СЕЛЯНСТВО ТА ФАЛЬШИВОМОНЕТНИЦТВО В РОСІЙСЬКІЙ ТА АВСТРО-УГОРСЬКІЙ ІМПЕРІЯХ У ХІХ-ХХ СТ

Abstract

Introduction. At all times, the ranks of counterfeiters
were attracted by representatives of various professions,
nationalities, and social classes. There are also known
counterfeiters from among the peasants.
Purpose. The purpose of the study is to determine
the role of the peasantry in the processes associated
with the forgery and sale of counterfeit money, based
on previously unpublished archival sources and
newspapers.
Originality. The peculiarity of this research is the
use of comparative and critical analysis of the
previously unpublished archival documents as the main
source of the study.
Conclusion. In the publications of newspapers of
the XIX century we have find evidence of peasants’
involvement in the production of the counterfeit money.
For the first half of the XIX century, due to the rise in
price of copper, a popular form of crime against the
money supply was the melting conversion of circulating
coins into ingots. This process was more typical of the
countryside and persecuted by the state. The most
frequent references in archival sources to the rural
population in the focus of the problem of counterfeiting
money in Ukraine in the imperial era are in cases of
detecting counterfeits among the paid taxes. The
peasantry was less protected and was in danger of
receiving counterfeit money and suffering losses. For a
long time, they were mostly illiterate and engaged in
buying and selling, collecting and paying taxes, the
peasants also consulted among themselves for the
protection of counterfeiting. Often, because of the
inability to spot counterfeit money, it was possible to
rotate between peasants for a long time. There are
known cases of long episodes of counterfeiting until
the moment of detection.
The rural population was not only attractive to
counterfeiters for sailing the frauds. Adventurers were
attracted by the possibility of being uncovered in
sparsely populated areas, in organized secret
workshops outside the cities, the risk of detection and
suspicion of coin production was reduced. It was much
more difficult to make it unnoticed to organize the
production of counterfeit coins in cities. As the subjects
of the counterfeit have become also a variety of different
documents and securities that could make life easier or
make a profit for individuals. Prior to the abolition of
serfdom, cases of falsification of documents that were in
demand among the peasants of fugitive landlords were
a common form of falsification.
Since the beginning of the World War I, the
monetary system has changed completely and other
types of counterfeiting have also emerged, becoming a
new threat for the peasantry