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Video The fight against colonialism then and now

Marxist Theory · 2026-05-13

Core Argument

The central thesis is that colonialism did not end with formal decolonisation in the post-war period, but merely changed its form. The article argues that the structural relationship between a handful of imperialist powers and the former colonies remains fundamentally intact, mediated now through debt, multinational corporate exploitation, and the continued domination of global capitalism. The claim is that liberals and reformists who celebrate decolonisation as a completed historical project are mistaken: the substance of imperialist exploitation persists beneath the veneer of formal sovereignty. The task for Marxists in the imperialist heartlands is therefore not to offer solidarity from a distance, but to recognise that the fight against colonialism is a single, unified struggle against the capitalist system itself.

Theoretical Grounding

The analysis draws on the Leninist theory of imperialism as the highest stage of capitalism, particularly the understanding that the division of the world into oppressor and oppressed nations is not a relic of the past but a structural feature of the capitalist world system. The argument sits within the Marxist tradition that rejects the notion that formal political independence constitutes genuine liberation in the absence of economic sovereignty and socialist transformation. It connects to the classical Marxist position, from Marx and Engels through to Lenin and Trotsky, that the emancipation of the oppressed nations is inseparable from the overthrow of capitalism in the imperialist centres. The article also implicitly draws on Trotsky's theory of uneven and combined development, which explains how imperialist domination distorts the economic development of the former colonies, creating a permanent chasm between rich and poor states.

Conjunctural Relevance

The article, published in March 2021, speaks directly to the post-2008 conjuncture in which the contradictions of global capitalism have intensified. The reference to "handfuls of billionaires owning more than the rest of the world put together" points to the extreme concentration of wealth that has accelerated since the 2008 financial crisis. The mention of refugees fleeing war-torn former colonies connects to the ongoing crises in Syria, Afghanistan, Libya, and across the Sahel — all regions where imperialist intervention and the legacy of colonial borders have produced catastrophic instability. The article also implicitly addresses the rise of the "China threat" narrative in Western imperialism, and the attempt by liberal commentators to present the post-war decolonisation as a success story that legitimises the current world order. The COVID-19 pandemic, which was unfolding at the time of publication, further exposed the dependence of former colonies on imperialist pharmaceutical monopolies and debt structures.

Where the Argument Continues

This article is a compressed version of a much broader argument developed across the In Defence of Marxism corpus. The question of how Marxists in the imperialist heartlands should concretely support liberation struggles is left open here and is taken up in other IDOM articles on the Palestinian struggle, the anti-war movement, and the fight against imperialist intervention in Venezuela and Syria. The theoretical underpinnings of the argument are developed more fully in IDOM's series on Lenin's theory of imperialism and in articles on the law of uneven and combined development. The relationship between the national liberation struggle and the socialist revolution — a question only gestured at here — is explored in depth in Against the Stream episodes on the Cuban Revolution and the Vietnamese struggle. Broader Marxist texts that continue this argument include Lenin's Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism and Trotsky's The Permanent Revolution.

Connections

This article should be read alongside Lenin's Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism for the theoretical foundation, and alongside Trotsky's The Permanent Revolution for the strategic implications. Within the IDOM corpus, it connects to articles on the debt crisis in the Global South, the analysis of neocolonialism in Africa, and the critique of liberal "aid" and "development" discourse. It also connects to the broader Marxist tradition's analysis of the national question, including the debates between Luxemburg, Lenin, and the Second International on self-determination. For contemporary application, it should be read alongside IDOM's coverage of the Palestinian struggle, the war in Ukraine, and the rising influence of China as a competing imperialist power.

Key Quotes

  1. "The post-war period saw a wave of revolutions in the colonial world, bringing down many imperialist regimes. Liberals would have us believe that ended 'imperialism' and the oppression of the so-called 'Third World'."

  2. "But the legacy of colonialism lives on today, with just as great a chasm between a handful of powerful capitalist states, and the impoverished ex-colonial countries."

  3. "Handfuls of billionaires own more than the rest of the world put together."

  4. "Refugees flee war-torn former colonies."

  5. "The 'Third World' continues to be exploited by multinational corporations and shackled by chains of debt to the imperialist powers."

  6. "Hamid explains what Marxists in the West can do to support the struggles for liberation taking place across the world today."