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Soviet Gold Movements 
(1923-1928) 
FOREIGN TRADE, GOLD EXPORTS, AND TRADE OF 
THE SOVIET UNION WITH THE UNITED STATES 
By M. L. TacoBssoN 
In the Senate Document entitled “European Currency and 
Finance”, published in 1925 (Vol. II, pp. 204-207) data were pre- 
sented regarding the amounts of Russian gold received by the United 
States indirectly through Europe during the years 1920-1922. An 
analysis of the gold movements reported for these years by the 
customs authorities of Sweden—the primary country of destina- 
tion—also of Switzerland and France, led to the conclusion that the 
Soviet Government exported during these three years a total amount 
»f about 680,000,000 rubles or about $350,000,000, which ultimately 
found its way to the United States. This huge total was shipped to 
cover an adverse trade balance, which, stated in terms of pre-war 
rubles, reached a total of over 400,000,000 rubles, and reckoned in 
‘erms of then current prices must have amounted to a great deal 
more, and in addition an unknown amount of “invisible’ ’imports, 
such as the cost of war material and equipment, imported by the 
military authorities, the expenses abroad connected with the launch- 
ing of the several new trading and credit organizations in the prin- 
cipal foreign countries, the salaries and expenses of the Soviet 
diplomatic and trade agents stationed abroad, freights payable to 
foreign shipowners and carriers, etc. These expenses were parti- 
cularly heavy immediately after the termination of hostilities against 
the contiguous countries and of the civil war, when the Soviet Gov- 
ernment, after proclaiming its foreign trade monopoly, began to set 
up in the leading foreign countries along novel and untried lines 
its own trade representations and banking machinery for the financ 
ing of Soviet foreign trade operations. While the official trade 
accounts of the Soviet Republic for the years 1923, 1924 and 1927 
indicate an excess of 225,000,000 rubles of merchandise exports 
over imports, this excess is almost counterbalanced by an adverse 
trade balance of 228,000,000 rubles for the years 1925 and 1926. 
If account is taken of the several mentioned “invisible” import items, 
it is evident that the balance of payments was attained by means of 
export items other than merchandise exports. 
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