monetary crisis, n.Definitions

A Monetary crisis (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠unavoidable as long as the social character of labour appears as the money-existence of the commodity, a thing outside actual production.

A Monetary crisis (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠only the surface: what appears as a crisis of money actually expresses anomalies in production and reproduction itself — unsold cloth piled up in India, unpaid Indian goods in England.

A Monetary crisis (n.) sacrifices ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠many millions' worth of commodities for a few millions in money — the value of things given up to guarantee value's fantastic existence in money. One of capitalism's particular charms.

A Monetary crisis (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the moment the capitalist who laughed at the hoarder's superstition suddenly sees money exactly as the hoarder does — the only form of wealth.

A Monetary crisis (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not a shortage of money, as the petty bourgeois judging by his own purse imagines, but the hardening of the difference between money, the universal commodity, and all other commodities, which suddenly cease to be marketable.

A Monetary crisis (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the moment when all wealth suddenly loses its power over money — when you can no longer pay with your wealth but must pay with money.