Saturday, April 19, 1919 THE REVOLUTIONARY AGE Imperialism. the. the Final Stage of Capitalism stagnate, thies. courity men, system which proved to. 100. 197. (Continuation)
By Lenin certain official, who was a member of the Trust InN FRANCE the domination of the financial oligvestigation Commission and who, some time after, Translated from the Russian by Andre Tridon by was given a fat position with one of the trusts, the ancial Oligarchy of France, went thru five editions steel syndicate similar cases which were not Many in 1908) assumes a slightly different form. Four leadBanking monopoly, and transportation monopoly by any means fortuitous ones, compelled this conservative writer to admit that the economic freedom ing banks have the exclusive right to issue stock. They prices depends mainly upon good rail connection with by the German constitution in many fields. guaranteed polistic combine reaps monopolistic profits from every of economic life, is a meaningless phrase, and that som nish are controlled by large companies which, thru a system when the emission of paper. When they float loans, the country of participation and interlocking directorates, are the broadest kind of political freedom cannot prevent plutocracy joins hands with the government favor of which the emission is made never receives allied to the banks. The resulting situation is what more than 90 of the actual cash subscribed. The Esch us from becoming to Bank, As far as Russia is concerned, shall only give one hanks receive a middlemen commission of 10 describes as the swamp; frenzied speculation in sub example. several years ago, all the papers announced These banks inade a profit of on the Russian urban real estate, bankruptcies of building firms like that a certain Davidof, director of the Credit ChancChinese loan of 400, 000, 000 francs, 10 on the Rus Boswau and Knauer of Berlin, which secured 100 on the Moroccan loan of 1904 amounting to 62, 500, 000. Balkon me krateruecosobid and substantial Deutsche tion with one of the large banks at a salary which withof course working thru participa in very few years would make sum of over a million usurer reaches its last stage of development with usury on a tricated itself after losing some 12 millions. the office whose duty is to unify the activities of the AIL ly affected the conditions of economic life are deep, ed nothing from the building companies, graft deals sidizes the Petrograd and Moscow banks to the tune the rest lation, the industries, commentedisand Evenine implicating the Berlin police and administration tools cure information or construction permits, etc. 54) Capitalism creates a distinction between the mere could grow rach by making usurious loans. men The American ethics over which European pro owning of capital and the placing of capital at the reprezrating million francs, control two francs deposited in four barks. The participation fessors and wellmeaning bourgeois express so much disposal of industry, between currency and industrial hypocritical indignation were in the age of finance and commercial capital, between the capitalist living we on the income from his money and the active olelyemen e have already explained has the fol capital the ethics of practically every large city in any results: one of the leading the Societe of all kinds cinta, Imperialism, that is the of finance caplowing issued 64, 000 Works. The bonds were is portation trust was said to be on the point of being ital, is a further step in cremony which increases Generale, bonds of a daughter concern In Berlin in the beginning of the year 1914 a transthe Egyptian Refining of that distinction thousandfold. The domination exses an ise, whilharmeans that the bark made fiery large transportation firms of Berlin were to be pooled erted by finance capital upon all the other forms of to be fictitious and the public lost in that dea! lines. We knew that this was being planned divides up governments into those which dispose of oligarchy, et inte bloer Societe Generation waWortem best one the diet stock of the omnibus company had been acquired by financial power and those which do not to us the that the author we are quoting from should remark think that the men are engineering that deal because extent of that phenomenon.
its financial oligarchy is all powerful; it dominates lines, to effect economies likely in the end to united control of the transportere ting In the Bulletin of the Institute of International Statistics, Neumarck has published the most detailed and complete information about the issuance of The very profitable issuance of securities, which is plex by the fact, that back of that trustification of the securities the world over, information which has been one of the main functions of finance capital, plays a transportation companies there are banks which can, frequently made use of in economic writings. Here most important role in the development and the acquis if they wish, make the lines they have thus concent are the totals for the past four decades.
ition of power by the financial oligarchy. There is not one form of business activity to quote the Gers ratedl, serve their own real estate interests.
Issues of paper for every decade in billions of francs.
man magazine Bank which assures as high profits as To realize how founded this supposition is, we must 1871 1880. 76. the Hotation of foreign loans.
remember how, at the time when the electric railway 1881 1890. 64. There is no bank operation which is as profitable company was organized, the large bank which presided 1891 1900 1901 1910 man conomist, the flotation of industrial securities bound up with those of certain real estate concerns.
as the issuance of securities. According to the Ger over the organization took good care of its interests.
company were closely In the seventies, the amount of paper issued was has brought in the following profits: inflated by the loans floated as a consequence of the 1895 The Eastern lines of that company were to serve Franco Prussian war and by the commercial activity 186 36. real estate tracts of land, which after the construction of Germany. Generally speaking, the increase in the of the road that bank sold at an enormous profit for 1897 66. amount of securities was not especially rapid in the 1898 itself and a few interested individuals. 55). 67. first three decades. It was only in the last mentioned 1899. 66. As soon as monopolies establish themselves and decades that amounts totał up very high, showing an begin to dispose of millions, they affect unavoidably almost twofold increase between 1901 and 1910. The every detail of the social life, regardless of political dawn of the 20th century proves to be the turning From 1801 to 1900 the profits realized from the and other conditions. German economists like to point not only in the development of monopolies, cartflotation of German industrial securities amounted to boast of the honesty of the Prussian administration, els, syndicates and trusts of which we spoke over one billion. 53)
and to cast aspersions upon the French Panamas ous chapters, but also in the growth of finance capital, if in rosnerous times the profits of finance capital and American political corruption. But the fact re Neumarck estimates at 815 billion francs the total are renirkably high, in times of depression small and mains that conservative writers dealing with banking value of securities held all over the world in 1910.
protable enterprises go to the wall. and large banks affairs in Germany are compelled to mention many Making allowance for probable duplication he reduces bree in their purchase buying them for a song facts which can no longer be classified as purely fin that figure to 575 or 600 billions. The table bellow ju tijeir rchabiliation or reorganization. When ancial operations for instance the constantly increas indicates the holding for each country in billions a bukrupt business is being rehabilitated its stocking number of public officials who accept positions in capital is clccreased, that is the profits are divided up banks. How about the incorruptibility of the official at a higher rata. Or if the profits dwindle down to who is longing to secure a comfortable berth in the England. 142 nothing new capital is poured in and being added to Deutsche Bank? The editor of Bank, Alfred Lans United States 1321 479 the former capital whose earning power was small, bure, wrote in 1999 an article entitled The economic may now. show profits. As Hilferding states aptly. significance of Byzantinism in which he discusses Germany 95)
those operations of rehabiliation and reorganization among other things William Il trip to Palestine and are a twofold boon for the banks: they always constithe immediate consequences of that the Austria Hungary 24 tute a profitable deal and they give the banks a chance struction of the Bagdad railroad, that fatal big deal of 14 12 of extending their domination over embarrased conse vration industria wag more fatapobiegi sel Japan the iron ring which Edward VI endeavored to build Belgium 12.
Take for instance the Union Metallurgic Works around Germany, than all political failures.
of Dortmund, founded in 1872. Stock was issued to Eschwege wrote in 1912 an article entitled Pluto Switzerland Spain the amount of 10 million marks and the first year it cracy and Bureaucracy exposing the activities of a rose to 170. paying dividends of 12. French capDenmark 75 ital cut mclons to the tune of some 28 millions. The Sweden, Norway, Rumania and others. Disconto (icsellschaft, the largest bank, whose capital Germany to pay until 1951 say the headlines.
amounts 10 300 million marks, was instrumental in the But, of course, in view of the way things are moving Total 600, 000, 000, 000 francs organization of that concern. The stock of the Union over in Europe this statement is to be looked on as an We can see at once that four wealthiest nations Works vaid no dividends. Stockholders agreed to a expression of hope rather than an actual statement with holdings of from 100 to 150 billions are in a class reorganization, that is they agreed to lose some of of fact.
apart. Two of them are the oldest nations and have the ironey they had invested in order not to lose it the largest colonial empire. France and England. The all. The result was that in the past 30 years the books The small nations, who were all the rage some oth of the Union Works have shown a wastage of som other two are the most up to date capitalist nations as time ago. are fast losing their popularity owing regards the development and growth of capitalistic million marks which bave just vanished.
to their persistent efforts to be made safe. They are monopolies in industry: the United States and Gerent time the original stockholders have less than five to get 15 of the German indemnity divided up betThose four nations put together hold 470 per cent of what they originally invested but every ween thern and for some strange reason they refuse billions worth of securities, that is almost 80 of the time the concern was reorganized the banks made a to be satisfied. Belgium, in particular, is very much entire finance capital of the world. The rest of the little something. 53)
annoyed but when we take into consideration the nations stand in the position of debtors and vassals Another extremely profitable field for finance capital tremendous amount of advertising she got she mav to the international bankers of those four nations, is speculation in real estate in the suburbs of fast consider herself lucky that she is not asked to pay the four pillars of finance capital.
growing towns.
quite a sum to the allied press. To be continued)
38. 1900 55. in previfrancs.
France 110 31 12.
cerns. 7. 6. 25 some 73 At the presmani