Volume 5, No. 3, June, 1939
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THE J u n A LETTER FROM GERMAN'Y e THE «BLOCKED MARK» AND lHE 1 HULL «FREE TRAD£» SYSTEMS 9 u.s. GROUP! « FOR ») THE 3 FOURTH INTERNATIONAL 9 AMER.ICAN IMPERIALISM IN LATIN AMERICA 5 Cents For:A New Commu·n·jst~ ( 4th) International 't. } HELP THE STRUGGLE , ;JiJ1 For iudependent working cia.. actionl For tL.e CIa•• War - Against Imperialist War! For tLe six: L.our day, five day week with no reduction in payl For work re.lief at trade unior& wages! For Worker. Control of Relief FUr&dsl For Adequate Cuh Relief! For the unification of all trade unions on a clau sttu!:,le policy, with industrial str'llcture! For d6lnocraticright.; for the right to orgar&ize, ttrike ar&d picket! F Orr the coordination of .free education and practical Tocational training for all youth; for equal pay ·£01" equal work; for iu- dependent relief for all youth equal to the adult! For fun economic, social and political equality for the Negro mane.t For immediate complete independence For the Colonies and pro- tectorates of the U. S. t For a New Communist (4th) International! For a WOl'kera .Couneil Government! For Production for Use Under Workers Control! J 0 I NTH E R. W. L. THE MARXIST Theoretical organ of the Revolutionary Workers League of the U. S. Formerly the FOURTH INTERNATIONAL Published monthly by The Demos Press 1904 DIVISION STREET Chicalo, Ill. 5ctmta a copy 50 cents· a year Printed in the United States Voluntary Labor THE MARXIST Theoretical organ o,f the Revolutionary Workers League of the U. s. , Formerly the FOURTH INTERNATIONAL Vol'. 5 June, 1939 No. 3 A Letter From Germany (N ote ,- We puhlish helo·w excerpts possible for them to be concerned with the from a letter to the· RWL from the un .. Bureau's agenda. By the reports ... there derground German Red Front). exist strong differences between the Scotch regional leadership and the London leader April 4, 1939. ship. The Scots are too pacifistic, ·the With Hitler's occupation of Czechoslova Londoners too centrist; a large portion of kia we lost the last location in which we the youth organization of the 1. L. P. ex hibits Trotskyite, tendencies. In place of could perform semi-legal work - even the S. A. P., which has now left the London though this had been greatly hindered ... In Burea U, they now want to accept the all Europe there is no country in which we Gern1an I. V. K. O. (BrandleI') - a hope ... can work undisturbed. In the large count lessly corrupt and sectarian emigrant O~' ries reaction and nationalism h a v e ganization. The P. O. U. M. has sent a triull1phed, and the small countries ... circular ultin1at.um to all members of the jealously guard their neutrality and care London Bureau, in 'which they state cate fully a vOl d anything Hitler might dislike. gorically: unless at the next Paris Con... :Moreover, eve r y state in Europe is ference in April their motion to ,accept the thoroughly overrun with Hitler's police entry of the French P. S. O. P. (Pivert), and D1ilitary spies... the Dutch R.S. A. P and the An1'Jrican lVlatters are very serious for the Czechs Lovestone group into the London Bureau thelilselves, especially those who.haveever is agreed upon by the remaining groups in been active politically. Over twenty-eight the Bureau, the P. O. U. M. will leave the thousand men have already been arrested, Bureau. (So far as we know, incidentally, eleven concentration camps have been set none of these groups has asked for up on Czechoslovak territory, and the acceptance). Meanwhile, the dissensions arrests have by no nleans come to an end. and ,split tendencies h a v e developed The Germans have created a regime' of further. The Swedish Socialist Party... in bestiality and terror jn the territories vited comrade Gorkin (P. O. u. IVI.) to a occupied by them. Suicides and "forced conference at Stockholm; after an original RuicideR" tak~ place daily by the score in acce'ptance Gorkin now states that without every city ... a closer basis (for agreernent - trans.) he cannot come ... The Swedish Socialist Party ALBANIA has refused to pay any further "acknow.. The Albanian "Revolutionary Com: ledgement funds" to the Bureau... munists" are issuing an appeal to the RED FRONT Albanian workers-which we are publishing in our Pressbulletin. On April 29 01' 30 there will take place LONDO,N BUREAU in ... a conference of all groups affiliated with the Bureau of the HRed Front"· to it The London Bureau has migrated to will be presented an appeal concerni~g in Paris... The s t r a i ned relations and tern:;ttionalorga.niiation, as a resolution differences within the I. L. P. have already for adoption... become so sharp that it is no longer -1- The «Blocked· Marlc» and the Hull (<<Free Trade» Systems The same factors, which create the the German barter system of trade, and necess,ity for certain socalled have-not the U. S. "trade treaty, free trade" system nations to take military measures for and why? penetrating into foreign mar k e t s - In 1931 Germany had foreign debts of whereas the "have" nations can still rely 25 billion Reichsmarks. Her gold supply on economic pressure -, make for the was dwindling rapidly. She could not by differences in trade methods among the any means increase her exports, sufficie;ttly various imperialists. Despite such differ to pay interest on ~ebts. ,,:~en. HItler ences, however, the Hull "frae trade" came to power he 'resolved thIS con.;. methods, and the Nazi "barter" methods tradiction by the moratorium on debts and cannot be represented as fundamentally repudiation; and by the policy of buying opposed to each other. The attempts to do only from those countries that buy back so are no more than war propaganda to ,from Germany in equal or g rea t e r "prove" that Garmany is taking unfair ad amounts. vantage of Uncle Sam. The reason for this change in policy, in With the division and redivision of the stead of the former trade principle under earth by the, imperialists., and with pro expanding capitaHsm of "b u y where ductive forces far outstripping markets, cheapest", was her weak economic and creating a relatively shrinking world financial base. and her adverse trade market, it is inevitable that the capitalist balance, which was draining Germany and powers Will seek" artificial means, to bolster forcing her into bankruptcy. An attempt foreign trade at the expense of rival im "vas made to balance the imports of raw perhtIiStE:!. materials against the export of man ufactured goods. For this a whole intricate Generally speak[ng, t h' e s e artificial system of trade has now been perfected. stimulations of. trade can be classified un .. del' a number of heads: dumping of goods THE GERMAN SYSTEM on the world market at very low prices; Germany permits hnport of goods only subsidies of a thousand different sorts to by special permits, primarily to the muni both importers and exporters; maneuver tions and war industries. Each importer ing of the currency'tbrough"stabilization" pays a larg~ tax or fine into a nati?nal fund funds? inflation, aski marks, etc., in order which in return is- given as a SUbSIdy to ex to gain an advant~ge on the world market ; . porters so. they can sell below the price on restrictions of c()mpetitors through trade the world market and "dump" their goods treaties,in.c.reased. tariffs, quota arrange abroad. This subsidy is about 40 % of the ments, or certain "legal" restrictions; and product. Along with that German capit finally, political, military,or economic aid alism does not permit foreign exporters to (loans.) to the various countries in return Germany to withdraw the money gained for improved trade relations. from those exports. Those "blocked" ALL USE SAME METHODS marks, which are devah:lated below the . , mark, and are consequently an indirect Every iinperialistcountryusesevery one subsidy to the foreign countries that export of these methods in varying proportions. to Germany, must be used to buy materials Furthermore, every imperialist country in Germany. uses the exact same methods in passing the Like Germany, but with much more burden. of cost of this artificial stimulation success,' American imperialism has en.. , of trade onto the working class through deavored to secure a favorable balance of direct and indirect wage. cuts,. increased trade. On the' basis of her stronger eeon.. hours or speed up or both~infl.ation, higher (lmy the U. S, does not have to use the . taxes, etc. various governmental. checks against an Wliatis the difference, . then,. between exodus of currency and gold. On the contrary, American imperialism has an un4 tion into South America at the expense of interrupted influx of gold and enormous the U. S. is greatly distorted. According to stocks of 'credit. John Abbink, president of the Business Publishers International Corporation, U. S. Economic might is the base of the Hull exports have increased 65 % to South trade system. Econon1ic decay and increas.. America since 1933, and German exports ing antagonism dictate the policy of the only 10 %. Furthermore, the majority of· German barter system. the gains made by Germany in South American im.peria1ism lays its emphasis A merica are made at Great Britain's ex.. pense, not the expense of the U. S. In cer primarily on lowering restrictions against tain conntries, the increase in Gernian it on the world market, through the high trade is attributable to an increase in pur tariffs, etc., of foreign countries.