Vneshposyltorg and Vneshtorgbank checks as a parallel currency of the USSR - id77. Soviet "Beryozki"
In a country with an artificially inflated purchasing power of the national currency, as well as complete control of prices at the state level, the entry of any foreign currency threatened to disrupt the established order. Article 88 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR prohibited having or carrying out any transactions with any money other than Soviet rubles. Even collecting “other people’s” banknotes was considered illegal.
All-Union Association "Torgsin"
In 1931, the All-Union Association for Trade with Foreigners was created, which received the abbreviation “TRADE WITH IN” (that is, trade with foreigners). This organization existed for 5 years and was engaged in the sale of goods for foreign currency (only for foreign citizens), as well as for pre-revolutionary gold coins, jewelry, valuables, antiques, etc. In exchange, special orders with a specified denomination were issued, for which various scarce goods, including imported ones, could be obtained in special stores.After the closure of Torgsin in 1936, the issuance of goods against the salaries of foreign workers was carried out using a non-cash system. To do this, it was necessary to select a product from the catalog and after some time receive it in special departments. One of these departments was on the third floor of GUM in Moscow.
The system had limited functions and did not allow it to fully serve citizens working abroad. For example, they could only issue clothes in one size.
Vneshposyltorg certificates and receipts
In the 60s, the USSR actively developed international cooperation, especially with countries of the socialist camp. Thousands of workers are sent abroad and are paid in local currency. Upon arrival, all Soviet citizens are required to exchange the remaining money for special Vneshposyltorg certificates. This organization was managed by the Bank for Foreign Trade of the USSR (Vneshtorgbank), which carried out any international payments and control of currency transactions. The certificates had the denomination indicated on them (from 1 kopeck to 250 rubles). Foreigners could import currency to a limited extent without exchanging it for certificates.Certificate 1966 series D (for diplomatic workers)
It was possible to purchase goods with certificates in Beryozka stores, which were located in large cities of the RSFSR, as well as in some settlements with a large flow of foreigners (Vyborg, Yalta, Sevastopol). In other republics of the USSR there were other names: “Chinar” in Azerbaijan, “Chestnut” in Ukraine, “Dzintars” (“Amber”) in Latvia. For foreigners who had currency, there were other shops with the same names, but closed to everyone else. Such closed stores could also accept certificates, but only Vnesheconombank series “D” certificates, which were issued to diplomatic workers.
Vneshposyltorg certificates were of three types:
with blue stripe for workers in socialist countries (such as Cuba, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Mongolia, Romania, Hungary, East Germany, Poland and others);
without stripe for workers in capitalist countries (USA, Germany, England and others);
with yellow stripe for workers in Third World countries, that is, whose money was not widely convertible (countries of Africa, Asia, Latin America).
The stripes were applied diagonally over the certificate. Otherwise they were completely similar to each other. In Beryozki, the cost of goods was expressed in rubles, checks with a blue stripe were accepted at face value, and checks with a yellow stripe and without a stripe were accepted at the rate of 1: 4.6. The difference in coefficients was necessary to equalize the purchasing power of wages. In socialist countries, the ratio of wages and prices was approximately the same, but in the West it was approximately 4.6 times higher.
In addition to food products, some expensive goods, such as cars, were also sold, and coefficients also applied to them. For example, a “Volga” cost 5,500 rubles, and for holders of certificates with a yellow stripe or without it, only 1,200.
There was an unofficial exchange rate for certificates for Soviet rubles. This procedure was punishable by imprisonment, but such cases were still widespread. For example, for a certificate with a blue stripe they gave 1.5-2 rubles, with a yellow stripe - 6-7 rubles, and those without stripes were valued the most - 8-9 rubles. The certificates gave the right to buy scarce goods. Beryozka stores were overflowing with assortment compared to the empty shelves of regular stores.
Since 1974, instead of all types of certificates, checks were introduced, with which salaries were calculated immediately according to the established coefficient. They were of the same type, with denominations ranging from 1 kopeck to 500 rubles. The main reason for the cancellation of certificates was numerous speculations during their exchange.
1976 check for 25 kopecks
Certificates and then checks were also issued for foreign money transfers. Another use of them was participation in housing cooperatives, where both certificates and checks were accepted at the rate of 1:1 to the Soviet ruble, for example, as payment for the construction of a garage.
As already reported above, the range of goods in Beryozki was much larger than in ordinary stores. Here is a list of some products and prices taken from the price list of one of the Moscow stores:
chocolate “Alenka” - 16 kopecks;
chocolate medals (7.5 g) – 3 kopecks;
candies “Squirrel” (1 kg) – 1 rub. 50 kopecks;
box of “Bird's Milk” chocolates (320 g) – 56 kopecks;
packaged mushroom soup “Knorr” - 21 kopecks;
instant coffee (50 g) – 60 kopecks;
granulated sugar (500 g) – 20 kopecks;
buckwheat (1 kg) – 39 kopecks;
cheese “Druzhba” (30 g) – 3 kopecks;
sausage cheese (1 kg) – 89 kopecks;
raw smoked “Soviet” sausage (1 kg) - 3 rubles 25 kopecks;
“Russian” sausages (1 kg) – 1 rub. 10 kopecks;
hazel grouse (game, 1 piece) – 91 kopecks;
sprats in oil – 45 kopecks;
Atlantic herring (can, 5 kg) – 3 rubles 11 kopecks;
milk (0.5 l) – 12 kopecks;
halva (250 g) – 19 kopecks;
Dutch milk chocolate (225 g) – 1 r 40 kopecks;
cake “Fairy Tale” - 78 kopecks;
chewing gum (Denmark, 5 pieces) – 15 kopecks;
pineapple (1 kg) – 76 kopecks;
apple juice (Bulgaria, 1 bottle) – 26 kopecks;
white Georgian wine (1 bottle) – 1 rub. 24 kopecks;
champagne “Soviet” (1 bottle) – 2 rubles 57 kopecks;
“Martini Bianco” (1 bottle) – 1 rub. 15 kopecks;
vodka “Stolichnaya” (1 bottle) – 1 r 3 kopecks;
Cigarettes "Marlboro" - 24 kopecks.
1976 check for 20 rubles
The end of the Birch era
In January 1988, the issuance of goods against checks was stopped; in the last days of the system’s operation, their owners formed huge queues at Beryozki. For another 4 years, non-cash payments were carried out, and then the chain of stores was privatized, trade began to be carried out only in foreign currency. In the mid-90s, the stores were closed due to the emergence of numerous supermarkets with an abundance of goods that Beryozki could no longer compete with. Some of them have survived in some cities, but now they are ordinary stores with a standard assortment.Other types of currency substitutes
In the 60-80s, the Torgmortrans organization distributed goods among long-distance sailors. For this purpose, there were “Albatross” stores in port cities, and sailors received special cut-off checks of the “A” series, the denomination of which was expressed in rubles and kopecks. This system lasted until 1992.Series D cut-off checks had a similar design to series "A" checks and were used to pay travel allowances to representatives of Soviet foreign diplomatic missions. Checks were filed in checkbooks for a certain amount and issued upon arrival in the USSR. In large cities, they could be exchanged for goods in special branches of Beryozka stores. Owners of diplomatic checks had privileges when purchasing a car. Reselling checks was considered a crime, but such cases were not uncommon.
In addition to the above, in the 50-80s there were special “cruise checks” issued to Soviet citizens when taking international cruises, flying or traveling by rail. With these checks it was possible to purchase goods on the way; unspent checks could be exchanged for rubles again.
Cut-off check 1989 for 1 ruble series A (for sailors)
For business trips, traveler's checks were sometimes used, which could be exchanged upon arrival. They excluded the possibility of theft, since they had the owner’s signature, and was issued only after the owner signed for the second time. Checks could be denominated not only in rubles, but also in foreign currency if they were issued to foreign citizens.
Photos provided by site users: Slim, SAKHAR, Andrey78, Tayna.ya.
It is well known what a heavy burden for the Soviet economy in 1979-89 the costs associated with the participation of the “limited contingent” were.
In addition to the official costs of Afghanistan in one form or another, the unofficial Afghan and near-Afghan economic system, which developed as a result of the presence of the Soviet military contingent in a foreign country, also had a certain influence on the economy of the Soviet Union.
Here we must remember the flow of goods that poured into the Union from the south. The bulk of them reached Soviet consumers in the suitcases of officers, soldiers and civilian specialists returning from an undeclared war, or in secluded places of withdrawn equipment. In turn, Soviet goods, which were in short supply there, were sent to Afghanistan in large quantities completely unofficially.
And where international trade takes place, its own currency system inevitably arises. The published memoirs of veterans of the undeclared war in Afghanistan allow us to get a certain idea about it.
Perhaps, Aleskender Ramazanov highlighted the “currency” side of the Afghan war in the most detail: “The monetary allowance of soldiers and sergeants for conscript service in Afghanistan was miserable and fluctuated between 20–40 rubles per month. Part of this amount was exchanged for VPT (Vneshposyltorg) checks. Despite the dire warnings, the check had nothing to do with currency. This surrogate ruble could be used to pay in Voentorg stores in the 40th Army or, until the beginning of 1989, on the territory of the USSR in “Berezka” currency stores.
Inexplicably, when exchanging the required amount, a serviceman was given two and a half checks for a ruble, and when wasting accountable check amounts, officers were charged four rubles for a check ruble - like in a library when a book is lost...
The essence was clarified by the “black market” in the Union, where a VPT check cost about three and a half rubles (close to the real exchange rate of the US dollar, contrary to the legend about the “buck” for sixty Soviet kopecks).
Officers and warrant officers, depending on their rank, position, and time of service in the DRA, received a double salary according to their position, from which from 45 to 150 rubles were deducted and exchanged for VPT checks. Accrual occurred daily, strictly in accordance with the number of days spent abroad. In 1981, junior officers received about 180 checks for a full month in the DRA, senior officers - 250. By the end of the Afghan campaign, this type of payment had almost doubled. Numbered stamps were placed on the 100 and 50 check bills; in theory, it was possible to trace from them where it came from to the “Afghans” or to the “non-Afghans” in the Union: in “Berezki” they demanded from buyers identification cards, international passports, military ID cards - sometimes even at the entrance to the store, not to mention the checkout. It didn't help! In the fight against smugglers and speculators, wide red stripes and menacing inscriptions about their special purpose for military trade appeared on checks. The miraculous properties of checks include the following: if an officer could pay a quarter of the cost of the Volga with checks, then he was allowed to purchase the car out of turn.
The “Afghans” loved VPT checks because they were easier to import into the USSR and safer to pay to the thieves of military property and socialist property. An excess of afghani (the currency of Afghanistan) could arouse suspicion in a serviceman, and the checks would be original. Saved up! Friends chipped in!
And yet – the check was assigned and cancelled! In January 1989, towards the completion of the withdrawal of troops, the Beryozka stores closed and the check could be exchanged for Soviet rubles one-to-one at the army paymasters. This is such a currency substitute!
And since Afghan shopkeepers bought everything they could sell from Soviet soldiers and officers, they needed a lot of checks. Imagine their reaction to the checks being canceled!
“Normal people don’t do this,” the dukandor Ali-Muhammadi from Mazar-i-Sharif convinced the author of these lines. - The Shah has left. Daoud is gone - the paisa lives on. Taraki, Babrak - all the Afghanis are walking! What is your country? I canceled the money, right?” A panel of red-striped VPT checks decorated the northern wall of his dukan. However, the Afghans already had a lesson in 1917. They probably still have their chests covered with royal banknotes to this day. So, we haven’t learned...
As for the prices for consumer goods in military stores - “chekushki”, they approximately corresponded to the all-Union prices. In the “chekushkas” they immediately organized: “shortages”, issuance of goods with the permission of the unit commander, restrictions on “sales to one person”, bans on the sale of certain goods to soldiers and sergeants, and a complete “bummer” for advisers! Sometimes they weren’t even allowed into the unit’s territory.
The display cases and shelves of the “chekushki” were filled with surrogates of fruit juices from Yugoslavia, dry biscuits, candies, and Chinese canned meat. Tracksuits, “diplomat” suitcases, and tape recorders from Japan and Germany were sold as “recordings.” Zi-zi lemonade was considered a luxury, which, however, was called “sisi”, with the emphasis on the first syllable, of course. By the time the troops were withdrawn, when a considerable amount of checks had accumulated in the hands of the military personnel, the “checks” mysteriously became empty.
Check bills were 100, 50, 10, 5, 1 ruble and 50, 10, 1 kopeck. For a penny you could buy a box of matches or an unstamped envelope. After being accepted at the store, the checks were canceled (they cut a triangle around the edge).
During all the years of the Afghan campaign, there was a categorical ban on the purchase of goods in local stores (dukans), and therefore, everything that was not purchased in “chekushki” could be confiscated on “legal grounds.” This affected officers less, and a soldier could be stripped naked before being sent home - to a unit, at a transit point or at customs. Which happened constantly and everywhere. Shmon is an immortal thing!
But this was a wise political and ideological decision: how can you bring something sensible from an undeveloped country, which we have undertaken to help everyone, even flesh and blood? The topic of money remained rather dryly and stingily in the memory of the veterans. Far from being a decisive factor for a Soviet soldier of those times.”
It’s not entirely clear why the author dates the closure of Berezok to January 1989? Usually January 1988 is mentioned, not 1989. In early January 1988, the USSR Government announced the liquidation of the trading system for checks, during the campaign “to fight privileges” and “for social justice.” At the same time, huge queues arose - the owners of the checks tried by any means to get rid of them before the announced closure date.
But one cannot but agree with the fact that the financial factor was not decisive for Soviet soldiers and officers of those times. But their willingness to serve their country and fight wherever they were ordered, in incredibly difficult conditions, was too shamelessly exploited.
Magic officer's hat
Here is a description of how officers who recently arrived in Afghanistan received their first practical lesson in Afghan currency management, made by helicopter flight technician Igor Frolov:
“When drowsiness began to fall on the silent flight technicians, two Afghan soldiers from the airfield security approached the board. We poked our heads through the door and examined the interior, looking under the benches.
- Jam, sweets, liver? – asked the tall one.
“No, nothing, we haven’t earned it yet,” Lieutenant Molotilkin threw up his hands.
- This! - one soldier pointed to the winter hat of flight engineer F., lying on the additional tank.
– What about the keys to the apartment? - said flight engineer F.
Suddenly, a black-haired captain of the Soviet army appeared behind the Afghan army soldier. The flight technicians did not hear the Toyota drive up - it dropped off the passengers at the checkpoint so that the two majors could meet the head of the airfield, Colonel Sattar, and the captain went to the sides.
- What, are you afraid to sell your honor? - he asked Lieutenant F. - So it’s an honor, she’s wearing a cockade, but the cockade is no longer there. A man, not to mention a military officer, must have money...
The first days, until they were uniformed, flight engineer F. walked around in his gray-blue officer’s hat, having removed his golden cockade - the field uniform should not have any unmasking details that glitter in the sun.
- Nahzmi noise, dust? – the captain asked the soldier.
- Hub! - said the soldier, smiling white-toothed at the Russian giant.
The captain went up to the cabin, took flight engineer F.’s hat, and showed it to the soldier:
- Du hazor?
“No,” the soldier shook his head. - Khazor...
– What about winter in the mountains? - said the captain. – Your brother dushmans are cold, however...
- Dushman is the enemy! – the soldier said smiling.
“Okay, brother of the enemy,” said Rosenquit, “yak khazor panch sad!” - and he thrust his hat into the soldier’s hands.
He immediately put it on his head, took out a thin packet from his bosom, peeled off a few bills and gave it to the captain.
The captain opened a bag made of orange percale, in which, judging by the protruding edges, packs of afghans were packed, put the soldier’s money in it, took out a bill of fifty Vneshposyltorg checks from his pocket and handed it to the flight technician F.
- What is this? - Flight engineer F asked, amazed at the speed of selling his hat.
“This is the first lesson in the free market and illegal currency transactions,” the captain said. – A hat that costs eleven rubles in Voentorg, and is also very second-hand, was sold for one and a half thousand afoshki to a friendly Afghan warrior, for whom a warm thing in winter is more necessary than Montana jeans, which you can buy in a local dukan for the same one and a half thousand. So that you understand your gain, I gave it to you in checks at the rate of one to thirty. In the Union, these half a hundred checks will be exchanged for you near the Beryozka one in three for 150 rubles, that is, your profit will be more than a thousand percent...
“This is some kind of nonsense...” flight engineer Molotilkin said admiringly. - It turns out that if I brought a hundred of these hats here, I could buy a Volga in the Union?
“You can buy a Volga by spinning a box of vodka correctly,” the captain laughed. – But this is a question of import and export, you will understand later. By the way, for these half a hundred checks you can buy a bottle of vodka here, and at the Tashkent airport you need to put that much in your passport at the ticket office so that they can then sell you a ticket home for rubles. Such are the paradoxes.
Flight engineer F. was amazed by this simple but powerful market mathematics. True, he was embarrassed by the fact that he so unprincipledly allowed his own hat, doused in jelly in the dining room, scorched by the stove of the squadron's house at the Amur airfield, kerosene, which had served him as a pillow so many times, to be given into the wrong hands... He suddenly felt that he had sold his little sister, and he felt ashamed. And it’s even scary - I remembered my grandmother’s remarks - “don’t wave your hat - you’ll get a headache” or “don’t throw your hat anywhere - you’ll forget your head.” Isn't this a sign that he will leave his stupid and greedy head here?
To distract himself, he began to think about how, upon returning to the base, he would go to the “chekushka”, where the saleswoman Lyuda, nicknamed Globus, would sell him a carton of Java cigarettes, a bottle of cherry Donna, a pack of cookies, a box of chocolates and, probably, a can of crabs . And then he will go to the bookstore and buy a black two-volume copy of Lorca so that, after closing on board after dinner, he can read, lying on a bench, about the moon over Cordoba, smoke, flick the ashes out of the open porthole, and wash it down with Donna...”
Before the eyes of flight technician F., a winter hat, which cost 11 rubles in the military store, was very second-hand (that is, used), doused in jelly and kerosene-lined, turned into 50 precious checks. As the old-time captain quite rightly noted, a warm thing in winter is more necessary than Montana jeans. Who in the then Soviet Union would have understood this? An unfortunate tattered hat - and a precious "Montana". How many dramatic stories happened at that time due to the lack of this most coveted “Montana” from a guy or a girl... And then the hat is the equivalent of “Montana”. Afghan currency fiction, incomprehensible to ordinary citizens of the USSR.
Let me remind you that the products presented (not all, but many) could not be purchased on the open market. And what was in the capital's stores was noticeably more expensive than in this catalogue. In it, the prices are slyly indicated in rubles, but we are talking about checks from the veshposyltorg or foreign currency rubles. The point was that our specialists working abroad were paid not in foreign currency, but in these very rubles. And they could buy them in our stores, exchanging them for such a thrill as in this catalogue. Or buy jeans, a radio, cassettes there...
I remember pasta in boxes like these. Not much of a shortage. But there were no Italian ones. Surprisingly they are about the same price...
The same can be said about coffee. The price was not determined by the market, not by demand. Same weight - get the same price. Naturally, the imported one was much more scarce. However, we weren’t even in the provinces; they were brought from Moscow.
Of interest is the offer of alcoholic beverages. These dry Georgian wines were in stores and were not in demand. Sometimes they were taken if suddenly there were no secured ones. They drank, made faces, called sour meat and compote.
Portuguese and Spanish wines are good. And even more so for this price. And pay attention to the price of Soviet Champagne. Of course, it is unreasonably overpriced. But this gave rise to the myth about the excellent quality and terrible demand abroad for this product. That is, for foreigners the price was increased, and, say, sailors, having bought it in a regular store, exchanged this product for any consumer goods. In addition to champagne, this group included watches, cameras...
Cinzano and Martini were offered at the same price. And this price for 1983 was 3 rubles. Special ones) At the same time, we often drank the same vermouth, buying it in Torgmortrans stores. And it was a lower class vermouth. Hungarian "Kecskemet", "Carmen", Bulgarian "Marka". And they all cost 4 rubles per liter bottle.
Imported canned beer at one price, according to the wonderful Soviet tradition))
Oh, what wonderful bottles... Exactly, the grass was greener before)
And this is the holy of holies - sausage. This could cause a Soviet person to have a nervous breakdown)
At the same time, the assortment according to today’s standards is quite meager. But then it seemed that this was simply unheard of abundance...
Black caviar is five times more expensive than red caviar
It seems normal now. Today the black one is about 20 times more expensive... But then, it seemed savage. At that time, we easily bought black caviar from barkoshes, I don’t remember the price, but it was quite affordable. Red, on the contrary, was something exquisite, not very accessible)
The real poverty of the assortment is clearly visible in the choice of cheeses. Soviet, Dutch, Swiss...Yes, they were not bad, and even more so. But can this be compared with any modern supermarket? "Friendship", "Amber"...))
And let's return to alcohol again. Armenian cognac three stars for 2.50! Oh, if only! We took it for 10, if we were lucky. They sorted it out quickly.
I'm not even talking about prices in France. Well done, they write as it sounds - Ennessy. Now they would write Hennessey)
But Camus Napoleon was in Moscow stores for 50 rubles per bottle. An exorbitant price for a Soviet person. It’s a completely different matter - 17 rubles)
In 1983, we bought Russian vodka for 5-30 per bottle with a cap, and 5-50 for a bottle with a screw. For diplomats the same cost was 1-43...
The prices for cigarettes are very interesting. In 1983, Marlboro, Camel, and Winston began to appear in our stores... They all cost a ruble per pack, and a little later at 1-50.
Today the market has distributed all these brands into different price groups. The pricing in foreign trade is curious. All imported cigarettes of standard length cost 40 kopecks. per pack, and 100 mm - 45))
Well, and finally, so that the workers do not have illusions, Vneshposyltorg explains that the presented goods are not intended for them, the mob, but for foreign diplomats
More interesting pages from the catalog...