The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-12-22
BY MAX WEISS.

''On the of the crisis, the bourgeoisie
with the self -suffciency that springs from In
toxicating prosperity, declares money to be a
vain imagination. Commodities alone are
money. But now the cry is everywhere: money
alone is commodity! AS the hart pants
after fresh water, so pants his soul after
money. the only wealth. In crisis the an
tithesis between commodities and their value
form, money, becomes heightened into an abb
soute contradiction. Hence in such events
the form under which money appears is of
no importance" Capital, Vol. 1, page 1859
A VERITABLE fear and trembling has seized
"A the capitalist world as one by one the ele-
mental forces of the crisis begin to batter away
at the whole edifice of capitalist finance. There
is not a credit structure of Importance in the
capitalist world that is not either on the brink
OF a cataclysnlic plunge or on the rapid road to
such a. plunge. The latest country to be drawn
into the maelstrom of capitalist financial de-
bacle is the United States
Already premonition of impending disaster
has filled American financiers with profound
pessinlisn Expressions of misgiving as to the
ultimate outcome of the inf1ationary movement
now under way find their way increasingly into
the organs of finance capital. with the delv-
was outlined the creation of an emergency Re
construction Finance Corporation, this pessimis-
tic mood occasoned such frank expressions of
doubt as that contained in the journal of Com
merce of Dec 10. This Wall st. paper carried
very prominently the statement that
Business men have heard a great deal re-
Gently about possibilities of initiation, which
will give immediate stimulus to business but
rut1fc will
justment later on.
''The newly proposed Reconstruction Finance
Corporation sponsored by President Hoover Is
designed to accomplish measure of nfIa-
ton.
"A moderate amount of initiation TO check a
deflationary movement Is believed by many
to be sound policy In time like this. :"
Although it is very clear from this statement
that Hoovers emergency measure is an infla-
tonary one, that the capitalists desire "a mod
crate amount Of inflatnio," and that they are
seriously worried about paying the piper after
initiation has had its dance, the Journal of Com
merce hides one very significant fact; namely,
that the tendency toward initiation is not merely
a possibility" but an actualityl
For the capitalists it is no longer matter
merely of adopting policy of initiation but of
being drawn irresistably in the wake of an in
flationary movement that had its beginnings
many months ago
AT that time, against background of inter-
national capitalist finance that was turnbling
about its ears like a house of cards, American
finance found occasion for expressions of jubila-
ton at its apparently secure position All about
1t were unnlistakable symptoms Of financial
disaster.
eliminating long period of similar develop
ments, the week ending Dec. found the Bri-
fish pound in it's most precarious position since
the period following the war. Alongside of
decline of 84,918 pounds in gold holdings British
notes in circulation rose to point where they ex-
ceeded the circulation of the past week by
4,057,000 pounds From reserve ratio last
year of 1851 per cent, the ratio dropped two
weeks ago to 1892 per cent and last week to
23.44 per cent The British pound stirling for
two successive days last week Dec. It'll and 4th)
lowered at point SO per cent below its par
value. Every indication possible is being given
of the depreciation Of the British currency and
OF the beginning of gigantic wave of initiation
The position of Germany is no better. The
Reichsbank statement for Nov. 80 shows con-
traction in the holdings of gold and bullion
equal to s,623,ooo marks The Reichsbanks gold