Colonialism and Capitalist Production: A Conclusion

Abstract

A number of problems characterise the debate over the mode of production created by colonisation and/or relations with capitalist and industrial economies in the Third World. There are those who are too eager to extend the term ‘capitalist’ to include the diversity of social and production relations that predominate in these countries and there are those that are far too reluctant to see that there are central and common features within this diversity that can only be understood if they are treated as part of a dominant capitalist mode of production. There is little that needs to be said about the first position. Notions of ‘contact’, ‘incorporation’ and ‘world market’ are not enough to establish the character of the social relations within particular countries. Similarly, it is not enough to show that a surplus is generated, centralised and exported. If it is the intention to show that the ‘new’ mode of production is a capitalist one, then it is necessary to be precise about the relations that are generated in the production process, the nature of production and the process of surplus extraction. It is important to argue about the changes that have occurred and about their significance. To overcome the doubts of those who do not see capitalism in most Third World countries, it is necessary to consider a number of questions. These include problems in the analysis of the labour process, the level of technical development and capital investment and the apparently unchanged villages in the rural areas.