40
class of the main fortress of capitalistic society—and therefore the first decisive step towards the destruction of their gain and exploitation. Once the proletariat has laid its hand on the banks, that means that it has already taken into its hands to a great extent the reins of industry.
On the other hand, it is not hard to see that without the nationalisation of banks it would have been impossible to weaken the power of the capitalist in works and factories. The modern factory depends on the bank; either the bank simply owns the whole factory or a part of its shares. In some cases it allows the factory credit in one form or another. Let us now suppose that the workmen of a certain factory have taken everything under their own control. If the bank of that factory is a private concern belonging to the bourgeoisie, the whole factory must stop work: it will simply be informed by the bank that there will be no further credit. And that is equivalent to cutting off a fortress from supplies. Under such conditions the workers would inevitably have to surrender and bow the knee to the master. That means that, in nationalising the banks, the Soviet Government simultaneously acquires the power of directing and managing finance, and various bonds and certificates which serve as substitutes for money; and thereby the bank, instead of hindering the transfer of industry into the hands of the working class, on the contrary lends its assistance in such transfer. The power that in the hands of the bankers was directed against the workers, now under these new circumstances becomes a power helping the working class, and directed against the capitalists.
The next task consists in uniting the different and formerly private banks into one national bank, to unite the work of the banks or, as it is called, to centralise the banking business. In that case the transfer of industry into the hands of the working class would convert the national bank into the principal counting house; an institution affecting mutual "payments" between different enterprises and separate branches of production. Let us suppose that the coal, steel, and iron industries depended on the central bank. Each one of these has to utilise the products of the others; the steel foundries must receive their coal from the coal mines, the steel works must get their steel from the foundries, and so on. It is evident that since all these enterprises depend entirely upon the bank, all kinds of "payments"can be settled by the mere transfer of accounts; banks become
