Capitalism and imperialism: a Marxist perspective
Arjaan Miah (They)
Imperialism is not a precise set of behaviours, but a term that can be applied in different ways when discussing economic and political structures. For this reason, the majority of this essay concerns itself with the analysis of different imperialist nations, so that we can form our impressions by looking at the world as it is, rather than by matching things to rigid definitions. Nevertheless, I can think of no other way to start than with some idea of what we mean by imperialism in a capitalist age, before we progress any further. To quote Lenin: ‘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 .’
Transition from free market to oligopoly
But what is ‘the monopoly stage of capitalism’? Let us think about the structure of today’s economy. We live in a world in which a few companies control the overwhelming majority of each industry: the means by which goods are produced have been concentrated into only a few hands. In the mid-1800s, the capitalist economy was dominated by small family-owned firms who each employed and exploited their own set of workers. Those firms made products in their factories and mills that they then sold and made profits from. These firms competed against each other, and some prospered, while others failed. This was partly through corruption and through inherited wealth, but certainly through maximizing profits by further exploiting the working class – that is, inter alia , pushing wages down and breaking up unions. Today, the bourgeois class – the owning class, the ruling class, the class which owns all of the infrastructure in society – has become ever smaller as the biggest, most productive (most exploitative) enterprises have grown and taken a grip on their entire industry. This is a trend inherent in free market economies, because competition between enterprises is based on maximization of profit by any means necessary, without end, which involves standing on the backs of the working poor and, occasionally, stomping on them. In brief, this is what Lenin meant by ‘the monopoly stage of capitalism’. There is no good form of capitalism or market economics that avoids this happening, as it is an inevitable result of financial competition. Imperialism takes place under capitalism when the most productive firms use their wealth to cast a wider net over the world economy, whether by direct colonial rule or by other means. In this sense, imperialism, in its modern form, is an inevitable by-product and development of capitalism.
Oligopolies
Today our economy is dominated by oligopolies , which means that a small number of large corporations collectively have an overwhelming share of an industry. Take the media. In the USA, Disney, Time Warner, CBS, Viacom, NBC, and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation collectively own 90% of USA news outlets and media in general. In 1983, 50 companies owned this same proportion of the USA’s media. Apple IOS and Google Android dominate phone software, Apple and Windows dominate computer software. Today, the top 100 British manufacturing companies represent over 85% of Britain’s manufacturing output. Though all these corporations compete between each other, they are
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