Sky
19th January 2008, 22:41
V.I. Lenin stressed protectionism’s link with a certain historical structure of public economy and with the interests of the class that is dominant in this structure and that relies on the support of the government. “Protection of Free Trade is an issue between entrepreneurs (sometimes between the entrepreneurs of different countries, sometimes between different factions of entrepreneurs of a given country) (vol. 2, p.190).
The nature protectionism and thus the elements of trade policies (prohibition of imports, duty rates, structure of tariffs, quantitive restrictions) varied depending on the general economic policy of a given epoch. In the given period of the primitive accumulation of capital and the emergence of capitalist relations, the theorists and practioners of protectionism were the mercantilists, who demanded that state authority protect domestic industry from foreign competition. Protectionism was widespread in France (Colbert’s protectionist tariffs of 1664 and 1667), the Austria, many German states, and Russia. Customs protection played an important role in the development of the manufacturing and factory industry. Under the banner of protectionism, Napoleonic France waged an economic struggle against England and declared the continental blockade of 1806-14. The era pre-monopoly capitalism was characterized by ‘defensive’ protectionism in most countries of Western Europe and in the United States. Defensive protectionism sought to protect national industry from the more developed industry of England, which pursued from the 1840s a policy of “free trade”.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels provided a profound analysis of protectionism and free trade. The period in which capitalism entered the monopoly stage was characterized by “offensive” protectionism. Offensive protectionism protects from foreign competition not the weak industries but the most developed and highly monopolized ones, in order to win foreign markets. If monopoly profits are obtained within a country, it becomes possible to sell goods in foreign markets at low, dumping prices.
Present-day protectionism in capitalist states expresses primarily the interests of large national and international monopolies. It mainly involves the capture, division, and redistribution of markets of goods and capital. It is carried out with the aid of a complex system of state-monopoly measures, which control and regulate foreign trade. The increase in internationalization of capitalist production and the further development of state-monopoly capitalism lead to the point at which, in addition to traditional methods of border regulation, increasing use is made of domestic economic and administrative levers for protectionist purposes. In addition, currency-financing and monetary-credit restrictions are used to limit the use of foreign goods. One component of present-day protectionism is agrarian protectionism, which arose during the world agrarian crisis at the end of the 19th century and which protects the interests of national monopolies.
The protectionism of developing countries is of a fundamentally different character. Their economic policy is aimed at protecting the branches of the national economy that are developing from expansion by the imperialist powers. This protectionism helps the young sovereign states achieve economic independence.
http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1897/econroman/index.htm
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/free-trade/index.htm
http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1916/imp-hsc/
The nature protectionism and thus the elements of trade policies (prohibition of imports, duty rates, structure of tariffs, quantitive restrictions) varied depending on the general economic policy of a given epoch. In the given period of the primitive accumulation of capital and the emergence of capitalist relations, the theorists and practioners of protectionism were the mercantilists, who demanded that state authority protect domestic industry from foreign competition. Protectionism was widespread in France (Colbert’s protectionist tariffs of 1664 and 1667), the Austria, many German states, and Russia. Customs protection played an important role in the development of the manufacturing and factory industry. Under the banner of protectionism, Napoleonic France waged an economic struggle against England and declared the continental blockade of 1806-14. The era pre-monopoly capitalism was characterized by ‘defensive’ protectionism in most countries of Western Europe and in the United States. Defensive protectionism sought to protect national industry from the more developed industry of England, which pursued from the 1840s a policy of “free trade”.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels provided a profound analysis of protectionism and free trade. The period in which capitalism entered the monopoly stage was characterized by “offensive” protectionism. Offensive protectionism protects from foreign competition not the weak industries but the most developed and highly monopolized ones, in order to win foreign markets. If monopoly profits are obtained within a country, it becomes possible to sell goods in foreign markets at low, dumping prices.
Present-day protectionism in capitalist states expresses primarily the interests of large national and international monopolies. It mainly involves the capture, division, and redistribution of markets of goods and capital. It is carried out with the aid of a complex system of state-monopoly measures, which control and regulate foreign trade. The increase in internationalization of capitalist production and the further development of state-monopoly capitalism lead to the point at which, in addition to traditional methods of border regulation, increasing use is made of domestic economic and administrative levers for protectionist purposes. In addition, currency-financing and monetary-credit restrictions are used to limit the use of foreign goods. One component of present-day protectionism is agrarian protectionism, which arose during the world agrarian crisis at the end of the 19th century and which protects the interests of national monopolies.
The protectionism of developing countries is of a fundamentally different character. Their economic policy is aimed at protecting the branches of the national economy that are developing from expansion by the imperialist powers. This protectionism helps the young sovereign states achieve economic independence.
http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1897/econroman/index.htm
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/free-trade/index.htm
http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1916/imp-hsc/