The monetary reform of 1947: criminal aspect (on the example of the Krasnoyarsk region)

The paper deals with issues related to crimes committed during the monetary reform of 1947. The unfavorable exchange rate of "old" money for "new" forced citizens to resort to various tricks in order to keep their funds in full or at least partially. They carried money to the savings bank already after the publication of the Decree of December 14, 1947, trying to make a deposit, which was prohibited by law. Law enforcement officials closely monitored the observance of the law during the reform. From December 15, 1947 to January 15, 1948, the prosecutor's office in the territory of the Krasnoyarsk Region initiated 35 criminal cases related to violation of the Law on monetary reform. In these cases, 55 people were brought to justice. Most often, the law was violated by trade and financial workers, as well as representatives of the party and Soviet nomenklatura, who used their official position. Often they donated their own funds to the savings bank, and these deposits were registered in the savings banks "backdating", goods in warehouses and stores were hidden from accounting and sold later for "new" money. During the period of the reform, law enforcement agencies fought hard against violators of the laws, often initiating criminal cases in a hurry and on insufficient grounds. For this reason, in January 1949, the prosecutor's authorities of the region were forced to check all cases of violation of the Decree of December 14, 1947, considered in courts, for the legality of the sentences passed.