History's Greatest Heist: The Looting of Russia by the Bolsheviks

331 Pages·2008·1.24 MB·English

by  Mr. Sean McMeekin

History’s Greatest Heist
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HISTORY’S
GREATEST HEIST
THE LOOTING OF RUSSIA
BY THE BOLSHEVIKS
S E A N M M E E K I N
C
Yale University Press
New Haven and London
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book are not available for inclusion in the eBook.
Published with assistance from the Louis Stern Memorial Fund.
Copyright © 2009by Yale University.
All rights reserved.
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form
(beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107and 108of the U.S. Copyright Law and
except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers.
Designed by James J. Johnson and set in Sabon type
by The Composing Room of Michigan, Inc.
Printed in the United States of America by Sheridan Books.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McMeekin, Sean, 1974–
History’s greatest heist : the looting of Russia by the Bolsheviks / Sean McMeekin.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-300-13558-9(cloth : alk. paper) 1. Finance, Public—Soviet Union—
History. 2. Pillage—Soviet Union—History. 3. Soviet Union—Politics and
government—1917–1936. I. Title.
HJ1208.M36 2008
336.47(cid:1)09041—dc22
2008022100
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992(Permanence of Paper).
It contains 30percent postconsumer waste (PCW) and is certified by the Forest Stewardship
Council (FSC).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Nesrin
The knell of private property sounds.The expropriators are
expropriated.
—KarlMarx
Contents
List of Abbreviations ix
A Note on Transliteration, Names, and Translation xi
A Note on the Relative Value of Money Then and Now xii
Prologue: The Patrimony of Imperial Russia xvi
Introduction to Bolshevik Gold:
The Nature of a Forgotten Problem 1
I. The Heist 9
1. The Banks 11
2. The People 35
3. The Gokhran 54
4. The Church 73
vii
viii Contents
II. Cashing In 93
5. Brest-Litovsk and the Diplomatic Bag 95
6. Blockade 117
7. Stockholm 137
8. London 168
9. Rapallo 199
Epilogue: From Stockholm to Sotheby’s 216
Dramatis Personae 223
Notes 233
Selected Bibliography 273
Acknowledgments 286
Index 291
Gallery follows page 92
Abbreviations
AAB Arbetarrölsens Arkiv och Bibliotek, Stockholm
AN Archives Nationales, Paris
BB Bundesarchiv Bern, Bern
DBB Deutsches Bundesarchiv Berlin, Lichterfelde, Berlin
GARF Gosudarstvenny Arkhiv Rossiiskoi Federatsii, Moscow
NAA National Archives Annex, Washington, DC
PAAA Politisches Archiv des Auswärtigen Amtes, Berlin
PRO Public Record Office, Kew Gardens, London (now known
as the National Archives of the United Kingdom)
QO Quai d’Orsay Archives, Paris
RSU Riksarkivet Stockholm Utrikesdepartement, Stockholm
RGAE Russian Government Archive of Economics, Moscow
RGASPI Russian Government Archive of Social-Political History,
Moscow
ix