Politika
- The Economic Crisis and Savings Deposits
- The First Revolution in Greece
Politika’s economic discussion argued that reducing labour expenditure also reduces workers’ purchasing power, and that such savings can avoid harming the economy only to the extent that living costs fall. It therefore called for giving priority to reducing creditors’ risk to lower the cost of capital. A retrospective on Greece recounted Venizelos’s arrival in Canea, credited him with organising more than thirty thousand volunteers, and described the formation of a provisional government with Admiral Kountouriotis and General Danglis.
This edition translates the two supplied excerpts from Politika of 27 September 1926. All twelve image tiles contain readable material, but clipped lines, degraded lower-right printing and unreliable OCR limit the coverage. The excerpts do not establish Dr. Pavlić’s specific proposals for safeguarding deposits or reducing dependence on foreign capital, or the retrospective’s full treatment of Athens and Allied policy. The Greek excerpt does not identify the man referred to as “he”.
Translation
The Economic Crisis and Savings Deposits
Reducing expenditure on labour also means reducing workers’ purchasing power, so savings on labour can be made without harmful consequences for the economy only insofar as the cost of living falls. We must therefore strive first of all to reduce the cost of the capital used in the economy. Our capital is expensive because lending in our country involves considerable risk, which finds expression in the economy through a higher interest rate. Above all, therefore, creditors’ risk must be reduced as much as possible, and capital will then become cheaper.
The First Revolution in Greece
There, in Canea, he meets Venizelos, who had arrived in Canea on 12 (25) September and had already organised an entire volunteer army of more than thirty thousand soldiers. It was then, on 13 (26) September, that the “Provisional Government of the Kingdom of Greece” was formed in Canea, comprising Venizelos, Admiral Kountouriotis and General Danglis.
Context
Why expensive credit remained an issue after currency stabilisation
The dinar had been stabilised since May 1925, according to the National Bank of Serbia’s history. The newspaper’s argument identifies a separate obstacle: lending risk still made domestic capital expensive. Read together, these accounts suggest that currency stability alone did not resolve the credit problem described here. The proposed remedy targets the risk borne by creditors and its expression in interest rates.
Why the argument protects workers’ purchasing power
The economic stakes extend beyond an individual employer’s expenses. The passage treats workers as consumers whose reduced purchasing power can harm the wider economy. Its qualification is precise: labour savings can avoid that harm only to the extent that living costs also fall. Within this reasoning, reducing creditors’ risk offers a way to lower business costs while preserving workers’ ability to buy goods. The priority given to cheaper capital thus connects the costs of production with the purchasing power of the people who buy what is produced.
How the provisional government fitted Greece’s wartime division
The retrospective foregrounds volunteer mobilisation and the three leaders’ formation of a government. The broader conflict concerned Greece’s wartime alignment: King Constantine I sympathised with Germany and Austria, while Venizelos favoured the Allies. Venizelist officers rose against the royal government in Athens in August 1916, and the separate Provisional Government of National Defence entered the war alongside the Allies in November 1916. This context makes the trio’s appearance a claim to rival political authority, as well as a military initiative.
Original
Привредна криза и улози на штедњу
Умањење расхода на радну снагу значи и умањење потрошачке способности радника, па се стога може на њима постићи уштеда, без лоших последица за привреду, само у толико, у колико појевтини живот. Стога морамо у првом реду настојати, да умањимо расходе на капитал, који служи привреди. Наш капитал је скуп, јер је кредитирање скопчано код нас са великим ризиком, који ризик долази у привреди до изражаја у повећаној каматној стопи. Потребно је стога пре свега, да се што више умањи ризик поверилаца, па ће и капитал појевтинити.
Прва револуција у Грчкој
Ту, у Канеји, он се састаје са Венизелосом, који је у Канеју стигао 12 (25) септембра и већ организовао читаву добровољачку армију од преко тридесет хиљада војника. У Канеји је тада, 13 (26) септембра, образована „Провизорна влада краљевине Грчке“ у коју уђоше: Венизелос, адмирал Кондуриотис и генерал Данглис.