Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism

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Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism (1916) by Vladimir Lenin is a classic Marxist theoretical treatise on the relationship between capitalism and imperialism. In this work Lenin identifies the merging of banks and industrial cartels as giving rise to finance capital. According to Lenin, in the last stage of capitalism, in pursuit of greater profits than the home market can offer, capital is exported. This leads to the division of the world between international monopolist firms and to European states colonizing large parts of the world in support of their businesses. Imperialism is thus an advanced stage of capitalism, one relying on the rise of monopolies and on the export of capital (rather than goods), and of which colonialism is one feature (Bowles 2007).

According to Lenin as a result of the super-profits generated by this colonial exploitation, capitalists are able to bribe labour leaders and the upper stratum of the labour aristocracy in the home country thus avoiding the risk of worker revolt there. The new proletarians are thus the exploited workers of the third world. In his preface to the French and German editions (1920) Lenin indicates that it is with the "thousand million people" of the colonies and semi-colonies that the revolt against the capitalist system is to begin rather than in the advanced western societies (V.I. Lenin 2000: 37-8).

Publication History

Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism was written by Lenin in Zurich between January and June 1916. It was first published by Zhzn i, Znaniye Publishers, Petrograd in mid 1917. Lenin wrote a new Preface for the French and German editions, dated July 6th 1920, first published in the "Communist International" No 18, 1921 (V.I. Lenin 2000).

References

• Paul Bowles (2007) Capitalism, Pearson: London.
• Vladimir Lenin (1948) Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, London: Lawrence and Wishart.
• Vladimir Lenin (2000) Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, with Introduction by Prabat Patnaik, New Delhi: LeftWord Books

External Links

Imperialism: the Highest Stage of Capitalism

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