----- Original Message ----- From: "Marvin Gandall" <marvgandall at videotron.ca> To: "Activists and scholars in Marxist tradition" <marxism at lists.econ.utah.edu> Sent: Saturday, November 17, 2007 9:17 AM Subject: Re: [Marxism] The Socialist Revolution in Venezuela
> Rohan Pearce wrote:
>
>> On Nov 17, 2007 12:08 PM, Paula <Paula_cerni at msn.com> wrote:
>>> In 2006, Venezuela's GDP was $176bn; New Zealand's was $93bn (PPP
>>> figures
>>> from the World Bank, see
>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP%29);
>>>
>>> Venezuela's military expenditures are 1.5% of its GDP (2004); New
>>> Zealand's
>>> 1% (2002) (according to the CIA World Factbook,
>>> http://geography.about.com/library/cia/blcindex.htm)
>>>
>>> Venezuela became independent in 1811; New Zealand in 1907.
>>>The naive thing is to assume, without further investigation, that New
>>>Zealand is 'imperialist' while Venezuela is 'semi-colonial'.>
>>
>> Algeria's GDP was $102 billion in 2005 and it spent 3.5% of its GDP on
>> the military in 2006. Another imperialist power to oppress New
>> Zealand?
> =====================================
> Perhaps neither Venezuela, Algeria nor New Zealand are "imperialist"?
>
> I recently offered a description of imperialism which makes more sense to
> me, whether or not it conforms to the classic texts. In any case, I think
> it
> does conform.
>
> http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/marxism/2007w43/msg00225.htm
>
> When Lenin, Luxemburg, Hilferding, Hobson wrote, they had in mind Britain,
> France, Germany, the US etc., all of whom were "states which demontrate
> the
> will and the capacity, both economic and military, to carve out colonial
> or
> neo-colonial spheres of influence (formal or informal "empires") where
> they
> can prevent their rivals and the subject populations from competing on the
> same terms as their own corporations for access to markets and resources."
>
> Not all - or even, most - states which are capitalist are, by definition,
> imperialist. The reality is that there is today only one global
> imperialist
> power, and the exercise of power by the EU and other states is strictly
> dependent on its agreement. The period before WWI was characterized by the
> scramble for colonies and protectorates by a number of competing powers,
> roughly equal in terms of economic and military strength. They also
> exported
> capital to the less developed periphery, unlike today. It was in this
> context that Lenin and the others developed their theories.
>