American University in Cairo AUC Knowledge Fountain Theses and Dissertations 6-1-2019 Reading Capital: towards an understanding of the process of colonization in India Adham Shebl Follow this and additional works at: https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds Recommended Citation APA Citation Shebl, A. (2019).Reading Capital: towards an understanding of the process of colonization in India [Master’s thesis, the American University in Cairo]. AUC Knowledge Fountain. https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/778 MLA Citation Shebl, Adham. Reading Capital: towards an understanding of the process of colonization in India. 2019. American University in Cairo, Master's thesis. AUC Knowledge Fountain. https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/778 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by AUC Knowledge Fountain. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of AUC Knowledge Fountain. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The American University in Cairo School of Humanities and Social Sciences READING CAPITAL: TOWARDS AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE PROCESS OF COLONIZATION IN INDIA A Thesis Submitted to Political Science Department in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts by Adham Hesham Shebl May/2019 The American University in Cairo READING CAPITAL: TOWARDS AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE PROCESS OF COLONIZATION IN INDIA A Thesis Submitted by Adham Hesham Shebl To Department of Political Science May/2019 In partial fulfillment of the requirements for The degree of Master of Arts Has been approved by Dr. Shourideh C. Molavi Thesis Committee Advisor --------------------------------------------- Dr. Andrew Delatolla Thesis Committee Reader ----------------------------------------------- Dr. Mai Taha Thesis Committee Reader------------------------------------------------- _________________ _______ ______________ _______ Department Chair Date Dean Date ABSTRACT This thesis examines the applicability of Karl Marx’s theoretical apparatuses in explaining the development of capital relations in India’s transition from commercial to industrial colonialism. Its findings engage with and are a response to the preponderance of secondary literature that argues against Marx’s usefulness in understanding the colonial moment in the Global South. Many of these secondary studies have argued against the use of Marx because of his purported Eurocentricity that renders his conclusions regarding the Global South inadequate. This study argues that fundamental to dissecting this intellectual argument is developing an understanding of Marx’s levels of generality whereby the historical descriptions and conclusions, and the theoretical framework and methods he employs are abstracted. To this end, this thesis asserts the levels of generality as the most critical to reading Marx as they permit the reader to move beyond the causal laws and tendencies and instead delve further into the relations that allow them to exist. Finally, this study shows how Marx’s totality of social life can be used to understand a particular society in a specific moment: India in the colonial period. While not all-encompassing, it shows the applicability of Marx’s theoretical apparatus to examine a colonized society — using India as an illustration — especially with regards to modes of production, social relations, and some aspects of legal and governmental arrangements. While further research would need to incorporate additional aspects of the social totality, including mental conceptions, reproduction of daily life, technology, and relationships to nature, its combination with the findings of the present study allows for a more complete view of capital relations in colonial India. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1 1. Brief Methodology ........................................................................................................... 3 2. From Company to Crown: Setting the Parameters of Study ............................................ 5 3. Relevance: Competing Factions of Capital in the Past and Now ..................................... 8 3.1 The Spatial Fix.............................................................................................................. 9 3.2 Monopolies and Rentierism ........................................................................................ 12 3.3 Differences: Intra-Class Relations .............................................................................. 14 4. Thesis Outline ................................................................................................................ 18 Chapter One | Literature Review and Theory .................................................................... 22 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 22 2. Literature Review ........................................................................................................... 23 2.1 The Dialecticians ........................................................................................................ 23 2.2 Critical Non-Dialecticians: Postcolonial Scholars ..................................................... 26 2.3 Critical Non-Dialecticians: World System Theorists ................................................. 31 2.4 The Non-Dialecticians ................................................................................................ 32 3. Theory and Application .................................................................................................. 33 3.1 Marx’s Philosophy of Internal Relations .................................................................... 33 3.2 Marx’s View of the Social Totality and Method of Inquiry ....................................... 37 3.3 Marx’s Labor Theory of Value ................................................................................... 38 4. Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 41 Chapter Two | Marx’s Method and Eurocentricism .......................................................... 43 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 43 2. Marx’s Conceptual Framework: Method of Inquiry and Method of Presentation ......... 44 3. On Eurocentrism ............................................................................................................ 47 4. Eurocentric Notions in Marx’s Work ............................................................................. 48 4.1 Marx’s Eurocentric 1853 Articles on India ................................................................ 51 4.2 Deformed Reality ....................................................................................................... 55 5. Multilinear Development — The Role of the Proletariat ............................................... 58 6. Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 59 Chapter Three | Process of Colonization and Instruments of Labor: The ‘Struggles’ of Merchant Capital .................................................................................................................. 63 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 63 2. The General and the Particular in Marx’s Thought........................................................ 65 3. Raw Materials and Instruments of Labor ....................................................................... 70 3.1 Interaction and Use-value ........................................................................................... 73 4. Marx’s Method: Colonization, the East India Company, and the British Raj ............... 76 5. Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 84 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 87 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................... 92 Introduction There is no royal road to science, and only those who do not dread the fatiguing climb of its steep paths have a chance of gaining its luminous summits. – Karl Marx, 18721 During the first half of the twentieth century, analyses using Karl Marx’s methods focused on understanding the specificity of particular temporal and spatial moments and places and their relationship to the general laws of capital. After developing his work in the nineteenth century, his ideas began to be applied by scholars. The applications of his theoretical concepts and framework were employed by various scholars in an attempt to understand their particular historical moment. Some of the works and concepts developed within this field would include Vladimir Lenin’s theory of imperialism, Rosa Luxemburg’s reading of colonization in The Accumulation of Capital, Karl Kautsky’s work on the agrarian question, and Leon Trotsky’s notion of uneven and combined development.2 More often than not, their works sought to explain how the specific conditions of their moments contained