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THE DEBATE CONCERNING FREE TRADE vs. protectionism is as old as political economy. Economies and economic relations evolve and change; thus the need arises for new theories to explain these changes. This applies to theories of international trade; the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846, for example, was the culmination of a long evolution in the British economy. Marx participated in debates on the consequences of this repeal. In the early years of the 20th century, due to the emergence of the monopoly stage of capitalism and imperialism, prominent Marxists such as Lenin, Kautsky, Bukharin and Rosa Luxemburg were involved in a lively debate among themselves and with those who supported the colonial pattern of international trade. Again in the late 1960s and 1970s, Marxist economists were debating the role of trade. After many ex-colonies earned their political independence in the post-World War II years, their economic dependency and the role of the colonial pattern of international trade in the perpetuation of "neocolonialism" began to be understood. The need for economic independence was stressed. This was a major impetus for the emergence of the Dependency School. Most of the works in this period concentrated on the impact of foreign trade on the economies of developing countries. Less discussed, however, was Marx's theory of trade, particularly the question of "free trade."
In recent years the debate has attracted renewed attention. New theories that question the validity and relevance of the comparative costs doctrine have been suggested by mainstream economists. A detailed examination of reasons for this renewed interest is beyond the scope of the present paper. Briefly, a new phase in globalization of economic relations and a relative decrease in the dominance of the U. S. economy are among the most cited reasons (see, e.g., MacEwan and Tabb, 1989). Today one of the most obvious manifestations of U. S. decline is the chronic deficit in the U. S. balance of trade with Japan. The process of globalization is seen in the emergence of multinational economic blocks such as the European Community (EC) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The impact of these major developments on every aspect of life, and in particular on working people, is tremendous and requires reexamination of old theories...