Bankers and Bolsheviks: International Finance and the Russian Revolution

by Hassan Malik

Following an unprecedented economic boom fed by foreign investment, the Russian Revolution triggered the worst sovereign default in history. Bankers and Bolsheviks tells the dramatic story of this boom and bust, chronicling the forgotten experiences of leading financiers of the age.

Shedding critical new light on the decision making of the powerful personalities who acted as the gatekeepers of international finance, Hassan Malik narrates how they channeled foreign capital into Russia in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. While economists have long relied on quantitative analysis to grapple with questions relating to the drivers of cross-border capital flows, Malik adopts a historical approach, drawing on banking and government archives in four countries. The book provides rare insights into the thinking of influential figures in world finance as they sought to navigate one of the most challenging and lucrative markets of the first modern age of globalization.

Bankers and Bolsheviks reveals how a complex web of factors―from government interventions to competitive dynamics and cultural influences―drove a large inflow of capital during this tumultuous period in world history. This gripping book demonstrates how the realms of finance and politics―of bankers and Bolsheviks―grew increasingly intertwined, and how investing in Russia became a political act with unforeseen repercussions.

Genres: History, Russian History, Economics, Nonfiction, Finance, Russia

318 pages, Hardcover

First published November 13, 2018

Reviews

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very unique and interdisciplinary book that explains the financial fallout of the end of the tsarist regime and the beginnings of Bolshevik rule in Russia.

[Hanieh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting read on the Russian revolution. Fascinating stories about how bankers feel their way through the revolution.

[burak · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is, to my knowledge, an unique book. it's title is slightly deceptive as one could be convinced that the primary focus of the book is on the relationship between the bolsheviks and international financiers. instead of this limited scope, the author provides an insight to the final era of the russian empire, its bond default and eventual transition to the ussr by the dawn of versailles and brest litovsk. drawing from a wide corpus of sources; ranging from memoirs of bankers to the official tax register, malik sketches a vivid image of the causes for the eventual default. situating it at the end of the nineteenth century, imperial russia entered the debt markets of primarily paris, a clear case of insufficient diversification, but lacked the state capacity to generate tax revenue, signing its own death warrant. the consistent reliance on public spending driven through debt was extremely unpopular with the populace but lacking any form of democratic representation, even considering the failed first, second and eventual third duma, the government's only check were the sovereign debt markets themselves. the animosity fueled by the despotic regime was circulated first by radical magazines through the writings of lenin and trotsky then secondly and separately, vindicated or normalized by former members of the duma. when the bolsheviks eventually seized power and dissolved the empire, they ended the war but refused to consider the debt payments of the previous empire, although they doubted default as a way of gaining legitimacy to spread communism throughout the continent. clearly an eye opening book with immense wit, detail and originality.

[Max Lapin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Это книга, которую можно было написать только тем, кто имел доступы к архивам коммерческих и инвестиционных банков континентальной Европы, Англии и Америки. Она бесподобная, потому что разбирает историю вековой давности не с позиций, кто финансировал революцию. Про это написано много книг. А с позиций, что творилось в финансах Империи, что сделало ее хрупкой.

«Банкиры и большевики» — про финансы Российской Империи, как были устроены госфинансы, и как финансировалось развитие с выходом на пик 1913 года. Весь 19 век и до декабря 1917 года Империя считалась абсолютно надежным заемщиком, в рейтингах уступающей только Англии и Франции. Репутация по государственному долгу была безупречной.

https://maxlapin.com/2019/06/28/b213/

[Pj Mensel · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED this book. Makes international finance seem exciting because there is a story there about how exactly Bolshevik Russia kept itself afloat financially after overthrowing the Tsar. Guess what? American and British banks had something to do with it. Genuinely a great read for those with even a slight interest in international finance. Hope this guy is fast at work on another history.

[Elizabeth S · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was fascinating. I appreciated how the book went back further than just the October Revolution, giving wider insight into the view of Tsarist-incurred debts and international financial involvement in Russia.

If you have any interest in Russia throughout this period and political economies, it’s a good read.

[M Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title is misleading as the Bolsheviks don't show up until after the halfway mark. This is really about Russian attitudes toward debt obligations and Westerners projecting their own desires onto Russia as if it were a blank slate.

Would deserve an additional star if it had an accurate title.

[Rob Schmults · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wouldn’t make this the first book you read on Russian Revolution, but makes a very interesting add on to one of the general histories.

[Ellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a detailed book on financial history of the Russian revolution. It might be an easier read for ppl with investing and finance background.

[Byunghwan "Ben" Son]

The last two chapters are really the hallmark of the book.

[Bert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Truly a train wreck in slow motion, providing strong qualitative support for the conclusions of an article posted to Nature Human Behaviour in 2019 (no. 3, pp. 906-912), titled Predicting History, whose authors held that "successful predictions will be increasingly outnumbered by events that seem insignificant at the time, but which come to be viewed as important by future historians in part because of events that have not yet taken place" (p. 911). A well-written, very well-researched introduction to international finance for anyone interested in Russian history - and, presumably, vice versa.