TRENDS: Ideas in action; events as they reflect social tendencies
OAK, LISTON M.
TRENDS: Ideas in action; events as they reflect social tendencies Liston M. Oak Citrine Discovers That Communists Control ELAS THE British trade union delegation headed by Sir Walter Citrine...
...the EDES will employ all its energies toward the fulfillment of these qnds, in collaboration with any other organization which has the same ends...
...Starvation /• Liberated Europe . .. • The plight of Italians Is dramatised by s new curfew' decree in Borne compelling children under IB to get off the streets at 8 p. m. It is directed mainly against juvenile prostitution of girls from 12 to 14, swarming the streets in the effort to eara enough to bay load on-the black market...
...In the face of all thia human misery, th* UNRRA's Inaction is a disgrace...
...The Greek Government have declared that no penalties will be enforced against any individual involved in recent hostilities save the** 'proved guilty of offences contrary to the rules of war or the ordinary criminal code...
...there is a wave of crime and juvenile delinquency...
...Fuel "' is practically unobtainable...
...Business aa usual...
...Americans who follow Balkan affair* closely stated to Levy that they "have been stalwart fighters fee democracy in Bulgaria," who have always opposed fascism...
...7—The democratic socialist regime must give the people "social justice, eradicating the criminal Inequality which, under the tyranny of the dictatorship, wss the ' scourge of every Greek, and brutally exploited their labor for the benefit of a minority, and corrupted . . . leadership...
...18,1945, declaring that the Communists caused the civil war, welcoming tits sid of the British troops in restoring order, snd urging a "government of national unity, with the participation of all the political parties," which favor "free democratic institutions and the social reconstruction of our country, aims which are fundamentally socialistic...
...The American Geographical Society reports that Europe's agricultural situation is far worae than at the epd of World War I, and will be still more grim for years to come...
...Yet so anxious are British manufacturers te promote trade with South America that railway ears are now being sold to Brazil...
...Excerpts from this pamphlet are: Ambassador Leeper to Eden (Jan...
...This purge must he carried as far as circumstances require...
...events as they reflect social tendencies Liston M. Oak Citrine Discovers That Communists Control ELAS THE British trade union delegation headed by Sir Walter Citrine which visited Unm at ths and of January lepmted that they found "a vary wid—prsad dread tmonf all kind* of people in Greece that the British Government might throw overheard its responsibility by a premature withdrawal of British troops...
...The Continent is "mainly a vast, worn-out farm...
...snd are trying to eliminate the real proponents of democracy in Bulgaria, i '. , American silence is a severe blow to American prestige in the Balkans...
...Before the reader starts screaming "inflation" he I would do well to count ten and remember that the t ¦ere emioteneo of money, folding money or bank ¦°n*y, never causes inflations...
...The British labor, leaders interviewed MO paratroopers, and these soldiers resented dosply the distortimis of the facts by those who damned British imperialism for intervening in Greek affairs...
...The Germans denuded the country of much of its raw materials, rolling stock, snd economic resources...
...EAM is in process of disintegration...
...2—To work for "a democratic constitution of a popular character and socialist in form after a free plebiscite...
...Political stability cannot be achieved until there is a measure of economic stability...
...Arms dropped by toe British had been hoarded, presumably for other purposes...
...Thst is why the application of Functional Finance to taxing and borrowing permits us to be free in the purely mechanical matter of writing entries in bank ledgers or printing picture* of presidents on watermarked Of course if the government interpreted it* freedom to crest* money aa permitting it to spend indefinitely st snybody's request, to reduce taxes whenever any taxpayer grumbled, and to repay national debt whenever anybody suggested it, we certainly would have unlimited inflation...
...The British soldiers said unanimously that had they not defeated the ELAS "there would have been a wholesale massacre in Athens...
...The civil war was organised solely by deadly enemies of our country," the SEE Central Committee declared, without naming Russia...
...The EAM-ELAS had a secret terrorist organization, the OPLA, similsr to the OGFU snd the Gestapo, which was guilty 'of the worst atrocities againat civilian opponents of the Communists, including the trade union lenders, before and during the civil war...
...Even tha BritiVh soldiers who had been held by the ELAS were cruelly treated...
...8—"After we have thrown off this heavy yoke...
...the nine years of the Metaxas dictatorship and German occupation, the unions had become disorganized...
...The truth about this tragic situation appeared first in rite Nne Leader, and in the N*w Tetk T*m**, in articles by Leon Dennen...
...The Socialist ELD, another underground orgeat sation, at a meeting of Ha Central Committee o* Jan...
...8, 1944," Citrine's committee stated...
...Mass unemployment is rife...
...Bad terror eaaily leads to whit* terror...
...On Jsn...
...The Socialists stated that the fighting was started without consultation (of the Communists) with the other groups within the EAM...
...My guess is ss good ss anyone V) Of course anyone who might suggest thst if we spent a mere billion or two, we might prevent the next war, would be s starry-eyed idealist...
...They upheld the justice of the government's policy to punish those guilty of such crimes, and opposed a general amnesty...
...It it only if it leads I' to too much ependmg that the creation of money is 1: eangerous, and if there is too much spending we have inflation whether money is being created or f set But we have slresdy taken care thst there fc should not be too much spending...
...It it not fulfilling the high hopes raised In the hearts of the peoples of liberated lands...
...Before the wer France had 116,000 railway cars...
...It is reported that not more than 10 percent of Italy's cspitsl equipment remains intact This terrific loss of productive power means lowering the standard of living, never high, to the subsistence level or below...
...Since the need for money to meet the expenses of government plays no part in determining the amount ef taxation or of borrowing, there is no fbarantee that the government's current needs for money will ' at covered by the proceeds from taxing snd borrowing...
...ELAS were toe dirtiest fighter* our troops bad encountered...
...The ELD had been part of the "united front" known as the KAM, of which the ELAS was the fighting arm...
...A great many hostages freed from the ELAS were Interviewed by the British trade union delegation, and their stories of brutslity were shocking...
...European farms will remain email, but cooperation and communal organisation can give the advantages of large-scale agriculture, as in prewar Denmark...
...This is due largely to transportation difficulties...
...The Agrarian Party and ELD of Macedonia and Thrace also adopted a joint resolution, on Jan...
...But that is certainly not what Functional Finance prescribes...
...Think of it— 1238,000,000,000 spent for peace, prosperity, the reeducation ef mankind, democratic Socialism...
...One evidtnt purpose was to fight other guerrilla groups such ss the EDES, when the latter were engaged in fighting the Nasis...
...A former Minister ef Labor, Porphjrrogwnia, bad decreed the legality of the leadership of these four pro-Communist trad* unionists...
...But give me $238,000,000,000, and 111 avert the coming catastrophe...
...This means, for example, that any increase in government spending must be recognized as adding to the total rate of spending in the country...
...The answer te this question is hard to take because it atoms tee simple...
...Zervaa was the underground leader of the EDES...
...Ordinary folding money is crested by the govern: Stent simply by telling its printers to go shead and I there is nothing to atop them to long ss they hsve asper snd ink...
...Taxes must therefore never be imposed beyond the level necessary to prevent the public from causing an inflation by spending too much money...
...7, 1945, repudiated the ELAS and placed the blame for the civil war upon the Communists...
...It can be offset by a reduction in government spending on some other object, or by an increase in taxation which causes individuals to spend less, or by government borrowing which discourages private spending on investment projects, or by other snd more indirect influences on privste spending...
...The temporary executive of the Confederation of Labor, led by Hadjidiatitriou, of the Bakers' Union, told the British trade unionists that during...
...so much destruction hss been done, the greater part during the civil war, that resusoitalon of Industry is bound to take a long time...
...So could any intelligent person —but no government on earth ran do It...
...We beard many terribly stories from British troops about ELAS...
...Bank-deposit money Is created by the government borrowing from the hanks in s wsy which permits the banks to issue v 'sew credit* on government account The govern jjj Stent can then write checks on these accounts to meet its expenees snd the checks will be honored...
...The government csn create either ordinary currency or bank-deposit money...
...They control the t, radio and press...
...It is grotesque to describe what happened in Greece as the use of reluctant troops on the side of reaction against democratic people...
...It eaye that irnce money hai important effect* only when it it SPENT the government need never worry about the purely mechanical matter of creating money a* long a* it keepe the total rate of ependmg from going toe high or too low...
...6, printed in the Feb...
...The EDES, characterized by the Communists as "reactionary, monarchist, and fascist," declared its aims as: 1—To win the War...
...There will, however, be acts of injustice toward the other side (the EAM-ELAS...
...The ELD declared that the Communists "seized power within the EAM at the expense of the ELD and other cooperating parties, which automatically severs' every connecting link with the EAM...
...6—Greek representation at the peace conference...
...I would not spend a penny on conferences of diplomats, either In Moscow, Teheran, Cairo, Yalta, or San Francisco...
...This explains why the Communists snd their apologises deny that Greeks who denounce the EAM and cooperate with the government are bona fide trade union leaders...
...Their difficulties were increased by the murder of 114 trade union officers by the Communists, who seised trade union offices forcibly after the Nazis withdrew...
...ep.diafe EAM-ELAS • The British Government has issued a White Paper on Situation in Greece...
...Rather it means sn improvement over earlier crude attempts to prevent inflations by limiting the creation of money...
...Bulgarian Democrats DislUmuoned • Joseph M. Levy cabled a story to the N. Y. Tim** on Feb...
...If you are desperately hungry, you are eager to support the demagog who promises you food...
...Col...
...Add to this th* exhaustion of stocks of materials not only in Italy but throughout Europe...
...If the total rate of spending is high enough this must be offset by other governmental action...
...Jobs anil Hollars By Abba P. Lerner 7. htamey and InBatlam If the government assumes responsibility for preventing depressions and inflations it must subject . its financial measures to the principles of Functional Finance...
...1 don't expect to have $23«,<»00,ooo,-: 000 put st my disposal, but s contribution to The New leader of t!i would help...
...hut the present Minister of Labor, Sideris, Has established the legality of the anti-Co mm uniat Isadora now functioning in Athens...
...No immediate relief is in sight for the desperately critical food shortage in France, with virtual famine in many provinces...
...The BriUsh^rought the two factions together, snd an agreement was reached providing for an early election of new temporary officers...
...Human nature , . . will exact some revenge for what it has suffered...
...When the ELAS oath, "I shall not steal anything...
...Britain snd America get the blame, fully exploited by the Communists...
...Hardly the political (program of a reactionary, monarchist party which , serves British imperialism," aa falsely charged by totalitarian* and their fellow-travelers, and by ultra-revolutionary Socialists like Dwight * Mondonald, And this is the program adopted on Sept» 1941, when the Nasis still occupied Greece and the EDES was underground, and their leader, General Plastiraa, was in exile...
...Sir Walter Citrine reports "alssost complete dislocation of the industrial and commercial life' of Greece...
...We can rely upon the Regent and General Plastiraa to stop this, bat we must us* all our influence too in this direction...
...Leeper then detailed the terrible suffering of the hostages seised by the ELAS, and the atrocities perpetrated against them, which even in this atrocious era are horrible...
...Functional Finance does not consist merely of throwing away the old financial principle of trying to balance the budget...
...If the government sees set have enough money stored swsy to cover ths difference it eheuld create the extra auaaeg U aeede...
...A fraction of that huge sum, intelligently ussd, would hsve enabled the German Social Demoeret* to defeat the Nazis, and would have made the overthrow ef Mussolini a certainty, would hsve guaranteed the triumph of the Spanish democratic republicans over Franco, st well as the victory of China over Japan long before we got into the war...
...Greece, like Italy, is dependant for food and raw materials on the United States and Britain...
...This is slresdy seven times the cost of World Wsr I. It is conservatively estimated that the cost of World War II will lie ten times ths root of this one...
...UNRRA is not operating at all in Belgium, the Netherlands, and France...
...The original BAM was s combination of several parties...
...They have, and still are, treating them with the ruthless brutality of the Gestapo...
...for that is incompatible with the pride and dignity of a true guerrilla,'' was road to thee* British soldiers, they burst out in derisive laughter...
...it generally admitted that there is more elarvatton in Italy and all other liberated eountrie*, than there wat under Nati occupation...
...They were sentenced by a gevjotdomtnstsd "Peoples Court" "The world he* been tooled by Bulgarian political adventurers," Levy was informed...
...Brigandage, draft riots, civil disorders, bread riots, are taking plsce more often than reported in our newspapers...
...Men, women, and children were murdered here in large numbers and thousands of hostages were taken...
...and the Confederation later split frees the IFTU snd was amalgamated with the United Federation of Labor with headquarters in Moscow...
...Borrowing, which means replacing cash in the hands of the public by government bonds, should be undertaken only to the degree that such s substitution of bond* for cash is necessary for economic stability...
...To prevent thst Lie the function of taxation...
...Nobody can estimate the number of people killed or arrested before the revolt in Athens actually began, but . . . when the fighting began, the brutalities increased rapidly...
...the United States toward the outrageous jsiling ef "three Bulgarian democratic leaders, Nicola Mustanoff, Athanas Buroff, and Dimiter Gitcheffas war criminals...
...Expecting to check inflation and deflation by controlling the creation of money is almost like hoping to prevent the foreign office from making bad treaties by limiting it* supply of stationery...
...now there are only 7,000...
...But' the ELAS troops who took part in the fighting without committing atrocities at* not to be punished...
...The law-and-order promised by the Allied Control Commission and used ss sn excuse for maintaining in powsr the monarchy, reactionaries, snd even fascists, haa not been realised...
...9 early editions snd taken out of later editions, reporting -that Americans in Turkey are disappointed at the apathy of...
...The KAM members who claimed to be the legitimate leaders of the Confederatimi of Labor—Kalomiris, Stratis, The**, and Mariolia—based their claims on an election at the Trad* Union Congress of 1935...
...Cold, hunger, disease, are rampant in Italy...
...The party approval the resolution of the regional SEE organization of Macedonia and Thrace which had the courage to condemn the civil war immediately after the outbreak of hostilities...
...8—"To demand from our country's Allies that the Greek people be left free after the war to choose their own constitution, and to avoid the forcible imposition by foreign forces of a monarchical regime...
...Little actual fighting took place between them snd the Germans...
...This means that taxing and borrowing can be justified only in terms of their effects on th* economy...
...Greek Communists have not only Imitated the Germans in taking hostages...
...Socialists would 'have resigned sarlier "but for fear of reprisals.'* He who rides a tiger dare not dismount "ELAS, the military organisation of KAM, seems to have been even more under the domination of the Communists...
...A deal haa been made with Tito for distribution of relief in Yugoslavia, but not the government* of western Europe • » • A Bit of Starry Eyed Ideolitm • The cost of the wsr, Merges then informs ua, ha* been $288,000,000,000, thus far—set to mention lives lost...
...t* ¦ v Greek People Oppose Commssiih...
...Political conflicts are more dramatic, but more basic are theee economic problem*—raw materials, bridges, transportation, destruction of industrial plan t*^ lack of all th* things that are necessary for material welfare—snd after all, eeting is quite bsaic...
...Bulgarians are now bitterly disillusioned...
...Direct control of the total rate of tpending by Functional Finance makes such crude measures out of data...
...ELAS was mora concerned with returning to Athens to seise power than with fighting the Germans...
...The SAM trade union leaders call the others fascist* and collaborators, aa is their custom...
...They discovered that the Greek trad* unions had been split asunder by events and Communist maneuvers...
...Where will th* government get the difference...
...27 Leeper reported to Eden that many nonCommunists were deserting the ELAS, and that "the sentiments of the ordinary people are now almost unanimously against ELAS...
...4—"To resist the return of the King...
...Another socialist party, the SEE, likewise condemned the Communists in the EAM-ELAS, and severed connections with it, on Jan...
...The British Ambassador cited the programs of various Greek political parties...
...There seems no doubt, however, that the Communists exercised s dominating influence . . . from its sarly stages, and that this domination had become virtually complete when the armed conflict began on Dec...
...The freedom of the government to create the money it needs in spplying Functional Finance does not mean snarchy...
...The British trade unionists declared that "there was no doubt that there had been organised and brutal murders" of civilians by the ELAS...
...The total of civilians murdered was estimated at ]O,0OO...
...6—"After the setting up of a Socialist Populsr Democracy, the machinery of the government . . . must be removed from the hands of everyone who has not a clean record and a democratic socialist mentality, attested by past actions...
...16, 1946): "Ever since the Germans left, the small but well-armed Communist Party has been practicing a reign of terror all over the country...
...It is a picture of despair...
...It conaists of replacing that rule by others which are more directly connected with the task of preventing inflations and depressions...
Vol. 28 • February 1945 • No. 7
