[Marxism] Imperialism

[Roger Baker]

See below for early comments:
When I stated that later stages would follow, I was paraphrasing the article 
in 'Lenin Reloaded" in which Geroges Labica wrote:  (pg 225)



      [The term  "highest"  in the title of Lenin's work should not be 
understood as "last" or final," in any          ontological  sense, that is, 
the stage after which there could be no further development.  It simply 
means "contemporary" or "present."  The author himself made this clear on a 
number of occasions.  In considering a title, he initially opted for 
"Imperialism, the highest (modern) stage of capitalism."..................

Labicas continues:
     It is unfortunately necessary to go a step further in this 
characterization, and maintain that the situation engendered by our "new 
imperialism" is worse than that which prevailed in the 1910s. As we have 
just seen, the situation at that  time was marked by relative stability, 
which is no longer the case in the present crisis, and prevented Lenin from 
speaking of unemployment or mass poverty.  Besides, not only did the 
phenomenon of multinationals not then present the ubiquity that it has 
acquired today, but many other features have grown considerable more acute, 
including the steady diminution of the states functions of social 
regulation, the decline of the nation-state.....the circulation of capital, 
and the role of the stock exchanges.]  END

    A higher stage remains Lenin's Imperialism, as you assert,  it is simply 
a more voracious, highly developed system of  exploitation that has 
developed in the last century.

Roger





> --- Roger Baker wrote:
>> And by this, he meant the present state of
>> Capitalism, the state to which it
>> has now evolved,
>> not the highest or final stage.  There was some
>> difficulty in the
>> translation and it was not meant to
>> be translated as the "highest and final stage."
>
>
> > --- Roger Baker wrote:
>>   There were, of course, more stages to come.
>>
>
> To my limited knowledge of world politics, I thought
> the current stage can be easily labeled "Imperialist".
> But I know that there are others who differ on the
> meaning of this term. Maybe you can expand a little on
> what you mean by "more stages to come"? Do you not
> think we the current political climate in the world
> can be defined by Imperialism (U.S. imperialism and
> the inter-imperialst struggles) and the struggle
> against it?
>
> Pance.
>
>
>
> ________________________________________________
> YOU MUST clip all extraneous text before replying to a message.
> Send list submissions to: Marxism at lists.econ.utah.edu
> Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism
>