From The European Communist PartyFrom the raw materials from Spain and the West Indies –particularly silk, iron and cochinilla –which cost them only 1 florin, the foreigners produce finished goods which they sell back to Spain for between 10 and 100 florins. Spain is in this way subject to greater humiliations from the rest of Europe than those they themselves impose on the Indians. In exchange for gold and silver the Spaniards offer trinkets of greater or lesser value; but by buying back their own raw materials at an exorbitant price, the Spaniards are made the laughing of all Europe.
Luís Ortiz (Philip II Spain’s Minister of Finance, ‘Memorandum to the King to Prevent Money from Leaving the Kingdom’, Madrid, 1558.
Workers of the World, Unite!
¡Reciprocidad! ¡Repatriación! ¡Revolución!
