Arthur Raffalovich

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Arthur Raffalovich , ( Russian Артур Германович Рафалович ; * 1853 in Odessa , † December 24, 1921 in Paris ) was a Russian diplomat and at the same time a French economist and economic journalist.

Life

Arthur Raffalovich was born in Odessa in 1853 as the son of the wealthy Jewish businessman Hermann Raffalovich, who founded the insurance company "Rossia". The family was rich, well educated, and polyglot . In 1863 the Raffalovichs emigrated to Paris and were confirmed in the correctness of this decision by the later anti-Semitic pogroms from 1881 to 1884. Arthur spent most of his life in Paris resp. in the French cultural area. His brother, Marc-André Raffalovich , was a writer who lived in London and addressed his homosexuality in his works. His sister Sophie married and supported the Irishman William O'Brien , who was a British MP.

Professional functions

Arthur R. had a wide variety of linguistic, business, political and scientific talents. At various times he was the private secretary of the Russian Count Shuvalov. Otherwise he was chairman of the Russian Chamber of Commerce in Paris, commercial attaché at the Russian embassy in Paris, Russia's finance officer in London and, under Sergei Witte, advisor to the State Council of Imperial Russia . In his capacity as a French publicist and scientist, R. was editor of the journal “Journal des débats” and a corresponding member (= a status for high-ranking foreigners) at the Institut de France .

Scientific profiling

R. was one of the few French authors on the subject of economic concentration who (1903) adopted the German term " cartel" . Similar to Étienne Martin Saint-Léon , but with a weaker theoretical basis, R. sorted the economic associations of that time into trusts and cartels, which he also called " syndicats européens " and thus the French " Ententes ", " Comptoirs " and " Syndicats " a castle.

Arthur Raffalovich affair 1931

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Raffalovich played a central role posthumously in the Arthur Raffalovitch Affair, a press and financial scandal in 1931. Between 1900 and 1914, the Russian diplomat was involved in arranging French credits for Russia. As early as 1923/24, original documents about the events that had fallen into the hands of Soviet power were published in the French communist newspaper L'Humanité . There was initially no major reaction. It was not until 1931 that a pamphlet appeared that violently attacked the uncritical attitude of the French press at the time and provoked outrage at the circumstances surrounding the bond sales in favor of Russia. Between 1900 and 1914, 6.5 million francs (about 23 million euros from 2005) went to well-known organs of the Parisian press to ensure the sale of Russian government bonds to the general public.

Writings of the author

R. wrote reviews in the Journal des économistes and a recurring annual overview of the financial market under the title Le marché financier . Between 1893 and 1920 he wrote or participated in the following books:

  • Le logement de l'ouvrier et du pauvre . 1887.
  • Les Finances de la Russie, 1887-1889 . 1889.
  • A History of Banking in all the Leading Nations . 1896.
  • Mémoire sur la Conference de La Haye . 1899.
  • Les crises commerciales et financières depuis 1889 . 1900.
  • The State Monopoly of Spirits in Russia and its Influence on the Prosperity of the Population . 1901.
  • Trusts, Cartels et Syndicats . Paris 1903.
  • Le Système de banque en Angleterre . 1911.
  • Russia: Its Trade and Commerce . 1918.
  • La Détresse de la Russie: Ce que les Bolcheviks ont fait des finances publiques . 1919.
  • The problem of financier russe: La dette publique de la Russie . 1922.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ " London and European Gossip ", Taranaki Herald , Volume 39, Issue 8834, July 18, 1890, p. 3.
  2. ^ The Bankers' Magazine 69 (1904), p. 702
  3. ^ Raffalovich: Trusts, Cartels et Syndicats . Paris 1903, p. 13.
  4. ^ "Presse et finance au début du XXème siècle" [3] [archive].
  5. ↑ Presse écrite en France au XXe siècle, par Laurent Martin, page 39, éditions Le Livre de poche.
personal data
SURNAME Raffalovich, Arthur
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rafalovič, Artur Germanovič (real name); Рафалович, Артур Германович (Russian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Russian diplomat and at the same time French economist and economic journalist
DATE OF BIRTH 1853
PLACE OF BIRTH Odessa , Russian Empire
DATE OF DEATH December 24, 1921
Place of death Paris