History's greatest heist [[electronic resource] ] : the looting of Russia by the Bolsheviks / / Sean McMeekin

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910778094703321
• Autore: McMeekin Sean <1974->
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: New Haven, : Yale University Press, c2009
• ISBN: 1-282-35228-8; 9786612352287; 0-300-15279-5
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (336 p.)
• Disciplina: 336.47/09041
• Soggetti: Finance, Public - Soviet Union - History; Pillage - Soviet Union - History; Soviet Union Politics and government 1917-1936
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references (p. 273-285) and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Abbreviations -- A Note on Transliteration, Names, and Translation -- A Note on the Relative Value of Money Then and Now -- Prologue: The Patrimony of Imperial Russia -- Introduction to Bolshevik Gold: The Nature of a Forgotten Problem -- 1. The Banks -- 2. The People -- 3. The Gokhran -- 4. The Church -- 5. Brest-Litovsk and the Diplomatic Bag -- 6. Blockade -- 7. Stockholm -- 8. London -- 9. Rapallo -- Epilogue: From Stockholm to Sotheby's -- Dramatis Personae -- Notes -- Selected Bibliography -- Acknowledgments -- Index
• Sommario/riassunto: Historians have never resolved a central mystery of the Russian Revolution: How did the Bolsheviks, despite facing a world of enemies and leaving nothing but economic ruin in their path, manage to stay in power through five long years of civil war? In this penetrating book, Sean McMeekin draws on previously undiscovered materials from the Soviet Ministry of Finance and other European and American archives to expose some of the darkest secrets of Russia's early days of communism. Building on one archival revelation after another, the author reveals how the Bolsheviks financed their aggression through astonishingly extensive thievery. Their looting included everything from ; the cash savings of private citizens to gold, silver, diamonds, jewelry, icons, antiques, and artwork. By tracking illicit Soviet financial transactions across Europe, McMeekin shows how Lenin's regime accomplished history's greatest heist between 1917 and 1922 and turned centuries of accumulated wealth into the sinews of class war. McMeekin also names names, introducing for the first time the compliant bankers, lawyers, and middlemen who, for a price, helped the Bolsheviks launder their loot, impoverish Russia, and impose their brutal will on millions.