Ricardo Duchesne wrote: > I should remind readers that this debate is connected to the colonial > trade because, as I pointed out earlier, Hobsbawm thinks that there > was, in the early phase of the industrial revolution in Britain, a lack of > demand by the home market, due to the low living standards of > workers, which was dealt with by exporting goods to the colonies. Frank in his *World Accumulation 1492-1790* argues that the contribution of colonial trade to primitive accumulation and industrialization fluctutated with the business cycle. External factors (trade) was important during recessions like the 17th century recession and internal class struggle important during boom and expansion like during the 16th century. I think Brenner's criticism of Frank is sound, F locates all dynamism in the sphere of circulation rather than the sphere of production though F pays lip service to a "dialectical unity" between internal and external factors. In *World Accumulation* its Smith, Smith, Smith. Frank even has his chapter headers with quotes from Smith. I'm about halfway through Dobb's *Studies in the Development of Capitalism" where he argues, like Frank, that mercantile capital grew stronger during recession and famine. Dobb really takes the bull by the horns and answers the tough question of: where did the capitalists come from? Essentially the capitalist class grew out of merchant capital together with the upper crust of the gilds and the burghers. more later, Sam Pawlett
