Capitalism; Imperialism; Saving and investment; Socialism
'It is most probable that Russia, just like any other country, enjoys
certain natural advantages which enable her to act as a supplier of
certain kinds of commodities on foreign markets. It is extremely
possible that capital can profit by this fact and lay hands upon the
branches of production concerned--that is to say the (inter)national
division of labour will make it easy for our capitalists to gain a
foothold in certain branches. This, however, is not the point. We do not
speak of a merely incidental participation of capital in the industrial
organisation of the country, but ask whether it is likely that the
entire production of Russia can be put on a capitalist basis.'[282]
Put in this form, Vorontsov's scepticism looks quite different from what
might have been expected at first. He doubts whether the capitalist mode
of production could ever gain possession of the entire production in
Russia; but then, capitalism has not so far accomplished this feat in
any country of the world, not even in England. Such a brand of
scepticism as to the future of capitalism appears at a glance quite
international in outlook. And indeed, Vorontsov's theory here amounts to
a quite general reflection on the nature and the essential conditions
of capitalism; it is based upon a general theoretical approach to the
reproductive process of social capital as a whole. Vorontsov gives the
following very clear formulation of the specific relations between the
capitalist mode of production and the problem of markets:
'The (inter)national division of labour, the distribution of all
branches of industry among the countries taking part in international
commerce, is quite independent of capitalism.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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