The Opium Wars and Capital Accumulation: Comments on Karl Marx’s Perspectives on the Qing and England Recorded in The New York Herald Tribune

Abstract

Karl Marx, a pioneer of anti-imperialism (or anti-mercantilism), was exiled in the 1850s in London. A decade later, he wrote nearly 500 editorials for The New York Herald Tribune. Although a handful of these editorials offer important clues for understanding Marx’s thinking on imperialism, these writings have been largely ignored. This study fleshes out Marx’s thinking, especially with respect to the relationship between wars and capital accumulation. This article employs the example of the Second Opium War, launched in the mid-1850s. The dominant Western powers at the time, such as Great Britain and France, advocated mercantilism, usually supported by military force, and regarded wars as a quick method to accumulate capital for national wealth. Additionally, Britain skillfully maneuvered its cultural hegemony by using its official periodical, The Economist, to legitimize the wars against Qing China. In the mid-nineteenth century, Marx had already clearly observed the close relationship between the Opium Wars and capital accumulation.