What is meant by colonialism in Europe and India?
Colonialism in European Views:
Hobson, Hilferding, Rosa Luxemburg, Lenins are the scholars who belonged to European school of thoughts. Hobson’s theories of under-consumption and over-saving suggested that colonial expansion i.e. imperialism was the result of capitalism. Over production of goods due to rise of capitalism needed the new market to sell their product. Then, increasing surplus further needed more sectors for further investment. So, both these need leds to the colonial expansion.
According to the Rudolf Hilferding “capitalism is dominated by huge banks and financial interest who act in close association with monopolist industrial business houses”. This analysis further extended by Lenin in his “Imperialism’, the last stage of capitalism”. And in 1913 Rosa Luxemburg published her work of accumulation of capital and the capitalist machinations leading to world war.
colonialism Indian Views:
The scholars like Dadabhai Naoroji, Mahadev Gobind Ranade, Romesh Chandra Dutt etc., sharply criticized the colonial economic impact on India. The main component of a “School of Economic Nationalist analysis are given below.
According to the theory of “Drain of wealth” propounded by Dadabhai Naoriji and R.C. Dutt, the wealth of India is transferred in the form of plunder, loot, illicit gain by servant of East India Co., and in form of home charges that derived in the form of interest and profit and capital to England on private account which only improvised India.They also put forward the idea of de-industrialization, i.e., the destruction of small-scale industries of India.
The idea of Free Trade and laissez fair led to a tariff and industrial policy while stifled the possibilities of the growth of industries in British India which lead India to serve as a source of raw materials only. Then the rate of taxation of agriculture and expenditure incurred for maintaining army by govt. was also criticized by R.C. Dutt and other scholars.
The Indian Nationalized critique is characterized as Formal imperialism’ i.e. imperialism in India under the formal political subjugation of the colony under British imperial power. However, European critique characterized as ‘Informal Imperialism’ i.e., where political subjugation of colony might not have occurred but economic colonialism characterized metropolitan colonial relation. On the whole critique of imperialism offered by Indian Nationalist was one of the most powerful instrument of building national Consciousness.
