Both the original version(in German) and its English translation of this part are available on the web as well.
Gesell starts this book by telling that the aim of socialistic movements are the abolition of unearned income(=surplus value), quoting Proudhon's "What is property?". Most socialists think of nationalizing production means as their privatization enables capitalists to employ cheeper labor force while this French man suggested to decrease interest to enable everybody to have their own production means, with Gesell's comment that the lack of attention to Proudhon and the excessive underlying on capital stagnated the socialism, comparing him with Marx on the following seven points:
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| Capital = material goods | Interest isn't a product of material goods but a condition of market economy |
| Surplus value = the value abused by capitalists | Surplus value based on the demand and supply |
| Surplus value is always positive | Surplus value can be negative(when workers receive more than deserved) |
| Solution: Proletariat's supremacy | Solution: maximization of each one's production |
| Strikes and crises are welcome | Strikes and crises should be avoided as work has the absolute value |
| Strikes and crises> collapse of capitalism > communism's paradise | Sees this story as a fallacy |
| Private possession = power, supremacy | Supremacy=money, private possession can be a loss |
Gesell says the principle of capital=material goods=supremacy isn't always true as the more you have the more supremacy you should have. For example, a ton of fish when it's lack of supply can be more worthy than one hundred tons of fish when they're abundant, which denies the equation between the quantity of the property and that of supremacy. Another example is that apartments' rent will be lowered if nobody needs to live within(like Berlin's suburbs before the World War I, according to Gesell), reminding us of the principle of demand and supply which determines each good's value.
Gesell quotes Proudhon who said that money is rather a hurdle for the extension of production means, appriciating this French philosopher but pointing out a viewpoint he lacked of: to think of this question not from the viewpoint of money holders but from that of workers and goods holders. Money, needless to say, is by itself nothing but a tool for exchange, the true fortune lies not on the money but on what can be purchased with this money, and Gesell suggests that money be perishable just like these other fortunes. He shows furthermore that money is a tool for the saving as well, trying to change the current situation that saving money is more profitable that saving other goods.
Proudhon will be dealt with again on the Part 3, so click here(under construction) if you're interested in following Proudhon's theory.
(mig@lime.plala.or.jp)