Stalin's Quest for Gold

Stalin's Quest for Gold PDF Author: Elena Osokina
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501758527
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 319

Get Book Here

Book Description
Stalin's Quest for Gold tells the story of Torgsin, a chain of retail shops established in 1930 with the aim of raising the hard currency needed to finance the USSR's ambitious industrialization program. At a time of desperate scarcity, Torgsin had access to the country's best foodstuffs and goods. Initially, only foreigners were allowed to shop in Torgsin, but the acute demand for hard-currency revenues forced Stalin to open Torgsin to Soviet citizens who could exchange tsarist gold coins and objects made of precious metals and gemstones, as well as foreign monies, for foods and goods in its shops. Through her analysis of the large-scale, state-run entrepreneurship represented by Torgsin, Elena Osokina highlights the complexity and contradictions of Stalinism. Driven by the state's hunger for gold and the people's starvation, Torgsin rejected Marxist postulates of the socialist political economy: the notorious class approach and the state hard-currency monopoly. In its pursuit for gold, Torgsin advertised in the capitalist West, encouraging foreigners to purchase goods for their relatives in the USSR; and its seaport shops and restaurants operated semilegally as brothels, inducing foreign sailors to spend hard currency for Soviet industrialization. Examining Torgsin from multiple perspectives—economic expediency, state and police surveillance, consumerism, even interior design and personnel—Stalin's Quest for Gold radically transforms the stereotypical view of the Soviet economy and enriches our understanding of everyday life in Stalin's Russia.

Stalin's Quest for Gold

Stalin's Quest for Gold PDF Author: Elena Osokina
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501758527
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 319

Get Book Here

Book Description
Stalin's Quest for Gold tells the story of Torgsin, a chain of retail shops established in 1930 with the aim of raising the hard currency needed to finance the USSR's ambitious industrialization program. At a time of desperate scarcity, Torgsin had access to the country's best foodstuffs and goods. Initially, only foreigners were allowed to shop in Torgsin, but the acute demand for hard-currency revenues forced Stalin to open Torgsin to Soviet citizens who could exchange tsarist gold coins and objects made of precious metals and gemstones, as well as foreign monies, for foods and goods in its shops. Through her analysis of the large-scale, state-run entrepreneurship represented by Torgsin, Elena Osokina highlights the complexity and contradictions of Stalinism. Driven by the state's hunger for gold and the people's starvation, Torgsin rejected Marxist postulates of the socialist political economy: the notorious class approach and the state hard-currency monopoly. In its pursuit for gold, Torgsin advertised in the capitalist West, encouraging foreigners to purchase goods for their relatives in the USSR; and its seaport shops and restaurants operated semilegally as brothels, inducing foreign sailors to spend hard currency for Soviet industrialization. Examining Torgsin from multiple perspectives—economic expediency, state and police surveillance, consumerism, even interior design and personnel—Stalin's Quest for Gold radically transforms the stereotypical view of the Soviet economy and enriches our understanding of everyday life in Stalin's Russia.

Treasure Hunters: Quest for the City of Gold

Treasure Hunters: Quest for the City of Gold PDF Author: James Patterson
Publisher: jimmy patterson
ISBN: 0316463892
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 266

Get Book Here

Book Description
Gear up for an exciting adventure with the thrill-seeking Kidds as they search for a missing Incan city in South America made entirely of gold! When Bick and Beck Kidd find a hidden trove of pirate treasure, it includes a map with clues to an even bigger score: the lost Incan city of Paititi. But treasure hunting is never easy—and when the map is stolen, the Kidds must rely on Storm's picture-perfect memory to navigate the dangerous Amazon jungle. Watch out for that nest of poisonous snakes! To save the Amazon rainforest and stop a Peruvian tribe from losing their home, the Kidds must unlock the secrets to the missing map and find the fabled city of Paititi . . . before the bad guys find it first. The race is on!

Quest for the Pillar of Gold

Quest for the Pillar of Gold PDF Author: George H. Billingsley
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 136

Get Book Here

Book Description


Quest for the Lost City of Gold

Quest for the Lost City of Gold PDF Author: Stephen Biesty
Publisher: Dk Pub
ISBN: 9780756634360
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 80

Get Book Here

Book Description
A series of postcards introduces young readers to cross-sectional illustrations of such famous building as the Parthenon, the Colosseum, Hagia Sophia, Notre Dame, and the Empire State Building, all of which provide cryptic clues about a Lost City of Gold.

Quest for the Gold Plates

Quest for the Gold Plates PDF Author: Stan Larson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 328

Get Book Here

Book Description
Anyone interested in Book of Mormon archaeology will be fascinated by the amazing story of Thomas Stuart Ferguson. The reader accompanies Ferguson on his exploratory journeys to Mexico and Guatemala in search of the remains of Book of Mormon peoples, assisted through generous funding by the LDS church. He became a closet doubter but made peace with himself and his community without promulgating disbelief.

Quest for the West

Quest for the West PDF Author: Peter Kent
Publisher: Wayland
ISBN: 9780750021821
Category : California
Languages : en
Pages : 29

Get Book Here

Book Description
In 1849 the impoverished Hornik family decides to leave Bohemia and emigrate to California in search of gold.

Rivers of Gold (Yukon Quest Book #3)

Rivers of Gold (Yukon Quest Book #3) PDF Author: Tracie Peterson
Publisher: Baker Books
ISBN: 1585588687
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 383

Get Book Here

Book Description
Book 3 of Yukon Quest historical fiction series set in Alaska in the late 1800s. Miranda Colton, presumed dead, finds herself under the care of a native Alaskan and a studious botanist from England, Teddy Davenport. Miranda only longs to find her friends and and continue north. She fears that her chances are diminishing with each passing day. Teddy is deeply committed to his research of the unique landscape of the rugged Alaskan frontier. But despite his intentions, Miranda's presence awakens a deep tenderness in his character. As a friendship with Teddy blossoms, Miranda struggles inwardly with her earlier dreams. Then the menacing force from the past threatens to destroy everything she holds dear....

Gold Warriors

Gold Warriors PDF Author: Peggy Seagrave
Publisher: Verso Books
ISBN: 1789605237
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 668

Get Book Here

Book Description
In 1945, US intelligence officers in Manila discovered that the Japanese had hidden large quantities of gold bullion and other looted treasure in the Philippines. President Truman decided to recover the gold but to keep its riches secret. These, combined with Japanese treasure recovered during the US occupation, and with recovered Nazi loot, would create a worldwide American political action fund to fight communism. This 'Black Gold' gave Washington virtually limitless, unaccountable funds, providing an asset base to reinforce the treasuries of America's allies, to bribe political and military leaders, and to manipulate elections in foreign countries for more than fifty years.

Hands of Gold

Hands of Gold PDF Author: Roni Robbins
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789493231856
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 258

Get Book Here

Book Description
Hands of Gold, loosely based on real events, follows Jewish Sam on a journey that takes him from war-torn Europe at the turn of the 20th century, through the Great Depression and labor union reforms in America.

The Quest for Gold

The Quest for Gold PDF Author: Becky M. Saleeby
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Alaska
Languages : en
Pages : 562

Get Book Here

Book Description