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Thanks, Matthew. These examples of ANSWER et al. ignoring the imperialist nature of Russia, China etc. are important. Wonder if they'll come up with a label for this category of countries. PS Got any references on Parvus's activities during the war? On Sun, Mar 30, 2014 at 6:55 PM, Matthew Russo <russo.matth...@gmail.com>wrote: > ====================================================================== > Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. > ====================================================================== > > > Here for your reference, or perhaps just to ruin your day, is the ANSWER > perspective couched as a grand historical narrative: > > > http://www.answercoalition.org/national/news/crimea-referendum-history.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=major&utm_campaign=ANSWER%20Newsletter > > No surprises, completely trapped in its time warp. I would draw attention > instead to the fundamental organizing concept: Imperialism as a single, > global economic system. According to this, after WW2, imperialism was > organized under the hegemony of a *single* imperialist state, the U.S. In > general, this would be indistinguishable from Kautsky's concept of > "ultra-imperialism" since the hegemonized imperialist partner countries by > definition, *consent* to U.S. leadership. That much is accurate. > > However, I seem to recall that the USSR and the PRC made their exit from > the imperialist system for a time. Further, the colonial state structures > that organized the system rapidly collapsed after the war. How then can > imperialism be seen as a unitary global economic system when such vast > geopolitical swathes remained either in unstable relation or completely > outside it? Contradiction #1. It follows from this that the U.S. was not > *globally* hegemonic. > > Then post-Soviet Russia and China re-entered the system, decisively after > 2000. But not under a U.S. hegemony, but as new contending imperialist > great powers, together with lesser ones such as India or Brazil. Further, > the old Triadic core of the system went into a stagnation and decline that > shows no sign of a decisive exit. At this point one can talk about > imperialism as a single *global* economic system, but only in the Leninist, > and not Kautskyian sense, of a world divided between states, and where the > U.S. is still not globally hegemonic (and never will be). But this is the > point Brian Becker has to dodge so as to maintain his Kautskyian theory of > imperialism: > > "But the inherently expansionist nature of modern day imperialism puts it > on a continual collision course with Russia, China or any national entity > or mass movement that serves as a brake or an obstacle to its desire for > unfettered domination over the planets' land and resources." > > Russia, China but "national entities", not imperialist powers in their own > right, grabbing for their share of the planets' land and resources. Why > hang your counter-hegemonic strategic hat on such non-global non-entities? > Of course, because they are very much global entities, growing on average > considerably faster than the stagnant, sluggish Triad. Hello, Chinese > capital anyone, buying shit left and right around the world? > > ANSWER simply proposes to align with the up and coming imperialists against > the old and flagging ones. Like I said, it's the Alexander Parvus Brigade, > guided by Kautsky's revisionist theory of imperialism. > > -Matt > ________________________________________________ > Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu > Set your options at: > http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/acpollack2%40gmail.com > ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
