Silvio Gesell – Free Money & The Natural Economic Order
Tuesday, September 21st, 2010Please Comment, Rate, Subscribe. Please Share! General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (1936): “Gesell’s main book is written in cool, scientific language; though it is suffused throughout by a more passionate, a more emotional devotion to social justice than some think decent in a scientist. The purpose of the book may be described as the establishment of an anti-Marxian socialism, a reaction against laissez-faire built on theoretical foundations totally unlike those of Marx in being based on an unfettering of competition instead of its abolition . . . I believe that the future will learn more from the spirit of Gesell than from that of Marx. The preface to The Natural Economic Order will indicate to the reader the moral quality of Gesell. The answer to Marxism is, I think, to be found along the lines of this preface.” (p. 355). “The idea behind Gesell’s stamped money is sound.” (p.357). Gustav Landauer, anarchist: Aufruf zum Sozialismus (Berlin, 1919): “Of great value is Silvio Gesell’s proposal to introduce a medium of exchange that does not, as at present, gain in value from year to year, but, on the contrary, loses value progressively, so that anyone who has obtained possession of the medium of exchange has no other interest than to exchange it again as soon as possible for the produce of others. Gesell is one of the very few who have recognised Proudhon’s greatness, and while learning from him, have succeeded in developing his theories along independent lines.”
