50 Years Ago: Money and Socialism

Many people are incredulous when Socialists declare that money and banking will have no part to play in Socialist society.

 

Money is rightly said to be the lubricating oil that enables the capitalist mechanism to move, but it is not the motive power, for the true drive is the human need of the necessities of life. Standing in need of these necessities, the workers must sell their labour-power before they can buy commodities for their subsistence, and by the social legerdemain of money they are legally robbed of full access to the social wealth which they have produced, the trick being that w’ages will purchase but a portion of the total wealth made by them, the surplus being split up among the employing class.

 

In contradistinction to state capitalism and those who advocate the nationalisation of the financial system. Socialists stand for the complete ending of the assessment of values in terms of money. Socialist society will not produce exchange-values or spend any part of its labour force obtaining the metal gold for currency, so essential to capitalist production and payment.

 

It will, undivided by classes, produce and distribute goods and services without money or price for use by the whole community.