Page 37 - Afrika Must Unite

22 AFRICA MUST UNITE

The Marxist-Leninist view supports the stand of Jules Ferry,
which argues that the most determined imperialists are fre­
quently concealed Marxists and abler exponents of Marxist
analysis than m any self-styled socialists. TAccording to the
Marxist-Leninist view, imperialism is the development of the
capitalist system to its highest stage. Its most im portant feature
is that of monopoly. The concentration of production and capital
has developed to such a degree that it has created monopolies
which play a decisive role in economic life^National monopolies
have linked up internationally to share the world among them ­
selves, and the territorial division of the globe is completed.!
Banking capital has reached the stage where it dominates pro-'
duction capital; and the export of investment capital has become
as vitally necessary as the export of commodities. It is true that
excess capital could be invested at home in the improvement of
agriculture, but the profits are not by any means as large as
those obtained from overseas investment in ‘backward’ coun­
tries, where labour and land costs are minimal. The annual
returns on overseas investment (one of the chief hidden benefits
of colonies) are often several times the volume of trade and
shipping with the ‘backward5 areas. As a result of intensive pro­
duction, there is keen competition for raw m aterials,/
It was at the juncture where production was dominated by
industrial combines and the shortage of raw materials was
becoming acute, that the possession of colonies became im­
perative, as controlled sources of raw materials and outlets for
manufactured goods and finance capital. O n the colonial scene,
the stage opened with the appearance of the missionaries, the
traders and the administrators. While missionaries implored the
colonial subject to lay up his ‘treasures in Heaven, where neither
moth nor rust doth corrupt5, the traders and administrators
acquired his minerals and land. There was no intention of pro­
cessing locally the discovered raw materials. These were in­
tended to feed the metropolitan mills and plants, to be exported
back to the colonies later in the form of finished commodities.
The simple two-way traffic is implicit in colonial trade .J In her
African colonies, Britain controlled the export of raw materials
by preventing their direct shipment to foreign markets. After
satisfying the demands of her home industries, she sold the