[lbo-talk] History, necessity and the New Zealand Wars

[Chris Doss]

Maybe I'm missing something, but isn't what he is describing with the Maori trading with the British what usually, and predictably, happens when a technologically primitive society comes in contact with a technologically advanced one? Obviously, if I am in a stone-age society, and some guys move next door with guns and other cool stuff (GAOCS), I am going to try to get some of that awesome GAOCS. The very existence of the GAOCS prevents me from just attacking them and taking it, because they will kill me, and even if I did I don't know how to make GAOCS myself. So, the best option is offering them something that they want in exchange for the GAOCS, i.e., trade.

You don't have to live in a capitalist society to trade things with other people or groups. The Soviets traded GAOCS all the time.