of the kind. Far from being a hindrance, they were a help; they positively promoted the influx of capital. For this reason. When the German capitalist has a factory in Russia, and when he too becomes a member of the “Russian” syndicate, of course the Russian tariff helps him to earn surplus profit. The import duties are just as useful to him in fleecing the Russian public as they are to his Russian colleagues.
Capital moves from one country into another not only in order to found new enterprises in the latter or to support those which already exist. In many cases the introduction of capital takes the form of a loan to the government of the country into which the capital is introduced, a loan at a fixed rate of interest. This means that the borrowing government increases its national debt, becomes indebted to the lending government. In such cases the debtor government usually undertakes to float all loans (and especially war loans) among the industrials of the creditor State. Thus vast quantities of capital pass from one State to another, partly incorporated in buildings and manufacturing enterprises, and partly taking the form of State loans. Under the dominion of financial capital, the export of capital attains gigantic proportions.
We will give certain figures which can still teach us a great deal, although they are a trifle out of date. In the year 1902, France had in twenty-six foreign States investments to the approximate amount of thirty-five milliards of francs: about half of the sum was in the form of State loans. The lion’s share had gone to Russia (ten milliards). Parenthetically we may remark that this is why the French bourgeoisie is so furious because we Russians have cancelled the tsarist debts and have refused to pay the French usurers. By the year 1905 the sum of foreign capital imported into Russia had already exceeded forty milliards. In the year 1911 the foreign investments of Britain amounted to about sixteen hundred million