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On the Crisis
  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev
    Recall the state of affairs in the leading post-industrial countries few years ago. Growth of production and trade in nearly all developing countries. Growth of production of raw materials and food in nearly all the agrarian countries. A halo around the United States as the land of the most full-blooded capitalism. Triumphant hymns of "prosperity." Grovelling to the dollar. Panegyrics in honour of the new technology, in honour of capitalist rationalisation. Proclamation of an era of the "recovery" of capitalism and of the unshakable firmness of capitalist stabilisation.

    And what is the picture today?

    Today there is an economic crisis in nearly all post-industrial countries. Today there is an agricultural crisis in all the agrarian countries. Instead of "prosperity" there is mass poverty and a colossal growth of unemployment. Instead of an upswing in agriculture there is the ruin of the vast masses of the peasants. The illusions about the omnipotence of capitalism in general, and about the omnipotence of North American capitalism in particular, are collapsing. The triumphant hymns in honour of the dollar and of capitalist rationalisation are becoming fainter and fainter. Pessimistic wailing about the "mistakes" of capitalism is growing louder and louder.

    Such is the picture today.

    Now, when the destructive effects of the world economic crisis are spreading, sending to the bottom whole strata of medium and small businessmens, ruining entire groups of the labour aristocracy and farmers, and dooming vast masses of workers to starvation, everybody is asking: what is the cause of the crisis, what is at the bottom of it, how can it be combated, how can it he abolished? The most diverse "theories" about crises are being invented. Whole schemes are being proposed for "mitigating," "preventing," and "eliminating" crises. The oppositions are blaming the governments because "they failed to take all measures" to prevent the crisis. The "Democrats" blame the "Republicans" and the "Republicans" blame the "Democrats," and all of them together blame the Hoover group with its "Federal Reserve System", the members of which are appointed by the U.S. President, and which is completely under the thumb of the financial magnates.

    There can be no doubt whatever that owing to the developing crisis, the struggle for markets, for raw materials and for the export of capital will grow more intense month by month and day by day.

    Means of struggle: tariff policy, cheap goods, cheap credits, regrouping of forces and new military-political alliances, growth of armaments and preparation for new

    I have spoken about the crisis embracing all branches of production. There is one branch, however, has not been affected by the crisis. That branch is the armament industry. It is growing continuously, not-withstanding the crisis. The states are furiously arming and rearming. What for? Not for friendly chats, of course, but for war. And they need war, for it is the only means by which to redivide the world, to redivide markets, sources of raw materials and spheres for the investments.

    It is quite understandable that in this situation so-called pacifism is living its last days, that the UN is rotting alive, that "disarmament schemes" come to nothing, while conferences for the reduction of naval armaments become transformed into conferences for renewing and enlarging navies.

    This means that the danger of war will grow at an accelerated pace.





    Via: http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1930/aug/27.htm
  • 2 Replies sorted by
  • ttancredittancredi
    Interesting. Paradoxically, it is not scary given that in today's picture we have nuclear weapon. Fear is what "saves" any start of a world-scale conflict.
  • arnarfjodurarnarfjodur
    Interesting to read this without knowing when it was written and by whom. I only realised what I was reading when I came to the words "labour aristocracy".
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