"The FIRST CONTRADICTION is the contradiction between labour and capital.
Imperialism is the omnipotence of the monopolist trusts and syndicates, of the
banks and the financial oligarchy, in the industrial countries. In the fight
against this omnipotence, the customary methods of the working class - trade
unions and co-operative organizations, parliamentary parties and the
parliamentary struggle - have proved to be totally inadequate. Either place
yourself at the mercy of capital, linger in misery as of old and sink lower and
lower, or adopt a new weapon - this is the alternative imperialism puts before
the vast masses of the proletariat. Imperialism brings the working class to
revolution"
Ooops, theres that nasty "R" word - revolution.
Stalin continues:
The SECOND CONTRADICTION is the contradiction among the various financial
groups and imperialist powers in their struggle for sources of raw materials,
for foreign territory. Imperialism is the export of capital to the sources of
raw materials, the frenzied struggle for monopolist possession of these
resources, the struggle for a redivision of the already divided world, a
struggle waged with particular fury by new financial groups and powers seeking
a "place in the sun" against the old groups and powers which cling tightly to
what they have grabbed. This frenzied struggle among the various groups of
capitalist is notable in that it includes as an inevtiable element imperialist
wars, wars for the annexation of foreign territories. This circumstance, in
its turn, is notable in that it leads to the mutual weakening of the
imperialists, to the weakening of the position of capitalism in general, to the
acceleration of the advent of the proletarian
revolution and to the practical inevitability of this revolution."
Ooops, did Stalin really say "the advent of the proletarian revolution and to
the practical inevitability of this revolution."? By golly he did!
Stalin concludes:
The THIRD CONTRADICTION, is the contradiction between the handful of ruling
"civilised" nations and the hundreds of millions of the colonial and dependent
peoples of the world. Imperialism is the most barefaced exploitation and the
most inhuman oppression of hundreds of millions of people inhabiting vast
colonies and dependent countries. The purpose of this exploitation and of this
oppression is to squeeze out super-profits. But in exploiting these countries
imperialism is compelled to build railroads, factories, and mills there, to
create industrial and commercial centres. The appearance of a class of
proletarians, the emergence of a native intelligentsia, the awakening of
national consciousness, the growth of the movement for emancipation - such are
the inevitable results of this "policy". The growth of the revolutionary
movement in all colonies and dependent countries without exception clearly
testifies to this fact. This circumstance is
of importance for the proletariat in that it radically undermines the position
of capitalism by converting the colonies into reserves of the proletarian
revolution." (Stalin's emphasis)
Imperialism means far more than wars. Wars are only an inevitable element of
imperialism but does not constitute imperialism of and by itself because the US
bougeoisie's policy of "humanitarianism" in the form of economic "aid" is also
an element of imperialism in order to create the dependency of all the
countries that this "huamnitarian aid" to supplied. There is a dying belief
that aid is a form of disinterested international munificence. Those who cling
to this view fly in the face of clear evidence of its role as a weapon of the
foreign policy of the US bourgeoisie. Remarkably, little attempt is made to
actually disguise this fact. In 1961 President Kennedy stated:
"...foreign aid is a method by which the United States maintains a position of
influence and control around the world, and sustains a good many countries
which would definitely collapse, or pass into the Communist bloc."
This was then supported by Professor HB Chenery, a former senior economist of
the US Agency for International Development:
"...economic assisstance is one of the instruments of foreign policy that is
used to prevent political and economic conditions from deteriorating in
countries where we value the preservation of the present government."
The use of "Aid" has never been an unconditional transfer of finacial
resources. The conditions attached to aid are clearly and directly intended to
serve the interests of the US bourgeoisie. For example, some of the
stipulations are that US aid is required to purchase goods and services from
the US, it must be carried in US ships and it must be repaid with exoribatant
interest.
What is realized is that imperialism is tied to capital. It is tied to capital
in order to make the receipient country dependent on the US in which the US
bourgeoisie has created an economic coup d' etat by dominating the recipient
countries politically and economically. It has brought the recipient countries
into its sphere of influence in order to obtain raw materials, resources and
the ability to establish military bases. Furthermore, it increases its
exploitation of wealth of the recipient countries through its demands of the
exorbitant interest and payments on the "aid". As the US bourgeoisie
continually attempt to carve up the world it brings it into capitalistic
rivalries with other capitalist countries attempting to do the same and it is
this contradiction of capital that creates the imperialist wars. Imperialist
wars do not arise from out of no where, they arise because of the competion for
markets, resources and capital.
The influence of capital - Aid - brings the recipient country under the
political and economic domination of the US bourgeoisie where the vast amount
of wealth, resources and capital are exported out of the country. It is this
economic and political rape of these recipient countries that fuels the
passions of the that countries proletariat and compells them to rise up in
violent struggle against their bougeoisie and that of the US bourgeoisie. This
is imperialism in a nutshell!
To reject imperialism and proletarian revolution - that is really closing ones
eyes to history! If US imperialism and proletarian revolution is no longer
valid what is Yugoslavia, Albania, USSR about today? What is the blockade on
Cuba and Venezuela about? What are the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq about?
These are only a few examples. What about the Palestinians? Israel is a
"colony" of the US and could never survive the Palestinian insurrection if the
US did not prop it up monetarily and militarily.
No one can find in the writings of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Hoxha or a
host of other great Marxist leaders that have contributed to the revolutionary
theory of scientific Marxism anything related to the word "globalization".
Yet, despite the argument over globalization, most Marxists agree that many of
the processes being analyzed today go back to the old international economy,
which has been with us for some time. Such processes as world capitalism,
market trade between regions, the growth of finance and new patterns of work,
have been part of our life since at the 1840's, when Marx and Engels began to
write.
The essential condition for the existence, and for the sway of the bourgeois
class, is the formation and augmentation of capital; the condition for capital
is wage labor. Wage labor rests exclusively on competition between the
workers. The advance of industry, to include the electronic stage, whose
involuntary promoter is the bourgeoisie, replaces the isolation of the workers,
due to competition, by their revolutionary combination, due to association.
The development of modern electronic industry, therefore, cuts from under its
feet the very foundation on which the bourgeoisie produces and appropriates
products. What the bourgeoisie, therefore, produces, above all, is its own
grave-diggers. Its fall and the victory of the proletariat are equally
inevitable. Private property without capitalism? What an absurd notion!
As Stalin stated, imperialism brings the working-class to revolution. The two
are dialectically related and cannot be separated even though the abstraction
of a mechanistic interpretation certainly is trying.
The rejection of imperialism and proletarian revolution...now that is a
fantastic statement and I hope those concerned about "protocol" take notice of
this! This comment is not even a reinvention of Marx - it is the complete
repudiation of Marxism.
Fraternally
Mark Scott
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