In 8° (215x140 mm); pp. IX, (2), 259; green half-leather with gold-stamped title on the spine and marbled endpapers, marbled edges. First edition. The inability of European governments to provide adequate responses to the needs of citizens and, above all, to put an end to the exploitation of workers by the “idle” prompts Corvaja to devise a new system of government, which he calls Bancocracy. Having concluded his career as an industrial entrepreneur, he reflects on the opportunity to restore a state of natural mutuality in the world. For Corvaja, banking, credit, and market manipulation are the modern forms in which primitive, natural mutuality manifests itself. It is futile to oppose their development, for it is the very development of civilization itself; however, we must prevent banks from continuing to serve as instruments of power for a few monopolists and market manipulators. He therefore proposes converting all citizens into shareholders of a single national bank, to which he entrusts the responsibility of government. The novelty of Corvaja’s proposal lies in his conception of a state-bank that capitalizes on all the potential and products of ingenuity, labor, and property. All those who have deposited their capital—from the poorest citizen, whose only wealth is the strength of his own arms, to the greatest capitalist—receive, in exchange, redeemable bearer notes that can be spent as cash. Through this “bankocratic” approach, Corvaja believes he can combat poverty until it is eradicated.