CAPITALISM AND 'UNDERDEVELOPMENT': AND MARXIST ANALYSIS:' HENRY BERNSTEH',{":' 1.

MYTHS OF 'DEVELOPMENT': or so there attack

RADICAL CRITICS

THE RADICAL CRITICS has been a vigorous and polemiof

In the last ten years cally effective studies'. levels. critique sciences The radical Most broadly

onslaught

on the myths of orthodox

'development

has been launched at a number and concepts of the bourgeois

it can be viewed as part of the general social economics, science, functionalist sociology, of reductionist political as urban have sciences

of the assumptions - neo-classical and political critics race

anthropology psychology. 'applied' crisis, ment'

and the varieties the social

More particularly, current

and in a more immediate for example,

I

way, the radical education,

have confronted relations, sought, But there

to various

'problem-areas', and notably

problems

of developtheoretically

of the Third World.

I

The ways in which these role has

'problems'

been posed and by the professors ideologues detachment

solutions'

have been articulated been little

for such is their

as the institutional intellectual

of capitalism.

about such activity

for it is tied into a network of

academic big business that connects the university personnel with the consultancy operations, the research and policy institutes, the aid programmes, ideological clude ~hird and other and technical Wor ld 'area agencies expertise. studies', the radical goals:formulated, by them. and we should incounter-offensive studies', of the state which concentrate

With respect can be summarised

to 'development in terms

of three

1. To attack derived

the models of development policies or at least

and the specific

and programmes justified

from them,

2. To investigate ment studies, ideological of imperialist ':' A different African Senior version

the political

functions

of developof its

and the practical agents itself. strategy essay 1.976.

activities

and technical

as an aspect

of this review

has appeared in Review of

Political Lecturer,

Economy No.6, Department

of Sociology,

University

of

Dar es Salaam. 345

3. To develop alternative development' capital in terms

theories

of 'underof

of the operations

on a world scale,

and through this of the Third thereby struggle.

to show that the development of contemporary indicating In my view, the radical cessful third. with respect to the first imperialism,

World cannot be achieved in the conditions a politics critics of anti-imperialist

have been far more sucbegin our It is quite sentences, perhaps

two aims than they have with the 'radical' itself.

This needs to be explained and we must have assimilated

explanation by examining the term likely that many readers recognising theoretical the term identifying themselves and political 'Radicalism' political limiting activity 'radical'

these first

as it has been used,

with it - in short, content.

failing to question its

in the context of the 1960's and 1970's has movement and by specific in the liberation forms of (and - against racism, support groups diffuseness to have - the

been shaped by the student

and so on - but apart from some of its practical and incoherence. investigate

successes

them) it has been marked by its theoretical and the bourgeois strategy. state,

It is one thing to combat some of the manifest-

ations of capitalism comprehensive

it is another

capital and the state revolutionary

scientifically

as the basis for a the radicals socialism, feature but they theory. it rem ains, like theoretical

Certainly

often drawn on the vocabulary rigorous study, except perhaps however, 'on the Left'). as cateqories content, development, for tactical

of revolutionary and application

have made poor use of its distinctive (Had this been appreciated as an intrinsic

and defining

of Marxist

the label 'radical' reasons self-deLnition

would be redundant

in some situations;

for many who are broadly use of terms

The loose and often rhetorical of analysis, categories

<3xploitation and imperialism

is hardly the same thing as their use which have a specific

In

and which can only be applied

scientific

investigation inter-

according to a specific methodology. Typically, radical criticism has been an ideoloqical vention, reference capitalism, the currents' fetishism and as such its very dissidence studies takes its terms Ideologically, of the from those it pits itself against. taking the range of expressions of contemporary bourgeois with technique and managerialism

models of development

embody the apologetic culture

myths of

available within - from the of the 'policy and

346

planning sciences'

to the metaphysical and moralistic

core of

bourgeois applied philosophy. The radicals these myths both in their general expression interests, results, they have shown by reference that the poverty,

have set out to destroy and parti cular applications. class data that the prescri-

They have shown that these myths function on behalf of particular to empirical ptions and policies of 'development'

have not produced the anticipated of workers and peasants as a result of all the plans, the

misery and oppression

in the Third World have not diminished

aid, the investment, the technical assistance programmes, and so on. These are necessary tasks and they have been accomplished with vigour but, of ideological establish poses methods, in themselves, they do not go beyond the realm to one which and theory. framework: confrontation . They are not sufficient theoretical

a totally different

its own Questions in terms which cannot be satisfied

of its own categories underdevelopment

with simply turning develop-

ment theory on its head i. e. radical 2. BACK TO 'CAPITAL' Geoffrey Kay has recently radical critics have tried explicitly underdevelopment capitalism descriptive their level of asserting In other words, Marx's

pointed out that although some explanations of at t~e etc.), In work largely of of the development

to provide alternative in terms they have remained

on a world scale,

the facts of exploitation,

or with the use of and pursue established for

concepts (e. g. dependence, within the theoretical of capitalism.

centre-periphery framework

they have failed to pose questions remains

investigation

Capital v-rhich necessarily analysis

the starting-point is a tightly-knit

any scientific simplistic production. error Frank,

Capital

of theory and the analyses or single-category

it contains cannot be reduced to any

I

definition'

of the capitalist

mode of

It is now widely recognised what deforms

that this kind of basic

is precisely

the work of Andr6 Gunder that it deals namely to be and modes

for example. 1 It is well known that Capital was unfinished, with one level of the capitalist since Marx's time,

primarily

mode of production,

the economic level, of operation clear

that capital has developed new forms of Capital.

and so on. It IS necessary to establish in general the elements as such,

then about the status

It is a work which employs

a very high level of abstraction of motion of the capitalist the capitalist capitalist social formation. mode of production

and laws

mode of production

that is,

and not any particular

If Marx had provided us with simply 347

a reflection categories abstraction

on British

capitalism

in the nineteenth essential,

century,

his

and method would be of little use today. employed in Capital

IS

The form of

providing the means capitalist by the in particular, branches the categories

to be employed in investigating has developed), social formations example of Marx's France). labour-power of production fetishism

capital

on a world scale (and how it concrete

as well as in investigating studies of Britain,

(where the methodology is enriched Germany and, categories of Capital

The distinctive

- the law of value,

as a commudity,

the relation

of different of capital,

and the expanded reproduction - are clearly

of commodities

not 'empiricall

but provide the theoretical suggest~ the of Capital simple Capital methodological

means for concrete mecms). However, possible

investigation just as the natu re of

(just as the way in which Marx arrived makes these tasks

at these categories they cannot be achieved by a to be used? was made

appropriation to immediate

and direct situations.

applicc:.tion of the categories How then is Capital the starting-point to analysis. are certain issues

My earlier in a strict

observation sense

that it remains of Capital

and I will try to indicate

some of the issues

involved in the application 1. First,

we should note that there

posed 1n the argument continue to be debated, the 'transformation into prices), contributor's be measured

of Capital but which are not resolved are formulated. (that is, A classic

and

demanding the same level of abstraction example is of values the transformation

at which Mar'x's categories problem'

and more recently questioning concretely

we have seen a debate concerning of profit to fall, with some of this concept (the of profit can actually but a separate issue). of the economic level it establishes above all is the basic itself,

the law of the tendency of the rate question of whether tendencies 2 . Capital of the capitalist of economics are social,

the ambiguities

in the rate

is also controversial

is pri marily an analysis mode of production. sense,

This does not make it a work as the ca.tegories of social relations, of production

in the bourgeois

i. e. they are categories of production class

the social relations while the analysis question of class capitalism theoretical 3.
l

and appropriation. struggle

However,

of the social t'elations analysis,

and the state under in Capital

these questions

are not elaborated time.

and have constituted

a major

item on the agenda of revolutionary the essential categories development

work since Marx's Mar'xi s analysis

established

of the capitalist

mode of production

but its subsequent 348

has produced new forms require of that categories

and modes

of operation

of capital method.

which

adequate to their under'standing own exemplary and imperialism associated

have also Examples (in the with work were

to be d~veloped following Marx's such '~ategories studies, strict Lenin's remains certainly

are finance capital

sense of a stage of global capitalism) but concernmg

which much theoretical

to be done. We should also include issues noted by Marx but not investigated and internationalisation are, of course, of capital.

which

by him such as the These processes, to the is not also central

centralisation

now much more advanced, " "1" ana 1YSIS 0f" ImperIa Ism. 2 4. formations. contemporary specificity expressions a theoretical strategy. These general The analysis

of the capitalist

mode of production capitalist social

the same thing as the analysis social formations

of particular

Although the former

is indispensable

to the latter, in their of~ital. of

cannot be constructed the categories 'empirical' specificity

simply by deduction from of capitalism task, established

nor do they represent time and place.

just so many different about their

randomly by differences directly on political

Posing questions

is itself

and one which bears

points (and especially and Development.

the third and fourth) of Kay's recent and clarifies some A Marxist Analysis in current theoretical

provide some guidelines book Underdevelopment (London, work on 3. Macmillan, capitalism of the problems

for the consideration

1.975) which exemplifies and 'underdevelopment'.

that have to be confrcnted

THE PLAN OF KAY'S 300K Kay starts from two premIses, which can be related to the apparent capitalism terms or rather expectations of origin. moreover, two aspects of Marx, this can be opposition created P.x.). of the of a

single argument First, Engels, societies

to what has been said above.

that contrary and Lenin,

has failed to develop mother However in direct

as it did in its countries and, theorists

explained in Marxist to the radical world,

it can be shown that 'capital

underdevelop men t not because but because

it exploited the underdeveloped (which we can take it,

it did not exploit it enough' (Preface,

second, the explanation behind this statement law of value as set out In Capital (p. 12)

is intended to provoke) is to be sought in an examination

349

In his first Kay formulates materialism and necessary

chapter

(Production.

Consumption and Surplus) of historical which and

some of the basic propositions must fulfil certain Weare

in terms

of a 'law of social reproduction'

shows that all societies the means of production). and necessary different combined.

needs of production both the producers different production by the an d

consumption (to reproduce

able to distinguish ways in which out, that is, process

modes of production by the different ways in which the material of production chapters

consumption are carried

of production

the social process

are organisecl, Kay states

how they are some in a and

and how the product of surplus of the capitalist

labour is distributed. and illustrates accuracy

In the next three of the basic categories

mode of production of Capital).

most concise and lucid manner (and with greater benefit than is evident in many 'summaries'

Chapter

two on Surplus Value and Profit deals with the categories of commodity and value, with the measure of value by the labour time soci ally necessary ductive forces, to produ ce a commodi ty at a given level of the prowith the nature of wages, and so on. Chapter three on

The Accumulation of Capital compares accumulation by mer chant capital on the basis of petty commodity production with appropriation in the process of capitalist production itself - 'whereas the ci rcuits of only in the market, converqe in the of capitalist capitalist the independent producer an d merchant capital intersect those of the wag.e-labourer and the industrial development leads to the socialisation sphere of production' (p. 70). Kay show$ how the process complex division of labour and co-operation isation of capital i. e. the concentration increasing size and capital requirements centralisation consortia etc.). The fourth chapter considers: the different forms that capital assumes of production changes; and at (Productive and Circulation Capital)

of labour i. e. the extremely within an d between proand to the socialand

duction units which produces the collective worker,

of capital manifested in the of productio n units, size and diver-

of capital manifested in the increasing

sification of units of capital under unified control (giant corporations,

different. moments in its circuit. through the spheres circulation productive capital. so capital capital,

As it passes in one it is from

in the other circulation are as distinct

These two forms 350

each other as the activities correspond: the one case; the other. of capital But the production capitalist

to which they of commodities society embrace In of them in the circuit the spheres

the buying and selling

In

does not merely distinct.

of production they remain operate property

and circulation,

it unites them: of capital that own

but they are inseparable.

So it is with the two forms distinguishing its general The nature analysis of circulation features, 86).

within them: while each has its they share and are of being capital laws (P.

the common governed by

capital

is elaborated

according

to Marx's

of merchant

capital

in Volume III of Capital. features of merchant capital are

The general operates direct

the same in every type of society - capitalist control

in which it
It has no

or non-capitalist. which

over the labour process this cl ass.

and is does, it

always dependent upon the class even where it dominates appropriate the society.

Secondly,

must always engage in unequal exchange to part of the surplus Thirdly, as capital product of it is always

driven to accumulate brought to bear repercusions In non-capitalist capital capitalist society

and in this way acts as of the economy The do however,

a medium through which the law of vahle is on all parts particular ly the sphere of production.

of these features,

differ with the nature of society. (P. 94). society merchant capital is the only form of existence, whereas
In

and has an independent class to productive

it is only a moment of the circuit capital. Kay further nature on the contradictory encourages existing

of capital follows of commodity but on the with the

and is subordinate capital

Marx in the emphasis production thereby

of merchant

which, on one hand, dissolving

the development social relations, of production

other hand accumulates which withdraws result history to capitalist that merchant

and invests itself

in the sphere

of exchange

value from the sphere capital

is unable to effect the transition Kay concludes that 'The we have of expression

commodity production.

of underdevelopment

is the fullest

351

these

contradictory

tendencies

of merchant of the forces

capital

to both stimulate to both

and repress

the development

of production,

open and block the way for the full develo pment of capitalism'
(D.

95L
Theis emphasis is elaborated in the next chapter I will return theory on to tuis and Under-development. of Emmanuel's From of

Merchant Capital issue includes

in my critique

of Kay, but we should note that this chapter of unequal to the empires in Europe these. against However, This (from the late and also the elements as follows. capital of a periodisation accumulated

a useful discussion 107-11.9),

exchange (PP. eighteenth established of merchant itself but,

which can be sketched centuries vast amounts

the sixteenth the cimmercial relations capital

merchant

from Europe

of wealth on the basis capital

in the Third World. true to its nature, century)

At the same time this expansion

was eroding feudal social mission of industrial

was unable to transform had to struggle

was to be the historical eighteenth merchant merchant capital

which necessarily

capital bringing the latter

under its dominance.

continued to function as the dominant form of capital elements and reliable of constant capital (agricultural

in the Third Wor ld, though now under the hegemony of industrial for which it obtained raw materials) merchant capital and mineral consumption In addition, process, and cheap means of proletariat in Europe). markets In this in the

(food for a growing industrial

had the function of creating produced commodities. of the penetration and relations capitalist

in the Third World for industrially and precisely because form of merchant capital, the forms

of capital

of production lines despite

in the Third World did not develop on

the social destruction caused by the spread of capitalist domination. A third phase w~s introduced as a result of the Depression of the 1930' s which bro~ght to a crisis capital and the colonial trading engendered the rate raise system of profitability and thereby industrial industrial by its the contradictions it operated From to control of merchant (e. g. the crisis production of the this time,

inability

of exploitation).

capital capital

began to penetrate itself

the social

formations

Third Wor ld, to develop a proletariat, has been unable its inroads, of the Third Wor ld, despite of Kay's sixth chapter. This process differed

and so on. However, to transform and this forms the economies the subj ect

of industrialisation,

however, context from in the

not only in its historical

that which had taken place earlier

352

developed countries, a result dissimilar. industry

it was also,

and largely quite of

as

of this difference, It was partial: - the processing

structurally branches

not just in the S~Bse of primary commodities

of being restricted

to certain

for export and import to a limited After reviewing employment techniques

(PP.

substitution

of consumer (p. 126). growth and of why

goods - but in that it only offered employment section of the proletariat on industrial some of the data

127-130) Kay then presents in despite

an explanation

industri.~l capital cheap labour.

the Third Wor Id employs high~y mechanised the abundance of unemployed and part of his argument but it should be on the of of of Kay goes beyond Capital the rate adequately time,

of production

This is the most technical for the first concepts

which I am unable to summarise pointed out that here, in developing certain relations profit, capital rate

which focus more sharply of production, He correctly

between the capitalisation and the accumulation process. (which is used to

points out that composition of the same capital (and, limits the

the conventional

use of the concept of the organic explain the tendential assumption capital and variable of constant

law of the rate

profit to fall) involves the simplifying of turnover of constant additionally, buildings, analytical the various raw materials elements etc).

capital-machines, severely a distinction of capital) into account in the traced of (of capital effects. a further of

This assumption

power of the concept, composition sense

and Kay constructs composition

between the. orqanic to the conventional and the orqanic the differential production have different profit,

of the commodity (corresponding which takes of capital are

of the organic of various

composition of production life-span The two organic of amortisation accumulation,

elements

process.

compositions of this of investment

are likely to and the rate

values and the implications connections with rates

through an analysis and their and commodities), In the course distinction production ~olute syndrome conditions

of turnover

and employment

of this exposition, relative rise

Kay establishes

between a

in the orqanic of profit,

composition returning

(which boosts

the r:ate of profit) the rate

and a more fundamental us to in is that the to the

rise. which depresses of capital intensive

the classic. position. Third WorId countries

The outcome of the argument industry/massive production is perfectly capitalist logical according

unemployment

of contemporary

and accumulation

353

'It is a normal
(P.

feature

of capitalist

development,

and, as such, or dependence' the that we must on the

is independent of any particular abstracted discussions

form of ownership

153). The methodology of Kay's argument by economists of the employment

undermines programmes experts However,

of 'the choice of techniques',

and the utopian reformism are the current (especially return 'Industrial theoretical of labour. labour. the liberal Capital analysis

fashion with many 'development' wing of the profession). to certain feature

in our critique

of Kay's argument of Capital), and

and Underdevelopment'. (The Acceleration of modern capitalist production

:m

In the following chapter accumulation

is continued with a discussion from rises occur (as a result the ratio

o{ the intensification the productivity to surplus of of of the development

This is distinguished forces)

When the latter

the productive together increased. relates

of necessary

labour-

time in the working day is reduced, with that of other The intensity take less time to produce), to the organisation

the value of labour-power is reduced (as they

commodities

and the rate of exploitation is concept which itself and which simply by and other the value of of the labour process as measured closer

of labour is a different

compounds the value of production 'rationalisation' produced of work techniques,

labour-ti me. 3 When labour is intensified methods of bringing the worker labour increases the absolute its production this chapter, assembly-line of labour. the rate

(through speed-up, supervision, discipline),

under tighter

in a qiven time is increased. of profit (P. amount of surplus and realisation' Kay discusses and other

'The intensification

in two ways,

by increasing the period of of of

value and reducing

164). In the second section - the introduction methods - from the

'Fordism'

mass production

viewpoint of increases

in the intensity

as well as the productivity the significance as an of the process

He emphasises,

as even more important,

of these sweeping changes in the production element of ruling class working-class assault twentieth century. strategy on capital
In In

the conjuncture of international the early decades

The theme of the class political Crisis strategies drive to accumulate, historically, albeit

struggle

and how it determines element of capital's

the on

which are an essential

comes into its own in the final chapter Here Kay applies crisis his analytical of the 1930' s in a highly schematic are the capitalist

and Recomposition.

categories

way. The key 'moments'

of his periodisation

(including the crisis already referred strengthened

of merchant

capital

In

the Third World of a

to), and the post-war

recomposition

social capital,

achieved through economic and political

means (including 'decolonisation'). As the turnover teenth century hundred years, of capital increases so history in the ninea

itself speeds up. Whereas

an initiative

could prove viable for nearly it now exhausts The measures speed.

its possibilities that labour are of confrontmoreover

in less than half that time. turned against Capital

capital once used to out-manoeuvre it with unprecedented must now change the terms

ation more rapidly than ever before; the scope of the recomposition increases steadily diminished. makes is determined accumulation socialisation socialisation

it must undertake

while its room for manoeuvre is Every move that capital by the requirements of

which demand not only a greater of production but a greater of capital itself. Its last major

recomposition, conceived between the wars and executed after 1945, was a massive step forward. The new methods of production accelerated the by Keynes for and centralisation of capital; pioneered by Ford greatly concentration

the new role of the state blue-printed provided the organisational framework

capital as such. Within this framework capital was able not only to articulate programme revolutionary working class H. B.), to the extent that it out-flanked institutions a conscious but even, key early for its own accumulation;

movements and incorporated

into the state (i.e. labour partie s, not only on the in the underdeveloped them-

trade unions and parliamentary But now this plan is falterin9 limitations of industrialisation

it has planned the class struggle itself.

wor ld, but in the developed countries selves (p. 183).

I have given a fairly full exposition of Kay's work because the importance of its intervention in the current debate. Compared

of

355

with some of the verbose Kay's hook is short, he adopts, recast the issues of

volumes

with which we are assaile d, within the framework as a serious attempt to in terms scrutiny

analytical, capitalism

rigorous

and demands careful derived

and 'underdevelopment'

of categories 4.

and developed from Capital.

A CRITIQUE OF KAY The following questions establish some criteria for social the

assessing formations

any Marxist

analysis

of the Third World: does the

analysis construct the specificity of the backward capitalist does it tell us about the forms and relations of production, mechanisms of exploitation, lation and reproduction of the state, countries? It is clear that the analysis of merchant of capital?

in the functioning of capital on the world scale? What an d their re lation to the global accumuHow does it help us in the analysis in the 'underdeveloped' and structures

the class struggles

capital is the

core of Kay's theory of underdevelopment paradox (the persistence form but simultaneously capital) is the specifica emergence century as a historical of merchant differentia

- 'This apparent

capital in its independent and its

under the domination of industrial of underdevelopment, fact in the course of the nineteenth as. we know what was

marks the beginning of underdevelopment The periodisation The epoch of global primitive of wealth by merchant

it' (P. 100'.

here does not contradict capital

sketched above.

accumulation in Europe Under-

through the amassing development begins, capital. capital

was the final phase of the 'pre-history'

of capitalism.

in Kay's view, with a new phase of developto dwell on the thesis forms that industrial of into the the At many capital, of The

ment of the world market under the hegemony of industrial

It is necessary

employed merchant areas

capital as its agent of integration of production)

'backward'

(pre-capitalist different

developing world market. Kay uses several relation capital, industrial formulation points he describes elsewhere capital sometimes merchant formulations to describe capital. between merchant capital and industrial

merchant capital

capital as the 'agent' is termed

of industrial

it is the 'representative'

of industrial

'the form of existence' from the others. Marx's

in the Third Wor ld (e. g. p. 105). This last emphasis the difficulties of transposing 356 ideas

has quite a different

ambiguity expresses

about merchant societies

capital

and how it functions capital

in pre-capitalist its in the of

to the epoch of modern capitalism. that merchant was able to retain was interested industrial capital

Kay argues

independent form because area of direct investment

Third World from the viewpoint of exchange rather and accumulation. therefore merchant capital was maintained vis-~-vis

than as an the producers

The independence

(and consumers) unequal exchange,

of the Third World whom it exploited through while it lost its independence and accumulation is expressed a 'form serious as in that this capital capital. between of to the needs of industrial of merchant a struggle

function was now subordinated which inhibited the profits fractions merchant of capital capital In so far as this last aspect

(see p. 123), it is difficult to see how of existence'

could be merely more

industrial capital. However, what casts elevation industrial trade craft of the category capital required

doubt on Kay's is that the rise precious textiles in of and of trade - no longer a

of merchant spices,

capital ivory,

a new pattern

in luxury items (gold, manufactures)

but a constant raw materials.

supply of commodities in the

bulk as industrial of trade had to direct production

This chanqe in the composition reauired. Changes either in production through of peasants. that of or indirectly

could not be effected without intervention of the new commodities to establish be carried through on a massive the production capital. scale,

investment

mines and plantations, of millions of production

through ways of controlling Kay does refer classic to direct

to a reorganisation

but states

this could be left to merchant definition 0f the latter investment exchange,

As he wants to maintain the strictly in the sphere

as operating

this is unsatisfa ctory - as we shall argue in relation in production, and to the development of

petty commodity production. In ... countries exporting agricultural at first commodities,

production plantations

was undertaken whi-ch appear

by exp'3.triate controlled siqht to be a production. we In minerals

form of fully developed capitalist those countries which exported

again en~ounter whet appears to be capitalist production. For both mines and plantations employed wage-labour, firms and in many cases In some the
ways

involved were subsidiaries

of productive

firms in the developed countries.

357

it would be wrong not to recognise ings as capitalist, qualities. features Firstly, time, completely

these undertak-

for they possess all its formal that it would not be them in this way. upon migrant short relied

On, the other hand they have certain which suggest correct they invariably to treat

labour which stayed for only a relatively War they never set about creating labour force. carefully

and until the end of the Second World a permanent This was not an accidental developof low wages. a different Their expression was

ment but shows every sign of being part of a conceived strategy namely, second peculiarity of this strategy; capitalisation. living labour, and unskilled, few instruments. neither merely capitalist character is essentially

the very low degree of

The main element of production working with the assistance It can, of course,

the vast bulk of which was illiterate of very be claimed that but

of these features define them as enterprise.

change the fundamental as capitalist type of a particular

of these enterprises Whatever

one decides on this unchanged; that in the underdeveloped required, needed

Question the broad issue ~ the reorganisation countries of production which industrial

capital

only a minimum involvement on its part so that the major responsibility and was, in fact, carried capital (PP. 102-3). The emphasis I have supplied highlight uncertainti'es Kay evidently feels with regard all, he exaggerates in establishing stage processing structure important, Because cheaply, the low degree of capitalisation facilities e. g. sugar-mills), railways, and ports that of for this task could be, out by merchant

to his own formulations", First involved the infraMore

mines and plantations - roads,

(which often contain firstetc.

they require however, why

is the question of the exploitation labour-power

of labour.

it was often migrant

which could be secured to depress the cost of Plantation

does this make the way in which it was employed Capital always seeks it is ridiculous capitalist and therefore to suggest that cheap
I

any less capitalist? labour-power labour-power

as such negates

production

Production and mines run with cheap labour bear few resemblances 358

to modern. cheap capital

industrial

production also clashes

.. ' (P. with

123) The Kay's

i

argument that

about

labour-power created

assertion

underdevelopment world) enough', rather

because and poses than

it did not exploit question its degree. as

(the one of

underdeveloped the forms

the

of exploitation has various

simply

This in what

question fol1o~Ns.

ramifications

which

will be discussed

The conform basically However cannot remained or (p. that as let

case

of peasant to Kay's idea

commodity

production capital

ap~)ears mediating

to between capital.

more

of merchant of production as

pre-capitalist this the is not as matter

forms

and industrial it appears that

straightforward with the

and we

rest of

statement who either

'production it willingly

in the hands

peasants

undertook or state

a result The supply through

of political salience

compulsion

of one form colonial could but

another' indicates

102). the

of coercion

by the

of agricultural the conditions capital

commodities of exchange peasants as

not be secured class of pro-

simply struggles duction was

involved level

between itself. The

and the status

at the

peasants'

'independent' First,

producers peasants were

undermined

in two fundamental what to grow, subj ect Peasant

ways. in what

commonly quality Prices

directed

quantities, as

with the well as the these

of their they

produce

to regulation, protests

received. of production

and actions colonial

In

against countries.

conditions Second, relations capital),

occurred became the

in many more ultimate certain more

as the (which the

peasantry were

involved control crops

commodity

under

of industrial became for could

coerCIOn economic,

to produce that is,

increasingly their

items

of consumption with cash which or

own reproduction through

had to be purchased the production

only be obtained labour Kautsky control

of commodities Question

wage-

(e. g. on plantations). In his classic work pointed agricultural production. out that

on The

Aqrarian

(1899),

capital

does in the

not necessarily same way as it does capitalised in terms of economic of

production The

industrial farms

growth

of large-scale to factories or measure

(enterprises

corresponding

calculation) agriculture small capital directly farmer

is not the only form by controlling rather than the

of the penetratio~ of the means were

conditions

of reproduction him. have 4 This

by expropriating costs it would production.

that it to

is spared organise

certain

to bear

agricultural

359

This specifically production'. consist subject of

theme has been elaborated in attempts to theorise

in

recent

years, of the may

the social formations

Third Wor ld, in the concept of 'the articulation elements of different

of modes of which are between the

The concept denotes that a social formation modes of production

to the domination of one mode. The relations

dominant mode and the elements constitutes element (peasant the specificity

of other modes which it subj ects in other 'words) the dominant production units social formation. 5 In the

to its own laws of functioning (the articulation, of a concrete subjects Case of peasant proch1ction in the Third World, the immediate to its own requirements appropriates the institutional

is capital which households)

- for raw materials, and therefore forms of this process marketing

but also (and contra Kay) profit from may ~rect appear boards, them. 6 While mercantile

surplus-value

(marketing companies)

co-operatives, the situation

import-export producers

is one in which they are producing

are workinq for capital, appropriates, wage-labour.

value which capital the materials

albeit in a more mediated form Capital both obtains f or industrial production,

than is the case with classic it requires and appropriates

as use-vdues

part of the vulue of the labour contained in the

commodities as exchanqe-values. The peasant has to cover the costs of reproduction of labour, and of the means of production, from his family's production surplus of subsistence labour, and 'cashl crops, necessary
(It is not the case

that subsistence production necessary

production

consumes

labour,

and commodity of

commodities

are produced to obtain items surplus' labour-

consumption.

From labour.

the viewpoint of the peasant, ther'e is in fact no The fact that capital
I

as from that of the wage-worker, all labour is necessary pauperisation These low degree

can extract

a pro-

fit even at such low levels of labour productivity of the major'ity of peasants mechanisms of capitalisation capital also operate

is the key to the

in the Third WorId).

in producing the traditionally The relatively to the Wagecapital. with respect

cheap labour-power advance of variable

of the mines and plantations. is more crucial rather than constant

labour of the 'colonial' himself individually

type represents

the limiting

case of

capital having to pay only enough for the worker and on a daily basis. taining the worker's in agricultural family and the generational in the home village.

to reproduce reproduction of engaged

The costs of main-

labour power are borne by the worker's production

family which is still

These general

points bring -us back to the question of the for'ms of 360

exploitation enterprises incidence

of petty commodity producers that have been able to operate of sickness, accidents

and of wage-workers profitably with a high

in

degree of wastage of labour (both conveJltional 'turnover' of work in plantations and mines). fact that capitalism has created

and the

and deaths caW:led by the conditions under-

It is an 'unpalatable countries but because

development not simply because it has exploited the underdeveloped it has not exploited them enough' (P. 55). against the radical critics simply by assertin Capital. between absolute value: In this respect Kay reacts polemically

who think that they have provided an explanation ing the facts of exploitation to certain and relative exploitation aspects Although he does not refer surplus-value of the analysis of exploitation bases

in the Third Wor ld. T(ay instead turns to Marxl s distinction he clearly of relative

his definition of capitalist surplus

on the appropriation

The more productive produces labour. his wage in is therefore

highly paid worker .. a much shorter therefore, time and much more surplus the affluent are much of

able to perform

By implication,

workers of the developed countries

more exploited than the badly paid workers be given to the (radical)

the underdeveloped world What meaning can claim that exploitation if the rate of is the cause of underdevelopment underdeveloped Again, Kay's emphasis gratuitous of bourgeois one of the here countries?

exploitation is higher in the developed than in the (P. 54). labour is paid is affluent worker and exploitation (to
IS

on how much

theoretically a category question is

at this point (and'the sociology if ever forms of production

there

was one) - the

which the question of the productivity If the forms Wor ld (at least comparison accumulation surplus culated, necessary value. of

of labour is tied). in the Third can be no direct there is full developand the of relative to be calto of surplus

produ ction and exploitation sec tors countries, then there

in certain

of the economy) are not the same On one hand,

as in the advanced capitalist of rates proletarianisation

of exploitation. on the basis

of labour in industrial forces directly

production,

of capital

of an unprecedented of exploitation of the ratio

ment of the productive in principle,

and the appropriation in terms

This allows the rate

labour in the working day. In 361

the Third World (at least

in agriculture) remnants

there

are a variety

of forms

of production relations

and articulated

of pre-capitalist

social and ideological

with a dominant capitalism. and its significance the low productivity labour is small worker), profits'. production extracted workers

This means that the rate

of exploitation

cannot be calculated

in the same way. Certainly labour (which includes does not 'superfrom the than that

of labour means that the "product of 'surplus' to that of necessary household or family of the migrant therefore making possible

compared

the labour of th~ whole peasant but necessary In absolute involve any advances by capital, terms

labour (simpl~ reproduction) the ~ producers

of profit aggregated will be much less number of labour,

of many peasant

from the labour of a comparable (due to the differential enough'. productivity "The forms

of industrial but this are

cannot justify different

the statem'3nt that the peasants

of the Third World of exploitation surplus-value By

have not been 'exploited and intensification forces) , rather exerting capital pressure

and they exemplify the operation than the mechanisms on the conditions

of absolute

of labour (without development of relative of reproduction

of the productive of the peasantry Again, As

surplus-value.

can force the peasant capital

household to both extend and intensify itsconsurnption). production. of supervisi on and to survive

its hours of labour (as well as reducing in this process management disciplines rate is saved the costs when it directly it incurs

organises

Kautsky pointed out, the poor peasant labour in order to meet "the demands whatever

household in order of capital

itself to the benefit of capital.

To extend and intensify is to increase tpe 7 involved. is and diffe-

of exploitation

the f~l"m of production we cannot agree He argues

In concluding this section, formulation of merchant capital. , simultaneously

with Kay's

that its nature history)

the same (as in its pre-capitalist an agent of productive

rent when it becomes

capital - but the capital of 'the epoch and from capital those

emphasis is on the basic similarities of merchant (appropriation in the sphere of e~change) regardless mode(s} of production the forms of and pre-capitalist relations concerned. and functions . of merchant periods, of production category)

In the epoch of modern capitalism, capital are different of merchant

and the analysis

(as a unitary is a variant - capital rather

cannot explain the changes in the conditions in the Third World. Kay's argument model forms of production

of what may be called the 'superimposition' itself on pre-capitalist model in which capital

superimposing of production

than a 'penetration'

comes to control

the process

even if it does not take on. the function of 362

controlling necessity capital. establish 0apital.

them directly,

and is free in certain forces.

conditions from the about merchant

to develop the productive is a subsidiary

There

stand of Kay's argument

This is. the idea that even had industrial itself directly Furthermore, in the Third WorId, of the history the structures of industrial

capital wanted to by merchant of merchant in such

this would have been

very difficult because capital that established unable totransform Again there

of depredations

it was the mode of operation capital

of underdevelopment

a way that the penetration them.

since 1945 has been

is an ambiguity In Kay's emphasis. capital of the degree

At one

point he says that industrial ment unwelcominq because brought about during the first

'would have found the environof social disruption

phase of mercanti Ie' development'

(p. 103, my emphasis). Elsewhere he says that "The degree of social incoherenc~ that arose (from this mercantile development) would have made the establishment impossible symptomatic category my emphasis). The unsatisfactory of industrial difference capitalism (P. 99, here is even if this had been historically and .stems from Kay's basic capital central rather practical'

in emphasis

error

in making the of production

of merchant

to the 'development of control of the processes result of this failure, penetrated vague - a high which means

underdevelopment'

than focusing on the forms or indirect As a

and exploitation: (through direct his statements degree about the nature incoherence'

of production) that were established. by capital are necessarily of 'social In contrast, very little, descriptive

of the social formations .3.ndextremely disruption' and 'social

the concept of the articulation about how capital and reproduces

of modes of pre-existin a In very theoretito their their elements

production poses questions ing social formations new articulation general terms,

'decomposes'

some of their

subj ected to the functioning of capital. this provides a framework of different the forms social formations of capitalist articulation.

for constituting according penetration,

cally the specificity pre-capitalist nature, rhythm and degree, 'archaic' category rigorous

and the resulting alliances explaining capital'

Kay does

touch on the question of class social elements, merchant is unacceptable, approach terms as 'independent articulation

between capital and th~se by the form of capital but if Kay's use of this Again, the in more mechanism~

(P. 104),

then the explanation falls.

poses the question of such alliances - the economic and political 363

of production

of control (including

'traditional'

modes of tribute to bring peasant transport etc.

and labour-service intensified production or in line and

exacted by pre-capitalist with the needs of capital, labour for plantations,

ruling groups and usually supplying the latter mines,

even invented under colonialism)

with commodities the forms

As has been stressed, of the

this could be accomplished

with few changes in

lab~ur process or instruments of labour of the peasant household. Moving forward to the present period, that of the movement of industrial analysis capital into the Third World, capital. Kay again employs a from his ~arks a new dual argument. One is historical 'capital in form and derives

of merchant

While industrialisation

phase of undergevelopment;

could not wipe out its own

history and being as though nothing had happened PTeviously:. it was forced to operate in the conditions of underdevelopment it had itself created (industrialisation) established reinforced nature normal underdevelopment (P. 124). Capital', took place in conditions of deeply but only the developed in the chapter Here Kay analyses which it could not overcome

The second argument, has been outlined. in qeneral, capital

on 'Industrial

of industrial feature

and conclude~ that its 'is a and, as such, is independent

inability to generate

employment in Third Wor ld countries development

of capitalist

of any particular form of ownership and dependence' (p. 153). The first argument (or assertion) is of little help because nowhere in his analysis structures forms of social relations of merchant capital has Kay stated what the (what of 'deeply established underdevelop menU . are,

between capital and labour they involve), simply and negatively forces. He of the productive at

which tends to render sometimes (e.g. describes

'underdevelopment'

synonymous with lack of development

merGh~nt. capital as an ~extern~l economic force which industrial - 'It is just as precludes such a distinctio~

p. 103), but the level of abstraction for local capitalists

oapital is analysed Profitable

to adopt t~chniques of producti on that labour as it is for international is not that Kay's abstract analysis.of incorrect. On the contrary, of the Very it is the specificity

fail tp absorb all the available firms' (P. 153). The point here industrial necessary broadly, further capital but insufficient Kay's analysis levels of analysis nature

is methodologically to establish of industrial now occurring

industrialisation abstraction

in many Third Wor ld countries. capital (and the level of a starting-point

it employs) provides

from which two of capital, 8 the

have to be developed: one concerning of the int-ernationalisation this process takes in

th~ contemporary industrialisation

the second concerning

the forms

of the Third Wor ld

364

Samir used in

Amin and others, have pointed out that Third World employing the same techniques countries, of production as are but paying workers

inoostrialisation significantly

the advanced capitalist

lower wages, represents a new form of 'super~ 9 In other words, capital is able to extract a higher exploitation' rate of profit. In considering this point (which, argument) of course, acolytes goes draw, in right against Kay's 'under-exploitation' namely that workers and 'benefit' World.10 class in We do not subscribe countries 'share' and its of the of the of economic

to the conclusion that Amin and his Third Worldist the advanced capitalist issue from the exploitation of profit, of the proletariat

of the Third

The important

is how the level of wages, are determined by the course repression miracles'

effects on the rate struggle. working class

A totally vicious and systematic had been the condition for those'

growth proclaimed is the pre-eminent emulated, e. g. P arty of India'). This politics state apparatuses essential internationalc?pital, level of abstraction remains of 'local bestows capitalists'

~or some Third World countries,

of which Brazil

example (an example which is being increasingly the Communist

India with the help of the CPI,

of oppression

and the class

alliances

and are an

which are its conditions of existence,

element of the present at which

phase of development of of industrial capital decisions

a theme which Kay doe~ not touch on. The his analysis firms, a formal equivalence on the investment

and international

but in Latin America,

for example, penetration

indigenous industrial capital

capital has been squeezed out in the 1960' s. On this whole On the last world is an

of the most advanced sectors of international is a peculiar for capitalist question there ideal la boratory

of production by the wave of further gap in Kay's perspective. experimentation

page of this book, he notes that 'the underdeveloped (p. 1.87). However, civilian populations Quiet backwat~rs these countries and controlling interests

(in oppression)' quiet backwaters'. South Africa? 11 of formation in the in opposition

he continues - 'new methods of controlling can be tried out in relatively Chile, India, Turkey,

- Brazil,

The kind of state that has formed or is in process has the function of destroying large urban, working-class

proletarian

populations

of the new phase of expanded reproduction to perhaps the most curious

of capital since of Kay's in his by

1945.
This relates analysis of feature book, that while the internationalisation of capital features characterised

the epoch of underdevelopment 365

merchant of capital parts Lenin's

capital,

there

is no discussion More over,

of the internationalisation industrialisation of to

in the present

period of large-scale

of the Third Wor ld. work on

Kay makes no reference

Imperialism

(nor to other classic

works such as finance

those of Luxemburg and Bukharin). capital in the Leninist capital in the restrictive capital); or attempt to develop this category. circulation

He does not consider He merely

sense at all - whether to rej ect , qualify, mentions finance to the sense sense of bank capital (as a form of imperialism sense of a stage in the I am not suggesting with contribution, but the

simi1~rly he restricts as against the Leninist

of colonial empire

development of capitalism any reverence latter eliminating superfluous

on a world scale. to its scientific through subjecting

that Lenin's (brief) work on imperialism has to be assessed its mistakes

should be treated it to criticism,

(of method and sustance), and arguments

and developing We can take of developing

those of its categories it that Kay rejects his own. 5. CONCLUSION

that are valid.

Lenin on imperialism,

but can only guess why

as he does not confront Lenin's

ideas in the course

The length of the above discussion importance seriousness errors of Kay's contribution

should testify debate,

to the and the

to the current are

with which it should be considered. literature

Some of the more instructive

It may be

of his method and use of categories In conclusion, to recapitulate

than a shelf of 'radical' useful then,

on the Third World. the strengths

and Marxist

weaknesses of Kay's work. Its strength, and the example it sets, approach (which requires abstraction established, based on a readin g of Capital. to a periodisation Proceeding

is of a rIgorous from the level of of Capital are the

no qualification, such as neo- Marxist') categories

at which the fundamental

of the development of capitalism, and to theorising scrupulous soci al formations, IS

and its characteristics fraught with difficulties it both retained capital, confronts spectre

in each period, of capitalist and requires of merchant

specificity of different' types' Kay's use of the category is a particular Marxist of dualism)

attention to method. of industrial the in question

cupital and his view of how

and lost its autonomy with the rise ,reflection analysis

of the general problem which

of the Third World (an d raises both capitalist

- which is that the social formations

appear to be,

to varying degrees,

uncl non-capitalist.

366

Capitalist the needs their

because

they have been penetrated of capital; enterprise

by,

and subjected

to,

and laws of functioning the large-scale industrial

non-capitalist

because

forms

of production' (though decreasingly) analysed in Capital)

have not been transformed. (the characteristic

That is,

unit of production

has not developed as the and the capitalist merchant system capital and industrial

dominant element in their economies. However, the unit of production are not equivalent, he uses his two main categories unable to' effect the transition capital which functions countries capitalist forms - by-passes to

as Kay tends to make them. - a dependent

The way in which

capitalist" produ ction, the specificity and attributed of

in the same way in advanced and backward the Third to the intrinsic of the historical changed industrial of in the of The first On the first, the maintenance. of 'non-capitalist' irrespective

World on both counts. of production qualities

is emphasised

of merchan~ capital and functions

in. general, This fails of production

epoch in which it is operating. the conditions On although its forms capital in general

to pose the question of how were radically operation of household) were retained. to pose the question industrialisation

(such as the peasant the identity of the which fails of current struggles is stressed

the second count,

the particular the state mistake categories before by

conditions

capitalist

Third WorId (the class that guarantee stems of Capital,

and shifting alliances, application a number

the forms

the expanded activi ties of capital). of one of the the second from direct analysis. However,

from an erroneous that requires and negative remains

appl~cation of a steps Kay's book demonstrates from Capital.

level of abstraction both positive

of intermediate

its use on concrete

example that the purpose: of going to go forward

back to Capital FOOTNOTES: 1. Frank

how to learn

equates in the

capitalism sixteenth

with commodity century Press,

production

and - A. G. by

therefore America Frank

asserts

that capitalism

was established by the colonial

in Latin system

Capitalism

and. Underdevelopment Review and Capitalism Frank

in Latin America. in Latin America' In his essays

New York, E. Laclau replying issue

Monthly

1969; see the critique

'Feudalism

New Left Review No. 67, 1971, pp. 19-38. to his critics of his misconception 1972. 367 of capitalism,

fails to take up the central A. G. Frank New York, Monthly

Lumpenbourqeoisie: Review,

Lumpendev~lopment,

For a concise prefigure of Imperialism,

discussion

of those elements imperialism,

of Capit"al that 2. Vol. I,

the theory of

see T. Kern p Theories

London Dobson, 1967, Chapter of labour, 17

On the intensification New York,

see K. Marx Capital 1967, Chapter 15

International

Publishers,

pp. 409-1 7 and Chapter 4 Kautsky's translation Society,S 5 important

work has not been tran slated an extremely

into

English in full. (l),

However, 1976.

useful summary

by J. Banaj i has appeared

in Economy and

The concept of the articulation associated Paris, with the work of P. e.g. Maspero,

of modes of production Rey Les Alliances

is

de Classes,

1973; the concept has been developed by a Claude Meillassoux Paris, Maspero, imperialism system' in his Femmes, 2 on 1975, Part

number of writers Greniers 'The domestic reproduction

et Capitaux,

community:

as a mode of see also Laclau's different

of cheap labour-power', Laclau oP. cit.,

definition of an 'economic modes of production, 6 F or similar, of History', Capitalisme, 7 The points example, agriculture,

as articulating p. 33

and more elaborated Dar es Paris, Salaam,

argumen ts,

see J. Conception and et

Banaj i 'Modes of Production S. Amin and K. Vergopoulos

in a Materialist 1975 (mimeo),

La Question Paysanne

Editions Anthropos,

1974, pp. 44-62. the has

made here obviously do not encapsulate question' issue of rural class formation In

whole of 'the agrarian the strategic not been touched on). absolute surplus-value These are limits food shortages. productive Revolution' significantly, programmes schemes. producing the political forces

in the Third World (for are limits

Evidently there

just as in in?ustry,

to exploitation based on of labour. constant

and the intensification problems arising from

to the expansion of capital as well as moves to develop the such as the 'Green including in irrigation about 'opening up' the of agriculture ranching and wheat farming

Hence the recent in agriculture

and other forms

of agri-business,

m~ch discussion and large-scale

Sahel through massive

capitalisation

368

The internationalisation in the analysis capitalist Classes collected formations.

of capital On the

is as strategic

a theme

of the advanced as well as backward former, see N. Poulatzas London, New Firms and 1975. Capitalism,

in Contemporary 1975, Part

L.eft, Books,

1, and the recen t discussions International Penguin,

in H. Radice (ed.),

Modern Imperialism, 9 S. _Amin Accumulation Monthly Review Press, of Critique Amerique 10 Latine.

He.rmondsworth,

on the World Scale,

New York, issue on

1974, see also the special et Surexploitation'. on this in L' 'change

de I' Economie PolitiQue No. 16-17, Accumulation his position - IDEP.

Amin has revised Editions Anthropos

inlqal

et la loi de la valeur. show that he adheres capitalist countries

La fin d'un debat, Recent papers

1973, Paris~ by Emmanuel

more than ever to the reactionary in the backward -

notion of the' exploitation" of workers 'Myths of Development versus New Left Review, Revisited', Studies, 11 University Discussion Paper

by those in the advanced countries 85, 1974, and 'Unequal Exchange 77, Institute 1975. system

Myths of Underdevelopment', of Development

of Sussex,

The installation apparatuses

of the apartheid in

In South Africa the repressive and to

from 1948 both extended and intensified of the state relation period of industrialisation Cheap Labour-power Legassick,. establish

to the needs of a new from Segregation

- See H. Wolp~, 'Capitalism 1 (4), 1972; and M.

in South Africa:

Apartheid' , Economy and Society, 'South Africa: the theoretical of capital ideological Economy and Society. development nationalist

Capital Accumulation

and Violence', of the or

3(3) 1974. Studies in South Africa, nature.

of this kind which all the 'race' liberal

and histori cal specificity destroy

derived formulations

whether of a reactionary,

FURTHER NOTE This essay, for publication written in April 1976, has been slightly are: at readers in the point modified

in Utafiti. Additional comments section was aimed primarily countries,

(a) the first

advanced capitalist

although the central

369

about the distance between a 'radical' problematic of general (b) The issues and that of scientific validity. of cheap labour-power though still 'Capital Bureau, presented

underdevelopment is clearly

materialism,

and the relations and capital are in a very preliminary in the of the Social to the-seminar

between peasant fashion, Economic Science 20-22,

commodity production

dealt with more fully, in my paper Research Epoch of Imperialism', on November

and Peasantry University

of Oar es Salaam,

22, 1976, and to the East African Oar es Salaam, December

Conference,

1976. In this paper,

the work of Meillassoux, 5 and 6, is

Amin and Banaji discussed,

cited in footnotes

as well as that of other writers. better Kay's avoidance of the having seen the of 'debating' from procedure

tc) I now understand Leninist completely imperialism

theory of imperialism non-scientific

by quotation and counter-quotation exemplified of Professor

Lenin - absurdities
II

in K. Hirj i, ,'The D. Wadada Nabuderel

,

Marxism-:Leninismll

Oar es Salaam,

1976, mimeo.

370