"The best way to destroy the capitalist system is to debauch the currency"

Vladimir Lenin’s statement, “The best way to destroy the capitalist system is to debauch the currency,” points to the relationship between monetary integrity and societal stability under capitalism. Currency functions as the lifeblood of a capitalist economy, underpinning contracts, pricing, wages, and savings. The public's trust in the currency’s value allows for efficient exchange and the accumulation of capital. When a state or central authority deliberately undermines this trust, for example, through inflationary policies such as excessive printing of money, the predictable structure of economic life begins to unravel.

Debauching the currency, or causing it to lose its value, undermines the economic foundations on which the capitalist system is built. Inflation erodes the real value of savings, discouraging thrift and long-term investment. Contracts, which depend on stable units of account, become unreliable or are written for increasingly short terms to hedge against currency fluctuations. Uncertainty prevails. Those who rely on fixed incomes, such as retirees, wage earners, or small savers, find their purchasing power diminished, sometimes catastrophically. The result is social discontent and a breakdown of traditional economic relationships.

For Lenin, a destabilized currency could act as a catalyst for revolution. As the majority sees their wealth and economic security evaporate due to declining currency value, they grow disillusioned with the existing order. Capitalist economies rely on stable money not only for economic calculation but also for legitimacy. Widespread inflation or hyperinflation places pressure on political structures. The capitalist class, often relying on financial assets, is destabilized along with the general population.

By attacking the medium through which value is preserved and exchanged, the very fabric of capitalist society is threatened. In Lenin’s analysis, destroying the currency was not just an economic maneuver, but a profound political strategy to shake the confidence in capitalism and accelerate its collapse, paving the way for revolutionary change.