Page:Karl Marx - The Poverty of Philosophy - (tr. Harry Quelch) - 1913.djvu/234

 APPENDIX 227

means of establishing manufacture upon a large scale in any given country, that is to say, of making it de- pendent upon the market of the world; and from the moment that dependence upon the market of the world is established, there is more or less dependence upon Free Trade too. Besides this, the Protective system helps to develop free competition within a nation. Hence we see that in countries where the bourgeoisie is be- ginning to make itself felt as a class, in Germany for example, it makes great efforts to obtain Protective duties. They serve the bourgeoisie as weapons against feudalism and absolute monarchy, as a means for the concentration of its own powers for the realisation of Free Trade within the country.

But generally speaking, the Free Trade system is destructive. It breaks up old nationalities and carries the antagonism between proletariat and bourgeoisie to the uttermost point. In a word, the system of com- mercial freedom hastens the Social Revolution. In this revolutionary sense alone, gentlemen, I am in favor of Free Trade.

THE END.