To define the relationships between a fully - convertible gold currency, a floating currency, and two different blocked currencies is a task that causes headaches. The arithmetic is simple, the semantic problem is not, and it is further complicated by both conscious and subconscious personal attitudes. You may not "believe in" a gold standard, for example (and I readily concede the
truth of the old saw that one cannot eat gold), but it does not matter what I believe or you believe, our floating dollar is now worth in gold whatever the rest of the world tells us it is worth, i.e., the price at which they will buy dollars or sell gold. The only yardstick I can apply to all four currencies is the troy ounce of fine gold (= 480 grains in both troy and avoirdupois, or 31.1035 grams in metric).
Since the ruble is not traded in the gold market, I must equate rubles first in dollars, then translate into gold. (This fiscal discussion is not my idea; our editor complained - correctly - that a much shorter discussion was unclear.) In 1960 the Kremlin - decreed rate was 4 rubles
= $1.00 USA. Today Monday 3 December 1979 the Kremlin - decreed rate to U.S. tourists is 1 ruble = $1.52 USA.
Now to work -
In 1960 $1.00 USA equalled
1/35 tr. oz. Au. = 13.715 grains = 0.888671 + grams gold,
and one ruble equalled $0.25, or
1/140 tr. oz. Au. = 3.429 grains = 0.222167+ grams gold.
While on Dec. 3, 1979, $1.00 USA equalled
1/432 tr. oz. Au. = 1.1111... grains = 0.071998+ grams gold
and one ruble equalled $1.52 USA, or
0.003518+ tr. oz. Au. = 1.7 grains = 0.109438+ grams gold.
- which doesn't tell us much, especially as the dollar floats and changes every day, and the ratio between the dollar and the U.S. - tourist ruble is by decree and subject to change without notice. In the following article I show all prices three ways: 1) 1960 prices; 2) 3 - Dec - 79 equivalent by world free - market conversion; and 3) 3 - Dec - 79 equivalent by Kremlin - decreed dollar/ruble ratio.
The conversion factor for the world free market is 432/
35 = 12.343; the Kremlin - decreed conversion factor is
1520/250 = 6.08. You are free to believe either one or
neither.
But the above still doesn't tell you very much as the Early Worm Deserves the Bird. The floating dollar changes daily and the ruble/dollar ratio changes whenever the Kremlin changes it... and you will not be reading this on December 3, 1979. But all is not lost; you can obtain and apply the conversion factors for the day you read this in the same fashion in which I did it:
For the world free - market conversion factor first get that day's gold fix from newspaper or radio, then divide by 35. For the Kremlin factor telephone a Soviet consulate or Intourist New York, get the current price of a ruble in dollars and cents, divide by 25%. Then reach for your pocket calculator.
It would have been simpler to state that travel in USSR in 1960 was extremely, outrageously expensive - a planned swindle.
INSIDE INTO URIST
How to Break Even (or Almost) in the Soviet Union
To enjoy a thing requires that it be approached in the proper mood. A woman who has been promised a luxury suite at Miami Beach won't cheer at the thought of roughing it in the north woods, especially if her husband pulls this switch after the vacation has started.
But, with proper pre - conditioning, it is possible to enjoy anything - some people are addicted to parachute jumping. To experience the Soviet Union without first getting in the mood for it is too much like parachute jumping when the chute fails to open. The proper mood for the Soviet Union is that of the man who hit himself on the head with a hammer because it felt so good when he stopped.
This article assumes that you have already, for good and sufficient reasons, decided to visit the USSR, one good and sufficient reason being a wish to see for yourself this Communist paradise that Khrushchev has promised our grandchildren. But to set out for Russia in the holiday spirit in which you head for the Riviera, Las Vegas, or Rio is like going to a funeral for the ride.
You can avoid the worst shocks to your nervous system by knowing in advance that you are not going to get what you have paid for; then you can soothe the residual nerve jangling with your favorite pacifier. I used small quantities of vodka - "small" by Russian standards, as Russians also use it to insulate themselves from the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune but they dose to unconsciousness. Drunks, passed out in public places, are more truly symbolic of the USSR than is the Hammer & Sickle.
My wife found methyl meprobamate (Equanil, Miltown) more useful. For you it might be yoga, or silent prayer, but, whatever it is, don't neglect it. Travel in the Soviet Union is not like travel anywhere else in the world. My wife and I have visited more than sixty countries on six continents, by freight ship, helicopter, dog sled, safari, jet plane, mule back, canal boat, etc.; as "seasoned travelers" these are our credentials. To visit the USSR we prepared by extensive reading and my wife learned the Russian language. Nevertheless, again and again we ran into surprises, difficulties, and maddening frustrations.
You can travel all through the Soviet Union without knowing a word of Russian - which will suit Khrushchev just fine because you will thereby be a prisoner of "Intourist," the state - owned travel bureau, seeing only what they want you to see, hearing only what they want you to hear.
But the Russian language is difficult; it took my wife two years of hard work to master it. The alphabet is weirdly strange, the pronunciation is hard for us, and the language is heavily inflected - a proper noun, such as "Smith" or "Khrushchev," has eighteen different forms.
Obviously most tourists can't take two years off to master Russian. What then? Depend entirely on Intourist guides?
No, no, no! Better to save your money and stay home. With no Russian at all you'll be as helpless as a bed patient. Instead you should prepare by learning a smattering of Russian. Forget about grammar; grammatical Russian is found only in formal literary compositions. Khrushchev has never learned to speak
Russian well and Mikoyan speaks it with an accent thick enough to slice - so why should you worry?
First learn the alphabet, capitals and lower case, printed and written. This alone is half the battle. You can now find the men's room (or the ladies' room). The men's room is marked with "M" (for "muzhcheen," but think of "M" for "men") and the ladies' room is marked with a letter which looks like two capital K's, back to back: You are now past the greatest crisis confronting a traveler: finding the plumbing.
You now know many of the most useful Russian words just from knowing the alphabet. Hungry? Watch for a sign reading: "PECTOPAH." Sound it in your head as "restauran" - and it is! - the same word as in English save that the final "t" has been dropped.
There are hundreds of words which turn out to be the same as the English, or near enough. If you know French or German, your immediate vocabulary is further enriched, as, despite their boasts, Russian culture is very backward and most of their vocabulary for anything more complex than weeding a turnip patch has been borrowed from French, English, or German by converting the foreign word phonetically.