While rampant inflation is absolutely built into capitalism this does not mean that it is impossible for the vorking class to take any steps to deal with price rises and their effects. On the contrary, it is both ossible and vital to take immediate steps to deal with this question. The most vital measures are he following:
•Automatic cost of living increases in wages: The old threshold system, despite all its inadequacies, began to give some protection of wages against inflation. The most important initial step in the struggle gainst inflation and its effects is to ensure that for every 1 percent prices increase wages after tax and other deductions also go up one per cent. The extension of such a system to all incomes-wages, pensions, unemployment pay, etc.—is the only way to really guarantee the maintenance of the value of wages.
•Price - freeze and price subsidies financed by taxation of the rich: Apart from protecting wages it is cessary to limit and drive down price increases. Here price freezes and price subsidies can play an inance for this can be readily obtained through taxing the rich. By taking over the incomes of the less han 7,000 people with an income of more than £20,000 a year this would yield £220 million- far more han the most important subsidies which already exist. This should also be coupled with radical cut-backs n capitalist expenditures such as defence.
•Open the books: In order to policé any price freeze, and to deal with capitalist complaints that they canot afford such a freeze, it is necessary that all the accounts and business secrets of the capitalists be laid open or inspection. This would expose a million sources of profiteering, hoarding and other fiddles- the eliminaon of which would keep down prices.
•Nationalisation without compensation of food, oil, construction and the banking, insurance and finance ystems: While the elimination of inflation will only be fully achieved through the nationalisation of all the ecisive sectors of the economy some areas are so vital in the cost of living that no serious steps to curb inflaion can be taken without taking them out of private hands. The most vital of these are food-the most asic of all industries and the most vital in terms of working class living standards; oil-which is the most vital nergy industry not under public ownership; construction- which is vital in working class life and which is one i the most corrupt and profiteering of all industries; and the finance system-which is both one of the purces of inflation and whose interest payments and loans are a huge factor in housing and other costs.
•Nationalisation without compensation of all firms breaking the prices regulations: The evasion by big irms of even the present pitiful price regulations is a scandal. Something like 80 per cent of large firms do not other to comply with the rules and the fines on these are miniscule-far less than the profits to be made by vasion of any regulations. Any action on prices must be backed with real sanctions against the capitalist boteurs. Any capitalist who evades price regulations must realise that his firm will be immediately nat›nalised.
In the long run of course even these measures will not suffice to bring inflation under control. A huge ‹pansion of money supply and budget deficit in a workers state will bring about inflation just as surely i it will in a capitalist one. However a workers' state has an ability to deal with this question in a way no pitalist state can. It can eradicate the incomes of the rich, and abolish capitalist expenditures which no pitalist state will ever dare to do away with against its own rulers.
Most importantly, a workers state has no need of Keynesian' inflationary policies to attempt to fluence investment. A workers' state controls the levers of investment through the nationalisation isation a mere accounting category of planned economy. It is by this economic system only-the end to which ebr.Mass German workers stop to check the plummeting exchange rate in 1923