*The Ruble: A Political History*

That is the new, highly useful, and thorough book by Ekaterina Pravilova, here is one excerpt:

Reutern was adamant about exterminating private currencies, but not everyone in the government shared his view.  The minister of justice, Konstantin Pahlen, argued, for instance, that the right to issue private notes should be granted “to all Russian subjects.”  Anyone willing to issue private monetary units should simply inform that local governor about the amount of issue, denominations, and the place these notes could be exchanged for state credit bills.  The issue should also place an “exchange fund” consisting of state money or securities at the disposal of the local administration and order the printing of notes at the Expedition for the Production of State Papers, which would guarantee them against counterfeiting.  In other words, private money should mirror the system of state credit bills and compensate for their deficit…

The debate between the opponents and the proponents of private money revealed an interesting ideological paradox.  Private money in Russia stood for the ideological legacy of serfdom: a system that substituted an entire structure of local administration, p olice and judicial authority, and financial management, all concentrated in the figure of one landowner.

Of course most of the rest of the book covers the rather different directions that we taken.  You can buy it here.