This morning I went down to the NY Public Library to make a copy of a
pamphlet from 1975 that is not available in the Columbia
Library--something of an anomaly. Titled "Argentina in the Hour of
the Furnaces", and written by a group of radical scholars under the
NACLA imprint (North American Congress on Latin America), it contains
figures on multinational penetration of Argentine capital. Donald
Hodges refers to the 105 page pamphlet in order to illustrate that
the material base for Peronism had disappeared by 1970 when he was
about to regain political power in Argentina. I plan to draw from
this work extensively in my final post on Argentina.
However, what struck me in looking at the first page is how radically
different the NACLA of today reads from the NACLA of 27 years ago
when it had a deserved reputation for being a bold Marxist/radical
research group on Latin America. Compared to the mealy-mouthed calls
for the expansion of "civil society" mixed with strident attacks on
the FARC characterizing NACLA today, this excerpt from the pamphlet
should illustrate not only the sorry drift of the radical movement
into left-liberalism but should also raise questions about the nature
of "alternative" media in line with my earlier post about that shady
British website.
Somewhere along the line, NACLA became more "responsible" while
becoming more reliant on foundation funding. This has been a real
loss for the left, just as much as if the Pacifica board had been
successful. When you read hard-hitting, class-conscious scholarship
like this, you realize how important it is for the left to finance
its own projects.
>From "Argentina in the Hour of the Furnaces":
"England became a capitalist country before any other and in the
middle of the 19th century having adopted free trade claimed to be
the workshop of the world, the great purveyor of manufactured goods
to all countries, which in exchange were to keep her supplied with
materials."
-V. I. Lenin, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism
The transformation of the capitalist mode of production from its
mercantilist to pre-monopolistic phase ushered in changes in the
world economic system and the international division of labor.
oMercantilism was the historical moment when incipient capitalism
sought to destroy feudal patterns and create the basis of modern
industry. This change was" accomplished at the expense of thousands
of European peasants who were thrown off the land and absorbed by the
industries of the urban centers to produce surplus for the
capitalists. At the same time a worldwide system of commerce and
mineral extraction grew: all operations had to produce a favorable
balance in gold, the accumulation of which contributed to material
conditions for the development of the capitalist mode of production.
The internal development and expansion of capitalism broke the
national and continental boundaries of Europe. The scarcity of
internal mineral deposits and agricultural goods stimulated the
overseas drive. At the same time,-especially in the case of England,
the low consumption capacity of the proletariat could not absorb
rising industrial production.
The satisfaction of these needs determined the economic functions of
the subjugated territories. Thus, colonies apart from having a
strategic role, became:
--the supplier of mineral and agricultural raw materials to the
metropolitan countries;
--the market for their industrial products;
--the territories of their capital drain and investment activities
and thereby their regular sources of income.'
Great Britain, the most important imperialist power, pursued a policy
toward the River Plate Basin in general and Argentina in particular
which passed through two distinct phases.2 First. between 1810 and
1820, England drained the area of its gold reserves in order to
undermine and break the power base of the local commercial
bourgeoisie. Second, after 1820, Great Britain extended loans,
permanently placing Argentina in debt. This in turn forced the local
bourgeoisie to seek a new base of power in land exploitation and
rebuild an internal network of trade relations geared to satisfying
international market demands.
THE OLD ALLIANCE
With the development of large landholdings for cattle and grain
production geared to the international market, a new alliance was
forged among imperialism, the local merchant bourgeoisie and the
landed oligarchy. This alliance, which was to dominate Argentina
through the first decades of the 20th century, first sought to weaken
the small artisans and farmers of the interior who favored the
domestic market. Of course the capitalist interests that were eroded
did not submit without a struggle and prolonged civil wars lasted
until the 1850's. At that point the export-oriented centralists from
the port city of Buenos Aires were able to impose their will on the
provincial autonomists.
Their victory strengthened imperialism by deepening Argentina's
dependency on the international market. Agricultural exports rose
dramatically as did the importation of foreign manufactured goods.
The bulk of this booming "free trade" was with Great Britain, while
France, Germany and the United States shared the rest. Commercial
expansion was paralleled by the penetration of direct foreign
investment and further extensions of credit for infrastructure
development-both of which reinforced the export economy. During the
period 1860-1914 Argentina absorbed 510 million in foreign capital
investment and credit. According to Aldo Ferrer, in this period, that
figure accounted for 8.5 percent of all foreign investment carried
out by capital-exporting countries. This figure also represented 33
percent of aggregate investment of the United Kingdom in the same
region. In certain years during this period, the flow of foreign
capital to Argentina was very high. In 1898, for example, it came to
40 or 50 percent of all overseas investment by the United Kingdom,
then the major source of international capital.
Foreign capital was heavily injected into the railroad network which
grew from a mere 39 kilometers in 1860 to 35,256 kilometers in 1917.
Freight shipments by rail from the interior to Buenos Aires, which
monopolized the export business, jumped from 2,257 tons in 1857 to
28,501,000 tons in 1917. Another key area of foreign investment was
the meatpacking industry:
The first determining factor in the emergence of the beef industry
was foreign demand, primarily British, in the mid-19th century. In
order to assure the transportation of unspoiled meat to Europe,
technological innovations permitted the founding in 1882 of the
country's first frigorifico (meatpacking plant), the River Plate
Fresh Meat Company. This was followed by the establishment of the Las
Palmas Produce Company i!902) and the Smithfield i Argentine Meat
Company (1903). All were British owned or controlled. Since Argentine
firms concentrated on the domestic market, the British companies
accounted for a higher percent of export than their two-thirds
control of the country's national freezing capacity represented.
The widespread expansion of the country's infrastructure and
production created a demand for greater labor reserves and new arable
land. The first was filled by the massive immigration of 6.3 million
Europeans (primarily Italians and Spaniards) between 1856 and 1932.
The second led the landed oligarchy to launch a campaign against the
"Indian peril" in order to expand the area of cultivated land under
their control. During this period, 103.7 million acres of land were
seized and distributed among 1,843 landowners. Moreover, this extreme
monopolization forced the masses of immigrants to settle in the
cities and join the labor force of the industrial and service
sectors.
--
Louis Proyect, lnp3@xxxxxxxxx on 05/18/2002
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