>>> Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> 05/03/00 05:47PM >>>
Apsken at aol.com wrote:
> So let me try once more. The doctrines that are called Leninism are
>straightforward and clear.
Really? How do they apply to the U.S. or any other First World country in 2000? The analysis of imperialism? The party model? What?
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CB: From summary of Lenin's analysis of imperialism: 1) monopoly capitalism is still applicable 2) state-monopoly capitalism is still applicable ; privatization is a late 1900's -2000 fresh example of state-monopoly. 3) Imperialist nations still export capital vs exporting goods 4) I know Doug disagrees with the merger of industrial and finance capital into finance capital and a financial oligarchy particularly based on the idea that Lenin followed too much the German central bank model and ignored the stock market system of the U.S. and England, but with all due respect, all I have learned about the stockmarket/Wallstreet, especially from this list and Doug's book tells me it IS an institution of finance capital. Perhaps we can substitute "creditor capital" for finance capital and the idea will become clear as surely the creditor class in all forms is the ruling elite. Big industrial capital institutions like GM have their own finance divisions. Isn't Wall Street a financial!
institutional locus ?
My hypothesis is that the one element in Lenin's definition of imperialism that has changed, turned into its opposite, is interimperialist rivalry with its ultimate expression in socalled world wars, meaning pan-European wars between imperialist powers. You have interimperialist unity in 2000. So, there is an example of the "fluidity of the oraganism". This change is due in part to the intervening existence of the Soviet Union and other socialist nations, which forced the imperialist powers to unite to survive, and that unity has survived the end of the Soviet Union, and much to the advantage of imperialism.
Also, the dividing and redividing of the colonies continues , but in a different way, without settler European populations, but rather through the U.S. military, the World Bank, IMF, U.S. Treasury, neo-colonialism. Note that the leading role of financial institutions and loans is an expression of "finance capital".
That's a sketch.
CB