Summary Of O. P. Austen's Does Colonization Pay

In an excerpt in O.P Austen’s “Does Colonization Pay” from The Forum, he says that colonization is mutually beneficial for both the colonizers and the ones being colonized. In the excerpt, he says that the colonizers receive tropical produce and other raw materials from the area that is colonized. But in return, the one being colonized would receive foodstuffs and manufacturing and other European innovations such as canals, school, roads. Austen describes these innovations as blessings of civilizations that non-Europeans cannot develop themselves. However, these “blessings of civilization” are not necessarily good for the ones being colonized. Colonization also results in discrimination against the people being colonized. Lastly, colonization

does not benefit everybody from the country that did the colonizing.

Instead, the benefits of colonizations are one sided only profiting the bourgeoisie of the colonizing country. Therefore making O.P Austen’s statement incorrect.
First off, European imports that the excerpt describes as foodstuffs and manufactures, values, and other “blessings of civilization” are not good for the places being colonized. The reason for this is because of the general negative effects of European ideas or imports on colonized countries. One example of an import that had a negative effect on a society was opium in China. The Chinese were first introduced to the drug opium by the British. In Lin Zexu’s original letter to Queen Victoria, the text states, “The obnoxious odor ascends, irritating Heaven and frightening the spirits. O Sovereign can eradicate the opium plant in these places… Anyone who dares again attempts to plant and manufacture opium should be severely punished.” This shows that Opium use in China had a very negative effect on Chinese. Lin Zexu describes the plant as noxious and begs Queen Victoria to stop her countrymen from bringing Opium to his country. As you can see, European

imports had a negative effect on the societies that they are introduced to. Secondly, European values were not good for the places that have been colonized. This is because of the effects of European ideas on former European colonies that we see today. An example of European ideas negatively affecting a country today is Zambia. According to Jared Diamond from “Guns, Germs, and Steel”, Zambia’s current syphilis epidemic is far worse than it has ever been in history. This is due to the European value of urbanization that was brought when the Europeans colonized Zambia. The advent of urbanization made it much easier for syphilis to spread because cities are much denser in population compared to the traditional villages where Zambians used to live. Therefore, European ideas are necessarily good the places that had been colonized. As you can see, the introduction of European imports such as opium and values such as urbanization are not as good as what O.P Austen describes them to be.
Another reason Austen is incorrect is because of the fact that colonies usually led to slavery and exploitation of property towards the citizens being colonized.

Basically, when colonized the original citizens of the colony would have their labor exploited and would be treated unethically by their colonizers. According to a Congolese woman named Ilanga, while recalling her interactions with the Europeans she states, “We were all crying, for now, we knew that we were to be taken away to be slaves. The soldiers beat us with the iron sticks from their guns and compelled us to march to the camp of Kibalanga.” As you can, the white colonizers were very brutal toward Ilanga and her family who were among the people of the village that were colonized by the

Europeans.
Lastly, contrary to O.P Austen’s idea that colonization benefits the colonizing country as a whole, colonization only benefits the bourgeoisie of the colonizing country. This is due to the fact that the capitalism is the driving force behind colonialism. Therefore the bourgeoisie who are the financiers of colonialism and imperialism are the only ones profiting from receiving the raw material of the colonized country. According to the German Social Democratic Party Conference, “colonial policy is pursued for the purpose of capitalist exploitation … It corresponds first and foremost to the greedy desire of the bourgeoisie.” This shows that colonialism was since the beginning, only a means to further quench the bourgeoisie's desire for new markets. Also according to William Clarke, “The music hall patriot is encouraged to howl for Jameson or any other hero of the hour when in reality he is howling for the financiers who are making Jameson their tool.” As you can see, the bourgeoisie used nationalism to hide the reality that nobody but the bourgeoisie benefited from colonialism. Basically, nationalism is used as a tool to show that the entire country is benefiting from the bourgeoisie's colonial endeavors. All in all, colonialism did not benefit all the citizens of the country that did the colonizing.
In conclusion, O.P Austen is incorrect with the statement that he made about colonialism because it is not the win-win situation that he describes it to be. Instead, it only benefited one class of people from one country. Not only did colonialism not benefit the rest of the people, but it affected them negatively. All in all, this topic is important because colonialism great shaped our world to what it has become today. Therefore after weighing the consequences and results of history, it allows for us as humans to not repeat the same mistakes and not fall for the same tricks. In conclusion, through this topic we can learn that colonialism does not pay thus, O.P Austen is incorrect.