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economies of the Eu ropean nations
are sutfering from a worsening in–
fl a tion tha t po lí tica ! parties of a ll
persuasions seem unable lo contro l.
Oil Money of Little Help
The si tua tion is being made even
more preca ri ous by the manner in
which Middle East oil money is
being invested in European banks.
To invest profirably. banks musl pul
their money out on long-term loa n .
But th c o il-producing count ri es
have burdened the banks with unprece–
dented short-te rm investments. In
such a situatio n, a ll of the risk fa lls
upon th e shoulders of the banks -
and for a very sma ll interest margin.
They recognize tha t they cannot con–
tinue to crea te a precarious maturity
structure indefinitely .
David Rockefeller, president of
one of the world's largesl banks,
warned on a v isit to Europe earlier
this year, tha t the economic si tu–
ation is "very a larming.'· Rockefel–
ler expla ined th a t the indus tri a l
na tions - principa lly the United
States, Western Europe and Japan
- are go ing to have to find ways o f
working toge ther. Even the oil-pro–
ducing na tions and the U.S.S.R. a re
going to have to cooperate. The
problem, he said , is of "global mag–
rlitude" and of "grea t urgency."
Democracies lnadequate
Questioned p ri va te ly. Mr. Rock–
efeller expla ined that the tru ly dem–
ocratic form of gove rnmen t is
unable to solve such pressing prob–
lems because it ca n'l take the steps
that a re necessary lO dea l wilh such
a n a larm ing situa tion.
He poin ted to unemploymen t as
an example. Sorne unemployment
would develop in a na tura l way in
an economy like Germany's. a nd it
would do wonders in checking in–
flali on. deficit of payments and
other rela ted p robl ems.
But in a truly democratic na tion.
wha t pol iti cia n can atford
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openly
pu rsue a policy of enco uraging
unemp loyment?
lt
would be polí ti–
ca! suicide.
When asked if he had a really
PLAIN TRUTH Oecember 1974
workable solution to o ffer, he admit–
ted that he had none.
But olhers are thinking of pos–
sible solutions - and the demise of
democracy is in the forefront!
Democracy Failed Before
While a little un employmen t
might be a good curb to intla tion. it
was unemployment wh ich caused
widespread rioting and the threa t of
communism in Gcrma ny in the
wake of World War
J.
The German
Weimar Republic wa toppled by its
inability to deal with inflation a nd a
s ubsequent mass ive unemploymen t.
In 1923, the Reichsbank in Berlín
issued bank no tes fas ter tha n its
thirty contract firms could print
them, pressi ng dozens of prívate
printers into service to help produce
th e money. Not one note was lower
than 100,000 marks. By November
400,000 bi llion marks were in circu–
lation. Money became worthless.
Recalli ng the terrib le intla tion of
the Weimar Germany. Willy Fris–
cha ue r. writing in Brita in's
Daily
Telegraph.
explained how
unemploymen t rocketed: "When
money rapidly lost its va lue in Ger–
many. ' ha rd graft ' ceased to be as
rewarding as socially less desirable
wheeling, dealing, and specu lating
which became a way of lite but pro–
duced no ta ngib le assets. Priced out
of raw materi a ls. factories closed
a nd offices shut down which made
the clamour of workers for higher
wages irrelevant. Wh en th ey
count~d
the cost. there were six mil–
Iion unemployed."
Frischa uer likened the coll apse of
an orderly way of life in Germa ny
to the p resen t Britis h eco nomic
scene. Germa ns li ved fo r today as if
the re was no tomo rrow - "swal–
lowed up by the permissive ociety
of the 20s" - tota lly unaware of the
g rave na tiona l cris is and what it
would eventua lly lead to.
"Stumbling from one emergency
measure lo the nex t, short- li ved
[Ge rman] governments lost sight o f
thc future except whe re thcy saw
a chance lo pledge it in exchange fo r
momentary re lief.' ' Frischauer re-
ca lled. " Po liti cal extrem ists harassed
the Weimar Government ... which
was powerless to con trol events. l n–
flation had watered the sceds of po–
li tical disin tegra tion."
Democracy in Jeopardy
The Western world has come to
t hink or democracy as part of ÍlS
heritage.
But is democracy really so deeply
entrencbed in the West?
Now, even in Brita in. the land in
which t he idea of a coup has always
seemed ridiculous, there is lalk of
thc fail ure o f democracy to dea l
wi th vital issues . Former Prime
Minister Sir Alee Douglas-Home
warned th at Brita in may stand on
lhe verge of anarchy.
In Jtaly. Giovanni Agnelli, head
of the Fíat motor company. stated
recently lhat his country does not
have long to save itself from "lhe
bottomless pi t." He expressed hope
lhat ltaly will not reach the point
whe re it would have to choose be–
tween "s tarvat ion and a relinq uish–
ing of freedom."
The kind of "relinquish ing of
freedom" that migh t occur in Ita ly is
evidenl when we consider the re–
vived in lerest in Mussolini in that
nation todat- This interesl is not
confi ned solely Lo the neo- Fascists.
Under the right c ircumstances.
cou ld Jlaly again abandon democ–
racy for a dicta to rship?
Renewed interest in Mussolini in
Ita ly is paralleled by growing pre–
occupa lion with the Hitler era in
Germany. This fascination , centered
firsl around books. records and
films. has now culminated in a 52-
week lick magazine series entitled
"The Third Reich.' ' While it does
not glamorizc the Nazi period. it has
"popul a rized" this time in recent
history as never before.
Thé
L os Angeles Times
com–
mented t hat there has becn consid–
e rable debate among sociologists
a nd political scien tists concerning
this nosta lgia for the dictators of th e
1930's. T he ques tion is whe the r it
indicates a "latent hankering for the
strong man." or whether it is merely
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