A-Infos (en) Bulgaria, FAB: Lev, Euro or Something Else (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Today, those in power are focusing all of society's attention on the 
following "choice," as if our participation in it were a matter of life 
and death: whether the state of Bulgaria should adopt the imperial 
European banknote as its currency, or whether it should remain with its 
original monetary unit. They point to the supposed benefits of both 
outcomes - that we would be "richer" or more "independent," more 
"integrated" or more "free." But the truth is that changing the color 
and appearance of the paper, the bearer of value, is only cosmetic - 
this action will not overthrow the economic and political realities of 
the situation we find ourselves in: a global capitalist mode of 
production, market relations, those of monetary trade, of hierarchy and 
wage slavery, a system of nation states ruled by the bourgeois class. As 
long as this state exists, we will forever be propertyless, enslaved, 
voiceless, and oppressed, because we do not participate directly in the 
governance of our society, and our rulers and superiors dictate our fate.

Moreover, this event is already predetermined and our share in it is 
illusory. Representative (bourgeois) democracy creates a lie for 
citizens as part of decision-making in the country, by organizing, for 
example, elections and referendums that replace a person or an element 
of the system in appearance, but never its essence, by instilling this 
perception through its propaganda tools, by creating political theaters 
and opening nationwide discussions on various similar issues, the 
significance of which is of no importance, but placed as the center of 
attention, they create an image that something important is happening 
and we are included in it. The only one that can benefit from the 
exchange of currency is the government - some politicians will 
strengthen and impose themselves, others will create a lasting 
opposition, breathing new forces into the political cycle of the system; 
some will serve the interests of one external player, receiving the 
corresponding reward, others - of another; we will integrate into one 
empire at the expense of another. ..

The question of "euro or lev", as was the case with Schengen, is so 
ridiculous and has so little impact on improving our lives that even 
state propaganda media reduce it to the overall ideology of the 
commentator (pro-European or anti-Western, with the currency being only 
a symbol of one or the other) or to various trivial details (with one, 
we and foreigners would not have to exchange money, and the lev was part 
of the sacred Bulgarian national aesthetic, with Schengen - we would not 
have to wait when we leave the country for vacation, which happens at 
most twice a year), and not to facts, because the latter are 
insignificant for us, they relate entirely to the mutual struggles of 
the ruling gangs. This is a way to divide society, to divert it from 
seeing the real situation in which it is involved, and to harness it to 
the service of bourgeois factions.

The really important question is another: what is the real meaning of 
money and markets in general, what is their function in capitalism, are 
they an ideal way of distributing goods in society or should we strive 
for something more perfect, more just. We, anarchist-communists, believe 
that money should be completely abolished, that goods and goods should 
be exchanged according to the principle of necessity, of non-monetary 
exchange in order to satisfy human needs. This will be done 
decentralized, through local logistical bodies, managed through a 
directly democratic council and working groups and serving a given 
neighborhood, a given commune, municipality, federation, a given 
workers' or production association. What is needed will be calculated in 
kind and will be delivered, as well as what is produced, if any. Society 
will provide everyone with its goods, and in return he will contribute 
as he can.

And while this may sound like a utopia to you, while you may think that 
when work is voluntary and not mandatory for making money and therefore 
for survival, no one will want to work, just imagine that the management 
of society really depended on you, that the improvement of your life was 
purely your own doing, that you had the opportunity to change what you 
considered harmful and introduce something new. In our current 
situation, inaction in public life can be explained by the fact that our 
role in it is insignificant, because there is a ruling class; but if 
things were different, if we were the creators of our own destiny, would 
we still stand aside, would we not want to make our existence easier and 
give our all to achieve this, would we not work for our own good?

In this regard, we present here an excerpt from the book by the 
Bulgarian anarcho-communist Georgi Hadzhiev, "Fundamentals of 
Powerlessness" (1958). There he well presents our ideas about replacing 
money with a communist distribution of wealth, criticizing the concept 
of the former and describing how the latter would function . The entire 
book is available here .

EXCHANGE AND DISTRIBUTION
The question of the organization and functioning of production, public 
offices and services, which we have briefly examined, cannot be 
considered concluded without considering the issues of remuneration for 
labor, of what today is called investment, capital investments, which 
determine the economic development of a country. This also raises the 
question of the use of money. And all this is related to exchange and 
distribution.

If it can be said without great exaggeration about production that the 
necessary apparatus has already been built up within the framework of 
today's society - the workers' trade unions and confederations, it 
cannot be said that we have such an organization fully developed today, 
which would encompass from the first day of the revolution the entire 
exchange and distribution of all public goods, in order to regularly 
satisfy the needs of all people. It can be said about the workers' trade 
union organizations that in many cases they even have the structure that 
will be needed for the constructive work of tomorrow - organization by 
production, by industries. The core of the social organization of 
exchange and distribution is the cooperative, which has reached a 
powerful development. But still, the leading role in exchange and 
distribution today falls to private commercial capital. Therefore, 
distribution will encounter much greater difficulties than social 
production. And this task is no less important than production. In a 
certain sense it is even more important, because the winning over of the 
wavering for social reconstruction and the strengthening of faith among 
the masses of the people depend mainly on the successful and just 
satisfaction of the immediate needs of the people . On the other hand, 
there is a huge mass of small traders whose interests will be affected 
by this reorganization of exchange and distribution, and their 
discontent poses a serious risk of influencing a wider circle of people 
and of dragging in the wavering elements. But the main difficulty will 
arise from the lack of sufficient experience in carrying out this 
important social function of those who will take on the responsibilities 
of the revolution.

And so, the organization on which the revolution will rely in the 
reorganization of exchange and distribution is the cooperative with its 
network of branches, shops, warehouses, technical and transport means 
and personnel. In and around the cooperative, the seizure of exchange 
and distribution from the hands of the merchants will be concentrated. 
With all goods, materials, means of transport, warehouses, depots, 
shops, etc., the revolution will undoubtedly seek to include all small 
merchants, to convince and win them over, in order to use their 
experience and include them as quickly as possible in the new public 
exchange and distribution organization. The overall success will depend 
to a large extent on winning at least the goodwill of the small 
merchants towards the change, so that they can understand their own 
common human interests even in the pre-revolutionary period. The 
Bolshevik experience in all countries ended in complete failure in this 
respect. The Spanish Revolution, due to the weak development of the 
cooperative movement - especially in the cities, and due to a 
syndicalist delusion that did not give the necessary importance to 
cooperation and included the exchange and distribution function in 
production and envisaged that this task would also fall to the workers' 
unions, showed many difficulties, mainly in the cities. In the villages, 
where collective farms were quickly created, this problem was very 
successfully solved. An entire region - Aragon, completely reorganized 
exchange and distribution, removing money from circulation. We refer to 
these facts only as examples, without considering that this is the place 
to enter into a detailed analysis of all these attempts.

But before we talk about the organization and functioning of exchange 
and distribution in a society that is in the process of complete 
restructuring, it is necessary, albeit very briefly, to consider the 
questions posed at the beginning about the remuneration of labor, 
investment, and money.

The truly communist formula is well known: "From each according to his 
ability and to each according to his needs." It is clear to us - and we 
do not want to deceive anyone - that the full realization of this 
principle cannot be achieved in two days and that for a long time it 
will remain an ideal that society will strive to realize progressively. 
One thing, however, is beyond doubt: the first part of this formula will 
be applied from the very first day, and as for the second part, it will 
be applied to all products that are in sufficient quantity and we will 
persistently move forward in this direction. Labor is both a right and a 
duty. In order for everyone to receive from society, he must place his 
strength at its disposal - he must put in his labor, if he is healthy 
and of an age that allows for labor activity.

In a society where money is the measure of value, the remuneration of 
labor is expressed in wages, in salaries. In the Spanish Revolution, 
money was generally preserved. In collectivized enterprises, workers 
received equal wages with a certain adjustment in the direction of 
implementing the principle: "according to needs", through the 
introduction of the so-called family wage - a practice that is today 
applied worldwide in the form of the so-called "family supplements". 
Each family worker received supplements for his wife (if she did not 
work) and for each child (regressively, i.e. for each subsequent child 
the supplement is smaller than for the previous one). In this way, large 
families moved towards equalization in satisfying their needs with 
singles, who received the same basic wage. Even where money was taken 
out of circulation and replaced with local municipal cards, the 
remuneration of labor was still calculated in family wages, against 
which these cards were given, and with them the workers received 
everything from the cooperative store (most products in unlimited 
quantities and only some on a rationing system).

Regarding the need for money in the future society, there is a certain 
division between the theorists of anarchism and among anarchists in 
general. Some believe that a certain monetary sign will always be 
necessary. They call themselves collectivists, mutualists and 
individualists, not communists. Others, although they consider 
themselves and are actually communists, such as Malatesta, for example, 
are of the opinion that money will have to be preserved for a certain 
time, without specifying until when, until what moment. The question is 
serious and not sufficiently studied, given that it has not been 
presented as extremely urgent and topical. And yet, the vast majority of 
theorists and supporters of anarchism have categorically spoken out in 
favor of the abolition of any monetary system in a society that will 
claim to be communist and will strive to become so. Of course, this 
abolition cannot be done in one day, but will require some time until 
the production and exchange-distribution organization of the new 
society, and above all the mass psychological attitude, is rebuilt. As 
for us, we are categorical. Some proceed from practical considerations, 
accepting, albeit temporarily, the use of money. We, taking advantage of 
the experience of the Bolsheviks, which is very rich and instructive in 
this regard, declare that, proceeding from practical considerations, and 
not only from motives of principle, we are resolute opponents of the 
preservation and use of monetary signs in any form. The question is huge 
and we will not consider it in detail here. We will only say that money 
has its own mechanism and no control can subordinate it to a will, 
however well-intentioned it may be. Money is a carrier of value. Their 
total value corresponds to the quantity of labor used in production (at 
least theoretically) and is expressed in the value of the entire mass of 
works, spiritual goods and services placed at the disposal of society. 
If some of these goods prove to be insufficient or the need for them 
increases, as is normal, the demand for them will upset the equilibrium 
established by previously fixed prices and wages. A new intervention is 
needed to establish a new equilibrium by a new fixing of prices and 
wages. All this presupposes a power, a dictatorship, which nevertheless 
remains helpless. The circulation of money also requires a Cerberus 
control, which will have no place in a free society.

And so, we are for the abolition of money, therefore, for a distribution 
of wealth in which the remuneration of labor itself disappears and what 
remains is the satisfaction of the needs of producers and workers on 
equal terms with those of the remaining unworkable population.

In this situation, one cannot speak of investment in the present sense 
of the term. Today, in bourgeois countries, private capitalists invest 
their capital, who do not miss the opportunity to exploit the taxpayer 
through the subsidies and credits they receive from the state. The 
latter also invests in some cases and in amounts that are increasingly 
increasing with the increase in state intervention in economic life. The 
sources of these investments are mainly taxes.

But every society develops. The means of production wear out and become 
obsolete. They must be renewed and modernized. The productive capacity 
of society is constantly growing and will continue to grow. This is 
normal and applies to every society, including the anarchist one.

Therefore, a part of the invested human labor will not produce goods 
subject to immediate consumption. This labor can be considered as 
investment. In this regard, there will be a new policy in the future 
society. It is no one's business, nor is it within their power to 
determine it now. Based on our experience and observations, we can only 
express the wish that some generations should not be burdened too much 
with burdens at the expense of a distant future, but that we should move 
forward moderately, because human life cannot pass only into sacrifices, 
but must be lived in order to give a desire and taste for work and 
creativity. From what we have just said, it is clear that we reject any 
need for taxes. Is this possible?

There can be no talk of exchange in the present sense of the word in a 
society that is building communism. It will be more a question of a 
constant movement and circulation of products and services from producer 
to consumer, a circulation of the fruits of mental and physical labor. 
In many cases it will be difficult to distinguish exactly between 
production and distribution. And this is the reason why some 
syndicalists include distribution and exchange in the duties of the 
unions in the process of social reconstruction. If the element of labor 
is taken as a classification mark, such a confusion is logical. Since 
labor is involved in both exchange and distribution, those engaged in 
this function can be considered as those in all service functions: 
communications, transport, etc. And therefore, there is no need to speak 
of a special and completely independent organization.

Today we will see that the exchange and distribution function is more 
than just a simple service and we have every serious reason to place it 
separately. In many cases, what is purely distribution will be included 
in production. We have already mentioned this. To a large extent, the 
supply of materials and machinery to enterprises will be carried out 
directly by the production organization itself. The same can be said for 
wholesale distribution. In other cases, what is by its nature a purely 
distribution function, such as public catering (restaurants), will be 
treated as production and included in the relevant branch of production 
(food production). So here we are talking about current mass 
consumption. Its organization is the subject and task of the exchange 
and distribution organization. The experience of today's consumer 
cooperatives should be used for the structure of this organization. The 
exchange and distribution organization covers the entire population by 
settlements (when they are small) and by neighborhoods (for larger 
settlements). For the entire larger settlement, this organization 
represents a local exchange and distribution union with many 
neighborhood stores (general and specialized) and warehouses. This local 
union is represented in the local general economic council. Then come 
the district, regional and national unions with corresponding 
representation in the district, regional and national general economic 
councils. This entire network of exchange and distribution organizations 
accepts the production of the various branches of production and 
distributes it, with the exception of those products that are supplied 
directly between the branches themselves, and when the enterprises 
themselves have supply points for the general consumption of the 
personnel working in these enterprises, supply that will be periodically 
reported statistically through the special organization of the exchange 
and distribution society.

Speaking of statistics once again, let us exhaust the question. We have 
said that elements of statistics will be present in every enterprise, 
even the most insignificant one. But it would be expedient and practical 
to establish statistics as a function and service within the exchange 
and distribution organization, where the needs will also be taken into 
account, so that they can be presented to the relevant general economic 
councils and from there to the national general economic council and the 
relevant branch unions, so that they can be taken into account in the 
planning of production. Only on a national scale would it be expedient 
to establish statistics in a special independent institute, where the 
most modern means and methods will be used to summarize and process 
statistical data for the entire country. Periodical publications in 
localities, districts, regions and on a national scale will make widely 
available the information that interests the entire society.

Consumption is a right of all people - the right to life. But for those 
who are able to work, this right is connected with the obligation to put 
in socially useful work. Every able-bodied citizen will have to find his 
place as a creator of goods in society; everyone, by virtue of this 
elementary obligation, is a member of a labor organization. Controlling 
the regular input of labor is not at all a difficult task. If the need 
arises, labor books will be introduced for all adult and able-bodied 
citizens.

The supply of citizens with current consumer goods will be done through 
neighborhood stores and through supply points at large enterprises and 
in many other ways that experience will best determine. Goods that are 
in sufficient quantity will be used without limit. In any case, in order 
to avoid waste and possible abuse, some method of accounting and control 
will be necessary. We can already give an example. Individual or family 
consumption cards can be introduced to control the use of certain goods 
by marking them accordingly. Some needs can be satisfied completely 
uncontrolled and unlimitedly, such as public transport, for example. For 
the supply of goods that are in limited quantities and are insufficient 
to fully satisfy the given needs, there is no other way than the 
rationing system, no matter how unfavorable our mood towards any 
rationing system may be, due to the bad memories of wars. Otherwise, 
distribution by means of prices will have to be accepted, which is also 
not associated with better memories of today's society for those who 
know the image of misery and poverty. This rationing system should 
naturally be and can be simplified so that it does not weigh so heavily 
on the people. This is a matter of technique, not of bureaucracy. The 
needs for rail transport, although they may initially require some 
restriction and control, can be almost completely satisfied without any 
restriction after not many years. But what is subject to complete and 
unlimited satisfaction is bread for all, care, education for children, 
and treatment of the sick.

We know that many, many delicate and difficult questions to resolve can 
be put to us in order to show us how serious this problem is. It is not 
necessary - we know it ourselves and have no illusions. But still, there 
is a solution to everything. And this solution can in no case be worse 
than the present system or the Bolshevik system of injustice and 
privilege. One big question that we do not want to pass over in silence 
is that of housing. The population is increasing due to natural increase 
and due to a decrease in mortality. This process will certainly continue 
in a free, authoritarian society, and it will hardly be necessary to 
make appeals for a reasonable limitation of the birth rate. Modern 
demographic science and the study of the psychology of families 
establish that the presence of 2 or 3 children in a family is the ideal 
norm for psychological and demographic equilibrium. At this rate, the 
renewal of generations occurs in an appropriate proportion to avoid the 
aging of the population as a whole, as well as the excessive burden of 
the inactive population (old, young, disabled and sick) on the mass of 
the active population. Cultural people have hit upon this optimum and it 
will surely quickly become the rule for all families. In parallel with 
the growth of the population, housing also ages, and for this reason it 
will be necessary to build not only for the needs of the growing part, 
but also to renew the outdated buildings. Therefore, it must be foreseen 
that the needs for housing will represent a serious concern for society. 
It must "invest" a certain part of its labor in housing construction. 
And this task must not be postponed. The most joyful impression that 
foreigners got from Barcelona during the years of revolution and war was 
that of the numerous construction projects, which did not stop their 
rapid rhythm. But in parallel with the construction of new buildings and 
even before it, a more equitable distribution of housing must be 
initiated. Today there is a housing crisis everywhere, but it would be 
greatly alleviated if workers' organizations or specially created 
neighborhood housing committees were tasked with visiting and counting 
the dwellings, in order to bring to light the empty and underoccupied 
premises and distribute them fairly among the needy. This task in the 
period of social restructuring falls to the neighborhood exchange and 
distribution organizations, which will send out from their midst the 
necessary housing committees.

It is obvious that in the area of distribution, anarchists have a clear, 
serious, and responsible constructive program.

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