[lbo-talk] Lenin on the Crisis of the EU (written in 1915)

Bhaskar Sunkara bhaskar.sunkara at gmail.com
Tue Nov 15 08:53:52 PST 2011


This has been brought up a lot recently. This article from the *Weekly Worker* disputes its usage by the CPB: http://cpgb.org.uk/article.php?article_id=1004603

On Tue, Nov 15, 2011 at 11:41 AM, Angelus Novus < fuerdenkommunismus at yahoo.com> wrote:


>
>
>
>
> http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1915/aug/23.htm
>
> "From the standpoint of the economic conditions of imperialism—i.e., the
> export of capital arid the division of the world by the “advanced” and
> “civilised” colonial powers—a United States of Europe, under capitalism, is
> either impossible or reactionary."
>
> [...]
>
> "United States of Europe under capitalism is tantamount to an agreement on
> the partition of colonies."
>
> [...]
>
> "Of course, temporary agreements are possible between capitalists and
> between states. In this sense a United States of Europe is possible as an
> agreement between the European capitalists ... but to what end? Only for
> the purpose of jointly suppressing socialism in Europe, of jointly
> protecting colonial booty against Japan and America, who have been badly
> done out of their share by the present partition of colonies, and the
> increase of whose might during the last fifty years has been immeasurably
> more rapid than that of backward and monarchist Europe, now turning senile.
> Compared with the United States of America, Europe as a whole denotes
> economic stagnation. On the present economic basis, i.e., under capitalism,
> a United States of Europe would signify an organisation of reaction to
> retard America’s more rapid development. The times when the cause of
> democracy and socialism was associated only with Europe alone have gone for
> ever."
>
> Hat tip to the Entdinglichung ("De-Reification") Blog for pointing this
> out:
> http://entdinglichung.wordpress.com/2011/11/14/lenin-zum-heutigen-tage/
>
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