SILVIO GESELL - a
bibliography
compiled
for cesc by
Anton
Pinschoff
December 1995
Writings of Silvio
Gesell
1891 Currency Reform: as a bridge
to the social state. (Buenos Aires. 45 pages). Contains most of Gesell's ideas in outline, including his proposal
for non-hoardable money.
1891 Nervus Rerum. (Buenos Aires. 84 pages). Motto on the
title-page: 'With our present form of money, the slightest alarm causes the
withdrawal of money from circulation. At any moment, consequently, the exchange
of commodities may be arrested; at any moment the most important of all means
of intercourse organised by the state may refuse its services.'
1892 The Nationalisation of Money.
(Buenos Aires. 105 pages). Motto on the title-page:
'The currency should be, like railways, simply a public organisation for
mediating the exchange of commodities; those who use it should be obliged to
pay freight.' In an economic parable Gesell describes an island settlement
which adopts an acorn currency. At first the commodities are exchanged by weighing
the acorns (non-hoardable currency, as the acorns
shrink). Later, payments are made by counting the acorns (hoardable
currency, leading to interest).
1897 The Adaptation of Money to
the Needs of Modern Commerce. (Buenos Aires. 28 pages).
1898 The Argentine Currency Question. (Buenos Aires. 36
pages). On the disasterous
consequences of deflation.
1901 The Monopoly of the Swiss
National Bank. (Bern. 30 pages). A
warning about the danger of inflation latent in the proposed charter of the
Bank.
1902-4 Currency- and
Land-Reform. (
1906 The Natural Economic Order. (Les Hauts Geneveys.
336 pages.) 'Everyone would of course like to enjoy the blessings of
civil and international peace, and at the same time live on capital-interest.
But this is an illusion of naive minds...a utopian fantasy. Those
who recognise that war and interest are inseparable, must choose one or the
other...either interest and war, or earned income and peace. Such
persons, if really animated by peaceful, Christian feelings, will accept with
enthusiasm the latter alternative; such persons have the right inner
preparation for understanding The Natural Economic Order; it is for them that
the book has been written, and it is they also who, undeterred by opposition,
will carry through the reforms it proposes.'
1907 Active Currency
Policy. (Leipzig. 80 pages). In collaboration with
Ernst Frankfurth - a currency policy under the gold
standard with price-stabilisation as its aim, including central-bank discount
policy and open market operations.
1916 Gold and Peace? (Bern.
20 pages).
1917 Free-Land: The Essential
Condition of Peace. (Zürich. 23 pages). Two lectures
on peace, reprinted in the German and French editions of The Natural Economic
Order.
1920 A German Currency Office:
Economic, Political and Financial Preliminaries for its Establishment. (Berlin. 30 pages).
1920 International Valuta Association (IVA). On
stabilisation of the exchanges.
1922 Currency, Foreign Exchanges
and Reparations: Memorandum for the German Trade Unions for use in action. (Erfurt. 96 pages).
1927 Dismantling The State. (Berlin. 94 pages). German
title: 'Der Abgebaute Staat'. A plea for elimination of
bureaucracy in every sphere of life, and a forecast of the resulting society.
1953 Silvio Gesell. Biography by Werner Schmid (German).
(Bern).
Gesell's
collected works are available in German, in 18 volumes and on CD, published by Gauke - Verlag für Sozialökonomie, Postfach 1320, D - 24319 Lütjenburg
at http://www.sozialoekonomie.de/index1.html
Published Editions
of 'The Natural Economic Order' by Silvio Gesell
'The Natural Economic Order' was published in
German as two separate works under the title 'Der
Verwirklichung des Rechtes
auf den vollen Arbeitsertrag.'
but combined in the second edition as one volume with the title 'Die Naturliche Wirtschaftsordnung'.
(Berlin. 1916).
Volume 1: Distribution; Free-Land; Money As It
Is; Free-Money, or Money As It Should Be. (Les Hauts Geneveys, Switzerland. 1906).
Volume 2: The Free Money Theory of Interest (Berlin.
1911).
English Edition,
American Edition,
Spanish Edition,
French Edition,
Revised English Edition 1958
translated by Philip Pye and published by Peter Owen Limited,
Copies of this document
may be obtained from
Tel: 01364 642 674; e-mail: orders@cesc.net