The Revolutionary Socialist Network, Workers
AC -- AT: Cap causes Colonialism
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2AC -- AT: Cap causes ColonialismColonialism did not related to capitalismSennholz 1956 – [Hans F. Sennholz taught economics at Grove City College and was a noted writer and lecturer on economic, political and monetary affairs; “The Myth of Capitalist Colonialism”; https://fee.org/articles/the-myth-of-capitalist-colonialism/; accessed 7/7/22; Lowell-JL] Colonies Acquired under Mercantilism and Nationalism The existence of colonies, i.e., underdeveloped territories dependent on a ruling power, is not a phenomenon of capitalism, as its enemies so ardently contend, but of the very absence of it. The colonial empires of the Western nations were built in periods of mercantilism or rising nationalism. During the short intervening age of capitalism, colonies were considered in herited burdens to be disposed of sooner or later. “Our colonies are millstones around our necks,” said the British stateman, Disraeli, in 1852 when Great Britain was about to embark upon her famous open-door policy. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries England, Holland, France, and Spain were the foremost colonial powers. That was the age of mercantilism. And mercantilist ideas led governments to acquire dependent territories. Every nation endeavored to be self-sufficient through tariffs, other import restrictions, and acquisition of colonies. The balance-of-trade theory prevailed and the notion that one nation’s prosperity is another nation’s loss and misery determined international relations. Europe was always fighting or preparing to fight. The adherent of capitalism need not defend the acts of mercantilist governments, for capitalist philosophers and economists have exploded and opposed the doctrines of mercantilism since the beginning of the eighteenth century. Even today they are the bitter enemies of the modern expressions of mercantilist international relations. The hostile attitude of the fathers of capitalism toward the existence of colonies can easily be recognized by the role they played in the American War of Independence. They were the friends of the colonists and insisted that colonial independence should be granted and maintained even after the War of 1812. Furthermore, has there ever been a more devastating critique of colonialism written than the one by Adam Smith in his famous Wealth of Nations? To attach colonialism to capitalism is an obvious absurdity. Download 2.09 Mb. Share with your friends:
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