Moscow Gold

The term Moscow Gold (Spanish: Oro de Moscú), or alternatively, Gold of the Republic (Spanish: Oro de la República), refers to the operation by which 510 tonnes of gold, corresponding to 72.6% of the total gold reserves of the Bank of Spain, were transferred from their original location in Madrid to the Soviet Union a few months after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. This transfer was made by order of the government of the Second Spanish Republic, presided over by Francisco Largo Caballero, through the initiative of his Minister of Finance, Juan Negrín. The term also encompasses the subsequent issues relating with the gold's sale to the USSR and the usage of the funds obtained. The remaining fourth of the Bank's gold reserves, 193 tonnes, was transported and exchanged into currency in France, an operation which is also known by analogy as the "Paris Gold".

The term "Moscow Gold" has its origin in anti-Soviet propaganda which used the term to discredit the supposed financial support of western trade unions and political parties of Communist ideologies. Before 1935, as the government of Joseph Stalin focused part of its foreign policy towards the promotion of the so-called "global communist revolution of the proletariat", English-language media (such as Time magazine) used Moscow Gold to refer to Soviet plans to intensify the activities of the international communist movement, which at the time were manifesting themselves timidly in the United States and the United Kingdom. Also, during the early 1990s the term Moscow Gold was used in France (as l'or de Moscou) in a campaign to disparage the funding of the French Communist Party. In reference to the episode of Spanish history, the term was popularized during the Spanish Civil War and the early years of the Francoist régime by the international press.

Since the 1970s this episode of Spanish history has been the focus of many essays and works of literature, many relying on information from official documents and records of the time. It has also been the source of strong controversy and historical debate, especially in Spain. Disagreements are centred on the political interpretation of its motivations, on its supposed usage, its effects on the development of the conflict, its subsequent influence on the exiled Government of the Republic and on the diplomatic relations between the Francoist government and the Soviet Union.