The Death and Resurrection of the Russian Ruble, 1914–24, or, How the Bolsheviks Embraced Money and Saved the Revolution

"The Death and Resurrection of the Russian Ruble, 1914-1924, or, How the Bolsheviks Embraced Money and Saved the Revolution"

 The collapse of the Russian currency during the first world war had a much greater role in revolutionizing the citizenry than has previously been understood. After the October revolution debates over money within the Bolshevik government reveal an evolving complex of attitudes toward capitalism, communism, Soviet power, and Russia's relationship with the West. Radicals may have wanted to abolish money as a symbol of capitalism, but orthodox monetary theorists prevailed by bringing hyperinflation to an end and thereby winning the populace over to the new regime.