3. The civil war: help from the U.S.S.R. and the Moscow gold. Negrín, Finance Minister

THE SHORTAGE OF SUPPLIES AND THE BANK OF SPAIN’S GOLD RESERVES

When the civil war broke out in July 1936, "the non-intervention pact” between the major European powers prevented the Republic from being supplied war materials on the international market. The Republic did what it could to manufacture its own weapons, notably through the war industries of Catalonia, which were at first controlled by the Generalitat (the autonomous Government of Catalonia) and later by the central Government. Very early on, it was necessary to resort to the U.S.S.R. and to pay for the arms, the Republic decided to make use of the Bank of Spain’s gold reserves. Negrín, first as Finance Minister and later as head of Government, proposed the dispatch of a great part of these
reserves to the U.S.S.R. and, finally, their sale to the Soviet state, the only
Government that made a firm commitment to help the Republic.

The Republic sent a total of 460.54 tonnes of gold, in other words, 1,585.2 million gold pesetas of the period, with a value at the time of 518 million dollars (close to 7,000 million dollars today)

“The war industries aren’t working; their performance is far worse
than it was under the Generalitat’s control. The Government of the
Republic has not only failed to improve the organisation there was,
but it has also exacerbated problems of raw materials supply.”
Tarradellas, to the meeting of the Executive Council
of the Generalitat, 24 November 1937.Tarradellas, to the meeting of the Executive Council
of the Generalitat, 24 November 1937.

Photography: Unpublished manuscript by Juan Negrín, written in exile, concerning the gold sent to
the U.S.S.R., forming part of his unfinished memoirs, which he began in 1956.
The Juan Negrín López Archive, Paris