ss69100 in V.Yu. Katasonov: World shadow economy. Cartels

Five signs of imperialism according to V. Lenin

Exactly 100 years ago, in the book “Imperialism, as the highest stage of capitalism,” which was studied in all universities in the Soviet Union, V.I. Lenin identified five main economic features of imperialism as the “highest” and “last” stage of capitalism. This:

1) The concentration of production and capital, which reached such a high stage of development that it created monopolies that play a decisive role in economic life.
2) The merger of banking capital with industrial capital and the creation of a financial oligarchy on the basis of this “financial capital”.
3) The export of capital is more important than the export of goods.
4) The formation of international monopoly capitalist unions that are redividing the world.
5) The end of the territorial division of land by the largest capitalist powers.

Today, each of the five economic characteristics of imperialism has changed. But let's take a closer look at the fourth, most relevant sign today - as it turns out, the most unsafe for the world. The fifth chapter of the book, which is called “Division of the world between capitalist unions,” is devoted to this feature.

The chapter begins with the following words: “Monopoly unions of capitalists, cartels, syndicates, trusts, divide among themselves, first of all, the domestic market, seizing the production of a given country into their more or less complete possession. But the internal market, under capitalism, is inevitably connected with the external one. Capitalism long ago created a global market. And as the export of capital grew and the foreign and colonial connections and “spheres of influence” of the largest monopoly unions expanded in every possible way, things “naturally” approached a worldwide agreement between them, the formation of international cartels.”

So, the fourth economic feature of imperialism is associated with the formation of international cartels. International cartels are monopolies of monopolies, agreements between national monopolies of different countries (trusts, concerns, syndicates) on the economic division of the world.

The creation of international cartels is preceded by the formation of cartels at the national level. Lenin writes about this in the first chapter (“Concentration of production and monopoly”). The first national cartels appeared after the crisis of 1873. Economic recovery at the end of the 19th century and the economic crisis of 1900-1903. led to the massive formation of national cartels, they “become one of the foundations of all economic life.” At the same time, many international cartels were formed.

Sections: History and social studies

The purpose of the lesson:

1. Find out the causes, process and consequences of the formation of monopolies;
2. Development of students’ skills in working with support patterns;
3. Reveal the meaning of new concepts to the topic using supporting diagrams. (See Appendix 1)

Lesson equipment: Textbook “New History 8th grade.” AND I. Yudovskaya, L.M. Vanyushkin, P.A. Baranov; support diagrams (See Appendix 1)

During the classes

I. Vocabulary work from the textbook

Assignment: find explanations of words in the textbook dictionary:

1. Monopoly
2. Financial capital
3. Imperialism
4. Competition
5. Oligarchy
6. Trust, syndicate
7. Concern

II. Explanation of new material

Today we have to trace the process of transition from capitalism to its highest stage - imperialism.

At the end of the lesson you should:

1. Name five signs of imperialism
2. Based on these signs, draw a conclusion: imperialism is a step forward or backward.

Homework: select examples to evaluate imperialism, showing its pros and cons.

III. Plan of the material being studied

1. Reasons for the formation of monopolies
2. Do monopolies eliminate competition?
3. Formation of banking monopolies and banking capital
4. Export of capital
5. Education MMC
6. The struggle for the redivision of the world
7. Imperialism - positive or negative phenomenon

1. Reasons for the formation of monopolies:

Scientific discoveries in various fields lead to the rapid development of industry, growth in production, and ultimately, an increase in the profits of capitalists. Since the main goal of capitalist production is profit, competition is also growing - the struggle for more favorable conditions for the sale of goods and for markets for raw materials.

An increase in production leads to a violation of proportions in the economy, since it does not develop according to plan (spontaneously), and this ultimately leads to economic crises, and these in turn lead to a decline in economic growth and the collapse of many enterprises. In order to survive, business owners need to search for and implement new technologies; only large enterprises can survive; all this forces capitalists to unite in monopolies - unions, in order to eliminate competition and obtain the greatest profit.

2. Question for students to think about: But do monopolies actually eliminate competition?

Based on supporting diagrams, students prove the opposite. The struggle is for power within the monopoly, for markets for raw materials, sales markets and cheap labor between monopolies. Contradictions between monopolies, on the contrary, are intensifying.

3. Formation of banking monopolies, financial capital and financial oligarchy.

During a period of rapid economic development and scientific discoveries, large monopolies can take out loans and store their capital from large, reliable banks. This, in turn, forces small banks to unite into banking monopolies. By investing their capital in monopoly banks, in order to control them, they send their representatives to the bank’s management.

In turn, the management of banks, wanting to receive more income, invest their capital in large monopolies, and send their representatives to the management of the monopolies to control them. This is how banking and industrial capital merge, i.e. financial capital arises; and with it the financial oligarchy: the fusion of power over the bank and the monopoly in the same hands.

4. Export of capital.

The capitalist's desire to gain more profit forces him to look for profitable forms of investing his capital. Not finding them in their own country, capitalists strive to take their capital to weaker countries where there are cheap raw materials and cheap labor (African colonies). This comes in the form of loans and credits, for which capitalists receive high interest rates.

The consequences of the export of capital are the dependence of the country into which capital is imported and the inhibition of the growth of its economy. Example: dependence of colonies on metropolises.

This export also affects countries exporting capital, where it could have a more useful use. Example: increasing wages or solving social issues.

5. Globalization of the economy leads to the formation of interstate monopolies.

6. The struggle for markets for raw materials and sales ultimately leads to a struggle for the redivision of the world. This is confirmed by the First and Second World Wars.

Conclusion: thus, the main features of imperialism are:

a) Formation of monopolies
b) Formation of financial capital and financial oligarchy
c) Import and export of capital
d) The struggle for the redivision of the world
e) Formation of interstate monopolies

So, we see that capitalism is being replaced by monopoly capitalism - IMPERIALISM.

7. How to evaluate IMPERIALISM?

I ask you to find the pros and cons of imperialism on your own using the materials in the textbook § 2, pp. 20, 21

The result of the independent work of eighth-graders should be the following table:

Reflection

1. Explain the meaning of new concepts using a reference summary (see Appendix);
2. Name the signs of imperialism;
3. Explain their manifestation based on the diagram and supporting outline;

Write on the cards:

1. What do you remember best?
2. What remains unclear;
3. Evaluate your knowledge on this topic yourself.

The eve of the socialist revolution. This brilliant conclusion of V.I. Lenin was soon fully confirmed in the course of historical development. The Great October Socialist Revolution marked the beginning of the era of transition from capitalism to socialism. For sixty years, the people of the USSR, and later of a number of other countries, have been building a new society, fundamentally different from the capitalist one. The world socialist system has taken shape and is growing stronger. Since the victory of the October Revolution, capitalism has entered a period of general crisis - a historical period of decline and final collapse. The main feature of the general crisis of capitalism is the split of the world into two opposing social systems, capitalist and socialist. It is also manifested in the collapse of the colonial system of imperialism, in the struggle of a number of countries liberated from colonial dependence for a non-capitalist path of development, in the growing instability of the capitalist economy, the increasing uneven development of capitalist countries, in the intensification of the class struggle of the working people against the oppression of monopolies.

Imperialism made inevitable the struggle of international trusts and international monopoly unions for markets for goods, sources of raw materials, and areas for investment of capital. The imperialist powers absorb the overwhelming majority of the world's production of raw materials, but most of them do not have significant deposits of their own. The export of capital and the creation of branches or subsidiaries abroad have served and continue to serve as the main instrument for the penetration of monopolies into other countries. In an effort to obtain the highest profits, they enter into agreements among themselves on the division of world markets. The division of world markets, or the economic division of the world, becomes the most important feature of imperialism.

Despite all the changes that capitalism has undergone, the basic patterns of its development, determined by the essence of capitalist relations of production, are preserved. Therefore, in order to correctly understand the most essential features of the capitalist mode of production as a whole, to reveal its irreconcilable contradictions, it is necessary, first of all, based on the methodology of K. Marx, to comprehensively study free competition capitalism, i.e. pre-monopoly capitalism. First, we should clarify the laws of capitalist production, then move on to an analysis of the laws of circulation of capital and, finally, consider the processes of capitalist production, circulation, distribution and consumption in their unity and interaction. This will allow us to better understand the essence of capital and surplus value, to reveal the laws and categories that express the specific forms of their movement. The first part of the section is devoted to the consideration of all these problems - General foundations of the capitalist mode of production. The second part - Imperialism - the highest stage of capitalism - analyzes, firstly, the patterns of development of monopoly capitalism and, secondly, the effect of these patterns during the period of the general crisis of world capitalism.

Imperialism grew as a direct continuation and development of the basic properties of capitalism. Despite the fact that profound changes have occurred in the development of capitalist society, all the fundamental features of capitalism remain: capitalist private ownership of the means of production, the division of society into antagonistic classes, competition and anarchy of production. The economic laws of capitalism also operate at the stage of imperialism, but under the influence of new economic conditions they have other forms of manifestation.

Under the conditions of monopoly capitalism, all the main features of imperialism - the dominance of monopolies and finance capital, the export of capital, the division of the world by international monopolies and the largest monopoly powers - are the result of the law of surplus value, the result of the development of capitalist production in order to extract the greatest profit. Under these conditions, the forms of manifestation of the basic economic law of capitalism become monopoly profit and monopoly price. Monopolies receive high profits due to the sharp increase in exploitation of the working class, peasantry, urban petty bourgeoisie, and the peoples of backward colonial and semi-colonial countries.

The form of resolving the contradiction between the productive forces and bourgeois production relations is the socialist revolution. Capitalism does not voluntarily leave the historical arena. He resists fiercely and retreats fighting. The capitalist system is disintegrating under the blows of revolutionary forces. At the same time, the socialist system emerges, strengthens and develops. Thus, the main feature of the modern era is the split of the world into two opposing socio-economic systems, an irreconcilable struggle between them, during which socialism is gaining ever new positions, and imperialism is retreating.

IMPERIALISM is monopoly capitalism, its highest and final stage of development, decaying and dying capitalism, the eve of the socialist revolution. Its main distinctive feature and main, defining feature is the dominance of large monopoly capital in the economic, political, and ideological fields. A comprehensive, truly scientific analysis of the essence of imperialism was given by V.I. Lenin in his work Imperialism, as the highest stage of capitalism, published in 1917, as well as in a number of other works. The theory of imperialism developed by Lenin was the greatest contribution to Marxism, a new stage in its development. It equips the working people and Marxist-Leninist parties with an understanding of the most important features of modern capitalism, its deep contradictions, and exposes the methods that the imperialists use to maintain their dominance. At the same time, it points to the paths that lead to the inevitable death of capitalism at its last stage and its replacement by socialism. Exploring the imperialist stage of capitalism, V.I. Lenin identified its main five economic features: 1) the concentration of production and capital, which reached such a high stage of development that it created monopolies that play a decisive role in economic life 2) the merger of banking capital with industrial capital and the creation on the basis of this financial capital of the financial oligarchy 3) the export of capital, in contrast to the export of goods, becomes particularly important 4) international monopoly unions of capitalists are formed, dividing the world 5) territorial trade is completed

Thus, basing the presentation, as noted, on the formational approach, in the analysis of pre-capitalist formations the team of authors tried to show the development during this period of precisely a number of relationships inherent in all the relationships of the natural-economic organization of production as a whole, peculiar relationships of personal dependence and associated forms exploitation, trace the line of origin and development of commodity relations. An attempt has been made to increase attention to such general aspects of development as improving human abilities, the action of a certain motivation in work, and the mechanism of market relations. In the presentation of capitalist relations of production there is no special section on imperialism. The main attention is paid to the consideration of the general features of cali-

The program adopted by the 3rd Congress of the CPV (19(il)) states that the main enemies of the Venezuelan revolution are American imperialism and latifundism. The program sets the main tasks of the revolution as complete economic and political liberation from American imperialism, a radical transformation of the agrarian structure through the elimination of the latifundist ownership of land, independent and progressive development of the national economy in all areas, consistent democratization of political life, which would allow the main problems of the nation and the masses to be resolved in a progressive way.The decisions of the 6th Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPV (Air. 1904) determined ways to achieve these goals Experience, accumulated in recent years, teaches us that the enemies of our revolution, led by American imperialism, will not allow the forces that advocate the elimination of their domination to come to power peacefully, therefore the path to achieve victory is the path of armed struggle... Conducting an armed struggle is not only excludes, but also presupposes the use of other forms of struggle. The 4th Congress of the CPV (Jan. 1971) comprehensively analyzed Ch. features and reasons for saving. V.'s backwardness and its dependence on Amer. imperialism and put forward ch. tasks of the struggle against imperialism and internal. reactions to open the way to comprehensive self-reliance and independent development of the country.

In the era of imperialism, capitalist technology. countries is acquiring new features. Decisive positions are captured by the largest monopolies, private capitalist. manufacturing and trading companies. They mainly control the sales (both on the domestic and foreign markets) of goods from small producers and non-monopolistic companies. enterprises (especially in agriculture). The dominance of monopolies and finance. capital sharply increases foreign trade. expansion, the region becomes one of the important means of extracting monopoly super-profits. During this era, capitalism developed significantly under the influence of the export of capital. As V.I. Lenin emphasizes, the export of capital abroad becomes a means of encouraging the export of goods abroad (ibid., vol. 27, p. 363). The export of capital is used to seize foreign markets and sources of raw materials, especially in colonial and dependent countries. Whatever the form in which capital is exported - in the form of loans, credits or direct investments - the predominant part of it is usually exported (directly or indirectly) in the form of goods, i.e. it leads to an increase in foreign trade. turnover. At the same time, income (interest and dividends) on capital exported abroad is paid by capital-importing countries, as a rule, also in commodity form. And this, in turn, contributes to the growth of world trade. Economy, the division of the world by the largest monopolies, and the creation of a colonial system of imperialism acted in the same direction (see Table 1).

Lit. Marx K., Capital, vol. 1, ch. 11 -13, 23-24 Marx K. and Engels F., Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 23 of his own, Capital, vol. 3, ch. 15, 27, ibid., vol. 25, part 1 Engels F., Anti-Dühring, department 3, ch. 1, ibid., v. 20 Marx K. and F., Manifesto of the Communist Party, ibid., v. 4 Lenin V.I., Development of capitalism in Russia, ch. 6, 7, Poly, collection. cit., 5th ed., vol. 3rd, Imperialism, as the highest stage of capitalism, ch. 1, 2, ibid., vol. 27 Novoselov S.P., The main contradiction of capitalism and modernity, M., 1974 Perlo V., Unsustainable economics, trans. from English, M., 1975, ch. 2 State-monopoly capitalism general features and features, M., 1975 Political economy of modern monopoly capitalism, 2nd ed., vol. 1, section 1, M., 1975 Pesenti A., Essays on the political economy of capitalism, trans. from Italian, vol. 1, ch. 12, 13, M., 1976.

The term “imperialism” was first used in the 30s. XIX century to characterize the foreign policy of Napoleon III. Later, with the intensification of the colonial expansion of European countries, this term began to be used as a synonym for colonialism.

Economic

Imperialism was a natural by-product of an international economy based on the rivalry of several industrial competing countries. The rivalry intensified especially against the backdrop of the economic crisis of the 1880s.

The motive for colonial expansion was also the specific economic interests of individual groups that received excess profits from expanding their spheres of influence to other countries.

Traditionally, imperialism was seen as a powerful driving force of the economy. Trade and industrial companies received enormous profits, and their representatives were active supporters of colonial policy. However, a number of historians point out that colonial conquests were not always economically profitable.

It is no coincidence that at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, two countries that had virtually no colonies took the lead in economic development - the USA and Germany. In most colonies there were no large markets and no qualified labor force. In addition, the metropolis first had to invest its funds in the development of production infrastructure (construction of seaports, railways, etc.). Large investments were made where there were rich mineral deposits. Such a region, in particular, was South Africa, rich in gold and diamond deposits.

Political

The ruling elite was interested in imperial expansion, which expanded and strengthened its own power.

Public

Politicians realized the potential benefits of imperialism for maintaining the stability of society. Military victories brought new votes and were noticeably cheaper than carrying out reforms.

Cultural

The period from 1875 to 1914 can be called the “era of imperialism” not only because during this period the advanced countries dominated the backward ones, but also because of the number of rulers who called themselves emperors - Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Turkey , Great Britain, China, Japan, Ethiopia, Morocco, Brazil. In fact, not all of the listed empires were such. At the end of the 19th century. The dominant imperial pentarchy (five kingdom) included not only countries with a monarchical form of government - Russia, Great Britain, Germany, Austria-Hungary, but also republican France. The pentarchy was later supplemented by the United States (after the victory in the 1898 war with Spain) and Japan (after the victory over China in 1895 and especially over Russia in 1905). The largest empire was undoubtedly Great Britain - by the beginning of the 20th century. its territory exceeded 35 million km 2, and its population reached 444 million. Great Britain thus controlled about 1/4 of the territory and population

The first, but fairly correct idea of ​​what imperialism is, is given by the translation of the Latin noun imperium, from which the root of this word is derived. It means power, domination. Indeed, it is commonly understood as a state policy based on military force used for external expansion and the seizure of foreign territories.

Colonialism is synonymous with imperialism

In general, the era of imperialism is characterized by the formation of colonies, as well as the economic control that stronger states establish over countries that are inferior to them in their development. In this regard, the term “imperialism” acquired a synonym in the last quarter of the 19th century - “colonialism”, which practically coincides with it in meaning.

The term “world imperialism” was first coined by the English historian and economist J. A. Hobson, who dedicated his major work to it in 1902. His followers were such prominent Marxists as V.I. Lenin, N.I. Bukharin, R. Hilferding, as well as Rosa Luxemburg. Having carried out a broader development of this category, they used its main provisions to justify the class struggle aimed at achieving the proletarian revolution.

Statement by V. I. Lenin about the characteristic features of imperialism

In one of his works, V.I. Lenin defined the main features of imperialism. First of all, he pointed out that monopolies formed as a result of high concentration of production and capital were beginning to play a key role in the country’s economy. In addition, according to the “leader of the world proletariat” (as he was called during the Soviet period), an essential characteristic of the imperialist state is the merger of industrial and banking capital in it, and, as a result of this process, the emergence of a financial oligarchy.

Defining what imperialism is, Lenin also emphasized that at this stage of development of capitalist society, the export of capital begins to dominate the export of goods. In this he practically quoted Marx. Monopolies, in turn, begin to unite into powerful international unions, dividing the world into spheres of influence (economic imperialism). And finally, the result of all the processes described above is the military division of land between the most powerful imperialist states.

Criticism of Lenin's theory

Based on the signs of imperialism listed by V.I. Lenin, the so-called Marxist understanding of this phenomenon was formed, which was considered the only correct one and was replicated in its time by the organs of Soviet propaganda. However, the observations of scientists of a later period largely refute it.

Analyzing the historical processes that took place during the 20th and early 21st centuries, many of them came to an unexpected conclusion. It turned out that, regardless of their socio-economic system, states are capable of committing actions that result in the seizure of foreign territories, the global division of spheres of influence, as well as the formation of dominant and dependent countries. The policies of the largest imperialist powers of the 20th century were determined by a number of objective factors that did not fit into the Marxist-Leninist theory.

Globalization process

The 21st century is witnessing the formation of a qualitatively new stage of imperialism, called “globalism.” This term, which has been widely used in recent decades, is commonly understood as a wide range of various military, political, economic and other activities aimed at the dominance of the doctrine, as a rule, implemented by the most developed and powerful state, claiming global leadership. Thus, at this stage, the policy of imperialism comes down to the creation of a “unipolar world.”

The era of neo-globalism

A new term has entered the lexicon of modern political scientists - “neo-imperialism”. It is commonly understood as a military-political and military alliance of several of the most developed powers, united by the common goal of imposing their hegemony on the rest of the world in all areas of life and thus creating a model of society that is beneficial to themselves.

Neo-imperialism is characterized precisely by the fact that the place of individual powers, overwhelmed by ambitious aspirations, has been taken by their alliances. Having thus received additional potential, they began to pose a real danger to the world political and economic balance.

No wonder the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. became the period of the birth of the worldwide movement of anti-globalists, opposing the dominance of transnational corporations, and various kinds of trade and government organizations, such as, for example, the sensational WTO (World Trade Organization).

What is imperialism in Russia?

At the end of the first decade of the 20th century, Russian capitalism acquired many features characteristic of imperialism, in the understanding that was proposed by theorists of Marxist-Leninist teaching. This was largely facilitated by the economic recovery, which replaced the period of depression. During the same period, there was a significant concentration of production. Suffice it to say that, according to statistics of those years, about 65% of all workers worked in large enterprises engaged in fulfilling government orders.

This served as the basis for the formation and development of monopolies. Researchers, in particular, note that in the pre-revolutionary decade this process even covered the textile industry, in which patriarchal-merchant orders were traditionally strong. The period of formation and subsequent development of imperialism in Russia was also marked by the massive transfer of Ural mining enterprises from the hands of private owners to the ownership of banks and joint-stock companies, which thus gained control over a huge amount of the country's natural resources.

Of particular note is the increasing power of monopolies in the most significant areas of the industry. An example of this is the Prodameta syndicate, founded in 1902, which in a short period of time managed to concentrate in its hands almost 86% of the entire national metal sales. At the same time, three powerful associations associated with the largest foreign trusts appeared and operated successfully in the oil industry. They were kind of industrial monsters. Producing more than 60% of domestic oil, they were, at the same time, owners of 85% of all share capital.

The emergence of large monopoly associations in Russia

The most common form of monopoly in pre-revolutionary Russia was trusts - associations of enterprises, and in some cases banks, to implement a pricing policy that was favorable to them, as well as other types of commercial activities. But gradually they began to be replaced by higher-type monopolies, such as trusts and cartels.

Continuing the conversation about what imperialism is in Russia, which stood on the threshold of colossal political and economic upheavals of the 20th century, it is impossible to ignore such a phenomenon as the emergence of a powerful financial oligarchy caused by the merger of banking and industrial capital. This has already been discussed above in the section devoted to Lenin’s definitions of world imperialism, which almost completely correspond to the Russian realities of that period.

The growing role of the financial-industrial oligarchy

In particular, it should be noted that from the end of the 19th century until the October armed coup, the number of commercial banks in the country remained practically the same, but the volume of funds controlled by them increased fourfold. A particularly powerful breakthrough was made from 1908 to 1913. A characteristic feature of this period in the development of the Russian economy was the placement of bank securities - shares and bonds not abroad, as was previously customary, but within the country.

At the same time, financial oligarchs did not limit their activities to speculation in shares of industrial enterprises and railways. They were actively involved in their management, and in addition they themselves were the creators of monopolies in a wide variety of industrial sectors - from metallurgy to the production of tobacco and salt.

Interaction between the financial elite and the government

As Lenin pointed out in his works, an important incentive for Russia’s establishment on imperialist tracks was the close interaction of oligarchic circles with representatives of the state apparatus. There were the most favorable prerequisites for this. It is noted that after 1910, four of the five largest banks in the capital were headed by individuals who had previously held key positions in the Ministry of Finance.

Thus, in matters of domestic and, importantly, foreign policy, the Russian government was the executor of the will of the highest circles of the industrial and financial oligarchy. This explains many decisions that came both from the cabinet and directly from the emperor. In particular, the interests of the monopolies that were part of the military-industrial complex largely predetermined the country's entry into the First World War, which turned out to be disastrous both for the three-hundred-year-old dynasty of its kings and for millions of ordinary residents.