• Egon [they/them]@hexbear.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    19
    ·
    1 year ago

    Though India is the odd one out with the British famine protocols to basically allow mass death to keep grain prices steady.

    Isn’t it comparable to Ireland and the potato famine?

      • Egon [they/them]@hexbear.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        1 year ago

        Whoopsiedoodle, it’s a fair mistake tho, the British starved a lot of people. It doesn’t count tho because that wasnt capitalist, because uhh it was the east India company that did it and not the British empire? Or vice versa, anyway Stalin 100 gorillion

        • invalidusernamelol [he/him]@hexbear.net
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          1 year ago

          I actually kinda agree with them that mismanagement of agricultural policy and intentional starving of colonial subjects for profit are two different things.

          One is (or was) an inevitability of the transition from subsistence/feudal society to industrial society as the agricultural output failed to keep up with the outflow of agricultural labor to industrial labor. Usually bolstered by collapses in grain trade between more established markets in developing nations.

          The other is genocide.

            • invalidusernamelol [he/him]@hexbear.net
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              4
              ·
              edit-2
              1 year ago

              The genocide was to prevent famine within the imperial core. The grain shortages were more pronounced in England so their solution was to starve their subjects to protect the profitable labor within England itself.

              Even worse was that there was shortage, but at any given point there was enough grain to prevent famin. But distributing that grain would destabilize the grain price and throw the imperial financial markets into chaos as grain was meant to be a stable investment.

              So millions die to protect the line. Nothing ever changes.

              • Egon [they/them]@hexbear.net
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                3
                ·
                1 year ago

                The genocide was too prevent famine within the imperial core. The grain shortages were more pronounced in England so their solution was to starve their subjects to protect the profitable labor within England itself.

                We talking about the indian or irish one? Because as far as I know the UK was stockpiling food while people in India were starving

                • invalidusernamelol [he/him]@hexbear.net
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  3
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  Yeah, because the was a shortage, but they need to keep grain price stable. If they didn’t stockpile and allowed India to keep all the grain they needed to avert famine there would have been starvation in England.

                  • Egon [they/them]@hexbear.net
                    link
                    fedilink
                    English
                    arrow-up
                    2
                    ·
                    1 year ago

                    Ah okay yeah. I’d always thought they stockpiled it for fear of running out (even though I think they had 3x the calculated needed amount) if the germans could blockade them again or something. It’s been a while since I learnt about it, so the facts are quite hazy. Thanks for sharing some history with me!