The Roots of Globalization: Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and the East India Companies

When we talk about globalization today—free markets, deregulation, and borderless trade—we often forget its darker origins. At the heart of this system lies a peculiar alliance of two names you wouldn’t expect to see together: Adam Smith and Karl Marx. Both are considered ideological opposites. Smith, the father of capitalism. Marx, the father of communism. Yet both, in different ways, helped justify and legitimize the expansion of the British Empire through its most powerful tool: the East India Company (EIC).

This article from the EIC to MNC Series, takes a sharp look at the forgotten foundations of modern economics - how Adam Smith and Karl Marx supported British East India Company’s free trade agenda, from opium wars to colonial globalization.

Adam Smith: The “Father of Economics”… and EIC Propagandist?

Adam Smith is often celebrated for his 1776 book The Wealth of Nations, where he laid out the principles of what we now call free trade. But what’s less known is his c...