The Role of Engineering in the Development of Foreign Trade Between the European Members of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA)

The technological revolution required for a rapid development of productive forces is only possible on the basis of the extension of the international division of labour. Economic integration — the division of labour beyond the borders of individual states and the consequent extension of foreign trade — is essential if the technical and economic parameters of production in a broad range of industries are to be improved: an increase in the international division of labour is indeed a world-wide trend among the great industries of today. Even under capitalism, the absolute necessity of extending the international division of labour becomes increasingly obvious, although its practical realization is limited by the restriction of private ownership of the means of production, and by private appropriation of the results. It must be said that capitalist monopolies are seeking the way out of this deadlock, and striving to make this contradiction less acute. Attempts are being made to combine in international associations such as the Common Market, and to redistribute foreign markets, although these and other measures, while strengthening temporarily the position of certain monopolies, cannot eliminate the contradictions inherent in capitalism.