  The conventional role of spacetime geometry in the description of gravity is
pointed out. Global Poincar$\acute{\mbox{e}}$ symmetry as an inner symmetry of
field theories defined on a fixed Minkowski spacetime is discussed. Its
extension to local {\bf P\/} gauge symmetry and the corresponding {\bf P\/}
gauge fields are introduced. Their minimal coupling to matter is obtained. The
scaling behaviour of the partition function of a spinor in {\bf P\/} gauge
field backgrounds is computed. The corresponding renormalization constraint is
used to determine a minimal gauge field dynamics.
