> On Mar 12, 2016, at 6:16 AM, Louis Proyect <l...@panix.com> wrote: > > > > https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1888/free-trade/
The suggestion here is that Sanders’ supporters and others on the left of the political spectrum should not oppose the TPP and TTIP and should have previously endorsed NAFTA and other free trade deals. As the essay demonstrates, Marx and Engels supported free trade “on principle” - in the belief it would bring the world revolution closer. They were speaking to a receptive audience in the first and second internationals who could associate free trade with a rapid expansion of the industrial working class, the growth of trade unions, and improving conditions in a period of high labour demand. They generally did not experience free trade as a threat to their living standards. Circumstances in the advanced capitalist countries today are the reverse of what they were then, and free trade deals which affect the global workforce are now about much more than tariff reduction on manufactured goods and raw materials. This is another good example of armchair Marxists quoting scripture as a guide to action without any experience or appreciation of current realities. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list pen-l@lists.csuchico.edu https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
