ECONOMICS OF IMPERIALISM 235 ductive structure,a high concentration of in- their full development come from the way in comes,underutilization of installed capacity,in- which they are joined to this international system tensive exploitation of existing markets concen- and its laws of development. trated in large cities,etc. The accumulation of capital in such circum- VI.Some Conclusions:Dependent Reproduction stances assumes its own characteristics.In the In order to understand the system of depen- first place,it is characterized by profound dent reproduction and the socioeconomic institu- differences among domestic wage-levels,in the tions created by it,we must see it as part of a context of a local cheap labor market,combined system of world economic relations based on with a capital-intensive technology.The result, monopolistic control of large-scale capital,on con- from the point of view of relative surplus value, trol of certain economic and financial centers is a high rate of exploitation of labor power.(On over others,on a monopoly of a complex tech- measurements of forms of exploitation,see [3].) nology that leads to unequal and combined de- This exploitation is further aggravated by the velopment at a national and international level. high prices of industrial products enforced by Attempts to analyze backwardness as a failure to protectionism,exemptions and subsidies given by assimilate more advanced models of production the national governments,and "aid"from hege- or to modernize are nothing more than ideology monic centers.Furthermore,since dependent accu- disguised as science.The same is true of the at- mulation is necessarily tied into the international tempts to analyze this international economy in economy,it is profoundly conditioned by the un- terms of relations among elements in free com- equal and combined character of international cap- petition,such as the theory of comparative costs italist economic relations,by the technological which seeks to justify the inequalities of the and financial control of the imperialist centers by world economic system and to conceal the rela- the realities of the balance of payments,by the tions of exploitation on which it is based [14]. economic policies of the state,etc.The role of In reality we can understand what is happening the state in the growth of national and foreign in the underdeveloped countries only when we see capital merits a much fuller analysis than can be that they develop within the framework of a pro- made here. cess of dependent production and reproduction. Using the analysis offered here as a point of This system is a dependent one because it repro- departure,it is possible to understand the limits duces a productive system whose development is that this productive system imposes on the limited by those world relations which necessarily growth of the internal markets of these countries. lead to the development of only certain economic The survival of traditional relations in the coun- sectors,to trade under unequal conditions [9],to tryside is a serious limitation on the size of the domestic competition with international capital market,since industrialization does not offer under unequal conditions,to the imposition of hopeful prospects.The productive structure cre- relations of superexploitation of the domestic la- ated by dependent industrialization limits the bor force with a view to dividing the economic growth of the internal market. surplus thus.generated between internal and ex- First,it subjects the labor force to highly ex- ternal forces of domination.(On economic sur- ploitative relations which limit its purchasing plus and its utilization in the dependent countries, power.Second,in adopting a technology of inten- see [1].)! sive capital use,it creates very few jobs in com- In'reproducing such a productive system and parison with population growth,and limits the such international relations,the development of generation of new sources of income.These two dependent capitalism reproduces the factors that limitations affect the growth of the consumer prevent it from reaching a nationally and interna- goods market.Third,the remittance abroad of tionally advantageous situation;and it thus re- profits carries away part of the economic surplus produces backwardness,misery,and social margin- generated within the country.In all these ways alization within its borders.The development that limits are put on the possible creation of basic na- it produces benefits very narrow sectors,encoun- tional industries which could provide a market for ters unyielding domestic obstacles to its con- the capital goods this surplus would make possible tinued economic growth (with respect to both if it were not remitted abroad. internal and foreign markets),and leads to the pro- From this cursory analysis we see that the al- gressive accumulation of balance-of-payments def- leged backwardness of these economies is not due icits,which in turn generate more dependence and to a lack of integration with capitalism but that, more superexploitation. on the contrary,the most powerful obstacles to The political measures proposed by the devel- Copvright 2001 All Rights Reserved