V. I.

Lenin

One of the richest and most eminent American merchants, a
certain Edward Albert Filene , Vice-Chairman of the International
Congress of Chambers of Commerce, is now touring Paris, Berlin and other
big European centres to make personal contact with the most influential
people of the commercial world.

At the banquets arranged, as is fitting, by the richest people of
Europe in honour of one of the American rich, the latter is developing his
“new” ideas on the world power of the merchant. Frankfurter = Zeitung , [1] the organ of German finance capital, reports in detail
the ideas of this “advanced” American millionaire.

“ We are experiencing a great historic movement,” he proclaims, “that
will end in the transfer of all power over the modern world to
representatives of commercial capital. We are the people who bear the
greatest responsibility in the world and we should, therefore, be
politically the most influential.

“ Democracy is growing, the power of the masses is growing,” argued
Mr. Filene (rather inclined, it seems, to regard those “masses” as
simpletons). “The cost of living is rising. Parliamentarism and the
newspapers, distributed in millions of copies a day, are providing the
masses of the people with ever more detailed information.

“ The masses are striving to ensure for themselves participation in
political life, the extension of franchise, the introduction of an
income-tax, etc. Power over the whole world must pass into the hands of the
masses, that is, into the hands of our employees ,” is the
conclusion drawn by this worthy orator.

“ The natural leaders of the masses should be the industrialists and merchants , who are learning more and more to understand the
community of their interests and those of the masses.” (We note in
parenthesis that the cunning Mr. Filene is the owner of a gigantic
commercial house employing 2,500 people, and that he has “organised” his
employees in a “democratic” organisation with profit-sharing, etc. Since
he considers his employees hopeless simpletons, Mr. Filene is sure that
they are completely satisfied and infinitely grateful to their
“father-benefactor” ....)

“ Wage increases, the improvement of labour conditions, that is what
will bind our employees to us,” said Mr. Filene, “that is what will
guarantee our power over the whole world. Everybody in the world who is at
all talented will come to us to enter our service.

“ We need organisation and still more organisation—strong, democratic
organisation, both national and inter national,” the American
exclaimed. He called upon the commercial world of Paris, Berlin, etc., to
reorganise international chambers of commerce . They should unite
the merchants and industrialists of all civilised countries in a
single, mighty organisation. All important international problems should be
discussed and settled by that organisation.

Such are the ideas of an “advanced” capitalist, Mr. Filene.

The reader will see that these ideas are a paltry, narrow, one-sided,
selfishly barren approximation to the ideas of Marxism propounded
over sixty years ago. “We” are great masters at upsetting and refuting
Marx; “we”, the civilised merchants and professors of political economy,
have refuted him completely!... And at the same time we steal little bits
and pieces from him and boast to the whole world of our
“progressiveness”....

My worthy Mr. Filene! Do you really believe that the workers of the
whole world are actually such simpletons?

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Notes:
[1]
Frankfurter Zeitung ( Frankfort Newspaper )—a bourgeois daily published in Frankfort-on-Main from 1856 to 1943.