Hilferdingʼs Economic Policy and the 1927 Agrarian Program

Abstract

Abstract: In the late 1920s, R. Hilferding （1877―1941）, an intellectual leader of the German Social Democratic Party and prominent exponent of organised capitalism, played an important role in economic policy, especially for agrarian problems. However, his activities have not been completely explored from a historical point of view. In several international conferences in 1926, he argued against aggressive protectionism in favour of mutually beneficial trade agreements and economic regulation under the League of Nations. Then, during parliamenta-ry discussions, he opposed the general rise of agrarian customs, and insisted on promoting high-grade, intensified production by means of differentiated tariffs and financial aids. As for international cartels, he led the 1927 inter-parliamentary commercial conference to accepting his anti-monopolistic resolution. 　　Within the party, Hilferding, as commission chairperson, drafted an agrarian program based on his own earlier ideas as well as on the Austrian program, and successfully persuad-ed the party congress to adopt it in 1927. This program included measures for land reform, productivity improvement, and social policy, among others, intending to cooperate with the rural working populace anew. 　　As the financial situation worsened late in 1927 and the year after, he urged the tempo-rary introduction of foreign credits in order to maintain business prosperity. He criticised the budget for mass taxation and military expenditure, highlighting the structural defects of the fiscal transfer system, and tried to restore the balance through administrative reorganisation. Nonetheless, he supported the emergency assistance project for agriculture, and demanded individually granted loans as well as the control of commerce and even of production for sta-bilisation. Overall, his economic policy aimed to make progresses in international cooperative relationships, avoiding block economy, and cope with agrarian and financial difficulties through productivity measures, basically grounded on his peculiar view of organised econo-my. JEL classification numbers: B 24, B 31, P 16.