Lifestyle! Interview: Hartmut Von Hentig

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LIFESTYLE: The idea seems to be to set up a non-rigid situation in which everyone can meet his needs through barter rather than money exchange . . . a situation which can operate independently of the governments of the area in which the network exists.

VON HENTIG: I think that trying to do away with money is attacking the wrong aspect of the problem. Money is a very convenient thing to have around. It facilitates exchange so you don't have to have your butter all churned and fresh at the exact moment the other fellow has his rabbits killed. It may not always be possible for these to coincide, so you decide that in the meantime you'll give each other a token of what's owed, and whatever the token is you call "money".

The bad part, however, is that you can transform money into capital—meaning investment—of which you need a lot to build large industries. Capital is collected from lots of people . . . money is sold to get more money on a very large scale.

If I understand correctly, the large scale is what the communes don't want. They desire to be smaller, closer units in all respects, including economics. They don't want to produce any more than they really need and they don't want to expand, to grow for the mere sake of growing. These minimized needs they would meet through barter—or cash purchase, as well, I'd maintain—with other groups. I think that's a good idea.

It's illusionary, however, to think of this network as completely free from the established society. It will use the system's transportation, for example . . . you can't construct a vast complex of roads, railroads or airports on your own because of the expense, and a return to the conditions that existed before these methods of transportation came into being would be a silly sacrifice of efficiency and convenience. Not all modern advances are damaging, despite what some people would like to claim . . . they must be, used with discretion, however.

But even if their separation isn't complete, it's still a sound step in the right direction. Until a new order has been established which is neither rigid, planned centralism nor laissez-faire, laissez-alles competition, people should try to get as much away as they can from the Woolworths and the supermarkets and the department stores, which are certai nly destructive in many ways . . . I don't have to expand on that!

LIFESTYLE: But if this alternative exchange network is using the facilities of the system, isn't it also dependent on the system, and in a position to be influenced or even destroyed should it be perceived as a threat?

VON HENTIG: We're all in it anyway—we're constantly in a position to be influenced or destroyed—and things can't turn out any worse than they will if nobody tries anything. I say go ahead and try!

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