The role of the rural sector in the capital accumulation process: the case of the Belgian Congo during the colonial period

Abstract

During the colonial period, there was a heavy concentration of the means of production in the hands of the foreign minority. This situation was due partly to the fact that economic initiative itself was concentrated in the hands of that minority, partly to the fact that different measures were taken to hamper indigenous economic initiatives, at least until 1945. it is a, report made by the commission for colonial affairs of the Belgian senate, to prepare the discussion of the 1934 budget. According to this document, 4 Belgian financial groups controlled 75% of the capital stock invested in the Congo. The biggest of them controlled 60% alone. The 4 groups controlled 72 joint-stock companies out of a total of 200, and 41 were again under the control of the biggest, they almost completely controlled the banking system, the transport and mining sector, and 45% of the industrial sector.