----- Original Message ----- From: "Marvin Gandall" <marvgandall at videotron.ca> To: "LBO-Talk" <lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org> Sent: Saturday, November 17, 2007 4:02 PM Subject: [lbo-talk] Fw: [Marxism] The Socialist Revolution in Venezuela
>
> ----- 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.
>>
>
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