Collection de courts extraits du livre Imperialism - The Highest Stage of Capitalism écrit par Lénine en 1916 et publié en 1917. J'ai trouvé tout ça dans une vidéo Radical Reviewer, un youtuber spécialisé dans la critique de livre de théorie communiste ou anarchiste.
Lénine décrit avec précision la naissance d’une phase du capitalisme amené à supplanter les Etats à l'internationale et marquée par le premier âge de la finance moderne. Plus de cent ans plus tard, tout cela est encore étrangement d'actualité. Je vous laisse juger.
La vidéo de radical Reviewer vous attend juste en dessous ;)
Chapter I - Concentration of Production and Monopoly
“Marx, by a theoretical and historical analysis of capitalism showed that free competition gives rise to the concentration of production, which, in turn, at a certain stage of development leads to monopoly.”
“Capitalism in its imperialist stage arrives at the threshold of the most complete socialization, of production. (…) Production becomes social, but appropriation remains private. The social means of production remain the private property of a few. The general framework of formally recognized free competition remains, but the yoke of a few monopolists on the rest of the population becomes a hundred times heavier, more burdensome and intolerable.”
“Crisis of every kind — economic crisis more frequently, but not only these — in their turn increase vey considerably the tendency towards concentration and monopoly.”
Chapter II – The Bank and Their New Role
“The principal and primary function of banks is to serve as an intermediary in the making of payments. In doing so they transform inactive money capital into active capital, that is; into capital producing a profit.”
“Large-scale enterprises, especially the banks, not only completely absorb small ones, but “join” them to themselves, subordinate them, bring them into their “own” group or concern (to use the technical term) by having “holdings” in their capital, by purchasing or exchanging shares, by controlling them through a system of credits, etc.”
“The old capitalism has had its day. The new capitalism represents a transition towards something. It is hopeless, of course, to seek for “firm principles and a concrete aim” for the purpose of “reconciling” monopoly with free competition.“
Chapter III – Capital and Financial Oligarchy
“Finance capital, concentrated in a few hands and exercising a virtual monopoly, exacts enormous and ever-increasing profits from the floating of companies, issue of stock, state loans, etc., tightens the grip of financial oligarchies and levies tribute upon the whole of society for the benefits of monopolists.”
“The supremacy of finance capital over all other forms of capital means the predominance of the rentier and of the financial oligarchy; it means the crystallization of a small number of financially “powerful” states from among all the rest.”
“Nearly the whole world is more or less the debtor to and tributary of these four international banker countries, the four ”pillars” of world finance capital. It is particularly important to examine the part which export of capital plays in creating the international network of dependence and ties of finance capital.”
Chapter IV – The Export of Capital
“Under the old capitalism, when free competition prevailed, the export of goods was the most typical feature. Under modern capitalism, when monopolies prevail, the export of capital has become the typical feature. Capitalism is commodity production at the highest stage of development, when labour power itself becomes a commodity.”
“As long as capitalism remains what it is, surplus capital will never will never be utilized for the purpose of raising the standard of living of the masses in a given country, for this would mean a decline in profits for the capitalists; it will be used for the purpose of increasing those profits by exporting capital abroad to the backward countries. In these backward countries profits are usually high, for capital is scarce, the price of land is relatively low, wages are low, raw materials are cheap.”
“The countries which export capital are nearly always to obtain “advantages,” the character of which throws light on the peculiarities of the epoch of finance capital and monopoly.”
“The capital exporting countries have divided the world among themselves in the figurative sense of the term. But finance capital has also led to the actual division of the world.”
Chapter V – The Division of the World Among Capitalist Countries
“Monopolist capitalist combines —cartels, syndicates, trusts— divide among themselves, first of all, the whole internal market of a country, and impose their control, more or less completely, upon the industry of that country. But under capitalism the home market is inevitably bound up with the foreign market. Capitalism long ago created a world market. As the export of capital increased, and as the foreign and colonial relations and the “spheres of influence” of the big monopolist combines expanded, things “naturally” gravitated towards an international agreement among these combines, and towards the formation of international cartels.”
“The capitalists divide the world, not out of any particular malice, but because the degree of concentration which has been reached forces them to adopt this method in order to get profits. And they divide it in proportion to “capital,” in proportion to “strength,” because there cannot be any other system of division under commodity production and capitalism. But strength varies with the degree of economic and political development.”
Chapter VI – The Division of the World Among the Great Powers
“The colonial policy of the capitalist countries has completed the seizure of the unoccupied territories on our planet. For the first time the world is completely divided up, so that in the future only re-division is possible; territories can only pass from one “owner” to another, instead of passing as un-owned territory to an “owner”.
“The more capitalism is developed, the more the need for raw materials is felt, the more bitter competition becomes, and the more feverishly the hunt for raw materials proceeds throughout the whole world, the more desperate becomes the struggle for the acquisition of colonies.”
“Free markets are becoming more and more a thing of the past; monopoly syndicates and trusts are restricting them more and more every day, and “simply” improving agriculture reduces itself to improving the conditions of the masses, to raising wages and reducing profits. Where, expect in the imagination of the sentimental reformists, are there any trusts capable of interesting themselves in the condition of the masses instead of the conquest of colonies?”
Chapter VII – Imperialism as a Special Stage of Capitalism
“Imperialism is capitalism in that stage of development in which the dominance of monopolies and finance capital has established itself, in which the export of capital has acquired pronounced importance, in which the division of the world among the international trusts has begun, in which the division of all territories of the globe among the great capitalist powers has been completed.”
“We ask, is there under capitalism any means of removing the display between the development of productive forces and the accumulation of capital on the one side, and the division of colonies and “spheres of influence” for finance capital on the other side —other than by resorting to war?”
“The export of capital, one of the most essential economic bases of imperialism, still more completely isolates the rentiers form production and sets the seal of parasitism on the whole country that lives by the exploitation of the labour of several overseas countries and colonies.”
“The world has become divided into a handful of usurer states on the one side, and a vast majority of debtor states on the other. (…) (With) the decline in emigration from imperialist countries, and the increase in immigration into these countries from backward countries where lower wages are paid (…), imperialism has the tendency to create privileged section even among the workers, and to detach them from the main proletarian masses.”
Chapter IX – The Critique of Imperialism
“While all this critique shrank from recognizing the indissoluble bond between imperialism and the trusts, and, therefore, between imperialism and the very foundation of capitalism; while it shrank from joining up with the forces engendered by large-scale capitalism and its development —it remained a “pious wish.”
“The only objective, i.e., real, social significance Kautsky’s “theory” can have, is that of a most reactionary method of consoling the masses with hopes of permanent peace being possible under capitalism, distracting their attention from the sharp antagonisms and acute problems of the present era, and directing it towards illusory prospects of an imaginary “ultra-imperialism” of the future.”
“It is not only in newly opened up countries, but also in the old, that imperialism is leading to annexation, to increased national oppression, and, consequently, also to increasing resistance.”
Chapter X – The Place of Imperialism in History
“Firstly, monopoly arose out of the concentration of production at a very advanced stage of development. (…) Secondly, monopolies have accelerated the capture of the most important sources of raw materials, especially for the coal and iron industries, which are the basic and most highly cartelized industries. (…) Thirdly, monopoly has sprung from the banks. The banks have developed from modest intermediary enterprises into the monopolists of financial capital. (…) Fourthly, monopoly has grown out of colonial policy. To the numerous ”old” motives of colonial policy, finance capital has added the struggle for the sources of raw materials, for the export of capital, for “spheres of influence,” i.e., for spheres for profitable deals, concessions, monopolist profits and so on; in fine, for economic territory in general.”
“Monopolies, oligarchy, the striving for domination instead of the striving for liberty, the exploitation of an increasing number of small or weak nations by an extremely small group of the richest or most powerful nations —all these have given birth to those distinctive characteristics of imperialism which compel us to define it as parasitic or decaying capitalism.”
