THE FIRST VICTIM OF INFLATION
Berenberg, David P.
THE FIRST VICTIM OF INFLATION No Matter What Form Inflation Takes the Wage Workers Are Necessarily the Main Sufferers A Stable and Predictable Currency Needed By David P. Berenberg "THE air is...
...In such a whirlwind of confusion as inflation creates, anything may happen...
...This money, they say, should be paid out to government workers, to holders of governmen' bonds in the form of interest, to merchants and manufacturers who supply the army and the navy, and to farmers and business men in the form of loans...
...Cuts in relief to be restored...
...An Example of Reformism AN example of the danger Comrade Stagner sees is Paul *^ Blanshard, who now has a fat job in the fusion administration that will take over New York City...
...That statement presents two questions and one assumption...
...2) ASSUMPTION: If we do, we assume the continuance of the capitalist system...
...That would be to give the leadership in such measures to capitalist party hacks or some independent "reformer...
...then business men snd farmers could pay their debts, get credit and begin functioning once more...
...There will be bootlegging of food and of gold...
...Undertook to have plans for a new hospital drawn up by the City Engineer's department, thus saving architect's fees...
...People will rush to pay their debts in the worthless paper money, and the unlucky creditors, compelled to accept payment, will in reality have lost their property...
...He will have his products, he will have enough to eat and he will be able, by direct barter, to get clothes and fuel...
...Big Business favors a government with a dictator that Big Business can dictate to...
...3) QUESTION: Or shall we plan campaigns for the overthrow of capitalism...
...That is to aay, Socialists in office would vote for such measures...
...He Is serving his interests beat if he devotes his attention to the overthrowing of the capitalist system, and if be does not allow himself to be misled into the easy money trap...
...In an economic situation such as exists now it is difficult to get the wheels of industry moving again...
...This is four weeks' work...
...They •ill give the shell, not the substance...
...Did not a prominent "Socialist" set the example...
...1) QUESTION: Shall we fight for measures of relief for the working class...
...The statement between the two questions is a pure assumption...
...Four Weeks ol Labor Rule in Glasgow Socialists tot re Wert For - Reeckfef Pleas Is Record Time— Wag* Cufl Restored1, Moors stodoctd, Municipal Bank floeeed., QLASGOW...
...They managed to push wages up every day, if necessary, to keep pace at least with the price of bread and milk...
...Practically over night the Socialist parties of Germany and Austria became tremendously powerful, with majorities in various legislative assemblies and strong minorities in others...
...While a member of our party, his work was devoted to reforms and "cleaning op" Tammany...
...There are raw materials in plenty, but many industrial concerns, especially the smaller ones, have too little capital and can get no credit...
...Comrade Stagner yields the point later on by stating that Socalist legislators would not for a moment "consider voting against these measures...
...Plans for the future include establishment of a municipal bank, and free text books for school children...
...At what prices...
...According to the National Tribune, organ of the American veterans, the leaders of this campaign to break down the labor clauses of the NRA codes, are Henry I. Ilarrinian, president of the United States Chamber of Commerce, and Robert L. Lund, president of the National Manufacturers' Association, among others...
...Power fell into their laps...
...it was the logical thing for him to do...
...All commodity prices—bread, milk, meat, clothes, medicines—w ill rise sky-high...
...If this could be accomplished without at the same time inflicting enormous damage upon the working class, a Socialist might look on with unconcern...
...It is, therefore, not surprising that the party received several letters from other members asking whether they would be permitted to vote for LaGuardia and against our own candidate for Mayor, Charles Solomon...
...There is demand for goods, but the wages of the workers, even when employed, are too low to buy goods in sufficient quantity...
...then goods would begin to move from the warehouses...
...How will they be able to meet the interest and principal of the new" loans that they will be compelled to make...
...Sooner or later inflation ends...
...Among the most striking acts in the 'interest of the workers and jobless were .hese: Increased the five-year program of municipal housing from 12,000 to 20,000 new dwellings...
...The ruling class of this country had proved its incompetence...
...People who have necessities of life for sale demand huge and rising prices for them...
...On the contrary, unemployment insurance agitation offers a fine opportunity to attack the whole capitalist system, laying bare its exploitative character, its •bsurd contradictions, and the need for its overthrow...
...As a Socialist, it is my duty to fight for what I can get for the workers now but at the same time warn them that capitalism itself must be abolished...
...They will be obtainable only In return for other goods, or for the gold that was secretly hoarded last year...
...But I have already pointed out what inflation will do to the workers...
...By-laws prohibiting the employment of school children on part time as messengers...
...Is It Either Or...
...Most of it comes from people who have an axe to grind...
...JN the past two weeks the National Recovery Administration has been getting after some of the big business houses that have not been living up to the terms of the labor clauses in the NRA codes...
...The NRA refuses not only to heed, but has taken a definite step favoring those who sit in the seats of financial power...
...The truck farmer will be in a somewhat better position—for a while—than the city dweller...
...Yet there is no one to whom inflation is a more serious matter than to the wage worker...
...Because they do not know where the lightning will strike...
...In the meantime, while the quantity of paper money rises and while Its power to purchase commodities falls, what is happening...
...On the other hand, Comrade Stagner's criticism is born of a protest gainst a tendency to concentrate attention on immediate measures in campaigns to the neglect of our basic purpose of education for the overthrow of the whole capitalist system...
...Education for the Overthrow of Capitalism "C1 VERY hour that a Socialist spends in making a speech on unemployment insurance is an hour wasted as far as Socialism is concerned...
...Refused request of magistrates and constables to prohibit meetings and demonstrations, this in the face of systematic, organized and deliberate provocation against the Socialist government by the Communists...
...WithoJ not operate...
...Because we are social revolutionists we do not ignore the class issues and struggles of the hour...
...Harriman, as head of the United States Chamber of Commerce, who started the vicioas fight against disabled soldiers and their dependents two years ago, and that the National Manufacturers' Association supported its stand...
...A period of inflation will complete the destruction of the middle classes...
...Will we live up to the occasion...
...Then there would be increased purchasing power...
...I urge our members to establish contacts with labor unions, unemployed organisations and other bodies of workmen for the purpose of working for them in a manner dictated by Socialist principles and to serve all those bodies with the humility of a servant of a great cause and at the same time with the conviction that every Socialist has an historical burden on his shoulders, a great individual mission to perform, a mission that requires not only understanding of the theory of our movement but knowledge of actual conditions, devotion to the cause and strength of character to stick to the chosen read...
...There is no cure for inflation but more inflation, and more — until the bubble bursts...
...People try to get rid of it as fast as it comes into their hands...
...The government repudiates all the outstanding money and issues new money on a gold or other metal basis...
...Property will pass, as never before, into the hands of a few rich men...
...It is that...
...Working hoars of municipal employes cat from 56 to 48 without loss of pay...
...To Infuse new life into the economy of the country he had to look for some constructive force, a force which was not responsible for the collapse...
...The first, and worst, victims of inflation in America will be the workers for wages...
...There are many people, particularly in our western states, who imagine they know all about money...
...But to whom will they sell their crops...
...He will go, and if he is lucky he will be able to buy a glass of beer for the money that he has been painfully saving for years...
...And after inflation, what...
...The every-day class fight and aims correlate with our basic intention of overthrowing capitalism...
...It may not seem strange to learn that it was Mr...
...If they should introduce them and fight for them they should certainly declare for them when engagid in a campaign struggle...
...Much capital is frosen in banks that have djj invested in 1<S paid...
...in the issue of December 2. His basic contention is formulated thus: "Shall the Socialist Party appeal to the working class electorate on the basis of palliative measures, such as unemployment insurance and old age pensions, which assume in their very essence the continuation of the capitalist system, or shall we plan our campaigns on the assumption that we are going to fight for the overthrow Of the capitalistic system...
...We affirm that it is not a matter of EITHER one OR the other, but of doing BOTH...
...Rents, which during the German inflation were kept low by government decree, will here rise to impossible heights...
...Finally, there is the fact that the measures we stand for require a Socialist administration to carry out...
...What is wrong with this picture ? The new paper money would cause the value of all existing paper money to fall...
...They cannot profit from the barter of milk and- eggs for clothes and oil, unless they, too, turn truck farmers, and so sink into that peasanthood from which they thought they had escaped...
...Those fortunate enough to have something to exchange for food and fuel will be able to get it...
...last March, w] on what then Hence the jn and the f and will certainly] clamoring for I ¦fab more is Hps*not being ¦ industry can-Ksdit is not Hjghsller con-Hi because the K|be crisis of led loans only H|d security...
...If these deductions are not correct, then the only other interpretation is that we should not insert these measures in our programs but, if we elect a Socialist, he should vote for them if some other party representative introduces them...
...trust turn to he Sore shall ir poll-we will the most momentous question...
...The workers must remember that wages never go up as fast as prices...
...They are dangerous...
...We did not throw ours aside...
...This is intended as a call to every comrade to consider himself or herself extremely important in the scheme of things, a guide for the masses that will undoubtedly, sooner or later, come to us for guidance...
...They believe that if the government prints unlimited greenbacks all will be well with the workers and farmers...
...And so he turned to labor unlona...
...The ?6 annual fee for secondary education was rescinded...
...Will our members, wherever elected, keep in mind not only the honest fulfillment of the particular duties connected with, their respective offices, but the fuufillment of the primary duty of hastening of the taking over of the means of production by the working class...
...Why then do the rich oppose in* flation...
...When We Find It Finaly Win Power it Must Not Be by Default There Lies Danger for the Working Class Movement By Abraham C. Weinfeld TPllK tremendous increase in the 4 power of the working class in the Central European countries after the World War was not due so much to the strength of the working class as to the weakness of its enemies...
...The friendliness of the Washington administration gave the A. F. of L. a spirit of which it did not thing similar^ Party in thbj will not solffl employment m November, Wk History estiSJ see from Ifl jobless in tMN velt policies J lem of 'l>»t*Mj income, tlwj purchasiafH buy back tboJfJJj labor...
...Plans of the Moderates (the party name of the reactionaries in municipal affairs) that have been killed include wage-cuts, and plans to reduce holidays, dismiss employes, reduce teachers' salaries and to delay school building...
...being extends] cerns by thai banks, fright...
...If he is willing to return to primitive conditions he will be able to weather inflation, but if long-continued he will, sooner or later, be visited by hungry city mobs who will not hesitate to plunder him, and if need be, to kill Mm...
...The ruling classes of those countries were so utterly demoralized and discredited that they simply were not in the field when the question came up as to whether they should continue to rule...
...A new child welfare and school clinic...
...SOLDIERS OPPOSE GOUGERS By Charlotte Glassman A fool I was and t went to war, even as others have done, And to save a millionaire's tainted roll, they gave me a bayonet and gun...
...In the meantime more and more money ia needed, and the government turns out billions upon billions in money that has no gold, or any other commodity, back of it The more money is turned out the worse the situation becomes...
...For weeks before action was taken, the National Recovery Administration suspected that a secret campaign of sabotage was being conducted by rich capitalists and Wall Street bankers...
...Our main job of striving for proletarian power and asserting basic aims was not within his range of propaganda...
...Inmates of public institutions to be given butter instead of margarine...
...If the inflation is mild (and since April, 1933, when we went off the gold standard, we have had a mild inflation) prices rise 30 or 40%, or, if you like, the value of the dollar falls correspondingly...
...Plans made for a maternity service for workers...
...AH of it is confusing to the worker, who does not know from day to day what his wages will buy...
...A bourgeois or fusion crowd will emasculate them If any are enacted...
...when President Roosevelt took office the country was In a state of collapse...
...The German workers during the inflation period (1922-1023) were well organised...
...We emphasized the working class character of our parry and fought for our program and basic aim in terms of working class interests...
...Then why should they not follow him when a movement finally appeared on the scene to "clean up" Tammany and effect reforms...
...In New York City we paid the penalty for years of toleration of this trend in the party...
...Despite the excellent campaign made by Comrade Solomon and his repeated stressing of our fundamental aim of overthrowing capitalism, the Socialist vote declined more than it should...
...It is brought about by a panic that seises people and government alike...
...Canceled the trip of the City Engineer to an international road congress in Germany...
...Bpsiness men, Bom the banks ¦nothing, are K They argue that if the government puts a few billion dollars of new paper money into circulation it will start the wheels of industry moving again...
...All prices would rise...
...j Why do governments go in for inflation...
...If inflation becomes serious, there is no telling how high prices will go, or how low the dollar will fall...
...Wages of the workers would not rise as fast as the prices of goods, and as a result there would be fewer sales, after the first rush to buy, not more...
...But it cannot restore to its former owners the property they have lost...
...So much paper money is issued that no one trusts the currency...
...In return, Big Business seeks to dominate the NRA and consequently block the laborers and veterans in their desire for better conditions...
...In time the necessities of life will go off the market...
...WilKam H. Proper in the National Tribune...
...The Socialist sympathizers who had often voted for us went over to the fusion outfit...
...The Rest will go on the breadlines—if there are any...
...He assumes that it is a matter of fighting EITHER for such meausres OR for the overthrow of capitalism...
...The result, they hold, would be a quickened recovery...
...Playing with the money system will get the TK^orkfli* no whQi*@* Editor's Corner Review of and Comment on Events Here and Abroad, Critical and Otherwise By James Oneal DOSS STAGNER of Madison, Wisconsin, dissents in part with my article, "Is Socialist Fight for Legislative Measures Wrong...
...Socialists of all shades and nationalities last month celebrated the 98th anniversary of the birth of B. Limanovski, veteran of the Socialist movement in Poland...
...In America, under similar conditions, the poorly organized worker would be faced with starvation...
...The worker who has a savings bank account may receive a letter asking him to withdraw his money...
...The workers, stripped of all they have saved, will have to go back to work at prices dictated by their poverty-stricken state...
...pOMKADE STAQNER presents the issue as one of alternatives...
...That simply is not true...
...So long as the .capitalist system lasts the worker needs a currency that he can depend on...
...It assumes that if a Socialist urges enactment of an unemployment insurance bill, by that act he assumes the "continuation of the capitalist system...
...Al Smith called inflation a shot in the arm...
...A Socialist can consistently strive to wrest working class measures from the capitalist opposition and at the same time light for the aboltion of capitalism itself...
...A wage-cut of 5% restored...
...And the term of office of the Socialists is just beginning...
...If they vote for them they should also introduce them...
...To be sure, if we merely emphasize the immediate measures we become reformers, but it is also true that if we ignore them and merely concentrate on the ultimate aim we will become sterile Utopians...
...With sales falling there would be a cry for more inflation, and more...
...On the contrary, we polled the largest vote, nearly a million, in our history...
...They mix this nonsense with "radical" phrases about "crucifying labor on a cross of gold...
...We once had a genuine proletarian party and in 1912 we faced Theodore Roosevelt's "Army of the Lord" with a program of measures largely similar to ours...
...In 1923 the price of a postage stamp in Germany rose to a billion marks or more...
...While the workers starve strange things would be happening...
...The farmers once more will mortgage their farms and agree to pay interest and principal in gold...
...the Baa capitalist H sarily perfM hasten theS tern under1™ soon the pajH disillusioned* will still real Republican Bj brought ta m In other wore either partyl the third v4 have convinjfJJ cies are rigfl he next !;o, and some-ocialist le near policies of un-in the htrrent 14 will 100,000 Roose-S prole atiOnal enough ople to dr own r other neces-which lie sys-ipletely It and ier the ry was kdown...
...The Socialist government of this great city, within its first four weeks, already has a number of remarkable achievements to its credit...
...The wheat, corn, cotton and tobacco farmers, who are among those howling for inflation, will be among the hardest hit True, they can pay off their present mortgages and loans in paper of little value...
...As long as the worker is interested in wages he is better off if he can calculate at least for a few months or a year ahead approximately what his money can buy...
...If he were sure he would, and that the other fellow would perish, he would welcome inflation with open arms...
...There will be hijacking and racketeering on a vast scale...
...Inflation of this sort is called uncontrolled inflation...
...For he has little power to compel wage increases...
...She was chosen a few weeks ago...
...The class of rich men is sure to profit, but no individual capitalist is sure that he will survive the storm...
...A similar case of winning by default, though on a smaller scale, I see In the recent growth of the A. F. of L. unions...
...When the campaign was over, the reformers had not injured us...
...Socialist Woman Legislator Comrade Josefine Lenczewski is the fourteenth woman Social-Democratic member of the Vienna City Council...
...What will they be able to buy for the money they receive...
...His desertion of the party when fusion came along was not inconsistent...
...The rich will be immensely richer, and the poor greatly poorer...
...THE FIRST VICTIM OF INFLATION No Matter What Form Inflation Takes the Wage Workers Are Necessarily the Main Sufferers A Stable and Predictable Currency Needed By David P. Berenberg "THE air is full of talk about inflation, most of it technical, some muddled...
...They are often to be found in working class and farmers' movements, where they serve to misdirect what would otherwise be constructive revolutionary impulses...
Vol. 16 • December 1933 • No. 26
