Lenin was the first person to deeply analyze and discuss features of imperialism through the lens of Marxism, as Marx and Engels had just passed away when capitalism was just about to enter the stage of monopoly capitalism. Rudolf Hilferding’s “Finance Capital,” Roza Luxemberg’s “The Accumulation of Capital,” and Nikolai Bukharin’s “Imperialism and World Economy” are some writings on aspects of imperialism but they all had serious flaws concerning proper understanding of the phenomenon of imperialism, although Bukharin’s work can be taken as the first serious attempt to analyze imperialism from Marxist angle.

To fully understand Lenin’s thoughts on imperialism, we have to study his writing entitle “Imperialism, the highest stage of Capitalism: A popular outline” together with “Imperialism and Socialism in Italy” (1915, vol. 21), “A Caricature of Marxism and imperialist Economism” (1916, vol. 23), “Imperialism and the split in Socialism” (1916, vol. 23), “Imperialism, The nascent trend of imperialist Economism” (1916, Vol. 23) and Notebooks on Imperialism.¹ Well before the start of the first World War, Lenin had started identifying and analyzing different aspects of the phenomenon of imperialism.

Lenin has defined imperialism in his writing “Imperialism and the split in Socialism” in the following terms:

‘… We have to begin with precise and a full definition of Imperialism as possible. Imperialism is a specific historical stage of Capitalism. Its specific character is three fold: 1. Monopoly Capitalism, 2. Parasitic or decaying Capitalism, 3. Moribund Capitalism. The supplanting of free competition by monopoly is the fundamental economic feature, the quintessence of imperialism” (vol. 23, p. 105). This is a summary of the definition of imperialism he has provided in his book ‘Imperialism, the highest stage of Capitalism (A Popular outline)’, where he writes:

… If it were necessary to give the briefest possible definition of imperialism we should have to say that imperialism is the monopoly stage of capitalism .. we must give a definition of imperialism that will include the following five of its basic features: (1) the concentration of production and capital has developed to such a high stage that it has created monopolies which play a decisive role in economic life; (2) the merging of bank capital with industrial capital, and the creation, on the basic of this ‘finance capital’ of a financial oligarchy; (3) the export of capital as distinguished fromthe export of commodities acquiresexceptionalimportance; (4) the formation of international monopolist capitalist associations which share the world among themselves, and (5) the territorial division of the whole world among the biggest capitalist powersis completed. Imperialism is the capitalism at the stage of development at whichdominance of monopolies and finance capital is established; in which the export of capital has acquired pronounced importance; in which the division of the world among the international trusts has begun, in which the division of all territories of the globe among the biggest capitalist powers has been completed (vol. 22, p.266-267).

The imperialist economic order in this stage of globalization has remarkably socialized production while the generated surplus is usurped by a handful of imperialist business houses, thus creating a ground for proletarian revolution and socialism. Lenin’s theory of proletarian revolution is still a valid guiding principle for Marxist movement. Lenin’s theses on imperialism are not only an analysis of economic situation but are also the guidelines for proletarian revolution and tactics.

Marxist analysis of imperialism by Lenin, as the final stage of capitalism, shows that ‘imperialism is the eve of the social revolution of the proletariat’. On the strength of this analysis, Lenin put forward the new theoretical proposition that initially socialism could triumph in one single capitalist country, and could not triumph in all at once. Lenin’s historical significance lies in the proposition of the new theory of socialist revolution. In the course of analysing imperialism Lenin discovered the law of uneven economic and political development of capitalist countries and put forward that in the era of imperialism the simultaneous victory of the socialist revolution in all or in most advanced countries was impossible, but that it was fully possible and inevitable first in several less developed countries or even one country. It was proved in Russia, China and other countries of Asia and east Europe.

Lenin’s thesis on imperialism is directly opposed to the opportunism, revisionism and pacifism of the leaders including Kautsky of the second International as is evidenced from his preface to the French and German edition of his work, ‘Imperialism, a highest stage of capitalism’:

…Kautsky’stheoretical analysis of imperialism (ultra-imperialism or super imperialism), aswell as his economic and political critique of imperialism, are permeated through and through with a spirit, absolutely irreconcilable with Marxism, of obscuring and glossing over the fundamental contradiction of imperialism and with a striving to preserve at all costs the crumbling unity with opportunism in the European working class movement’ (C. w. 22, p.298).

In line with the above quotes of Lenin, the party of the proletariat should take the responsibility to oppose the incorrect understanding and analysis of imperialist contradiction and the its crisis among the Marxists of the world. Looking from the perspective of this responsibility, we do not appear to have fully struggled against these wrong understanding and analysis.

We all know that in last decade of last century even many ‘Marxist’ theoreticians, not to mention the capitalist theoreticians, claimed that Lenin’s thesis on imperialism has become obsolete, and some among them have also produced new version of Kautsky’s ‘ultra-imperialism,’ where the contradiction within the imperialist camp is over, and peaceful competition with the imperialists are possible. They point to the existing US led unipolar world order as the final and permanent reality to support their ‘theories.’

Post-Marxists like Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt have declared that imperialism is dead and present age is not the age of imperialism but that of empire, and the revolution will not be carried out by the proletariat but by the ‘formless multitude’ (the downtrodden globalized people). This way, they have not only covered up the contradiction of the proletariat with imperialism but also assisted imperialism. Marxists-Leninists have not carried out a proper critique of many economic theories and thoughts on imperialism propagated after the second World War, such as the ‘Neo-imperialism’ of Ellen Meiksins Wood, David Harvey, Alex Callinicos, Enfu Cheng and ‘neo-Marxism’: Monopoly Capital School (Paul Sweezy and Paul A. Baran), dependency Theory (Andre Gunder Frank), World System Theory (immanuel wallerstein), Theory of Unequal exchange (Arghiri Emmanual), and Theory of Underdevelopment (Samir Amin).

A hundred and seven years have elapsed since Lenin’s works on imperialism were published and imperialism is in its globalized neo-liberal stage. When the hither to helpful Kinsey economic theory failed to solve the structural problems facing the capitalist system after the second World War, neo-liberalism was introduced during the 70’s as a way out of the crisis. With ever dwindling profitability, the imperialist powers devised new international orders (neo-liberalism) by breaking the national barriers to capital flow and exploitation of cheap labour and raw materials of economically backward countries. Key features of the present imperialist world order are: globalization of production process, domination of finance capital, ever deepening crisis of capitalism, domination of monopolistic multi-national corporations, penetration of capital even in remote pre-capitalist societies, widespread tendency towards fascism in economically advanced as well as relatively poor nations, spread of poverty and unemployment among even the rich countries, dismantling of the ‘welfare features’ of Keynesian days, and lack of strong united forces against these imperialist onslaughts on the poor and working people of the world.

As Lenin has shown, imperialism generates wars for its survival. Imperialist competition is as real now as in the time of Lenin. However, the scope and nature of wars are not like the ones we saw during the last two world wars: the wars are more regional, localized, more technology based and not fought in the land of the war generating imperialist powers. Just we are seeing in Gaza, Ukraine, and other countries of middle East.

The changes that we see in the global situation have developed following the tendencies of imperialism already pointed out by Lenin. Nevertheless, there are people who claim that imperialism today is qualitatively different from what Lenin described long ago, and others argue that nothing substantial has changed since Lenin’s time. Both these positions are wrong. We still hold that we are in the age of imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism. Although there have been some significant changes in the world context, and they will naturally effect the strategy and tactics of the general line of today’s world proletarian revolution, Lenin’s basic premises are still valid. Imperialism has crossed it ‘glorious’ days of the 50’s and 60’s and it has hardly recovered from the crushing crisis of the 70’s. Even the bourgeois economists have started accepting that current world capitalist crisis is insoluble structural crisis, and it cannot solve the contradictions of imperialism. So it is not the option of the problems of the society.

The revolutionary forces that are supposed to fight imperialism-capitalism and lead the humankind out of this quagmire created by the imperialist world order are also not generally in good shape too. Confusions, disintegrations, lack of clear directions characterize the world communist initiatives. Many of the initiatives characterize rightist tendencies, bookish orthodoxism, and leftist opportunitism. The imperialist-capitalist order (at the global level as well as at national/regional level) will not automatically crumble and give way to socialism! Conscious, concerted, organized and strong force of the working class people of the world is the only option for dismantling the imperialist order and establishing socialism. Unless this option becomes real and significant, imperialist order will remain albeit in increasingly in moribund form with the help of worst versions of fascism. Only a revolutionary party that honestly follows the fundamentals of Marxism-Leninism and Mao’s teachings (such as forceful overthrow of the imperialist-capitalist order, class and mass struggle and dictatorship of the proletariat, continuous cultural revolution, participation in elections as continuation of the people’s struggles against capitalist onslaughts, organizing party and peoples organizations based on Leninist ideas, moving by analyzing concrete situation than copying from others) can lead the societies out of the hell-like imperialist-capitalist prison. Are we ready for this task?

• Mr. Ninu Chapagain (Niranjan Chapagain) is a well known literary critic, and the Coordinator of Lenin’s Commemoration Centenary Central Organizing Committee, Nepal.

1^ Lenin’s collected volume-39 comprises of 148 books with 232 references cited, out of which all 20 note books relate to imperialism out of which 15 were notes prepared by him as part of writing his famous book “Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism: A popular outline.”