[lbo-talk] imperialism theories [was: Better Than China, Saudi Arabia, Etc.!]

Jim Devine jdevine03 at gmail.com
Sun Aug 14 09:03:10 PDT 2005


there are a lot of issues here. It seems that for Luxemburg, if there were no areas external to capitalism, then capitalism would simply collapse.

On the other hand, if I understand him correctly, Lenin saw the exploitation of the dominated areas as necessary to finance the corruption of the upper segments of the working class in the core. If imperialist domination and exploitation went away, then there would be unity of the "first world" and "third world" working classes, which would bring back the MANIFESTO scenario of Marx & Engels.


> > On 8/13/05, Carrol Cox <cbcox at ilstu.edu> wrote:
> > >[In the passage below Wood is referring to the theories of Lenin,
> > Luxemberg, and other theorists of imperialism before WW 2.]
> >
> > *****
> > So in these theories of imperialism, capitalism by definition assumes a
> > non-capitalist environment.<

me:
> > Luxemburg's theory assumes a non-capitalist environment, but does Lenin's?

Carrol:
> Luxemburg is explicit on this, and puts it at the heart of her analysis,
> but I think something similar is implicit in Lenin's work in the
> emphasis he puts on direct exploitation of colonies. He gives some
> emphasis, if I remember correctly, to the way in which the placement of
> railroads in the colonies is strictly to aid export of raw materials,
> not to contribute to the development of the colonies themselves.
>
> Carrol
>
> Incidentally, Lenin had urged that Luxemburg's complete works be
> published in the USSR; that project of course disappeared with his
> illness and death.

it's common for some great person's followers to be inferior to their leader. But Lenin's epigoni were more than usually inferior.

-- Jim Devine "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list