Text | Rogue
Author of Food Changes History (Volumes I and II).
I will try to comb through the stories before, during, and after the Great Irish Famine in the mid-19th century. This is the twelfth article in a series, continuous update, your attention and support is my motivation.
Hungry people gathered around the gate of the workhouse
In 1847, starving Irish people died while staggering to the gates of the workhouse.
At the same time, on September 16, 17 and 18 of this year, in Brussels, across the English Channel, about 150 economists, industrialists, and businessmen from all over the world were gathering for a "meeting of political economists" to discuss an important question - whether free trade will benefit all mankind.
It was the greatest triumph of the British free traders, whose flags rose from the steam and planted the spires of the old aristocratic landlords' castles. Representatives of the free trade faction from Britain, including Dr. Bauling and Wilson, the founder of The Economist, announced the great benefit of the repeal of the Corn Laws, and on this condition, hoped that the mainland countries would allow British industrial products to be freely imported. They believed that food from continental Europe and around the world would feed British workers, and that the goods of British factories would appear in Europe and the world.
Factories during the Industrial Revolution
And that's exactly what happened. With the development of the industrial revolution, Britain at this time has become a champion and proud of the world, and its industrial monopoly position in the world market has been more consolidated, and the freer the trade environment, the more favorable it is to this "world factory".
After the repeal of the Corn Laws, on 26 June 1849, the Whig government repealed most of the provisions of the Navigation Ordinance – a decree that English merchants and factory owners had diligently sought to defeat the Dutch, and after fulfilling its mission, it was finally swept into the dustbin of history by those who had strongly called for it.
The Navigation Regulations of 1651 directly stimulated the Anglo-Dutch War
In 1851, under the auspices of Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, the world's first world exhibition, the Universal Industrial Exhibition, which was later recognized by the world, was held at the Crystal Palace in London's Hyde Park. It was a show off of Britain's industrial miracle and a declaration that no other country could compete with it in free competition.
London, Crystal Palace, where the first World's Fair was held
As delegates stepped on the dead souls of the Irish to celebrate, they did not forget one thing: preventing a particular speaker from speaking.
In fact, Marx had also signed up for the Brussels conference at that time and planned to give a debate speech. But at four o'clock in the afternoon of September 18, the conference, which had been dragged on, abruptly announced the end of the debate, and did not allow Marx to speak. The congress quickly adopted a vote that free trade could achieve prosperity for all classes and lasting world peace (Engels, "Brussels Conference on Free Trade," in Polaris No. 520, October 9, 1847).
Karl Heinrich Marx
On January 9, 1848, more than a month before the publication of the Communist Manifesto. Marx delivered this "belated" speech at the Brussels Democratic Association. "What exactly is free trade?" Marx said, "This is the freedom of capital. The removal of some national obstacles that still hinder the progress of capital is simply to allow capital to move fully and freely... This is not the freedom of an ordinary individual in his relationship with another person. This is the freedom of capital to oppress laborers (Marx, Speech on the Question of Free Trade, delivered at a public congress of the Brussels Democratic Association, 9 January 1848). ”
(To be continued)