Introduction to the 2014 Edition by Alan Woods¶
Core Argument¶
In his introduction to the 2014 edition of Lenin’s Imperialism, Alan Woods argues that the work remains indispensable for grasping the dynamics of modern capitalism. Lenin defined imperialism as the monopoly stage of capitalism, marked by the dominance of finance capital, the export of capital, and the territorial division of the world. Woods traces the concentration of capital from Marx’s predictions to the present, citing the Forbes Global 2000 to demonstrate that a handful of giant corporations now control over half of global GDP. He emphasises the power of finance capital, noting that banks and financial institutions dominate the list, and that the 2008 crisis exposed their parasitic fusion with the state, as trillions in taxpayer money bailed them out. Growing inequality is starkly illustrated by Oxfam’s finding that the richest eighty-five individuals own as much as the poorest 3.5 billion.
Imperialism, Woods contends, has not changed its nature but now operates indirectly through debt, trade policies, and institutions such as the IMF, World Bank, and WTO, keeping former colonies in financial slavery. Debt cancellation for twenty of the poorest countries in 1997 could have saved twenty-one million children by 2000; fifty-two countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and Asia, with a total of one billion people, are sinking under a debt burden of $371 billion—less than the combined net worth of the world’s twenty-one richest individuals. Mexico’s experience with the US illustrates neo-colonialism: the Free Trade Agreement devastated Mexican industry and agriculture, while US-owned Maquiladoras provide cheap labour. Modern imperialism dominates by economic means, leaving repression to a subordinate government, extracting surplus profits through world trade by exchanging more labour for less.
The division of the world into rival imperialist powers was completed by the end of the nineteenth century, leading to re-division by war. Two world wars, the second killing fifty-five million, prove that capitalism has become a monstrous obstacle. The root cause of war is the conflict between productive forces and two barriers: private ownership of the means of production and the nation state. The failure of socialism in one country in Russia and China proves that no country can escape the pull of the world market. Post-1945 world trade allowed capitalism to overcome this contradiction temporarily, culminating in globalisation, but national contradictions have been exacerbated, not eliminated. The world is breaking into trading blocs dominated by the USA, Germany, and Japan, with growing tensions between the USA and China. The European Union, created to overcome the limitation of small national markets, is a regional trading bloc directed against the USA and Japan, and an alliance for collective exploitation of the Third World. The Euro has worsened national contradictions, as Greece shows; a common currency would be sound under socialism, but not under capitalism dominated by bankers and Germany.
A long period of capitalist expansion ended in 2008. Globalisation did not abolish capitalism’s contradictions but reproduced them on a vaster scale. The horrors of capitalism are both the death agony of the old system and the birth pangs of a new society. Humanity has the technological capacity to eliminate hunger, war, and illiteracy, yet 1.2 billion people live below the poverty line and 8 million die annually from poverty—a silent global holocaust. The struggle against imperialism is inseparable from the struggle against capitalism. The only force capable of overcoming US imperialism is the working class, which holds power through its control of production but remains unaware of it. During the First World War, Lenin fought against the stream, training cadres on genuine Marxism and producing Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism. He showed no pessimism, and there is no room for it now. The working class has never been more powerful, but this power must be organised, mobilised, and given adequate leadership. Lenin’s ideas, alongside those of Marx, Engels, and Trotsky, have withstood the test of time and alone guarantee future victory.