THE ADVANCE OP FASCISM

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21866, 20 August 1936, Page 8

THE ADVANCE OP FASCISM

TO THB EDITOI OT TH* 2*lßß. Sir,— Apparently your correspondent, “Consumer Credit,” is unaware that there is a dictatorship of capitalism which includes both the representatives of finance and industry. Modern capitalism is so inextricably interwoven that both industry and finance are essential parts of the capitalistic machine, and an operation for the purpose of eliminating private control of currency would be just as violently opposed by the leaders of capitalism as would its complete abolition, as other operations would tend to follow. “Consumer Credit” resents the fact that credit is controlled by private persons for profit. If he applied the same line of argument .to every phase of capitalism he might get somewhere. To control credit in the interests of the public will not of itself appreciably improve the conditions the people, because it is purely one of the many irreparable defects in capitalism. It is not possible to explain the decay in capitalism since the war by putting tho blame on the method of issue and control of credit, as a survey of recent years reveals. In the 60 years before the war (in which statistics were available) production increased about five times. During the whole of that time, in the progressive period of capitalism, production, as shown on a chart, increased continually at a steep incline, except for minor crises, whereas production in the period of decay is about the same as in 1914, and only half what it would have been assuming that the crisis had not set in and production had progressed at its usual rate. Again, on responsible authority, never in history was there such a sharp and drastic drop in production as when the slump began to be felt. Never before in history has there been such an enormous destruction of foodstuffs and raw materials, dismantling, , and destruction of machinery by the deliberate acts of organised capitalism on • a world-wide basis in the midst of poverty and destitution. Never before has there , been such a huge increase in , the" unemployed, as evidenced in the capitalist' countries,, the total of which Was at one time estimated at 50,000,000 families thrown on the scrap heap, and condemned to perpetual starvation, because it is not profitable for capitalism to feed them; Never before has trade war -been carried to such extremes hy the utilisation of every conceivable means, strangling international trade, raising the cost of’production, lowering the standard

of living, the ultimate outcome of which process is the formation of a large number of small self-sufficient states with the gradual disappearance of international trade. Never before in history ’■has there been such an enormous iamount spent on armaments nor such a ‘ large increase as in recent years, nor such a high proportion of the world’s production spent on armaments, the only possible outcome of which is war. All these are merely examples of the contradictions of capitalism in decay, and such contradictions must of necessity increase in intensity as the crisis develops, because there is no such thing as enlightened international capitalism, but a number of -rival imperialist units, each of which must follow in the, steps of v tlje others or perish. When capitalism has got to the stage that in the eyes of its leaders the only way out of their difficulties is war, in the hope that they us victorious powers will get a greater share in the: redivision of the world, :then it does not look very promising for capitalism, and illustrates the depths to which it has gone.—Yours, etc S. H. BECK. Rangibra, August 17, 1936. —j — ■■■,'■