[Marxism] Re: Asiatic Mode of Production

[Alan Bradley <alanb1000@xxxxxxxxx>]

From: "Fred Feldman"
> Also, I think, the survivals of communal land
> ownership made the internal development  as well as
> relative isolation were obstacles to the development
> from internal forces of capitalist production -- not
> necessarily insuperable but serious.

"Relative isolation" from where?

China and India had regular trade connections with
each other and the Islamic world by both land and sea
long before the rise of capitalism in Europe.

Yes, in the late Ming period, China began to attempt
to isolate itself, but this isolation was far from
complete.

In any case, China itself was an economic system on a
virtually continental scale. I suspect that if you
considered the traffic on its major rivers and canals,
you might find a volume of trade that compares rather
favourably with European oceanic trade at, well, any
period, and especially during the rise of capitalism.

More importantly, perhaps, India was never
isolationist in anything like the same way. Of course,
there wasn't really a single "India" throughout most
of its history.

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