The Economic System of Islam — Page 108
108 from America and Great Britain. If it maintains its pace of industrialisation, the Soviet Union would have to find new markets for its products. When that day arrives, would the Russian policy not assume the same characteristics and adopt the same methods as we have seen in the history of other imperial powers? To put it plainly, Russia would be compelled to make other countries, by some means or other, to buy Russian products in order to keep its labour employed and sustain its economic and industrial growth. Experience of Other Imperialist Powers We have seen that when it concerns granting India independence, rousing speeches are made in the Houses of Parliament, but when it concerns economic progress, the experts start pronouncing on the need for protecting the British interests. No doubt, Russia’s case would be quite similar, though with one important difference. In the case of Great Britain and America it is the private firms that compete, but in the case of Russia it will be the entire socialist system that would compete with the individual foreign trader. It will not willingly close its factories and allow un- employment to rise in the face of foreign competition, but it will adopt all means to make other countries buy its products. And it will direct the entire might of its state—which owns factories and wields total political power—towards achieving that end. The economically weak neighbouring countries would be particularly vulnerable to the Soviet pressure. At that point, Russia would use all tactics that the big investors employ under