Colonization; a technique to prevent the economic collapse

through territorial expansion

The British Colonization of India; a case Study

Imran Khushal

Colonization

Colonization is an act which tends to involve an invading culture establishing political control over an indigenous population while colonialism is the philosophy behind this which is also defined as the policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically.

Colonialism and Imperialism

Colonialism, usually involved the transfer of population to a new territory, where the arrivals lived as permanent settlers while maintaining political allegiance to their country of origin. Imperialism on the other hand, not restricted to direct control and establishment of colony.

Kohn, Margaret. (2012). Colonialism. Retrieved from http://plato.stanford.edu

Causes you might thing prime

Lack of strong administration,

Economic and political backwardness of Mughal Empire

Advancement of British Empire particularly in modern technology; transportation and industrialization etc.

Research Questions

What was the prime cause of British colonization of India?

Was it capitalism’s inherent tendency of expansion?

Was the British colonization of India inevitable?

Common versions of explanations

Islamist’s version

Colonizer’s version

Islamist’s version

This looks more idealist and sentimental,

India was a part of greater Muslim Empire (Ottoman) and colonization of this like the other parts of “Muslim Lands” was to accomplish anti-Islamic schemata and deprive Muslim from their glorious rule of the world.

Colonizer’s version

This looks like an excuse

British colonization of India was an assistance by the British Empire to bring civility in India and it was no exception but the part of civilizing mission.

British did nothing bad but helped “backward people” of India towards greater refinement, just as the early Romans were believed to have brought civility to England.

Problem with these two version

None of them answer the question asked above and their assumptions start fading away when it comes to the colonization of American and other non-Muslim parts of the world in the case of Islamist version.

Let say, if it was so and colonization was an exclusive act against Muslims to capture their lands then how Islamists can explain the colonization of non-Muslim lands like America?

Whereas on the other hand extraction of raw material and exercise of control over Indian population by the colonizers refute their civilizing mission excuse.

Let say colonizers helped backward people to gain civility, then how can they justify exploitation of indigenous people at in their colonies?

Third version of explanation was required

To answer above asked question in order to understand the colonization (in its philosophical sense and on its material basis) of India like other parts of the world regardless of its Muslim Identity and abundance of raw material.

To demonstrate the functionality of capitalism in order to prevent the economic collapse produced by the overproduction and under consumption.

Hypothesis

The British colonization of India was caused by the capitalism’s inherent tendency of expansion to prevent the economic collapse.

Methodology and data sources

Qualitative in nature

Secondary data was acquired

Literature Review

Adam Smith An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations

David Ricardo The Principles of Political Economy and Taxation

Karl Marx Capital, Volume One

V.I. Lenin Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism

Others

Adam Smith An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations

It is not often thought bad and offensive as Adam Smith considered colonialism to be economically beneficial to both the colonial powers and the colonies.

However he opposed the monopolistic trade which only benefits the mother country and destroys both the enjoyments and industry of the colonized, as it benefited the British Empire and destroyed India’s once prosperous hand weaving industry. ” (Smith 1776).

Smith, A. (1776). An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Retrieved from http://books.google.com

David Ricardo The Principles of Political Economy and Taxation

But this is not the case, both the colonial master and colonies can’t be benefited at the same time as David Ricardo sees this.

He disagrees with Smith’s approach in understanding the loss and profit share relation between colonizer and colonies, and points out, that yes colonies take benefits but after benefitting their masters.

As he said: “The trade with a colony may be so regulated that it shall at the same time be less beneficial to the colony, and more beneficial to the mother country, than a perfectly free trade” (Ricardo 1821).

Ricardo, D. (1821). The Principles of Political Economy and Taxation. Retrieved from https://archive.org

Karl Marx Capital, Volume One

Karl Marx on the other hand describes colonialism as a precondition for the domination of the capitalist mode of production. He also sees it as a major moment in the historical process of primitive accumulation. As he said: “The colonial system ripened trade and navigation as in a hot-house. The treasures captured outside Europe by undisguised looting, enslavement and murder flowed back to the mother country and were turned into capital there”. Therefore colonialism, is a technique to prevent the economic collapse of the capitalism used by capitalists for the consumption of overproduction resulted in the exploitation of labour at first place through creating new markets (Karl Marx 1867).

Marx, K. (1867). Capital, Volume One. Retrieved from https://www.marxists.org

V.I. Lenin Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism

That uneven development of the capitalism is a sources of intensification of contradictions among capitalists, which made the formation of a stable “ultra-imperialist” alliance of capitalist powers impossible. This in turn was giving rise to alternating forms of peaceful and non-peaceful struggle out of one and the same basis of imperialist connections and relations” (Lenin 1917).

Lenin, V.I. (1917). Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism: A Popular Outline. Retrieved from http://www.fordham.edu

Theoretical consideration

Karl Marx’s analysis of capitalism in In his classic works in the Communist Manifesto, Grundrisse, and Capital and Lenin’s analysis of western economic and political domination in his pamphlet Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism are two theoretical bases for this concept paper.

Cause

Expansion was a necessary product of the core dynamic of capitalism: overproduction

The only way there to prevent economic collapse was to find new markets to absorb excess consumer goods

To overcome the domestic revolutionary crisis imperialism was used as technique which made the Great Britain capable to exporting its own economic burdens onto India like other colonies.

Impact

In Karl Marx’s point of view the British colonization of India has three dimensions; an account of the progressive character of foreign rule, as he sees the transition of India from feudal to bourgeois society, a critique of the human suffering, that involves explotaion and destruction of local collectives and a concluding argument that British rule must be temporary if the progressive potential is to be realized as he argues that the penetration of foreign commerce will cause a social revolution in India. So for Marx colonization has both positive and negative consequences.

Conclusion

British colonization of India was one of the series act of the British Empire; caused by an inherent tendency of capitalism to expand in search of new market which met the criteria of being non-industrial and underdeveloped and shared the burden of colonizer’s domestic crisis. Competition among producers exploited labour and produced more surpluse that surplus in result caused overproduction which in turn led to a crisis of under-consumption. So the only way there to prevent economic collapse was to colonize India, like other colonies, to absorb excess consumer goods.

For You Attention

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