Letter to Alexander Tsiurupa, February 18, 1922

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Comrade Tsyurupa:

When I was writing my book on imperialism, I read about two systems for state banks (and banks in general) in the capitalist countries. One of the systems—the State Bank’s great proximity to trade.

Perhaps we should get a couple of our “fin-scholars” (I feel like making a pun—fie-scholars?) to make a study of this question.

We need a State Bank which is a hundred times closer to trade than the most commercial of the state banks of capitalism. Our State Bank must have a network of commercial agents, starting from the top (something like a travelling bank inspector for commerce, in charge of thousands of millions in turnover) and ending with small and very small commercial agents at the bottom If this whole network operates on the commission system and learns (and teaches us) to trade well, we shall have control of nine-tenths of the total amount of the trade turnover. This is the only way to restore the gold circulation and to transform, the New Economic Policy from a system of fooling communist fools, who hold power but are incapable of using it, into a base for socialism, a base which, this being a peasant country. no power on earth can vanquish.

Show this to Sokolnikov. We should harass the State Bank and the People’s Commissariat for Finance, until we get this going.

Yours,

Lenin