barter

[miyachi <miyachi9@xxxxxxxxxx>]

on 13/01/2002 1:18 PM, bob scheetz at rscheetz@xxxxxxxxx wrote:

> Communism List:
> http://homepage.eircom.net/~kampf/
> Workers of the world unite!
> _______________________________________
> miyachi,...thanks for the Petras interview on Argentina...very enlightening.
> It's difficult to imagine the imperial hegemon permitting the emergance of
> another cuba; but, at the same time,
> given the still open wound of the "dirty war", using the military for
> internal repression would be very problematical...seemingly that they are
> going to have to be bought off...only that Paul O'Neill and Colin Powell and
> Condi Rice, etc., are so far too obtuse or otherwise occupied to see it...?
>
>
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>
Sir Bob Sheetz
I recognize Argentina's violent oppression, political and economical crisis,
mass social movement against IMF,WB. But we live in international credit
capital system different from classic imperialism which Hilferding describe
in "financial capital" according to which Lenin point out how imperialist
struggle each other. But Hilferding's definition of financial capital is
limited within nation-state, and role of financial capital was to integrate
real capitals within  nation-state, and competition occurred between
imperialist nation-state leading to Great Wars. In that situation,
Leninargue " let wars to civil wars" . In sum Lenin began revolution from
 political crisis, in other words, Lenin began by political revolution, not
social revolution. Lenin thought social revolution as cultural matters after
political revolution ended.  After third international built, Lenin's dogma
that political revolution firstly must launch and social revolution proceed
worldwide accepted. Since then, world revolution movement was moved within
Lenin's dogma.  But as international credit system grew after second world
war, political role of competition between nation-state declined, rather
various fictitious capitals which are not restrained by nation-state such as
mutual fund, hedge fund, futures deal etc dominate international economic
scene and its political form such as world bank, IMF, OECD etc rules global
community. But its oppressive character cause labor's resistance inevitably
now leading to various anti-Globalization social movements.
It is important that these movements target from start capitalism itself, in
other words, these movements claim "maximum program" taken from Lenin's
strategic program word. this means we claim social revolution firstly and
proceed political revolution.
 In Argentina, alternative economic activity emerge such as barter deal
despite severe economic crisis. It may lead to alternative economical system
Below is from new york times



May 6, 2001 New York Times


To Weather Recession, Argentines Revert to Barter


By CLIFFORD KRAUSS



Horacio Paone for The New York Times
Maria Roldan, left, who lost her job as a secretary, with some of her
knitting and crochet work at a barter.

Horacio Paone for The New York Times
People at a bartering club in Bernal exchanging money for scrip, which they
then use for goods and services available through the club.

BUENOS AIRES, May 5 By the standards of most Latin American countries, Pedro
P駻ez hardly looks like a charity case. He wears a handsome sports watch 
and
a thick gold wedding ring. His hair is neatly parted, he has all his teeth
and his meticulous handwriting is the product of a decent public school
education.

But Mr. P駻ez is just scraping by, struggling like many other Argentines 
to
hold on to a middle-class life three years into a deep recession. At 43, he
cannot count on a regular salary from his sales job at a shoe factory
anymore, so he has been forced to sell his town house and Ford sedan, and
his wife has gone back to work.

And every Friday night Mr. P駻ez carries bags of shoes, sneakers and shoe
polish his factory gives him when it is too short of cash to meet its
payroll to one of the many barter clubs that have sprouted up in this city,
where he exchanges his wares indirectly for fruits, vegetables and handmade
clothes.

Bartering, that precapitalist form of commerce popular in Indian villages in
Latin America even long after the Spanish conquest, is making a far-reaching
comeback in Argentina as an improbable safety net for a forlorn middle class
not accustomed to the hardships that are a way of life elsewhere in the
region.

The trueque clubs (the word means exchange or barter in Spanish) emerged in
1995, the brainchild of three young professionals looking for a way to help
the lower-middle- class Buenos Aires suburb of Bernal overcome the brief
recession that followed the Mexican currency crisis, whose effects had
rippled throughout Latin America.

That first barter club started with just 30 members. Today, as Argentina
muddles through a recession with no end in sight, more than 450 clubs have
been founded in 20 of the country's 24 provinces. They are nurtured first by
word of mouth and then by ample news coverage and by the Internet, which is
used to advertise their locations and schedules.

An estimated 500,000 Argentines now barter regularly, and up to one million
or almost 5 percent of the economically active population do so
occasionally, according to sociologists who have studied the trend. About
10,000 people shopped at a May Day "trueque mega-fair" this week in a Buenos
Aires suburb.

At the clubs, people set up tables and stalls to peddle goods or the promise
of services in exchange for scrip, barter money known as "cr馘itos." They
can then use this to obtain other goods or services through the clubs, which
have established an informal network.

The goods range from food and produce to clothing and homemade skin-care
products. The services include everything from dental work and plumbing to
psychological counseling and tarot card readings, often proffered by
underemployed or unemployed professionals.

The traders set their prices by supply and demand, making the barter clubs a
combination of competition and neighborly solidarity.

Today the clubs have more than $7 million worth of scrip in circulation,
bar-coded to guard against counterfeiting. An estimated $400 million in
goods and services were traded last year. Organizers say they expect an 80
percent increase in the value of the transactions this year because of the
deepening recession.

The recession has been brought on and sustained by plunging commodity
prices, rising interest rates, mounting public debt and an overvalued
currency that has depressed exports.

The new economy minister, Domingo Cavallo, says the economy should improve
later this year, but independent economists say the slide is continuing.
Should the government default on its debts, the recession could easily
deepen and increase the prospects of a currency devaluation, which could
cause still more companies with heavy dollar debts to fold.

"This is not a living, but it keeps me and my family above water," said Mr.
P駻ez, the shoe factory salesman. "Ever since Brazil devalued two years 
ago,
my factory has not been able to compete. They pay us in shoes to keep the
business from collapsing until the economy picks up again if it ever does."

The trueque clubs have become a vital stitch in the social fabric of scores
of towns and neighborhoods. People who might be moping at home depressed by
the near 15 percent unemployment rate and daily speculation of a government
default or currency devaluation have instead revved up at home production of
knitted sweaters, mate tea gourds and oven-baked pizzas to trade.

"It's an incubator for new businesses," said Carlos Alberto Fazio, an
Economy Ministry official who is studying ways to support the clubs. "The
people have chosen the clubs first to survive and then to reintegrate into
the formal economy."

The trueque clubs expanded in popularity without government support. But as
it continues struggling to find a way out of the economic malaise, the
government has itself recognized the value of the clubs as a safety valve
that provides not only economic benefits but also a social and psychological
boost for people who can take problems into their own hands in a communal
setting.

The trend is beginning to spread to neighboring Bolivia, Paraguay and Chile
and even Spain.

In Argentina, word has gotten around that down-and-out singles are finding
mates at the clubs to share their problems, making barter clubs an
increasingly popular weekend hangout for the young.

And one Indian village in northern Jujuy Province has done away with money
altogether in a self-proclaimed return to its indigenous roots.

"Its producing not only a parallel economy but a subculture," said Graciela
Romer, a sociologist and political consultant.

In the last few months Argentine public officials themselves have begun to
use the barter system to improve local economies and to serve their own
needs. Five impoverished municipalities have decided to accept services from
barter club members to fix leaking school roofs or street lights in lieu of
taxes.

The Economy Ministry has begun a program to teach basic marketing and
bookkeeping skills to 1,000 trueque traders who have begun producing their
own detergents, candles, breads and graphic designs. It is also preparing to
start a program with the national doormen's union in which the government
will pay union members to teach barter club members basic electrical and
plumbing skills.

On Friday night, the trueque club where Mr. P駻ez and others go in the
Floresta neighborhood looks and feels more like an indoor flea market than a
place where the down-and-out eke out a subsistence. Women giggle to each
other as they have their hair done by underemployed coiffeurs, and the men
sip their mate tea and talk soccer while waiting for customers.

"We use the trueque as a kind of therapy," said Susanna R?s, a 46- year-old
housewife who brought a bag of toys to trade. "It's a chance to leave the
house, make friends, and supplement the family income."

Mar? Rold疣, 35, lost her job as a secretary in a law firm three months 
ago
and spends three days a week looking for work. The rest of the time she
knits and crochets sweaters and baby booties to trade at trueque clubs.
Business has become so brisk, she said she is thinking of opening her own
business rather than find another job. "Bad luck has turned into an
opportunity and I am developing my creativity," she said.

Osvaldo Gonz疝ez, 71, was a photographer for President Juan Domingo Per? 
in
the 1950's, but has not worked for the last five years and has heart
disease. He started trading photographic portraits at trueque clubs two
years ago, but there was little customer interest.

Over the last year, however, Mr. Gonz疝ez has found a new way to 
supplement
his pension: he goes from neighborhood to neighborhood buying kitchen
utensils from failing stores and trades them at trueque clubs.

"With this I get all the food I need," he said. "This is a perfect way for
people to get through this crisis and it's perfect for the government to
keep the social lid on."

copyright New York Times.

MIYACHI TATSUO
psychiatric department
Komaki municipal hospital
miyachi9@xxxxxxxxxx


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