[Marxism] Imperialism

[Angelus Novus <fuerdenkommunismus@xxxxxxxxx>]

abu hartal:

> As for imperialism, it has a specific economic 
> meaning which should all be to clear

abu, it might be helpful if you would state clearly
what you mean by imperialism, since in my experience
it is one of those vague terms, like "dialectics",
where one should always ask the speaker/writer exactly
what they mean to say.

In my experience the term usually has a trivial and a
non-trivial meaning.

In the trivial meaning, used by many non-marxist
activists as well as many supposed marxists, it is
merely a synonym for the use of armed force by
capitalist nation-states.

In the non-trivial sense, used by Lenin to clarify the
emergence of colonial empires under the aegis of the
leading capitalist nation-states, it rests upon a
questionable theoretical foundation (the supposed
transcendence of the law of value by direct rule of
monopolies, a "rotting" and "dying" capitalism, etc.)

Presumably you aren't using "imperialism" in the sense
of Lenin's pamphlet, but I would also assume you also
don't mean it merely in the sense of the use of armed
force by capitalist states.

So perhaps a definition would be helpful.

> Really the NATO operation in Kosova or the
operations > in Afghanistan do not meet a Marxist
definition of 
> imperialism. The idea that these operations were 
> needed to protect pipelines is not convincing to me.


Again, I'm not sure what is meant here by imperialism.
 However, it is certainly the case that the NATO
intervention was viewed as being of paramount
importance by the Federal Republic of Germany, the
leading capitalist state in Europe.  I also do not put
much stock in vulgar conspiracy theory of the
"pipeline" sort, but there is no question that Germany
views Southeast Europe as its backyard, similar to the
U.S. attitude towards Central and South America.




      
____________________________________________________________________________________
Never miss a thing.  Make Yahoo your home page. 
http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs

________________________________________________
YOU MUST clip all extraneous text before replying to a message.
Send list submissions to: Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism