Philip’s Reviews > Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism > Status Update

Kautsky's 'super-imperialism' nonsense is but an anti-Marxist bourgeois pacifism, to fight only imperialism in theory but not its very real foundation - capitalism - is a travesty.

VII. IMPERIALISM AS A SPECIAL STAGE OF CAPITALISM

Imperialism is not merely a policy of industrial capital to seek to annex agrarian lands as Kautsky puts it; imperialism is a stage of capitalism altogether, a stage of finance capital - not industrial capital, and it seeks to annex all the land it can, not necessarily agrarian lands, as Germany seeks Belgium or France Alsace & Lorraine.

As finance capitalism took over from production capitalism, so also did the European powers take over the world.

V. DIVISION OF THE WORLD AMONG CAPITALIST ASSOCIATIONS

Different countries' monopolies, after taking control of their domestic market, start their expansion abroad, here however, they encounter other monopolists and will either compete in being another countries' monopoly or will make a deal to divide the world.

IV. EXPORT OF CAPITAL

While the old capitalism exported finished goods, finance capitalism exports capital. While the old capitalism divided markets, finance capitalism divides the world, and the countries that receive this exported capital are then subjects to the metropole and later need to give concessions on trading rights, ports, rail, or arms purchases.

Imperialism, the domination of finance capital over all other capital, is strongest and biggest in the 4 oldest capitalist countries - Britain, France, the US and Germany - which account for 80% of the world finance capital making the rest of the world subservient to them.

The few big monopolies benefit with the issuance of small stock companies as they can simply buy 50% - or as low as 40% given many companies' small owners cannot actually vote - of their capital and control them, thus controlling far more capital than they actually need to spend.

The XX century is when capital in general became finance capital.

III. Finance Capital and the Financial Oligarchy

The banks are the ultimate monopolists as they hold the capital of their clients and know all about them, thus making their large industrialist clients all the more dependent on them.

II. BANKS AND THEIR NEW ROLE

Banks are intermediaries of inactive capital into profit-making capital, and thus they're the interconnecting web of capitalism, and just like the rest of capitalism banks are consolidating into a few large monopolies.