Re: Mercantilism: Britain & Spain (was Re: the role of forced labor)

[Xxxx Xxxxx Xxxxxx <xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Nestor Miguel Gorojovsky wrote:

> >This structure was not DOOMED to become >"underdeveloped". The whole effort 
> >of the
> >generation of Independence was directed against this >possibility. If Latin 
> >America
> >became underdeveloped it is not due to its primeval poverty >(were the 
> >settlers in
> >North American backwoods in any sense richer?), but due to >the betrayal to 
> >the
> >common cause by the oligarchic and mercantile minorities in >a few trading 
> >harbors,
> >Buenos Aires being the paradigmatic example (with perhaps >Montevideo as a 
> >second in
> >perversity).
>

Nestor, I don't know if my argument was reproduced correctly or not , but this 
is
exactly what I  argued. Oligarchic and mercantile minorities (which I defined 
as the
comprador class) are all there in my post. .I also talked about the "commission 
system"
developed by the British imperialism to export capitalism to Latin America 
through the
plantation system in 1732 (see the previous post)  I said: With the long 
economic
> >contraction of 1600 to 1750, it became evident that the signifigance of
> >merchant class declined as compared with the rising importance of
> >"productive entepreneurs"--"planters"--(owing to the percentage of
> >total capital concentrated in their hands, W, p.167). So the system
> >was not technically "mercantile capitalism"; it was a "plant production
> >economy".

Second,  I don't think that Latin America was *underdeveloped* or was *doomed* 
to
become
*underdeveloped* because of *primeval propety*. This *exactly* the reason why 
we are
challenging Brenner who seems to relegate the whole issue of  capitalist 
development
(or
underdevelopment) to the maturity of  internal class structures only (Britain). 
If one
follows this model, I am sure Cuba would be classified as backward socialist 
economy
because Cuba did not fully pass through the stage of capitalism (how absurd! 
what was
the revolution against for then? Wasn't it against comprador bourgeoisie fed by
imperialist forces?)

Famous Polish Marxist Withold Kula who is *well* known to develop an 
Weberian/ideal
type
of Polish economy in the *18th* century has the similar logical problems when he
describes Polish peasants as *irrational* beings lacking the capacity to 
transform
Polish society towards capitalism as the one existed in Europe (See _Economic 
Theory of
Feudalism). Elegant racism at its best, as it minimizes the role of 
imperialism. A
closer look at the circumstances of Poland, instead,  suggests that the rise of 
*second
serfdom* in 18 the century was motivated by external and internal forces 
(oligarchic
landowners cooperating with core capitalists)

Third, we should not confuse *underdevelopment* with *undevelopment* 
(traditional,
feudal, pre-capitalist etc..). The second one implies a static term. Instead, 
what we
are describing here is*Contemporary/ capitalist* underdevelopment (or uneven
development
much better). This describes a situation of relationships between metropolitan
countries
and colonialized countries-- a reflection of the development of capitalist 
system on a
world scale. Metrepolitan-stallite relations are not only found at the 
international
level. They are also reflected at the local level because they shape the 
development of
class relations in colonized countries (ie Mauro's observations about the 
increased
importance of speculators, merchants, mine owners, urban bourgeoisie, and even 
royal
bureaucracy in Hispanic america between 16th and 18th centuries).

Regarding independence, times of war, depression, national struggle *allow* for
autonomous capitalist development OR  socialist development in the stallites.
Eventually, Argentina jumped from the stage of primary product exporter to the 
stage of
industrial/national capitalism with Peron. This was a progress, although I am 
not well
equipped to say the degree to which Argentina's dependence on international 
capitalism
was weakened. This requires looking at the political economy of Argentina and 
class
relations more closely in *relation* to the rest of the world.


Xxxx






> Néstor Miguel Gorojovsky
> gorojovsky@xxxxxxxxxxxx

--

Xxxx Xxxxx Xxxxxx
PhD Student
Department of Political Science
SUNY at Albany
Nelson A. Rockefeller College
135 Western Ave.; Milne 102
Albany, NY 12222


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