The Economic Importance of Puerto Rico for the United States

Abstract

The first article in this section provides a detailed analysis of the crucial economic function that Puerto Rico plays for United States imperialism. It was written by the Economic Research Group, Secretariat of Information and Propaganda, The Puerto Rican Socialist Party (PSP). The article was translated by Scott Lubeck, a graduate student at the Institute of Latin American Stud ies, University of Texas at Austin. The dominance of United States capital in Puerto Rico has had profound implications, as the PSP article documents. In the second article of this section, Campos and Bonilla analyze the im pact of this industrialization on the Puerto Rican working class. Integrally tied in to the process of industrialization in Puerto Rico is the role that migration has played. They provide an analysis of the changes that have occurred in the composition of the working class as a result of these joined factors — industrialization monopolized by the United States and migration. Frank Bonilla and Ricardo Campos are both members of the History Task Force, Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños, City University of New York. The first part of their joint article was translated by Peter Crabtree, a graduate student in political science at the University of California, Riverside.