Gosbank

Gosbank (Russian: Госбанк, Государственный банк СССР, Gosudarstvenny bank SSSR—the State Bank of the USSR) was the central bank of the Soviet Union and the only bank whatsoever in the entire Union from the 1930s to 1987. Gosbank was one of the three Soviet economic authorities, the other two being "Gosplan" (the State Planning Committee) and "Gossnab" (the State Committee for Material Technical Supply). The Gosbank closely collaborated with the Ministry of Finance of the USSR to prepare the national state budget.

State Bank of the USSR
Государственный банк СССР

Headquarters	12 Neglinnaya str., Moscow, Soviet Union
Established	1922 (1922)
Central bank of	Soviet Union
Currency	Soviet ruble SUR (ISO 4217)
Preceded by	State Bank of the Russian Empire (1860–1917/1922)
Succeeded by	Bank of Russia (1991–present)

Foundation

The foundation of the bank was part of the implementation of the New Economic Policy. On 3 October 1921, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK), passed a resolution for the founding of the State Bank of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. This was followed by a similar resolution passed by Sovnarkom on 10 October 1921. It began operations on 16 November 1921. In February 1922 Lenin described the State Bank as a "a bureaucratic paper game", comparing it to a Potemkin village in a letter to Aron Sheinman who he accused of being a "Communist-mandarin childishness".[1] In 1923 it was transformed into the State Bank of the USSR. It was placed under the jurisdiction of Narkomfin.[2] The Soviet state used Gosbank, primarily, as a tool to impose centralized control upon industry in general, using bank balances and transaction histories to monitor the activity of individual concerns and their compliance with Five-Year Plans and directives. Gosbank did not act as a commercial bank in regard to the profit motive. It acted, theoretically, as an instrument of government policy. Instead of independently and impartially assessing the creditworthiness of the borrower, Gosbank would provide loan funds to favored individuals, groups and industries as directed by the central government.[3]

In 1931 Boris Berlatsky, a senior official of the State Bank was put on trial for wrecking as part of the 1931 Menshevik Trial.[4]

Perestroika

As part of Mikhail Gorbachev's perestroika program, other banks were formed, including; "Promstroybank" (USSR Bank of Industrial Construction), "Zhilstoybank" (USSR Bank of Residential Construction), "Agrobank" (USSR Agricultural Bank), "Vneshekonombank" (USSR Internal Trade Bank), and "Sberbank" (USSR Savings Bank). "Sberbank" continues to this day as one of Russia's largest banks, retaining senior ex-Gosbank personnel and most of the present Russian government's banking business.

Senior executives

This is the list of the Chairmen of the Board of the State Bank.[2][5]

The Chairman was appointed by the Premier of the Soviet Union.

№	Name (governor)	Photo	Term of office		Appointed by
			Start of term	End of term
1	Aron Sheinman[2]		1921	1924	Vladimir Lenin
2	Nikolai Tumanov		March 5, 1924	January 16, 1926	Alexei Rykov
3	Georgy Pyatakov		April 19, 1929	October 18, 1930
4	Moissei Kalmanovich		October 18, 1930	April 4, 1934	Vyacheslav Molotov
5	Lev Maryasin		April 4, 1934	July 14, 1936
6	Solomon Kruglikov		July 14, 1936	September 15, 1937
7	Alexey Grichmanov		September 15, 1937	July 16, 1938
8	Nikolai Bulganin		October 2, 1938	April 17, 1940
9	Nikolai K. Sokolov		April 17, 1940	October 12, 1940
10	N. Bulganin		October 12, 1940	May 23, 1945	Joseph Stalin
11	Yakov Golev		May 23, 1945	March 23, 1948
12	Vasily Popov		March 23, 1948	March 31, 1958	Georgy Malenkov and Nikolai Bulganin
13	N. Bulganin		March 31, 1958	August 15, 1958	Nikita Khrushchev
14	Alexander Korovushkin		August 15, 1958	August 14, 1963
15	Alexey Poskonov		1963	1969	Alexei Kosygin
16	Miefodiy Svieshnikov		1969	1976
17	Vladimir Alkhimov		October 11, 1976	January 10, 1986	Nikolai Tikhonov
18	Viktor Dementsev		January 10, 1986	August 22, 1987	Nikolai Ryzhkov
19	Nikolai Garetovsky		August 22, 1987	June 7, 1989
20	Viktor Gerashchenko		June 7, 1989	August 26, 1991	Valentin Pavlov
21	Andrei Zverev		August 26, 1991	December 20, 1991	Ivan Silayev

See also

• Economy of the Soviet Union
• Sberkassa

References

1. Lenin, Vladimir (1922). Letter to A. L. Sheinman. Progress Publishers. Retrieved 26 May 2015.
2. "The State Bank of the USSR". Bank of Russia Today. Bank of Russia. Retrieved 26 May 2015.
3. Russia's Road To Corruption
4. Jasny, Naum (1972). Soviet Economists of the Twenties. London: Cambridge University Press.
5. "ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ БАНК СССР" [State Bank of the USSR]. СОВНАРКОМ, СОВМИН, КАБМИН СССР 1923-1991 гг. (SOVNARKOM, SOVMIN, CABMIN of the USSR 1923-1991) (in Russian). Archived from the original on 14 April 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2020.

External links

• Soviet Banking System, Pekka Sutela, Answers.com (accessed 2012-08-02)
• Nikolai Rovinsky (1944). "The State Budget of the USSR". (in Russian)