European Outlook # 60 June 2020

The Money Power

Banks are the most obvious manifestation of the Money Power. They lend money by counting outstanding loans as assets, a practice known as fractional reserve banking. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China has got it right with assets of $4,027.44 billion, but Lehman Brothers got it wrong and went bust in 2008.

Banks charge interest on loans to cover debts and overheads, and for managing accounts, salaries, pensions, mortgages, and savings. Interest rates are regulated by the Bank of England and subject to competition. 

Financial reforms have been proposed over the years, notably Social Credit by CH Douglas, but fractional banking is firmly established all over the world.

It's a myth that the Nazis and the Soviets used the barter system. Trade between them started with the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in August 1939, but Germany invaded Russia in June 1941, less than two years later. They couldn't have done much business in that short time. Both regimes ran conventional economies based on gold, foreign currency reserves, bond sales, and borrowing, Hjalmar Schacht (pictured) the German Finance Minister was a Rothschild-trained personal friend of Sir Montague Norman, the Governor of the Bank of England.

In 1918 the provisional Soviet government nationalised the banks and repudiated all Tsarist debts, but they continued to trade with the West and issue interest bearing bonds. By the end of WW2 the Soviet Union owed the United States $1.3 billion. This debt was cleared by the Russian Federation in 1993. They had no trouble paying it because the Bank of Russia is the world's sixth largest holder of gold with 1,615 tonnes.

A consortium of Wall Street bankers led by Paul Warburg financed both Hitler and Stalin, not because they were sympathetic to them but because they had good credit ratings. Germany was an industrial giant and the Soviet Union had vast reserves of raw materials.

The banks are only part of the Money Power. The oil companies, the Internet giants, and investment funds such as Berkshire Hathaway, Ping An Insurance Group, Allianz, and Axa are very powerful, and so are individuals such as George Soros, and Bill Gates. But the biggest player is the United States government which uses sanctions to enforce its foreign policy. The Money Power has taken over the world but we are entering unchartered waters in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and who knows what the future holds? 

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch by Rabbi Meyer Schiller
Originally published by the Third Way Think Tank
https://thirdway.info

Scholar, Patriot, and Servant of God

The extraordinary decline of European civilisation over the past century is a subject much commented on  by assorted historians and social analysts. A wide range of theories have been advanced for this downward spiral, Socio-historical reflection, however, is never relevant to academics. For the vast majority of contemporary Europeans the decadence enveloping us is demonstably manifest throughout our lives in hubdreds of ways large and small - in the ebbing of respect for elders, teachers, police and all authority figures, in a lack of dignity for dress, speech, courtesy and in respect for social norms and communal rituals ranging from military discipline to sportsmanship (both on and off the playing field). We note the passing of both the 'soft' and 'hard' virtues of our way of life: of romance, poetry, song, village life, and the rural rhythm; and of courage, honour, loyalty and unyeilding effort. It is to the restoration of those virtues we have lost and are in danger of losing that the Third Way is dedicated, indeed we are a Movement that sees the flowering of the innermost spirit of all mpeoples throughout the world as the only means to achieve true respect and peace amongst mankind,

Samson Raphael Hirsch

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888) of Germany was an Orthodox Rabbi whose life was devoted not only to the preservation of traditional Judaism, but also to the material and spiritual well-being of all Germans. His teachings are especially relevant to our troubled age,

Born in Hamburg, he completed his Rabbinical studies under the great Talmudist Rabbi Jacob Ettinger in Manheim. Whike pursuing his religious disciplines ha also concluded his formal secular education at the University of Bonn. In 1830 at the remarkably young age of 22 he was appointed the Chief Rabbi of Oldenburg. It was there that his first book Nineteen Letters on Judaism was published. This work, written as a series of letters from a learned Rabbi to a confused young student, is essentially a presentation of basic Judaism and a sharp critique of the then nascent Reform movement. This was the beginning of Rabbi Hirsch's lifelong struggle against any and all attempts to change what he termed "Torah-true" Judaism. His position was uncompromisingly Orthodox, and viwed the basics of the Jewish faith as od Divine origin. There could be no "reform" of the word of God.

Polemicist

In 1838 the Horeb: Essays on Israel's Duties in the Diaspora was published. This was a legal-philisophical presentation of the basic laws of Judaism. Ever mindful of his task as leading polemicist against the Reformers, Rabbi Hirsch also issued in that same year First Communications a powerful attack on those seeking to establish a new Wissenschaft Des Judentums (Science of Judaism) designed to abandon basic beliefs and practices of the ancient faith by means of modern exegesis of its primary sources.

Subsequently the Rabbi served as the Land Rabbiner of Hanoverian Districts as well as Chief Rabbi of Morovia. In August of 1851 he accepted the position for which he is well known, that of Rabbi of the Orthodox Community of Frankfort Am Main. He held that position for 37 years until his death.

In Frankfort his prodigious literary output continued. In 1854 he launched Jeschuvin: a Monthly for the Inculcation of the Spirit of Judaism in Home, School and Community and served until 1870 as its editor. A multi-volume commentary on the Pentayeuch was issued by Rabbi Hirsch in 1867. This work generally issued in eight volumes, was finally concluded in 1878. Within four years the Rabbi's lengthy commentary on the Psalms was piublished and posthumurously his "study of prayer" book. Years later Rabbi Hirsch's Collected Writings including letters, essays, sermons, speeches etc, were offered to the public. This ran to six volumes, but such a hefty literary project did not prevent the Rabbi in involving himself in all manner of public controversy as well as attending to his normal clergy activities. Peerhaps the crowning communal achievement of his career was secured in 1876 when the Prussian Parliament passed the Law of Succession. This legislation allowed all Orthodox congregations in Germany to sever their ties with Reform Temples and the central Jewish communal structure, To Rabbi Hirsch this was the most important matter, as he saw inherent in communal linkage with the Reformers implicit recognition of their legitimacy as an alternative form of Judaism, There was, he taught, only one Judaism forever "Torah-true" and the Reform movement was sheerest heresy and apostasy.

The Legacy

Rabbi Hirsch passed away in 1888. His son-in-law Rabbi  Solomon Breuer succeeded him as the spiritual leader of Kehal Adas Jeschuran in Frankfort, The Hirschian Kehilla (community) continued to grow and flourish , spreading the message of fervent Orthodoxy, good citizenship and (as we shall now see) uncompromising patriotism until the 1930s. It was then thaty the NSDAP (Nazi) Government turned on this pious, loyal community closing its schools, shutting down its journals and brutalising its members, Fortunately, after the war some of Frankforts surviving Orthodox Jews went to America and there in the Washington Heights section of New York they have re-established their way of life. They have also published most of Rabbi Hirsch's writings in English translation, thus spreading his unique message to a different place and time, This is certainly a factor that bodes well for the future.

Judaism and Good Citizenship

One of the areas of Jewish teaching with which Rabbi Hirsch was most concerned was that governing interaction between Jews and Non-Jews. One of the finest introductions to his presentation of traditional Jewish teachings on this matter may be found in his essay The Talmud and its Teachings on Social Virtues, Civic Duties and Commercial Integrity published as a pamphlet in 1884. This article owed its appearance to the intention of the Tsarist government in Russia to forbis the printing of the Talmud. At the advice of a German prince who had close connections to the Tsar, Rabbi Hirsch wrote the essay which was sent to Russia. Its contents persuaded the Tsar not to enact the decree in question. An abridged English translation of the piece may be found in Judaism Eternal: Selected Essays From the Writings of Rabbi Solomon Raphael Hirsch (Soncino Press, London 1967. pp 155-186).

The Essays is divided into several sections which present Talmudic attirudes on "Honesty", "Ways of Earning a Livelyhood", "The Attitude of the Jew to his Governments and Fellow Citizens", "Formations of Character", "The Family", and "The Community". Even a superficial reading of any of the above sections would suffice the usuak anti-Semitic canards about the Talmud. On honesty for example he writes: "The Talmud teaches us that when a man appears hereafter before God the first question he will be asked is 'were you honest and straightforward in your business dealings?'...It is forbidden to cheat any man, Jew or Non-Jew, in buying or selling, or to deceive him, or to leave undisclosed any defect in the article offered for sale, The goods must not be made to look different from what they are, nor may their value be diminished by adulteration." (ibid.pp 160-161)

The above would seem to be extremely relevant  in our capitalistic age. In fact, Distributists of the Chesterton-Belloc school of adherents of Morris, Cobbett, Jeffries and their followers might find Rabbi Hirsch to their liking, as he writes: "... for any sign of moral progress the regular employment demanded by agriculture is of great service; in fact the entire Jewish religious legislation places agriculture in the forefront and all the Jewish festivals are connected with ...work in the fields. The Jewish idea of national well-being was that every man should have his own 'fig tree and vine'... If Jews in later periods in Europe abandoned agriculture and turned largely to trade, the fault is not that of the Talmud...It is the fault of the States and peoples who would not let Jews acquire land which they could work. If Jews were given the right and opportunity to own a piece of land and to work it, they would soon return to their original occupation of tilling the land and earning their living in agriculture." (ibid. p 167)

Patriotism

The above is a small sampling of Rabbi Hirsch's writings on the make-up of an honest Jewish citizen. Yet he goes beyond mere integrity when he tells us that: "the Talmud pledges the Jew to be loyal to the country of which he is a citizen, to love it as his fatherland and to promote its welfare," (ibid.p 168)

Or, to quote from Horeb: "God demands that every Jew finds his well-being only in that of his country...(to) salute the soil which gave him birth...and whose weal and woe Israel has not shared for thousands of years... in whichever land Jews shall live as citizens...they bshall honour and love the princes and government as their own, contribute with every possible power to their good." (p.400)

In fact, in The Nineteen Letters he declares that Jews are to see themselves as an integral part of the nation in which they dwell: "It is our duty to join ourselves as closely as possible to the state which recieves us into its midst, to promote its welfare and not to consider our own well-being as in any way separate from that of the state to which we belong." (p,107)

It was not to be a cold patriotism devoid of feeling. According to Rabbi Hirsch, Jews were to "with heartfelt and genuine affection...to the soil upon which their cradles have been rocked, on which they had greeted the first laughter of their children...with deep and strong love (cling) to the land of your birth." (Judaism Eternal Vol 1. p 129)

The Future

The horrors unleashed upon the Jews of Europe by German 'Nationalists' in the name of race and country have considerably dampened Jewish enthusiasm for the Hirschian agenda. For many Jews the only alternatives are political Zionism or support of cosmopolitan contractual government(or, as contradictory as it may seem, some combination of the two. Both consciously and subconsciously Jews have come to associate a heightened sense of religious, cultural, ethnic and national identity among Non-Jews with a threat to their well-being.

It is at this point that the teachings of Rabbi  Hirsch and those of the Third Way can coalesce to provide a way out of the current impasse. The Rabbi exhorted Jews to be nationalists, patriots in the finest sense of the term, and the Third Way is a movement dedicated to the presevation of peoples, nations, regions and localities. It has also taken a firm stand against any form of racial or religious hatred and, truth to be told, has already done battle against these forces in society.

For Jews and Non-Jews who feel increasingly alienated by those societal trends we described at this article's inception, the Third Way would seem to offer a means to preserve our way of life without falling prey to bigotry, violence and fanaticism. The hour is not yet too late, but the battle must soon be joined if our way of life is to be preserved.

Is it Too Much to Ask?

In an increasingly technological age it's absolutely essential to get a good education that will lead to a decent job with a pension. Education should be free to students and more of them should go to university. When a young couple start out in life they should be able to get social housing, or an affordable mortgage. All health care, including dentists, opticians, nurseries and care homes should be free at the point of use. And the state pension should be available to any worker at the age of sixty-five. Is that too much to ask?

In an effort to rescue the economy after the coronavirus pandemic, the government is borrowing and spending billions of pounds that will have to be repaid by the taxpayers. Plans that are in the pipeline will probably be scrapped, and the retirement age is likely to be further extended. Far from bringing in the reforms that are needed, the government will be looking for things to cut.

This is where we need to think seriously about what sort of country we want to live in. One of our major expenses is defence. If we stay close to Europe we can maintain our armed forces at their present level by being part of NATO, or whatever military alliance emerges. But if we go it alone, as the Brexiteers would have it, we shall have to count the cost of two giant aircraft carriers that lack the planes and support ships that they need. We would also have to do something about the massive cost of our nuclear submarine fleet with its American-made missiles. In fact, we should have to recognise that we are not a world power and learn to be modern European state.

We can't be a welfare state with civilised public services while pretending to be a great empire on which the sun never sets. We can't provide the housing that has been promised, or upgrade our railways and National Health Service if we are trying to compete militarily with the USA and Russia. 

It will be hard for those of an imperial mindset to adjust to reality, but it can be done. It doesn't bother the Germans that they are not a nuclear power. And it's unlikely that the Scandinavian states would swap their advanced societies for a blue water navy.

When this awful virus has gone away and we rebuild our economy, we must consider our place in the world and invest in a caring society instead of arming ourselves with weapons that we will never use. 

Comments

Please use the facility at the end of this blog to leave your comments and see what others have to say. But don't post ad hominem attacks on individuals, we are interested in ideas not personalities.

European Outlook

All articles are by Bill Baillie unless otherwise stated. The opinions of guest writers are entirely their own. We seek reform by legal means according to the UN Declaration of Human Rights, Article 19:

"We all have the right to make up our own minds, to think what we like, to say what we think, and to share our ideas with other people."

This blog will appear occasionally in support of Nation Revisited which is posted monthly.

https://nationrevisited.blogspot.com