“Speech on Free Trade,” with Engels’s Preface of 1888

Abstract

The occasion of Marx’s speech in Brussels was the effort to overturn the “Corn Laws,” a restrictive tariff on imports of various grains into England, including wheat, barley, and “maize.” With the conclusion of the Napoleonic wars in 1815, the price of agricultural goods plummeted. To protect themselves, landlords pushed through the bitterly contested Corn Laws, which were in effect from 1815 until 1846.¹ The Corn Laws protected British landlords from competition from agriculture abroad. Manufacturers wanted their elimination on general free trade grounds but also because cheaper grains meant cheaper foodstuffs, allowing them to reduce wages. The Corn Laws were abolished in 1846, but the arguments over free trade continued and still do.