ENCUESTA DIRIGIDA A LOS PADRES DE FAMILIA 11 ¿Conoce usted lo que es el ambiente de aprendizaje?

Marx (sometimes, together with, Engels) also dealt with their commonalities. The first emerges from their discussion about the system of public credit. That is, according to Marx and Engels, an ‘idea that only the state becomes richer when individuals become richer on the basis of bourgeois property, or that up to now all private property has been state property, is an idea that again puts historical relations upside-down’. This is because: ‘with the development and accumulation of bourgeois property, i.e., with the development of commerce and industry, individuals grew richer and richer while the state fell even more deeply into debt’. Then, they added: ‘This phenomenon was evident already in the first Italian commercial republics; later … in Holland, and now it is again occurring in England’. In this regard, they concluded:

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It is therefore obvious that as soon as the bourgeoisie has accumulated money, the state has to beg from the bourgeoisie and in the end it is actually bought up by the latter. This takes place in a period in which the bourgeoisie is still confronted by another class, and consequently the state can retain some appearance of independence in relation to both of them (Marx and Engels 1847/1975, 361).

Second, according to Marx, as all three states were losing their supremacy, they began to invest their money, particularly in their rivals. For instance:

Thus the villainies of the Venetian thieving system formed one of the secret bases of the capital wealth of Holland to whom Venice in her decadence lent large sums of money. So also was it with Holland and England … Holland had ceased to be the nation preponderant in commerce and industry. One of its main lines of business, therefore, from 1701-1776, is the lending out of enormous amounts of capital, especially to its great rival England. The same thing is going on today between England and the United States. A great deal of capital which appears today in the United States without any certificate of birth, was yesterday, in England, the capitalised blood of children (Marx 1867/1996, 743-4).

Even in the early 1850s, Marx gave an identical argument.

In the competitive struggle between America and England we see the latter pushed increasingly into the position of Venice, Genoa and Holland, which were all forced to lend their capital on interest after the monopoly of their trading power had been

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Table 4.1 A Comparison among Italian, Dutch and English Supremacy

Italian supremacy Dutch supremacy English supremacy

• From the 14th to 15th centuries

• Based on the 14th-century world market as the sparse interlinkage, on a Eurasian scale, of a town-scale of local markets

• The Mediterranean as the centre of a commercial activity

• Capital and the CMP in a form of manufacture emerged; thus, the embryonal phase of capitalism

• The total supremacy, anchored on commercial supremacy; thus, relatively easy to break

• The first supremacy on a world market, albeit on a town-scale

• No colonies

• The origin of a credit system; invested in, particularly, its rival, Holland, with the decline of the supremacy

• From the end of the 16th, to the middle of the 17th, centuries

• Based on the 16th-century world market as the interlinkage, on not only a Eurasian, but also Atlantic scale, of a nation-scale of home markets

• The Atlantic coast of Europe as the centre of a commercial activity • Capitalism in a form of

manufacture emerged; thus, the infant phase of

capitalism

• The total supremacy, anchored on commercial supremacy; thus, relatively easy to break

• The first supremacy on a nation-scale

• The epoch of “colonialism” • The place in which a credit

system first took root; invested, particularly, in its rival, England, with the decline of the supremacy • The first nation that

experienced a far greater rise in population than that in agricultural products • The first apologia for usury • Protestantism

• Its first phase from the middle of the 17th century; also, its second phase from the last third of the 18th century

• Initially arose from, basically, the 16th-century world market; later, produced the 19th-century world market as the interlinkage, on a global scale, of home markets • The Atlantic coast of

Europe as the centre of a commercial activity • In its second phase,

capitalism in a form of machinofacture; thus, the mature phase of capitalism • In its second phase, the first

total supremacy, anchored on industrial supremacy; thus, relatively tricky to break

• The epoch of “colonialism” which was later called as “imperialism”

• In its second phase, a large- scale of financial investment in industry in not merely America, but also other continents

• Achieved a historically incomparable scale of trade in the first phase

• Even unlimited usury recognised as a condition for capitalist development • Puritanism

Commonalities

• As bourgeois were richer, the states were poorer because of a rise in national debts. • As the supremacy declined, they invested in their rivals, especially the rising power. Source: My own

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broken. Genoa and Venice helped Holland to emerge, Holland provided England with capital, and now England is obliged to do the same for the United States of America. Only today all the conditions in this process are of a much larger scale than they were at that time (Marx 1853/1979, 628).

Marx added, however, that: ‘England’s position differs from that of those countries in that the main factor for them was a monopoly of trade, which is easy to break, whilst she possesses a monopoly of industry as well, which by its very nature is tougher’ (for more details on a comparison among the three hegemonies, see table 4.1)