Imperialism: The highest Stage of Capitalism

English language

ISBN:: 978-0-14-119256-7

(1 review)

Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism (Russian: Империализм как высшая стадия капитализма, romanized: Imperializm kak vysshaja stadija kapitalizma), originally published as Imperialism, the Newest Stage of Capitalism (Russian: Империализм как новейший этап капитализма, romanized: Imperializm kak novejshij etap kapitalizma), is a book written by Vladimir Lenin in 1916 and published in 1917. It describes the formation of oligopoly, by the interlacing of bank and industrial capital, in order to create a financial oligarchy, and explains the function of financial capital in generating profits from the exploitation colonialism inherent to imperialism, as the final stage of capitalism. The essay synthesises Lenin's developments of Karl Marx's theories of political economy in Das Kapital (1867).

5 editions

possm reviewed Imperialism: The highest Stage of Capitalism by Vladimir Ilich Lenin

Classic

4 stars

I felt like a bad Leftist not knowing Lenin's imperialism theory. Now I can cross this off. Main points are: - capitalism is in its latest stage, characterized by monopolies and the dominance of finance capital - capital gets exported to colonized countries - the working class in the imperialist countries benefits from the exploitation of the colonized countries - Kautsky is wrong and we don't like him - monopoly capitalism intensifies the contradictions of capitalism - capitalism is decaying

I find it interesting that we've been supposedly living in "late stage capitalism" for over a century now. Maybe it's time to stop being this optimistic.