Abstract
Appropriately for a story about revolution, the ghost of Lenin began to haunt deliberations. The IMF officials appeared to regard themselves as a politburo established to defend the Bretton Woods revolution. They were confronted by a counter-revolutionary who was aware of Keynes’s (probably fictitious) reference to Lenin’s dictum about debauching a currency as a prelude to revolution (Friedman 1968a, 174). Friedman (1988a, xix, xxiv) regarded the NEP as ‘a sharp break in the monetary regime adopted by the major Western countries’. But the NEPers were apparently unaware that they were rhetorically the heirs of Lenin.1 The first NEP was Lenin’s attempt to reach a temporary compromise with the domestic forces of capitalism; Nixon’s NEP fatally compromised the Bretton Woods system (Friedman 1972a [1971], 426). As frantic efforts were being made to revive the Bretton Woods system, Friedman advanced the prospects for international monetary revolution by pressing Nixon to debauch still further the currency of the Bretton Woods system, not through inflation but by undermining the role of gold.
Keywords
- Central Bank
- European Central Bank
- Flexible Exchange Rate
- International Monetary System
- Bretton Wood System
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2003 Robert Leeson
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Leeson, R. (2003). The Cross of Gold. In: Ideology and the International Economy. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230286023_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230286023_12
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-50898-3
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-28602-3
eBook Packages: Palgrave Economics & Finance CollectionEconomics and Finance (R0)