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PARTISAN REV/E.,
capitalist development was interpreted as an assurance that the
market mechanism of the commodity-producing society provided
for a more or less harmonious growth of production and the
wealth of nations. Whoever prospered under
laissez faire
was
bound to believe in a
law of supply and demand
that brought
order into social production and distribution. Whoever did not
fare so well was inclined to rebel against this philosophy. Free–
trade, recognized a5 advantageous to the more developed capitalist
nations, could be opposed by the less developed countries only
with additional political means such as state-fostered industries
and tariff regulations. The
laissez faire
theory was opposed by
theories favoring state interventions in the economy.
The question of free-trade was always debated and never
solved. It could not be solved because the protectionists were pro–
tectionists only in order- to compete with the fre e-traders; the latter,
controlling the trade of the world, were actually protectionists.
These issues disappeared temporarily whenever there was rapid
capital expansion and they always returned as soon as this expan–
sion stopped.
However, the present-day struggle between "democratic" and
"fascist" economies, though still partly determined by the inequal–
ity of opportunities for participating in the world-exploitation of
labor, goes beyond the old struggle. Today state
int~rferences
in
the economy are no longer restricted to national protection against
foreign competition but involve the destruction of the internal
market as well. Of course, even the former limited form of state
interference disturbed the internal markets, but the adjustment to
new situations thus created was left to the decisions of the indi–
vidual capitalists. State interferences are no longer designed
mainly for protective but for aggressive purposes; they are the
medium of present-day imperialism.
Long before the rise of fascism, competitive capitalism was
replaced in each capitalist nation by monopoly capitalism. The
markets were controlled by trusts and cartels. The development
from
laissez faire
to monopoly capitalism led to the creation of
the world market, the international division of labor, the concen–
tration of capital, and the increase of the productivity of labor.
They are all interdependent; one is unthinkable without the others.
The fascist economy and its social structure is the direct
