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A 1980 50-yuan note from China shows the people leading the development of a modern China: an intellectual, a farmhand and an industrial worker. Photograph: Trustees of the British Museum

They are banknotes that show cheerful farm workers, enthusiastic soldiers and committed intellectuals as well as foundries, factories, fields, dams, lorries, railways and guns and they are as aesthetically pleasing as any of the worlds currencies, a new exhibition hopes to show.

The British Museum is to mark the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution by staging its first exhibition on communist currency.

There will be posters, medals, bonds, coins and banknotes that show bountiful agricultural productivity, major industrial progress and unmatched military prowess. I think they are beautiful, said the curator, Tom Hockenhull. Especially compared to western notes of the same period, these are far nicer, far prettier.

Even though the currencies were devalued and people were told they werent worth anything, the banknotes, in particular, carry some of the most glorious designs that have ever been committed to paper.

Helped by money from the Art Fund, Hockenhull has been researching and acquiring communist currency to fill gaps in the museums extensive money collections.

Examples of notes on display will include a 1975 100-shilling note from Somalia, which shines light on what the state expected of women. (Everything.) It shows a woman holding a gun, a shovel and a baby. It is saying to women you can do whatever you want, you can take on all these different roles, but youve still got to do all this, said Hockenhull.

There will be a Yugoslavian banknote featuring the smiling, handsome epitome of a good, hardworking foundry worker, Arif Herali.

Herali was part of a group of workers photographed at their blast furnace workplace in Zenica in 1954. His face stood out and the heroic image of the father-of-11 was used on Yugoslavian banknotes for more than two decades. The true story of Herali is rather less inspiring, in that he struggled with alcoholism and died penniless in 1971.

A 1980 50-yuan note from China shows the people leading the development of a modern China: a farmhand, an industrial worker and an intellectual.

The exhibition will explore how money worked under communism and its central conundrum. Under communism, under Marxist theory, there should be no money, said Hockenhull. It is a social construct, it should not exist. But it is never abolished ... no state ever successfully eliminated it.

No good Marxist would ever want a state with money but communist economies had it and the notes were so much more interesting than western ones. It tends to follow not always that the most stable economies have the most boring notes, it is just the way it is, said Hockenhull, pointing out that the US had not updated its dollar since 1962 and that it was not very different from the 1862 design.

It is only when you have a different political agenda that you change things ... money had a different role under communism and therefore it had to look different. A form of communism has been brought to about 20 countries around the world since 1917 and all had a currency.

Often the states contempt for its currency was overt. The British Museum display will include coins used in East Germany, made from aluminium and therefore absurdly light in weight to show how little value they were.

There will be a banknote from Cuba signed by the national bank president, Ernesto Guevara. He was so appalled at having to sign it he used his nickname, Che, as a way of signifying his contempt for money. It was his two fingers to capitalism, said Hockenhull.

Among the posters reproduced for the show will be a USSR advert for the state savings bank that avoids any mention of benefits, such as an interest rate, because the accounts were meant as a benefit to the state, not an individual.

A better way of rewarding people was with medals, which followed Stalins statement that the Soviet people have mastered a new way of measuring the value of people not in roubles, not in dollars [but] according to their heroic feats.

One example in the show will be the Mother Heroine of the Soviet Union gold medal given to women who had 10 or more children.

Another will be an Order of Labour Glory medal issued by the USSR in Ukraine in 1985. Recipients of all three classes of the order also received a pension increase, priority on the state housing list, free public transport, a free annual pass to a sanatorium and one first-class round trip flight per year.

Hockenhull, the museums curator of modern currency, said it had proved a huge and rewarding subject to research. It has been fascinating. Im English I grew up in a capitalist society. It has been a window into a completely different world and different way of looking at things.

Currency of Communism at the British Museum, 19 October-18 March.

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British Museum exhibition to showcase communist currencies - The Guardian

Saturday's violence in Charlottesville, Va., where a car mowed through a crowd protesting against neo-Nazis and other "alt-right" demonstrators, has renewed focus on white supremacists and, more specifically, the role Confederate monuments play as rallying points. In the wake of the Charlottesville protests, Baltimore; Richmond, Va.; Dallas; and Lexington, Ky., are now debating removing their Confederate monuments. Simply put, the protesters argue that history matters and that the symbolism of the past has resonance today.

Make no mistake: The issue surrounding Confederate symbolism is different than efforts at Yale University and elsewhere to rename buildings and to remove statues, stained glass windows, and artwork. The issue at hand is not a refusal to judge historical figures by the standards of their time, but rather the symbolism driving or representing a political movement.

How ironic it is, then, that the same stigma (rightly) attached to Confederate symbolism is strangely absent with regard to communist symbolism.

Communism, after all, is an ideology that has led to the deaths of almost 100 million people. While men like Ernesto "Che" Guevara may have become folk heroes for some on the political Left, they were in reality sociopathic mass murderers. The same holds true, of course, with Soviet dictator Josef Stalin and Chinese communist leader Mao Tse-tung (Mao Zedong).

Democratic National Committee Vice-Chairman Keith Ellison told progressive activists on Friday that North Korean communist leader Kim Jong Un was a more responsible leader than President Trump (he immediately regretted his wording). Kim, however, presides over a system of concentration and death camps that are reminiscent of Nazi Germany or Stalin's Gulag. The American Friends Service Committee describes itself as a progressive organization dedicated to non-violence, but they were among the chief cheerleaders for the Khmer Rouge, a communist and racist gang responsible for the deaths of over a million people in Cambodia.

That the New York Times seeks to glorify sex under communism is no different than had it complimented the matchmaking prowess of the Nazi-era Bund Deutscher Mdel.

In reality, white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and any adherents to a racist, segregationist ideology are scum; they should be condemned. So too should the Nation of Islam and the radical fringes of the Black Lives Matter movement who adhere to ideologies just as racist and supremacist.

But all of their legacies pale in comparison to that of communism. A communist should face the same disgrace as a Nazi, and a former communist should be stigmatized as much as a former member of the Ku Klux Klan. That they were products of society is not an excuse: After all, many southerners chose not to join the KKK even if it meant personal disadvantage in places where KKK members dominated business and many Russians chose not to join the Communist Party, even at the height of the Soviet era.

The progressive blind spot to communism reflects historical ignorance on the part of Americans and Europeans. It reflects a failure at the high school and university levels to truly confront the horrors of the last century and, in the case of China and North Korea, this century as well. While the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation does good work, the United States still does not commemorate the victims of communism on a scale commensurate with their numbers.

If protesters truly want to combat hate, they must recognize that the Nazi Swastika, Confederate iconography, and the hammer and sickle each represent ideologies of hatred. They need not be erased, but rather confined to historical museums. To march under or tolerate one while combatting the other represents not the pursuit of justice but rather hypocrisy and ignorance.

Michael Rubin (@Mrubin1971) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner's Beltway Confidential blog. He is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a former Pentagon official.

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Why aren't communists stigmatized just as much as Confederates and neo-Nazis are? - Washington Examiner

Democrats and democratic socialists were incorrectly linked by some to Nazism following the harrowing protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend that led to one womans death. The allegations were a huge misrepresentation of what each of the terms means and a poor, surface-only reading of what German leader Adolf Hitlers party and government stood for.

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The assertions or accusations listed above appear to stem from the official name of the party that Hitler led to take over Germany in the early 1930s. It was called the National Socialist German Workers Partylater shortened to Nazi partyand gained power by promising voters to alleviate a German economy mired in depression while also restoring German cultural values, reverse the provisions of theTreaty of Versailles, turn back the perceived threat of a Communist uprising, put the German people back to work, and restore Germany to its 'rightful position'as a world power,"according to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

The party represented an extreme side of Germans right wing, and the key word in its title was not necessarily "socialism," but rather "national." During Hitlers ascension, nationalism was preached and took hold, and excludedanyone who wasnt fully German or considered superior.

"The Nazis opposed all traditional socialism, wanting to substitute something they called German socialism or Aryan socialism, Bryn Mawr College professor Barbara Miller Lane told PolitiFact in October 2015. This meant citizenship and privileges only for Aryans (meaning non-Jews), concentration camps for others."

Indeed, the American Nazi Party, first named the World Union of Free Enterprise National Socialists by its founder George Lincoln Rockwell in 1959 before he changed the name a year later, specifically states that National Socialism applies to whites. The partys official website describes the two main tenets of the term are the Struggle for Aryan Racial survival, and Social Justice for White Working Class people throughout our land.

By definition, a political party with Nazi roots or affiliations is not democratic since it would apply to only one race, whereas democracy is meant to apply to all people, not a specific race or ethnicity.

Around the countrytoday, a more true form of democratic socialism is not only taking form but growing in the form of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). Following last years election and the rise of self-proclaimed democratic socialist and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), the group has reportedly seen its membership grow to about 25,000 people, according to The Guardian.

Earlier this month, the group was represented by 697 delegates from 49 states for its largest convention yet in Chicago. Its main tenets and calls for reform include a significant decrease of the influence money has in politics, as well as empowering ordinary people in workplaces and the economy.

We are socialists because we reject an international economic order sustained by private profit, alienated labor, race and gender discrimination, environmental destruction, and brutality and violence in defense of the status quo, according to one description of DSAs political perspective on its official site.

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Nazis Are Not Socialists Nor Democrats Despite What Alt-Right Might Say - Newsweek

Let me start with my favourite question. Why is it that, of the thirty/forty nascent nations which emerged from the yoke of imperialism in the first half of the twentieth century in Asia, Australasia, Africa and South-America, India comprises the only country of its size and diversity to have remained a vibrant functioning democracy, while innumerable contemporary wrecks and ruins of constitutionalism litter the global landscape?

No doubt the first answer is possibly sheer good luck. But a close second is that while Gandhi and his atomic weapon of Ahimsa was vital to attain independence, India has remained a functioning & vibrant democracy because of Nehru as Indias first Prime Minister. India was singularly fortunate in getting its sequencing right: Gandhi first and Nehru later.

Nehru, intuitively, typified and practiced Voltaires famous dictum (also the essence of democracy) : I disagree vehemently with you but defend to death your right to disagree with me.

Three of the five tenets which he considered to be foundational to Indias destiny remain a vital part of the less visible non-institutional pillars of Indian democracy (the other two being Parliamentary Democracy and non-alignment). They are Secularism, Socialism and Federalism.

Secularism has been the heart and soul of Indian democracy from its inception, though it found express Constitutional expression much later. There is no more diverse spot on earth than India: the worlds largest democracy, the second most populous, the seventh largest in terms of area and the fourth largest by national GDP measured on purchasing power parity (PPP).

Its diversity is manifested in 22 scheduled languages, over 700 mother tongues, over 2000 dialects, the worlds largest population of 4 religions (Hindu, Sikh, Jain, and Parsi), the worlds second largest population of Muslims, and a significant number of other religious adherents. Every major racial grouping is present in India and it has thousands of bewildering rituals, foods, smells, sounds, music in all forms, dances and so on.

With such pluralities, Secularism is a self-protective mechanism for India. India has had a remarkable record of secular, non-theocratic governance, but if truth be told, the more one lets go in India, the more India binds and holds together. Conversely, the more one pulls or tries to bind or impose any uniform ethic, the more India is likely to break apart.

Secularism has been an effective vehicle to manage diversities. It has generated a sense of reassurance and security to Indias multiple diversities and provided a crucial underpinning for democracy. It is meant and intended to convey part ownership of democracy. Without this sense of belonging to and ownership of democracy by each aam admi, democracy cannot succeed.

As usual, the threats are almost entirely from within. There is a sinister and sustained attempt to impose a uniform ethic, to paternalistically decide what a citizen can wear, sing and eat, how he can behave, what he must think on certain occasions and what he must say on others. Instead of celebrating diversity, we mourn it as the biggest obstruction to nationalism.

We distort the idea of India by redefining the India of our dreams as the India of our demands. We live by a new ethic of suspicion and distrust, of glee at the fellow citizens discomfiture and of fear of speaking up in his favour when he is being tormented.

A second non-institutional pillar of democracy is federalism. It is vital for managing diversities. Federalism operates as a safety valve for the three Ds - dissent, discomfort and dissatisfaction. It channels these three Ds into relatively manageable outlets of constitutional structures, whether they are provincial legislatures, district level autonomous councils or models of local governance like Panchayati Raj. Indian federalism has quarantined conflicts within states or sub-state units and thus successfully prevented national conflagration.

Five significant developments have transmuted, over the last 70 years, the heavily unitary, quasi federal India at inception into a significantly more federal entity in operation, rightly resulting in it being called accidental or inadvertent federalism. Linguistic diversity resulted in creation of new states on the principle of linguistic contiguity and the three-language formula largely quietened the language riots of the 1960s.

Secondly, vigorous judicial review by the apex court since the new millennium has repeatedly quashed Article 356 incursions into federal autonomy. Thirdly, Panchayati Raj and local self-government, has created a humongous diaspora of elected local Panchayat officials (including 1.5 million women) who administer local self-government in the worlds largest model of fiscal and administrative decentralisation. Fourthly, economic liberalisation since 1988 and 1991 has considerably diluted the stranglehold of the central government in decision making. Finally, fiscal federalism, results in almost 45% receipts of the centre being transferred to the state either as the sharable tax revenues or as Central grants.

Threats to federalism include Central government discriminatory practices in fund devolution, selective waivers of financial demands according to matching or differing political colors of the Centre and the state concerned and a clearly Presidential style of central governance focused on micro managing everything. Catchwords or jumlebaazi like competitive or cooperative federalism cannot camouflage these aberrations.

Modern arm chair critics who retrospectively criticise Nehrus belief in socialism-a third non institutional pillar-- by saying that it consigned India to a low so called Hindu rate of growth between 3.5. to 4.5%, fail to realise that it was socialist philosophy which laid a firm foundation for the public sector in India and resulted in Indias solidity and self-reliance in core sectors like steel, chemicals, textiles, indigenous defence manufacturing and banking. It gave us both a self-reliant as well as a competitive edge, though, concededly, it overstayed its welcome. Our ability to weather the 2008 global financial crisis with minimum pain and regain the 8.5% annual trajectory of growth within one year owes a lot to these foundations.

One contemporary counterpart of Nehrus philosophy of socialism has been the worlds largest social welfare scheme, MNREGA, which despite opportunistic criticism when in opposition, has been largely followed and reluctantly lauded by the right wing successor government.

This vituperative criticism when in opposition and ready adaptation without attribution when in power model has been perfected by the present dispensation. Manifested across the board-from Aadhar, MNREGA, Food Security, GST to many others these compliments, albeit left handed, say it all.

In conclusion, Indias amazing diversity is its best insurance against degeneration of democracy or institutionalisation of dictatorship. To that must necessarily be added the intrinsic nature of India and of Indians viz. absorbent and highly argumentative.

Democracy in India has many miles to walk and many promises to keep. If it cannot be fairly castigated as an imperfect democracy, it is certainly also nowhere near being a perfect or near perfect democracy.

It is difficult to quantitatively calibrate whether we have covered half or more than 75% of the journey from imperfection to perfection. We have not achieved, for example, the more capacious concept of democracy beyond the narrower view of seeing democracy exclusively in terms of public balloting and not as the exercise of public reason i.e. the larger concept of providing opportunities for citizens to participate in political discussion and, more importantly, to informed public choices in methods that transcend the ballot box.

Personally, I have no doubt, that we are well past the midway mark in the journey and that we will get there in the fairly proximate future. But the story has never been only about the destination or the result. It has been, as much, if not more, about the journey and that has undoubtedly been exciting and unusual.

The author is MP; National Spokesperson, Congress; former Addl Solicitor General of India and Senior Advocate

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Democracy beyond ballots: Threats to secularism, socialism - National Herald

A recent raid of abitcoin mining farm in a state-owned, empty swimming pool in Ukraine raises questions about the legality of the cryptocurrency in the country. Following the event, the Ukrainian central bank promptly published a statement about bitcoins regulation and legal status.

Also read:150 Bitcoin ATMs Coming to Ukraine

Ukraines National Police arrested several suspects for illegally mining bitcoins last week, according to local publications. 200 computers were set up to mine the cryptocurrency in an unused swimming pool at a state-owned recreational center of the Paton Electric Welding Institute, which is located in Kiev, the capital and largest city of Ukraine.

The arrests followed Kievs Svyatoshinsky District Courts rulings last week which found that bitcoins were illegally mined, along with several other violations of Ukrainian laws. The court, therefore, gave permission to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) to search and seize items and documents related to the mining operation, according to Inshe.tv.

The court found that the suspects had no right to use the swimming pool which is located on state-owned premises. They also breached the law of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) by emitting substitute money and forging documents to launder it, the Kyivpost detailed.

According to the NBU, which is the Ukrainian central bank, there is only one national currency, the hryvnia, and no other currency or substitute currency can be issued or used as a form of payment in Ukraine, the Kyivpost conveyed. However, the law does not specify what a substitute currency is, the publication noted.

Back in 2014, the NBU warned about bitcoin and its use in the Ukraine. The National Bank considers the cryptocurrency a money surrogate, which has no real value and cannot be used by individuals and legal entities within the territory of Ukraine as a means of payment, as it contradicts the norms of Ukrainian legislation.

However, lawyers were interviewed by Inshe.tvon the subject and they all agree that cryptocurrency mining in Ukraine is not illegal. Artem Afyan, a managing partner of the Yuskutum law firm said engaging in mining in Ukraine is absolutely legal, adding that:

The arguments of the National Bank that the cryptocurrency is an unsecured money surrogate are only a warning. It does not mean prohibition of their use.

A day after the Kiev mining farm news surfaced, the NBU issued a statement, reiterating that currently bitcoin does not have a definite legal status in Ukraine. The central bank also noted that the definition of such a status in Ukraine is complicated by the lack of a consolidated approach to the classification and management of bitcoin in the world, adding that:

In different countries, bitcoin is classified in different ways as virtual currency, money surrogate, intangible value, virtual goods and the like. For its part, the NBU has not officially supported any of the above definitions.

Meanwhile, the NBU has started discussing the legal status of bitcoin and its regulation with other relevant government bodies such as the ministry of finance. This issue will be considered at the next meeting of the Financial Stability Board, which is scheduled to be held before the end of August, the central bank declared.

What do you think the National Bank of Ukraine will do about bitcoin?Let us know in the comments section below.

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Arrests of Bitcoin Miners in Ukraine Spark Questions About Legality - Bitcoin News (press release)