesensky lost his patron and was soon accused of treason as part of the Leningrad Affair ; within two years he was dead in prison. Instead, what won out was a "physical planning" approach that strengthened the role of central governments over technocrats. At the same time, the effort to create

3360-466: A nearly complete halt, as the Soviet Union moved domestically toward autarky and internationally toward an "embassy system of meddling in other countries' affairs directly" rather than by "constitutional means" . Comecon's scope was officially limited in November 1950 to "practical questions of facilitating trade." One important legacy of this brief period of activity was the "Sofia Principle", adopted at

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3520-925: A producer and any foreign customer, limiting the ability to learn to adjust to foreign customers' needs. Furthermore, there was often strong political pressure to keep the best products for domestic use in each country. From the early 1950s to Comecon's demise in the early 1990s, intra-Comecon trade, except for Soviet petroleum, was in steady decline. Beginning no later than the early 1970s, Soviet petroleum and natural gas were routinely transferred within Comecon at below-market rates. Most Western commentators have viewed this as implicit, politically motivated subsidization of shaky economies to defuse discontent and reward compliance with Soviet wishes. Other commentators say that this may not have been deliberate policy, noting that whenever prices differ from world market prices, there will be winners and losers. They argue that this may have been simply an unforeseen consequence of two factors:

3680-433: A series of changes between 1935 and 1957 as new Soviet republics were added or created, this can be noted by the number of "ribbons" wrapped around the wheat sheaves. This coin series remained in circulation during and after the monetary reform of 1947 and was finally discontinued in 1961. 1945–1946 1948–1957 1945–1946 1948–1957 1945–1946 1948–1957 1945–1946 1948–1957 1948–1957 1948–1957 1948–1957 In August 1941,

3840-504: A single regime of planning "common economic organization" with the ability to set plans throughout the Comecon region also came to nought. A protocol to create such a system was signed January 18, 1949, but never ratified. While historians are not unanimous on why this was stymied, it clearly threatened the sovereignty not only of the smaller states but even of the Soviet Union itself, since an international body would have had real power; Stalin clearly preferred informal means of intervention in

4000-491: A standard of this type was made by Holland. The free coinage of silver was suspended in 1877. But the currency continued to consist mainly of silver and paper. It has been maintained since that date at a constant value in terms of gold by the Bank's regularly providing gold when it is required for export and by its using its authority at the same time for restricting so far as possible the use of gold at home. To make this policy possible,

4160-571: A switch to gold by several European countries in the 1870s and led as well to the suspension of the unlimited minting of silver 5-franc coins in the Latin Monetary Union in 1873. The following countries switched from silver or bimetallic currencies to gold in the following years (Britain is included for completeness): The gold standard became the basis for the international monetary system after 1873. According to economic historian Barry Eichengreen , "only then did countries settle on gold as

4320-451: Is a diminutive form of the Russian kop'yo ( копьё )—a spear. The reason for this is that a horseman armed with a spear was stamped on one of the faces of the coin. The first kopeck coins, minted at Novgorod and Pskov from about 1534 onwards, show a horseman with a spear. From the 1540s onwards the horseman bears a crown, and doubtless the intention was to represent Ivan the Terrible , who

4480-654: Is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is based on a fixed quantity of gold . The gold standard was the basis for the international monetary system from the 1870s to the early 1920s, and from the late 1920s to 1932 as well as from 1944 until 1971 when the United States unilaterally terminated convertibility of the US dollar to gold, effectively ending the Bretton Woods system . Many states nonetheless hold substantial gold reserves . Historically,

4640-473: Is preserved in modern Russia; for example: Tatar for 'ruble' and 'kopeck' are сум ( sum ) and тиен ( tiyen ). The current names of several currencies of Central Asia are simply the local names of the ruble. Finnish last appeared on 1947 banknotes since the Karelo-Finnish SSR was dissolved in 1956. The name of the currency in the languages of the fifteen republics, in the order they appeared in

4800-407: Is the only possible means of bringing China onto a gold basis ... The classical gold standard of the late 19th century was therefore not merely a superficial switch from circulating silver to circulating gold. The bulk of silver currency was actually replaced by banknotes and token currency whose gold value was guaranteed by gold bullion and other reserve assets held inside central banks. In turn,

4960-669: The Eurasian Economic Union with Armenia , Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Along with Ukraine, Georgia , Azerbaijan and Moldova are also part of the GUAM . Vietnam and Laos joined the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1995 and 1997 respectively. Albania had stopped participating in Comecon activities in 1961 following the Soviet–Albanian split , but formally withdrew in 1987. East Germany reunified with

Soviet ruble - Misplaced Pages Continue

5120-576: The New Economic Policy in 1921 came efforts to revive as currency and accounting unit the pre-war gold standard ruble, equal to 1 ⁄ 10 of a chervonets (with Rbls 10. equal to 8.602 g of 90% fine gold, then equal to US$ 5.14). The gold ruble existed in parallel with the paper ruble of 1917–1922, which continued to depreciate versus the former, climbing to 50 billion paper rubles per gold ruble in March 1924. Coins : The first coinage after

5280-670: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development . All four Central European states are now members of the Visegrád Group . Russia, the successor to the Soviet Union, along with Ukraine and Belarus founded the Commonwealth of Independent States which consists of most of the ex-Soviet republics. The country also leads the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation with Kazakhstan , Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan and

5440-528: The Russian Civil War was minted in 1921–1923 according to pre-war Czarist standards, with silver coins of 10, 15 and 20 kopecks minted in 50% silver, 50 kopecks ("poltinnik" or 1 ⁄ 2 ruble) and 1 ruble in 90% silver, and 10 rubles (one chervonets ) in 90% gold. These coins bore the emblem and legends of the RSFSR (Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic) and depicted the famous slogan, "Workers of

5600-618: The Straits dollar of 24.26 g silver was fixed at 28 pence (or £1 = 8 4 ⁄ 7 dollars; ratio 28.4). Nearly similar gold standards were implemented in Japan in 1897, in the Philippines in 1903, and in Mexico in 1905 when the previous yen or peso of 24.26 g silver was redefined to approximately 0.75 g gold or half a U.S. dollar (ratio 32.3). Japan gained the needed gold reserves after

5760-593: The USSR (Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics) . The "Workers of the World" slogan was carried forward. Coins issued 1921–1923 representing the gold ruble continued to circulate at par with this post-1924 ruble. Copper coins were minted in two types; plain edge and reeded edge, with the plain-edged types being the fewest in number. The 1 Rbl coin was only issued in 1924, the poltinnik (or Rbl  1 ⁄ 2 )

5920-541: The West and withdrew from Comecon on 2 October 1990. In the late 1950s, a number of communist-ruled non-member countries – the People's Republic of China , North Korea , Mongolia , Vietnam , and Yugoslavia  – were invited to participate as observers in Comecon sessions. Although Mongolia and Vietnam later gained full membership, China stopped attending Comecon sessions after 1961. Yugoslavia negotiated

6080-529: The silver standard and bimetallism have been more common than the gold standard. The shift to an international monetary system based on a gold standard reflected accident, network externalities , and path dependence . Great Britain accidentally adopted a de facto gold standard in 1717 when Isaac Newton , then-master of the Royal Mint , set the exchange rate of silver to gold too low, thus causing silver coins to go out of circulation. As Great Britain became

6240-511: The "gold points" (in the example above, cases existed of the pound climbing above 25.42 francs or falling below 25.02 francs). Central banks were found to pursue other objectives other than fixed exchange rates to gold (like e.g., lower domestic prices, or stopping huge gold outflows), though such behavior is limited by public credibility on their adherence to the gold standard. Keynes described such violations occurring before 1913 by French banks limiting gold payouts to 200 francs per head and charging

6400-482: The "rules" actually observed during the classical gold standard era from 1873 to 1914, however, reveal how much more powerful national central banks actually are in influencing price levels and specie flows, compared to the "self-correcting" flows predicted by the price-specie flow mechanism. Keynes premised the "rules of the game" on best practices of central banks to implement the pre-1914 international gold standard, namely: Central banks were also expected to maintain

6560-459: The 1780s, Thomas Jefferson , Robert Morris and Alexander Hamilton recommended to Congress that a decimal currency system be adopted by the United States. The initial recommendation in 1785 was a silver standard based on the Spanish milled dollar (finalized at 371.25 grains or 24.0566 g fine silver), but in the final version of the Coinage Act of 1792 Hamilton's recommendation to include

Soviet ruble - Misplaced Pages Continue

6720-406: The 1930s). Essentially, by the time the Soviet Union was calling for tight economic integration, they no longer had the power to impose it. Despite some slow headway – integration increased in petroleum, electricity, and other technical/scientific sectors – and the 1963 founding of an International Bank for Economic Co-operation, Comecon countries all increased trade with

6880-503: The 1967 series of the small denominations were the same circumference but thicker than general issues. Initially, commemorative rubles were struck in the same alloy as other circulating coins until 1975, when its composition was changed to higher-quality copper-nickel with zinc excluded. Its specifications (31 mm diameter, 12.8 grams) were nearly identical to those of the 5- Swiss franc coin (31.45 mm, 13.2 g, cupronickel) worth approx. €4.39 or US$ 5.09 as of August 2018, resulting in

7040-526: The 19th century, namely: A proclamation from Queen Anne in 1704 introduced the British West Indies to the gold standard; however, it did not result in the wide use of gold currency and the gold standard, given Britain's mercantilist policy of hoarding gold and silver from its colonies for use at home. Prices were quoted de jure in gold pounds sterling but were rarely paid in gold; the colonists' de facto daily medium of exchange and unit of account

7200-453: The 19th century. Gold functioned as a medium for international trade and high-value transactions, but it generally fluctuated in price versus everyday silver money. A bimetallic standard emerged under a silver standard in the process of giving popular gold coins like ducats a fixed value in terms of silver. In light of fluctuating gold–silver ratios in other countries, bimetallic standards were rather unstable and de facto transformed into

7360-432: The August 1949 Comecon council session in Bulgaria. This radically weakened intellectual property rights, making each country's technologies available to the others for a nominal charge that did little more than cover the cost of documentation. This, naturally, benefited the less industrialized Comecon countries, and especially the technologically lagging Soviet Union, at the expense of East Germany and Czechoslovakia and, to

7520-563: The Bank of Holland has kept a reserve, of a moderate and economical amount, partly in gold, partly in foreign bills. Since the Indian system (gold exchange standard implemented in 1893) has been perfected and its provisions generally known, it has been widely imitated both in Asia and elsewhere ... Something similar has existed in Java under Dutch influences for many years ... The Gold-Exchange Standard

7680-598: The Comecon members deemed underdeveloped, Cuba obtained oil in direct exchange for sugar at a rate highly favorable to Cuba. Within the socialist economic paradigm, the subsidies in favor of Cuba and other underdeveloped Comecon members were viewed as rational and fair because they counteracted unequal exchange . The organization of Comecon was officially focused on common expansion of states, more effective production and building relationships between countries within. And as in every planned economy, operations did not reflect state of market, innovations, availability of items or

7840-474: The Council Committee for Cooperation in Planning drew up draft agreements for joint projects, adopted a resolution approving these projects, and recommended approval to the concerned parties. If its decisions were not subject to approval by national governments and parties, this committee would be considered Comecon's supranational planning body. The international Secretariat, Comecon's only permanent body,

8000-537: The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, officially the highest Comecon organ, examined fundamental problems of economic integration and directed the activities of the Secretariat and other subordinate organizations. Delegations from each Comecon member country attended these meetings. Prime ministers usually headed the delegations, which met during the second quarter of each year in a member country's capital (the location of

8160-537: The Economic Commission for Europe. Some say that Stalin's precise motives in establishing Comecon were "inscrutable" They may well have been "more negative than positive", with Stalin "more anxious to keep other powers out of neighbouring buffer states … than to integrate them." Furthermore, GATT 's notion of ostensibly nondiscriminatory treatment of trade partners was thought to be incompatible with notions of socialist solidarity. In any event, proposals for

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8320-526: The European Community (the renamed EEC), and the " Sinatra doctrine " under which the Soviet Union allowed that change would be the exclusive affair of each individual country marked the beginning of the end for Comecon. Although the Revolutions of 1989 did not formally end Comecon, and the Soviet government itself lasted until 1991, the March 1990 meeting in Prague was little more than a formality, discussing

8480-614: The OEEC, which later became the OECD . The Comecon was founded in 1949 by the Soviet Union , Bulgaria , Czechoslovakia , Hungary , Poland , and Romania . The primary factors in Comecon's formation appear to have been Joseph Stalin 's desire to cooperate and strengthen the international relationships at an economic level with the smaller states of Central Europe, and which were now, increasingly, cut off from their traditional markets and suppliers in

8640-656: The Paris Conference on the European Recovery Programme. This has been described as "the moment of truth" in the post- World War II division of Europe. According to the Soviet view the "Anglo-American bloc" and "American monopolists ... whose interests had nothing in common with those of the European people" had spurned east–west collaboration within the framework agreed within the United Nations, that is, through

8800-710: The R1 trains by A. Honzík. The Comecon plan, though more profitable for the Soviets, if less resourceful for the Czechs and Slovaks, forced the Czechoslovak government to buy trains "Ečs (81-709)" and "81-71", both of which were designed in early 1950s and were heavy, unreliable and expensive. (Materials available only in Czech Republic and Slovakia, video included) On the other hand, Czechoslovak trams ( Tatra T3 ) and jet trainers ( L-29 ) were

8960-486: The Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895. For Japan, moving to gold was considered vital for gaining access to Western capital markets. In the 1920s John Maynard Keynes retrospectively developed the phrase "rules of the game" to describe how central banks would ideally implement a gold standard during the prewar classical era, assuming international trade flows followed the ideal price–specie flow mechanism . Violations of

9120-648: The Soviet Union , the Soviet ruble continued to be used in the post-Soviet states , forming a "ruble zone", until it was replaced with the Russian ruble in September 1993. The word ruble is derived from the Slavic verb рубить , rubit' , i.e., 'to chop'. Historically, a "ruble" was a piece of a certain weight chopped off a silver ingot ( grivna ), hence the name. The word kopeck or copeck (in Russian: копейка kopeyka )

9280-570: The Soviet Union in the Warsaw Pact . There were three kinds of relationships – besides the 10 full memberships – with the Comecon: Working with neither meaningful exchange rates nor a market economy, Comecon countries had to look to world markets as a reference point for prices, but unlike agents acting in a market, prices tended to be stable over a period of years, rather than constantly fluctuating, which assisted central planning. Also, there

9440-444: The Soviet Union, six East European countries, and three extra-regional members. Geography, therefore, no longer united Comecon members. Wide variations in economic size and level of economic development also tended to generate divergent interests among the member countries. All these factors combined to give rise to significant differences in the member states' expectations about the benefits to be derived from membership in Comecon. Unity

9600-695: The Treasury notes depicted floral artistic designs. All denominations were colored and patterned in a similar fashion to late Czarist notes. In 1957, all these notes were reissued with the old date but modified design: following the abolition of the Karelo-Finnish SSR , the number of ribbons on the state emblem was reduced from 16 to 15, and the nominal in Finnish was removed from the obverse. [REDACTED] [REDACTED] The 1961 redenomination introduced 1 new ruble equal to 10 old rubles and restated all wages, prices and financial records into new rubles. It differed from

9760-797: The USSR State Treasury (Государственный казначейский билет, Gosudarstvenny kaznacheyskiy bilet ) in denominations of 1, 3 and 5 rubles, and by the USSR State Bank (билет Государственного банка, Bilet gosudarstvennogo banka ) in denominations of 10, 25, 50 and 100 rubles. Colors are similar to the previous series but notes were much smaller in size. 5-pointed stars Comecon The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Russian: Сове́т Экономи́ческой Взаимопо́мощи , romanized : Sovét Ekonomícheskoy Vzaimopómoshchi , Russian: СЭВ , romanized : SEV ; English abbreviation COMECON , CMEA , CEMA , or CAME )

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9920-499: The West relatively more than with one another. From its founding until 1967, Comecon had operated only on the basis of unanimous agreements. It had become increasingly obvious that the result was usually failure. In 1967, Comecon adopted the "interested party principle", under which any country could opt out of any project they chose, still allowing the other member states to use Comecon mechanisms to coordinate their activities. In principle,

10080-416: The auspices of Comecon; compilation of digests on Comecon activities; conduct of economic and other research for Comecon members; and preparation of recommendations on various issues concerning Comecon operations. In 1956, eight standing commissions were set up to help Comecon make recommendations pertaining to specific economic sectors. The commissions have been rearranged and renamed a number of times since

10240-418: The banknotes: Note that the scripts for Uzbek , Azerbaijani , Turkmen and gradually Kazakh have switched from Cyrillic to Latin since the breakup of the Soviet Union . Moldovan has switched to Latin and is once again referred to as Romanian . These fifteen names derive from four roots: The first ruble issued for the Soviet government was a preliminary issue still based on the previous issue of

10400-401: The basis for their money supplies. Only then were pegged exchange rates based on the gold standard firmly established." Adopting and maintaining a singular monetary arrangement encouraged international trade and investment by stabilizing international price relationships and facilitating foreign borrowing. The gold standard was not firmly established in non-industrial countries. As feared by

10560-465: The confiscatory nature of the 1947 reform when banknotes were reduced to 1 ⁄ 10 of their value but wages and prices remained the same. Its parity to the US dollar underwent a devaluation, however, from US$ 1 = 4 old rubles (0.4 new ruble) to US$ 1 = 0.9 new ruble (or 90 kopecks). It implies a gold parity of Rbls 31.50 per troy ounce or Rbl 1 = 0.987412 gram of gold, but this exchange for gold

10720-588: The coordination of non-existent five-year plans. From January 1, 1991, the countries shifted their dealings with one another to a hard currency market basis. The result was a radical decrease in trade with one another, as "(Central and) Eastern Europe… exchanged asymmetrical trade dependence on the Soviet Union for an equally asymmetrical commercial dependence on the European Community." The final Comecon council session took place on June 28, 1991, in Budapest , and led to an agreement to dissolve in 90 days. The Soviet Union

10880-415: The currency was revalued again at a rate of 10:1, but this time a new coinage was introduced in denominations of 1, 2, 3 and 5 kopecks in aluminium-bronze, and 10, 15, 20 and 50 kopecks and 1 ruble in cupro-nickel-zinc. Like previous issues, the front featured the state arms and title while the back depicted date and denomination. The 50-kopeck and 1-ruble coins dated 1961 had plain edges, but starting in 1964,

11040-518: The decline of the Byzantine Empire's economic influence. However, economic systems using gold as the sole currency and unit of account never emerged before the 18th century. For millennia it was silver, not gold, which was the real basis of the domestic economies: the foundation for most money-of-account systems, for payment of wages and salaries, and for most local retail trade. Gold functioning as currency and unit of account for daily transactions

11200-638: The defense industry. This meant many coins were being produced in only limited quantities, with some denominations being skipped altogether until the crisis finally abated in late 1944. These disruptions led to severe coin shortages in many regions. Limits were put in place on how much change could be carried in coins with limits of 3 Rbls for individuals and 10 Rbls for vendors to prevent hoarding as coins became increasingly high in demand. Only high inflation and wartime rationing helped ease pressure significantly. In some instances, postage stamps and coupons were being used in place of small denomination coins. It

11360-420: The deliberate elimination of barriers to trade and other forms of interaction"). Although such equalization had not been a pivotal point in the formation and implementation of Comecon's economic policies, improved economic integration had always been Comecon's goal. While such integration was to remain a goal, and while Bulgaria became yet more tightly integrated with the Soviet Union, progress in this direction

11520-417: The developing international financial system. Due to the inflationary finance measures undertaken to help pay for the U.S. Civil War , the government found it difficult to pay its obligations in gold or silver and suspended payments of obligations not legally specified in specie (gold bonds); this led banks to suspend the conversion of bank liabilities (bank notes and deposits) into specie. In 1862 paper money

11680-495: The direction appeared to be toward a coordination of national economic plans, but with no coercive authority from Comecon itself. All decisions would require unanimous ratification, and even then governments would separately translate these into policy. Then in summer 1950, probably unhappy with the favorable implications for the effective individual and collective sovereignty of the smaller states, Stalin "seems to have taken [Comecon's] personnel by surprise," bringing operations to

11840-489: The edges were lettered with the denomination and date. All 1926–1957 coins were then withdrawn from circulation and demonetized, with the majority melted down. Commemorative coins of the Soviet Union : in 1965, the first circulation commemorative ruble coin was released celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany , during this year the first uncirculated mint-coin sets were also released and restrictions on coin collecting were eased. In 1967,

12000-413: The establishment of the first eight. In 1986 there were twenty-four standing commissions, each headquartered in the capital of a member country and headed by one of that country's leading authorities in the field addressed by the commission. The Secretariat supervised the actual operations of the commissions. The standing commissions had authority only to make recommendations, which had then to be approved by

12160-422: The executive committee or its specialized committees. The scientific institutes on standardization and on economic problems of the world economic system concerned themselves with theoretical problems of international cooperation. Both were headquartered in Moscow and were staffed by experts from various member countries. Several affiliated agencies, having a variety of relationships with Comecon, existed outside

12320-478: The executive committee, presented to the Session, and ratified by the interested member countries. Commissions usually met twice a year in Moscow. The six interstate conferences (on water management, internal trade, legal matters, inventions and patents , pricing, and labor affairs) served as forums for discussing shared issues and experiences. They were purely consultative and generally acted in an advisory capacity to

12480-400: The form of circulating gold sovereigns as well as banknotes that were convertible at par into sovereigns or Bank of England banknotes. Canada introduced its own gold dollar in 1867 at par with the U.S. gold dollar and with a fixed exchange rate to the gold sovereign. Up until 1850 only Britain and a few of its colonies were on the gold standard, with the majority of other countries being on

12640-588: The gold bullion standard. The use of gold as money began around 600 BCE in Asia Minor and has been widely accepted ever since, together with various other commodities used as money , with those that lose the least value over time becoming the accepted form. In the early and high Middle Ages , the Byzantine gold solidus or bezant was used widely throughout Europe and the Mediterranean, but its use waned with

12800-468: The gold exchange standard was just one step away from modern fiat currency with banknotes issued by central banks, and whose value is secured by the bank's reserve assets, but whose exchange value is determined by the central bank's monetary policy objectives on its purchasing power in lieu of a fixed equivalence to gold. The final chapter of the classical gold standard ending in 1914 saw the gold exchange standard extended to many Asian countries by fixing

12960-408: The gold it professes to represent; and he suggested that convertibility for the purposes of the foreign exchanges should be ensured by the tendering on demand of gold bars (not coin) in exchange for notes, so that gold might be available for purposes of export only, and would be prevented from entering into the internal circulation of the country. The first crude attempt in recent times at establishing

13120-567: The gold price relative to silver; this drove silver money from circulation because it was worth more in the market than as money. Passage of the Independent Treasury Act of 1848 placed the U.S. on a strict hard-money standard. Doing business with the American government required gold or silver coins. Government accounts were legally separated from the banking system. However, the mint ratio (the fixed exchange rate between gold and silver at

13280-537: The gold standard has three benefits that made its use popular during certain historical periods: "its record as a stable nominal anchor; its automaticity; and its role as a credible commitment mechanism." The gold standard is supported by many followers of the Austrian School , free-market libertarians , and some supply-siders . The United Kingdom slipped into a gold specie standard in 1717 by over-valuing gold at 15 + 1 ⁄ 5 times its weight in silver. It

13440-708: The gold standard on the ideal assumption of international trade operating under the price–specie flow mechanism proposed by economist David Hume wherein: In practice, however, specie flows during the classical gold standard era failed to exhibit the self-corrective behavior described above. Gold finding its way back from surplus to deficit countries to exploit price differences was a painfully slow process, and central banks found it far more effective to raise or lower domestic price levels by lowering or raising domestic interest rates. High price level countries may raise interest rates to lower domestic demand and prices, but it may also trigger gold inflows from investors – contradicting

13600-608: The gold standard while guaranteeing the exchangeability of huge amounts of legacy silver coins into gold at the fixed rate (rather than valuing publicly held silver at its depreciated value). The term limping standard is often used in countries maintaining significant amounts of silver coin at par with gold, thus an additional element of uncertainty with the currency's value versus gold. The most common silver coins kept at limping standard parity included French 5-franc coins , German 3-mark thalers , Dutch guilders , Indian rupees , and U.S. Morgan dollars . Lastly, countries may implement

13760-600: The hands of private individuals. Amounts of Rbls 3,000 or less in individual private bank accounts were not revalued, while salaries remained the same. This revaluation coincided with the end of wartime rationing and efforts to lower prices and curtail inflation, though the effects in some cases actually resulted in higher inflation. Unlike other reforms, this one did not affect coins. In 1947, State Treasury notes were introduced in denominations of 1, 3 and 5 rubles, along with State Bank notes for denominations of 10, 25, 50 and 100 rubles. The State Bank notes depicted Lenin while

13920-489: The idea that the gold standard "was effective in stabilizing prices and moderating business-cycle fluctuations during the nineteenth century." The consensus view among economists is that the gold standard helped prolong and deepen the Great Depression . Historically, banking crises were more common during periods under the gold standard while currency crises were less common. According to economist Michael D. Bordo ,

14080-704: The introduction of the " convertible rouble  [ ru ] ", revised efforts at national specialization, and a 1959 charter modeled after the 1957 Treaty of Rome . Once again, efforts at transnational central planning failed. In December 1961, a council session approved the Basic Principles of the International Socialist Division of Labour, which talked of closer coordination of plans and of "concentrating production of similar products in one or several socialist countries." In November 1962, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev followed this up with

14240-520: The languages of the then four constituent republics of the Union: Russian SFSR , Transcaucasian SFSR ( Azerbaijani , Armenian , and Georgian ), Ukrainian SSR and Byelorussian SSR . They were dated 1923 and were in denominations of 10,000, 15,000, and 25,000 rubles. After Joseph Stalin 's consolidation of power following the death of Lenin, a final redenomination occurred which replaced all previously issued currencies. The fourth Soviet ruble

14400-485: The large scale use of (now worthless) Soviet commemorative coins to defraud automated vending machines in Switzerland years after they have been demonetized. Starting in 1991 with the final year of the 1961 coin series, both kopeck and ruble coins began depicting the mint marks (М) for Moscow, and (Л) for Leningrad. 1965–1991 1965–1991 1965–1991 1965–1991 1965–1991 1964–1991 1964–1991 Banknotes were issued by

14560-402: The latter climbed to Rbls 50,000 in 1924. Only paper money was issued, in the form of state currency notes in denominations of 50 kopecks and 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 250, 500, 1,000, 5,000, and 10,000 rubles. In early 1924, just before the next redenomination, the first paper money was issued in the name of the USSR , featuring the state emblem with six bands around the wheat, representing

14720-526: The limping standard of freely circulating legacy silver coins in order to prevent the further deterioration of the gold–silver ratio which reached 20 in the 1880s. After 1890 however, silver's price decline could not be prevented further and the gold–silver ratio rose sharply above 30. In 1893 the Indian rupee of 10.69 g fine silver was fixed at 16 British pence (or £1 = 15 rupees; gold–silver ratio 21.9), with legacy silver rupees remaining legal tender. In 1906

14880-527: The meeting was determined by a system of rotation based on Cyrillic script ). All interested parties had to consider recommendations handed down by the Session. A treaty or other kind of legal agreement implemented adopted recommendations. Comecon itself might adopt decisions only on organizational and procedural matters pertaining to itself and its organs. Each country appointed one permanent representative to maintain relations between members and Comecon between annual meetings. An extraordinary Session, such as

15040-438: The melt value of the silver 10-, 15- and 20-kopeck coins. Soviet authorities scapegoated "hoarders" and "exchange speculators" as responsible for the shortages, and confiscatory measures were taken. In 1931, the remaining silver coins were replaced with redesigned cupro-nickel coins depicting a male worker holding up a shield which contained the denominations of each. All silver coins were to be returned and melted down. In 1935,

15200-583: The mid-1970s. They were largely unaffected by the 1973 oil crisis . Another short-term economic gain in this period was that détente brought opportunities for investment and technology transfers from the West . This also led to an importation of Western cultural attitudes, especially in Central Europe. However, many undertakings based on Western technology were less than successful (for example, Poland's Ursus tractor factory did not do well with technology licensed from Massey Ferguson ); other investment

15360-429: The mint) continued to overvalue gold. In 1853, silver coins 50 cents and below were reduced in silver content and cannot be requested for minting by the general public (only the U.S. government can request for it). In 1857 the legal tender status of Spanish dollars and other foreign coinage was repealed. In 1857 the final crisis of the free banking era began as American banks suspended payment in silver, with ripples through

15520-723: The minting of exportable gold coins and silver dollars in order to divert the United States Mint 's limited resources into fractional coins which stayed in circulation. The United States also embarked on establishing a national bank with the First Bank of the United States in 1791 and the Second Bank of the United States in 1816. In 1836, President Andrew Jackson failed to extend the Second Bank's charter, reflecting his sentiments against banking institutions as well as his preference for

15680-465: The national currency, it is a matter of comparative indifference whether it actually forms the national currency ... The Gold-Exchange Standard may be said to exist when gold does not circulate in a country to an appreciable extent, when the local currency is not necessarily redeemable in gold, but when the Government or Central Bank makes arrangements for the provision of foreign remittances in gold at

15840-450: The official Comecon hierarchy. They served to develop "direct links between appropriate bodies and organizations of Comecon member countries." These affiliated agencies were divided into two categories: intergovernmental economic organizations (which worked on a higher level in the member countries and generally dealt with a wider range of managerial and coordinative activities) and international economic organizations (which worked closer to

16000-522: The one in December 1985, might be held with the consent of at least one-third of the members. Such meetings usually took place in Moscow. The highest executive organ in Comecon, the executive committee, was entrusted with elaborating policy recommendations and supervising their implementation between sessions. In addition, it supervised work on plan coordination and scientific-technical cooperation. Composed of one representative from each member country, usually

16160-884: The operational level of research, production, or trade). A few examples of the former are the International Bank for Economic Cooperation (managed the transferable rouble system), the International Investment Bank (in charge of financing joint projects), and Intermetall (encouraged cooperation in ferrous metallurgy ). International economic organizations generally took the form of either joint enterprises, international economic associations or unions, or international economic partnerships. The latter included Interatominstrument (nuclear machinery producers), Intertekstilmash (textile machinery producers), and Haldex (a Hungarian-Polish joint enterprise for reprocessing coal slag). Gold standard A gold standard

16320-430: The other Comecon states. This lack of either rationality or international central planning tended to promote autarky in each Comecon country because none fully trusted the others to deliver goods and services. With few exceptions, foreign trade in the Comecon countries was a state monopoly , and the state agencies and captive trading companies were often corrupt. Even at best, this tended to put several removes between

16480-399: The parity of circulating rubles with the gold ruble, which already failed to take hold as early as 1925. In 1924, copper and silver coins were again minted to pre-war Czarist standards, in denominations of 1 ⁄ 2 , 1, 2, 3 and 5 kopecks in copper, 10, 15 and 20 kopecks in 50% silver, and 50 kopecks and 1 ruble in 90% silver. From this issue onward, the coins were minted in the name of

16640-635: The peculiarities of the transfer ruble. Comecon as an organization proved unable to develop multilateralism mainly because of issues related to domestic planning that encouraged autarky and, at best, bilateral exchanges. After Stalin's death in 1953, Comecon again began to find its footing. In the early 1950s, all Comecon countries had adopted relatively autarkic policies; now they began again to discuss developing complementary specialties, and in 1956, ten permanent standing committees arose, intended to facilitate coordination in these matters. The Soviet Union began to trade oil for Comecon manufactured goods. There

16800-426: The premise that gold will flow out of countries with high price levels. Developed economies deciding to buy or sell domestic assets to international investors also turned out to be more effective in influencing gold flows than the self-correcting mechanism predicted by Hume. Another set of violations to the "rules of the game" involved central banks not intervening in a timely manner even as exchange rates went outside

16960-501: The previous year. Although the Cominform was disbanded in 1956, interparty links continued to be strong among Comecon members, and all participated in periodic international conferences of communist parties. Comecon provided a mechanism through which its leading member, the Soviet Union, sought to foster economic links with and among its closest political and military allies. The East European members of Comecon were also militarily allied with

17120-414: The problems they had been intended to solve. One economic success of the 1970s was the development of Soviet oil fields. While doubtless "(Central and) East Europeans resented having to defray some of the costs of developing the economy of their hated overlord and oppressor," they benefited from low prices for fuel and other mineral products. As a result, Comecon economies generally showed strong growth in

17280-478: The rank of conference participants, their decisions had considerable influence on the actions taken by Comecon and its organs. The official hierarchy of Comecon consisted of the Session of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, the executive committee of the council, the Secretariat of the council, four council committees, twenty-four standing commissions, six interstate conferences, two scientific institutes, and several associated organizations. The Session of

17440-403: The ratio is below 15.5, and silver 5-franc coins whenever the ratio is above 15.5. The United States dollar was also bimetallic de jure until 1900, worth either 24.0566 g fine silver, or 1.60377 g fine gold (ratio 15.0); the latter revised to 1.50463 g fine gold (ratio 15.99) from 1837 to 1934. The silver dollar was generally the cheaper currency before 1837, while the gold dollar

17600-506: The rest of Europe. Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland had remained interested in Marshall aid despite the requirements for a convertible currency and market economies . These requirements, which would inevitably have resulted in stronger economic ties to free European markets than to the Soviet Union, were not acceptable to Stalin, who in July 1947, ordered these communist governments to pull out of

17760-439: The reverse of the 10-, 15- and 20-kopeck coins were redesigned again with a simpler Art Decor -inspired design, with the obverse of all denominations also redesigned, having the "Workers of the world, unite!" slogan dropped. The change of the obverse designs did not affect the smaller coins immediately, as some 1935 issues bore the "Workers of the World" design while some bore the new "CCCP" design. The state emblem also went through

17920-399: The rise to power of Soviet general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev increased Soviet influence in Comecon operations and led to attempts to give Comecon some degree of supranational authority. The Comprehensive Program for Scientific and Technical Progress was designed to improve economic cooperation through the development of a more efficient and interconnected scientific and technical base. This

18080-620: The ruble prior to the Russian Revolution of 1917 . They are all in banknote form and started their issue in 1919. At this time other issues were made by the white Russian government and other governing bodies. During that time, the Russian economy suffered from hyperinflation . Denominations were as follows: 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 15, 25, 50, 60, 100, 250, 500, 1,000, 5,000, 10,000, 25,000, 50,000, and 100,000 rubles. Short-term treasury certificates were also issued to supplement banknote issue in 1,000,000, 5,000,000, and 10,000,000 rubles. These issue

18240-399: The same basic design and became the most likely for release. Indeed, they were mass-produced before the plan was scrapped and a majority of them were melted down. During this time, 1957 coins would continue to be restruck off old dies until the new coin series was officially released in 1961. This series is considered the most valuable of Soviet issues due to their scarcity. On 1 January 1961,

18400-413: The shilling [12 pence] of 5.57 g fine silver). Hence the pound sterling was originally 324 g fine silver reduced to 111.36 g by 1601. The problem of clipped, underweight silver pennies and shillings was a persistent, unresolved issue from the late 17th century to the early 19th century. In 1717 the value of the gold guinea (of 7.6885 g fine gold) was fixed at 21 shillings, resulting in

18560-535: The silver North German thaler and South German gulden to the German gold mark , reflecting the sentiment of the first international monetary conference in 1867, and utilizing the 5 billion gold francs (worth 4.05 billion marks or 1,451 metric tons ) in indemnity demanded from France at the end of the Franco-Prussian War . This transition done by a large, centrally located European economy also triggered

18720-544: The silver standard. France and the United States were two of the more notable countries on the bimetallic standard . France's actions in maintaining the French franc at either 4.5 g fine silver or 0.29032 g fine gold stabilized world gold–silver price ratios close to the French ratio of 15.5 in the first three quarters of the 19th century by offering to mint the cheaper metal in unlimited quantities – gold 20-franc coins whenever

18880-447: The slow adjustment of Comecon prices during a time of rising oil and gas prices, and the fact that mineral resources were abundant in the Comecon sphere, relative to manufactured goods. A possible point of comparison is that there were also winners and losers under EEC agricultural policy in the same period. Russian and Kazakh oil kept the Comecon countries' oil prices low when the 1973 oil crisis quadrupled Western oil prices. As one of

19040-451: The specific needs of a country. One example came from former Czechoslovakia. In the 1970s, the Communist party of Czechoslovakia finally realized that there was a need for underground trains. Czechoslovak designers projected a cheap but technologically innovative underground train. The train was a state-of-the-art project, capable of moving underground or on the surface using standard rails, had

19200-478: The standard for all Comecon countries, including the USSR, and other countries could develop their own designs but only for their own needs, like Poland (respectively, Konstal trams and TS-11 jets). Poland was a manufacturer of light helicopters for Comecon countries ( Mi-2 of the Soviet design). The USSR developed their own model Kamov Ka-26 and Romania produced French helicopters under license for their own market. In

19360-538: The use of gold coins for large payments rather than privately issued banknotes. The return of gold could only be possible by reducing the dollar's gold equivalence, and in the Coinage Act of 1834 the gold–silver ratio was increased to 16.0 (ratio finalized in 1837 to 15.99 when the fine gold content of the $ 10 eagle was set at 232.2 grains or 15.0463 g). Gold discoveries in California in 1848 and later in Australia lowered

19520-404: The value of local currencies to gold or to the gold standard currency of a Western colonial power. The Netherlands East Indies guilder was the first Asian currency pegged to gold in 1875 via a gold exchange standard which maintained its parity with the gold Dutch guilder . Various international monetary conferences were called up until 1892, with various countries actually pledging to maintain

19680-567: The various international monetary conferences, the switch to gold, combined with record U.S. silver output from the Comstock Lode , plunged the price of silver after 1873 with the gold–silver ratio climbing to historic highs of 18 by 1880. Most of continental Europe made the conscious decision to move to the gold standard while leaving the mass of legacy (and erstwhile depreciated) silver coins remaining unlimited legal tender and convertible at face value for new gold currency. The term limping standard

19840-489: The wartime emergency prompted the minting facilities to be evacuated from the Neva district in Moscow and relocated to Permskaya Oblast as German forces continued to advance eastward. It only became possible to resume coin production in the autumn of 1942, for one year the country was using coins made before the war. Furthermore, the coins were made of what had suddenly become precious metals – copper and nickel, which were needed for

20000-483: The word "gold". Following World War II, the Soviet government implemented a confiscatory redenomination of its currency (decreed on December 14, 1947) to reduce the amount of money in circulation. The main purpose of this change was to prevent peasants who had accumulated cash by selling food at wartime prices from using this to buy consumer goods as the postwar recovery took hold. Old rubles were revalued at one tenth of their face value. This mainly affected paper money in

20160-451: The world's leading financial and commercial power in the 19th century, other states increasingly adopted Britain's monetary system. The gold standard was largely abandoned during the Great Depression before being re-instated in a limited form as part of the post- World War II Bretton Woods system . The gold standard was abandoned due to its propensity for volatility, as well as the constraints it imposed on governments: by retaining

20320-498: The world's leading financial and industrial powers of the 19th century while the United States was an emerging power. By the time the gold–silver ratio reverted to 15.5 in the 1860s, this bloc of gold-utilizing countries grew further and provided momentum to an international gold standard before the end of the 19th century: The international classical gold standard commenced in 1873 after the German Empire decided to transition from

20480-463: The world, Unite!". These coins would continue to circulate after the RSFSR was consolidated into the USSR with other Soviet Republics until the discontinuation of silver coinage in 1931. The third Soviet ruble was issued equal to 1,000,000 paper rubles of 1917–1922, simply to handle the unwieldiness over the number of digits in the first currency. Again it continued to depreciate versus the gold ruble until

20640-736: Was cooperation . The term integration was always avoided because of its connotations of monopolistic capitalist collusion. After the "special" council session of April 1969 and the development and adoption (in 1971) of the Comprehensive Program for the Further Extension and Improvement of Cooperation and the Further Development of Socialist Economic Integration by Comecon Member Countries, Comecon activities were officially termed integration (equalization of "differences in relative scarcities of goods and services between states through

20800-422: Was "to ensure the comprehensive examination and a multilateral settlement of the major problems of cooperation among member countries in the economy, science, and technology." All committees were headquartered in Moscow and usually met there. These committees advised the standing commissions, the Secretariat, the interstate conferences, and the scientific institutes in their areas of specialization. Their jurisdiction

20960-532: Was Comecon's primary economic research and administrative organ. The secretary, who has been a Soviet official since Comecon creation, was the official Comecon representative to Comecon member states and to other states and international organizations. Subordinate to the secretary were his deputy and the various departments of the Secretariat, which generally corresponded to the standing commissions. The Secretariat's responsibilities included preparation and organization of Comecon sessions and other meetings conducted under

21120-425: Was Grand Prince of all Russia until 1547, and Tsar thereafter. Subsequent mintings of the coin, starting in the 18th century, bear instead Saint George striking down a serpent. The Soviet currency had its own name in all the languages of the Soviet Union , often different from its Russian designation. All banknotes had the currency name and their nominal printed in the languages of every Soviet Republic . This naming

21280-429: Was a tendency to underprice raw materials relative to the manufactured goods produced in many of the Comecon countries. International barter helped preserve the Comecon countries' scarce hard currency reserves. In strict economic terms, barter inevitably harmed countries whose goods would have brought higher prices in the free market or whose imports could have been obtained more cheaply and benefitted those for whom it

21440-585: Was accomplished by growing the stock of money less rapidly than real output. By 1879 the market price of the greenback matched the mint price of gold, and according to Barry Eichengreen, the United States was effectively on the gold standard that year. The Coinage Act of 1873 (also known as the Crime of ‘73) suspended the minting of the standard silver dollar (of 412.5 grains, 90% fine), the only fully legal tender coin that individuals could convert silver bullion into in unlimited (or Free silver ) quantities, and right at

21600-464: Was an economic organization from 1949 to 1991 under the leadership of the Soviet Union that comprised the countries of the Eastern Bloc along with a number of socialist states elsewhere in the world. The descriptive term was often applied to all multilateral activities involving members of the organization, rather than being restricted to the direct functions of Comecon and its organs. This usage

21760-524: Was cheaper between 1837 and 1873. The nearly coincidental California gold rush of 1849 and the Australian gold rushes of 1851 significantly increased world gold supplies and the minting of gold francs and dollars as the gold–silver ratio went below 15.5, pushing France and the United States into the gold standard with Great Britain during the 1850s. The benefits of the gold standard were first felt by this larger bloc of countries, with Britain and France being

21920-809: Was dissolved on December 26, 1991. After the fall of the Soviet Union and communist rule in Eastern Europe, East Germany (now unified with West Germany ) automatically joined the European Union (then the European Community) in 1990. The Baltic States ( Estonia , Latvia and Lithuania ), Czech Republic , Hungary , Poland , Slovakia , and Slovenia joined the EU in 2004, followed by Bulgaria and Romania in 2007 and Croatia in 2013. To date, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany (former GDR), Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia are now members of

22080-472: Was equal to 50,000 rubles of the third issue, or 50 billion paper rubles of the first issue, and began at par with the gold ruble ( 1 ⁄ 10 chervonets). It built on the stability in the exchange value of the third ruble which happened towards the end of 1923. Coins began to be issued again in 1924, while paper money was issued in rubles for values below 10 rubles and in chervontsy for higher denominations. No chervontsy were issued in gold, just decrees on

22240-468: Was established at a Moscow economic conference January 5–8, 1949, at which the six founding member countries were represented; its foundation was publicly announced on January 25; Albania joined a month later and East Germany in 1950. Recent research by the Romanian researcher Elena Dragomir suggests that Romania played a rather important role in the Comecon's creation in 1949. Dragomir argues that Romania

22400-496: Was generally impossible to implement before the 19th century due to the absence of recently developed tools (like central banking institutions, banknotes, and token currencies), and that a gold exchange standard was even superior to Britain's gold specie standard with gold in circulation. As discussed by Keynes: The Gold-Exchange Standard arises out of the discovery that, so long as gold is available for payments of international indebtedness at an approximately constant rate in terms of

22560-463: Was generally wider than that of the standing commissions because they had the right to make policy recommendations to other Comecon organizations. The Council Committee for Cooperation in Planning was the most important of the four. It coordinated the national economic plans of Comecon members. As such, it ranked in importance only after the Session and the executive committee. Made up of the chairmen of Comecon members' national central planning offices,

22720-534: Was interested in the creation of a "system of cooperation" to improve its trade relations with the other people's democracies, especially with those able to export industrial equipment and machinery to Romania. According to Dragomir, in December 1948, the Romanian leader Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej sent a letter to Stalin, proposing the creation of the Comecon. At first, planning seemed to be moving along rapidly. After pushing aside Nikolai Voznesensky 's technocratic , price-based approach (see further discussion below ),

22880-410: Was issued 1924–27, and the denga (or 1 ⁄ 2  kop) was issued from 1925 to 1928. In 1926, smaller aluminium-bronze coins were minted to replace the large copper ones (1 to 5 kopecks), but were not released until 1928. The larger coins were then melted down. Stalin failed to maintain the ruble's value versus the gold ruble as early as 1925, and by 1930 its value even struggled to stay above

23040-451: Was made legal tender. It was a fiat money (not convertible on demand at a fixed rate into specie). These notes came to be called " greenbacks ". After the Civil War, Congress wanted to reestablish the metallic standard at pre-war rates. The market price of gold in greenbacks was above the pre-war fixed price ($ 20.67 per ounce of gold) requiring deflation to achieve the pre-war price. This

23200-450: Was much discussion of coordinating five-year plans . However, once again, trouble arose. The Polish protests and Hungarian uprising led to major social and economic changes, including the 1957 abandonment of the 1956–60 Soviet five-year plan , as the Comecon governments struggled to reestablish their legitimacy and popular support. The next few years saw a series of small steps toward increased trade and economic integration, including

23360-472: Was never available to the general public. Banknotes and coins of this series were designed by Ivan Dubasov . The 1958 pattern series: by 1958, plans for a monetary reform were underway and a number of coin pattern designs were being experimented with before implementation. The most notable of these was the 1958 series, in denominations of 1, 2, 3 and 5 kopecks in copper-zinc, and 10, 15, 20 and 50 kopecks and 1, 3 and 5 rubles in copper nickel. These coins all had

23520-560: Was not a success. "The Gorbachev regime made too many commitments on too many fronts, thereby overstretching and overheating the Soviet economy. Bottlenecks and shortages were not relieved but exacerbated, while the ( Central and) East European members of Comecon resented being asked to contribute scarce capital to projects that were chiefly of interest to the Soviet Union…" Furthermore, the liberalization that by June 25, 1988, allowed Comecon countries to negotiate trade treaties directly with

23680-545: Was not possible due to various hindrances which were only solved by tools that emerged in the 19th century, among them: The earliest European currency standards were therefore based on the silver standard , from the denarius of the Roman Empire to the penny (denier) introduced by Charlemagne throughout Western Europe, to the Spanish dollar and the German Reichsthaler and Conventionsthaler which survived well into

23840-541: Was not until 1947 that there were finally enough coins in circulation to meet economic demand and restrictions could be eased. In 1924, state currency notes were introduced for 1, 3, and 5 gold rubles (рубль золотом). These circulated alongside the chervonets notes introduced in 1922 by the State Bank in denominations of 1, 3, 5, 10 and 25 chervontsy. State Treasury notes replaced the state currency notes after 1928. In 1938, new notes were issued for 1, 3 and 5 rubles, dropping

24000-410: Was only resolved by national central banks taking over the replacement of silver with national bank notes and token coins, centralizing the nation's supply of scarce gold, providing for reserve assets to guarantee convertibility of legacy silver coins, and allowing the conversion of banknotes into gold bullion or other gold-standard currencies solely for external purchases. This system is known as either

24160-789: Was otherwise continually frustrated by the national central planning prevalent in all Comecon countries, by the increasing diversity of its members (which by this time included Mongolia and would soon include Cuba) and by the "overwhelming asymmetry" and resulting distrust between the many small member states and the Soviet "superstate" which, in 1983, "accounted for 88 percent of Comecon's territory and 60 percent of its population." In this period, there were some efforts to move away from central planning, by establishing intermediate industrial associations and combines in various countries (which were often empowered to negotiate their own international deals). However, these groupings typically proved "unwieldy, conservative, risk-averse, and bureaucratic," reproducing

24320-517: Was predominantly the Spanish silver dollar . (Also explained in the history of the Trinidad and Tobago dollar .) Following the Napoleonic Wars, Britain legally moved from the bimetallic to the gold standard in the 19th century in several steps, namely: From the second half of the 19th century Britain then introduced its gold standard to Australia, New Zealand, and the British West Indies in

24480-616: Was printed in various fashions, as inflation crept up the security features were few and some were printed on one side, as was the case for the German inflationary notes. Banknotes : In 1918, state credit notes were introduced by the RSFSR for 1, 3, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 250, 500, 1,000, 5,000, and 10,000 rubles. These were followed in 1919 by currency notes for 1, 2, 3, 15, 20, 60, 100, 250, 500, 1,000, 5,000, and 10,000 rubles, and in 1921 with notes for 5, 50, 25,000, 50,000, 100,000, 1,000,000, 5,000,000, and 10,000,000 rubles were added. Upon launch of

24640-497: Was provided instead by political and ideological factors. All Comecon members were "united by a commonality of fundamental class interests and the ideology of Marxism-Leninism" and had common approaches to economic ownership (state versus private) and management (plan versus market). In 1949 the ruling communist parties of the founding states were also linked internationally through the Cominform , from which Yugoslavia had been expelled

24800-576: Was sometimes extended as well to bilateral relations among members because in the system of communist international economic relations, multilateral accords – typically of a general nature – tended to be implemented through a set of more detailed, bilateral agreements. Comecon was the Eastern Bloc's response to the formation in Western Europe of the Marshall Plan and

24960-444: Was the era of perestroika ("restructuring"), the last attempt to put the Comecon economies on a sound economic footing. Gorbachev and his economic mentor Abel Aganbegyan hoped to make "revolutionary changes" in the economy, foreseeing that "science will increasingly become a 'direct productive force', as Marx foresaw… By the year 2000… the renewal of plant and machinery… will be running at 6 percent or more per year." The program

25120-479: Was the other way around. Still, all of the Comecon countries gained some stability, and the governments gained some legitimacy, and in many ways this stability and protection from the world market was viewed, at least in the early years of Comecon, as an advantage of the system, as was the formation of stronger ties with other socialist countries. Within Comecon, there were occasional struggles over how this system should work. Early on, Nikolai Voznesensky pushed for

25280-468: Was unique among nations to use gold in conjunction with clipped, underweight silver shillings, addressed only before the end of the 18th century by the acceptance of gold proxies like token silver coins and banknotes. From the more widespread acceptance of paper money in the 19th century emerged the gold bullion standard , a system where gold coins do not circulate, but authorities like central banks agree to exchange circulating currency for gold bullion at

25440-498: Was used to describe currencies whose nations' commitment to the gold standard was put into doubt by the huge mass of silver coins still tendered for payment, the most numerous of which were French 5-franc coins , German 3-mark Vereinsthalers , Dutch guilders and American Morgan dollars . Britain's original gold specie standard with gold in circulation was not feasible anymore with the rest of Continental Europe also switching to gold. The problem of scarce gold and legacy silver coins

25600-493: Was wasted on luxuries for the party elite, and most Comecon countries ended up indebted to the West when capital flows died out as détente faded in the late 1970s, and from 1979 to 1983, all of Comecon experienced a recession from which (with the possible exceptions of East Germany and Bulgaria) they never recovered in the Communist era. Romania and Poland experienced major declines in the standard of living. The 1985 Comprehensive Program for Scientific and Technical Progress and

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