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20 Roubles 5% FREEDOM LOAN DEBENTURE BONDS
| Issuer | Provisional Government of Russia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1917 |
| Type | Emergency banknote |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | ЗАЕМЪ СВОБОДЫ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННАЯ ДУМА 5% ОБЛИГАЦІЯ ВЪ ДВАДЦАТЬ РУБЛЕЙ НАРИЦАТЕЛЬНЫХ IV серія Министръ-Предсѣдатель Петроградъ, 27 марта 1917 года |
| Reverse description | Black print on pale yellow-cream guilloche underprint. The reverse carries dense Cyrillic text setting out the full terms and conditions of the Freedom Loan, issued under the decree of the Provisional Government of 27 March 1917. The heading 1917 • ЗАЕМЪ СВОБОДЫ • 1917 runs across the top and bottom borders in bold lettering. Two manuscript signatures of the Государственная Комиссія Погашенія Долговъ (State Debt Redemption Commission) — Правляющій and Бухгалтеръ — appear in the lower section, above the notation Срокъ послѣдняго купона 16 марта 1922 года. |
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The Freedom Loan — "Zaïom Svobody" — was launched in April 1917 by the Provisional Government as an urgent attempt to keep Russia solvent and fighting. The underlying logic was patriotic appeal: the Tsar had fallen, the revolution had succeeded, and citizens were now being asked to fund a free Russia's war effort voluntarily. The response was deeply uneven. Urban workers were skeptical; the bourgeoisie bought in; the peasantry largely ignored it.
These debenture bonds circulated as de facto currency once coin and higher-denomination notes grew scarce — a function their issuers had not intended but could not prevent. The Bolshevik government repudiated all Provisional Government debt after October 1917, rendering them worthless almost immediately.