That Time the Soviets Tried to Abolish Money

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[SgtRocko]

When I was in school in the USSR (in the 70s) every time we'd get a new teacher it was traditional that one of the kids would ask "If we're Communist, why do we still use money?" And it was traditional that the teacher would respond "We're still in Socialism right now, when we achieve Communism we won't need money. Now sit down" LOL

[randrothify]

Old Soviet joke: “We pretend to work and they pretend to pay us”

[angelarch]

"It's not money, it's a Ruble."
"Well can I have some bread then?"
"That will cost you 200 Rubles..."

[dstaco]

Communism: Free the working class from the oppressive bourgeoisie

Also Communism: The government is your new boss that gives you work tokens instead of money
(More like under new management)

[EnigPartyhaus]

That is the most fitting video length on the thumbnail for a video about the USSR

[Rubashow]

Imagine you're the relative of some guy who was politically cleansed because he objected to nonsensical policies like that only to, a few years later, have the government admit that they were wrong ...

[nubidubi]

"We need another unit of accounting"

Oh you mean something people can trade in exchange for products and services? Something used specifically for exchanges as to not confuse people with its value? That would be nice to have. Hope they find it

[TheMaxKids]

“Print more money!” - the final cry of the creators of bad ideas.

[cva]

The Soviet Union eventually had two forms of currency - cash and non-cash rubles. People were paid in cash, paid for goods in cash. But within most of the rest of the economy, activity was denominated in non-cash rubles. Prices within one industry could and did bear zero relation to how they were denominated in another industry. Inside the non-cash economy, rubles were just a way of keeping score. The system was set up to rigorously ensure that you could never cash-out non-cash rubles.

One of the steps that Gorbachev took that undermined the whole edifice was allowing the leakage of non-cash to cash. It's unclear whether he (and those around him) understood what he was doing at the time.

The people who figured out how to game the system (by cashing out non-cash rubles) were among some of the first oligarchs. I think Khodorkovsky was one such.

[Thecrownswill]

I never thought the numbers used in this video would EVER need to be used in history.

[Strideo]

It's funny how everyone in history who tries to eliminate the idea of money only seems to come up with a more complicated system that basically only manages to rename money into something else but is essentially a fiat currency through credit systems. "Oh, no, we don't use money. Those are 'work credits', not money."

[FireOccator]

Decides to eliminate money. Orders people to trade in goods and services instead. Galaxy brain right there.

[timthompson]

“Life has shown how wrong we were.” That pretty much sums it up.

[tomfuelery]

USSR:" Our inflation is too high!"
Zimbabwe:"Hold my beer."

[tomasviane]

"They owned nothing and they were not happy."

[Longjohnsilver]

I was in college in 1986, and this was before the Chernobyl disaster. I was a history major and one of my professors gave extra credit for attending a lecture by a visiting speaker. I had no idea what was it about but I went. The lady professor (I don’t recall her name) was an economist, and the gist of her speech was communists countries may reject economic laws but they are still subject to those laws. Communist countries may need to be adjusted when measurements are taken, but they can still be measured. Her conclusion was the USSR was a failing economy and could not survive. She predicted the nation would collapse within ten years. She turned out to be right, and she predicted it based solely on the math. I wish I could remember her name and work so I could cite her better, but that lecture left a lasting impression.

[sparky]

A documentary on the Nazi German economy after the hyperinflation in Weimar Germany would be interesting.

[RabbitEarsCh]

This mirrors so strongly with Chavez's attempts to socialize the Venezuelan economy, and also in Cuba as well.
You cannot rush the transition, and people are not fungible. If you remove incentives and also the people who know how to run things, your economy will turn to shreds. I'm amazed this lesson keeps being re-learnt every 50 years or so.

[untouchablex]

They did not try to eliminate money. It was a “special monetary operation.”

[AYVYN]

No Logistics
No Production
No Organization
No Money
Truly one of the ideas of all time