Page:Lenin's Speech at the First Session of the Second Congress of the Third International (1920).djvu/8

 the world's banker, for her „savings“ were enormous. Her colonial and financial plunder, making up a colossal sum gave all the possibility of lending thousands upon thousands of millions, especially to Russia. These loans gave her a gigantic income. But in spite of all that, in spite of her victory, France has got into the position of a debtor.

An American bourgeois source referred to by Comrade Brown, a Communist, in his book „Who should pay the war debts“ (Leipzig 1920) gets forth the relation of the debts to the national property as follows: In the victorious countries, in England and in France, the debts form more than 50%, of the national property, in Italy from 60–70%, and in Russia the national debts make up 90% of the national property. But, as you know, those debts do not trouble us, for we have somewhat anticipated Keynes and have followed his very good advice. We have annulled the debts. (Loud applause).

Keynes, however, demonstrates the usual philistine peculiarity: in giving his advice of annulling all debts he says that France, of course, would only gain by it and England would lose a very little, for there is nothing to be taken from Russia any way. America, Keynes goes on, would lose a good deal but Keynes relies on „American generosity“. In this respect we will have to differ with Keynes and the other bourgeois pacifists. We are of the opinion that the annulment of debts has nothing to do with the generosity of the capitalists, but something else is to be expected, and work most be done in quite another direction.

The figures above. referred to are indicative of the fact that the imperialist war has made conditions unbearable even for the victorious countries. This is also manifested by the enormous difference between wages and the rise of prices. The „Supreme Economic Council“, which is an institution protecting the bourgeois regime of the world against the growing revolution passed a resolution on March 8th of this year which concludes with an appeal for thrift, orderliness and effort, having in mind, of course, that the working men will remain the slaves of the capitalists.

This Supreme Economic Council being an institution of the Allies, representing the capitalists of the world, gives the following figures: in the United States of America prices have risen on the average one hundred and twenty percent, while wages have gone up only one hundred percent. In England prices have risen one hundred and seventy per-