of London, collapses, revealing that bank employees like Nick Leeson have been routinely risking hundreds of millions of other people's money in crazy gambles on the movement of stock markets.
The Baring family which has creamed off mjllions from the bank over two centuries of exploitation and speculation now cynically try to wash their hands of the conduct of the executives whom they appointed and gave a free hand to maximise profits, regardless of the consequences.
Of course the cash at risk from their speculative efforts is not all from the Queen or wealthy right wing institutions like the Royal College of Nursing: hundreds of millions in pension funds was invested with Barings, who might just as well have put it all on a horse. Other banks are doing the same thing every day.
Creating crisis
The fact is that the banking system is at the centre of the anarchy of the capitalist free market: it does not just respond to shocks and crises, it creates them.
Bankers lay down brutal terms for loans, or pull the plug on firms or whole industries, sparing not a thought for the thousands of jobs at stake, or the communities they are devastating.
Tony Blair calls feebly for more regulation of the City, but then tries to reassure bosses that a Labour will leave their profits and market freedoms intact. That's also why he is so keen to ditch Clause Four.
But there will be more and bigger Barings-style crises as long as the banks remain in private hands, ruthlessly deploying the power of capital in pursuit of maximum profit.
Nothing could more clearly underline the need for the nationalisation of the banks and finance houses, as part of a planned socialist economy. Until it confronts the power of the banks, Labour leaders are condemned to act as their Defend Clause Four!
SOCIALIST OUTLOOK No. 79, March 11 1995, Page 2.
WOULD YOU TRIC Protests in Warwickshire Goo