Marx absolved England’s crimes as history’s unconscious colonial tool

Evidence

England, it is true, in causing a social revolution in Hindustan was actuated only by the vilest interests, and was stupid in her manner of enforcing them. But that is not the question. The question is, can mankind fulfil its destiny without a fundamental revolution in the social state of Asia? If not, whatever may have been the crimes of England she was the unconscious tool of history in bringing about that revolution. — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 392

Categorization

• DEFINE: Pure specimen of the colonial-revolution justification: the colonizer as ‘unconscious tool of history’ overriding its own vilest interests.
• XREF: Echoes the module’s concerns about how Western critical traditions themselves reproduce Orientalist scaffolding despite anti-colonial intentions.
• CANDY: A quotable, startling specimen — Marx simultaneously condemning England as vile and stupid yet sanctifying it as history’s tool.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 392