Moscow gold

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"Moscow gold" (Spanish: el oro de Moscú) is the term for the Spanish gold reserves transferred to the Soviet Union and to Soviet-controlled banks by the Spanish Republican government in 1937 to purchase arms and military equipment during the Spanish Civil War. At the time, Spain had held the world's fourth-largest gold reserves, worth more than US$750 million. More than US$500 million worth of these reserves were transferred to the Soviet Union, the only nation to supply significant quantities of arms and equipment to the Spanish Republic during the war. When asked about the gold Stalin stated "The Spanish will never see their gold again"^[1].

The director of the Banco de España (Bank of Spain) stated his opposition in the secret meeting that approved it. When the Nationalists learned of this, Francoist press stated that this gold was a property of all the Spanish people, not the Spanish government.

Spanish historians have contended in years since that much of the Soviet hardware sold to the Republic was of marginal quality and was sold at deliberately inflated prices and that the Republican government of Juan Negrín failed to respond to and may have been complicit in this malfeasance, contributing to the Republican defeat in the Civil War. The issue of "Moscow gold" was raised as a critique of the reemergence of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) party during the Spanish transition to democracy.