Social Imperialism?

[TheGodlessUtopian]

I have heard it thrown around often by some Anti-Revisionists to describe the post-Stalin USSR but do not actually know a whole lot about it. What it exactly is and how it relates to socialist theory in general.

[Zulu]

When revisionism manifests itself in a socialist country, it begins behaving like a capitalist country, although some residual features of socialist remain. If such country is big and strong enough, it pursues imperialistic foreign policy (that is exploits its satellites for resources and markets), like a fully capitalist country would do, but it tries to disguise it by internationalist rhetoric.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

When revisionism manifests itself in a socialist country, it begins behaving like a capitalist country, although some residual features of socialist remain. If such country is big and strong enough, it pursues imperialistic foreign policy (that is exploits its satellites for resources and markets), like a fully capitalist country would do, but it tries to disguise it by internationalist rhetoric.

Alright, thanks, much clearer now.

I was slightly confused on that subject because I have, in the past, heard the term thrown around by some people when describing people living in first world countries who urge on imperialist wars as a precondition for radicalization of the local populace.

[Questionable]

An easy way to remember what it means is to remember the original reason the term was coined. "Socialism in words, imperialism in deeds."

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

It seems like bullshit to me. What is social imperialism? Imperialism is always and everywhere a function of the diminishing returns to the factors of production. Whether someone says, "i'm a Socialist" and then invades a country to plunder their resources, or says, "i'm a capitalist" and then invades a country to plunder their resources, it's still imperialism. Social imperialism sounds like a cop-out to me, to try and make out like the imperialism of the USSR (Prague, Hungary, Afghanistan) was any worse than the imperialism of any other imperial power at any point in history, in terms of its nature, not its scope.

[ComradeOm]

Whether someone says, "i'm a Socialist" and then invades a country to plunder their resources, or says, "i'm a capitalist" and then invades a country to plunder their resources, it's still imperialismWell yes, that's very much the point of the slur...

[Omsk]

like the imperialism of the USSR (Prague, Hungary, Afghanistan)


Good that you mentioned this,the imperialism of the revisionist clique of the CCCP should be remembered. On the other hand,Afghanistan was pure imperialism,while the intervention against Czech communists had more to it than an economic side.

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

Well yes, that's very much the point of the slur...

It shouldn't be a 'slur', but a technical term. Imperialism is a technical term. Social Imperialism is not, it's incorrect. There is no such thing as social imperialism.

[ridethejetski]

I have heard it thrown around often by some Anti-Revisionists to describe the post-Stalin USSR but do not actually know a whole lot about it. What it exactly is and how it relates to socialist theory in general.

Hoxha thought up the term and when he mentioned it to Mehemet Shehu, he complimented him on being a Marxist-Leninist genius for thinking of such a term. So Hoxha used the word a lot, and members of the International Cult of Enver Hoxha's Glorious Socialist Peoples State of Albania also decided to use it. Somehow these people found their way from SovietEmpire forum to revleft.

[ComradeOm]

Hoxha thought up the term and when he mentioned it to Mehemet Shehu...No, he didn't. Unless of course Hoxha was active in Second International debates in the first two decades of the 20th C

[Ismail]

"ridethejetski" was telling an unfunny joke, of course. Lenin used the term social-imperialism a few times, similar to how how he used the terms social-patriotism and such. Just as that case was bourgeois patriotism in defense of imperialist superpowers with "socialist" rhetoric, social-imperialism is imperialism with a "socialist" mask. Instead of "we are intervening in this country to defend the free world from communist subversion," social-imperialism (in its 1960's-80's version) was "we are intervening in this country in defense of the working-class and its gains" or similar arguments. Lenin described it as "socialism in words, imperialism in deeds, the growth of opportunism into imperialism."

The Chinese and Albanians used it to refer to Soviet foreign policy after 1968.


Somehow these people found their way from SovietEmpire forum to revleft.I don't think a website styling itself "Soviet Empire" is doing to be friendly to a guy who compared the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia to fascist aggression.

[Omsk]

is doing to be friendly to a guy who compared the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia to fascist aggression.

Someone in this specific thread mentioned that or are you saying it in general?

[Ismail]

Someone in this specific thread mentioned that or are you saying it in general??

The guy is acting as if a forum for Brezhnevites is compatible with pro-Hoxha persons. Both the Chinese and Albanian presses made comparisons to Nazi Germany when the Soviets invaded Czechoslovakia. Hoxha even joked that Hitler had more tact when he invaded.

[Omsk]

?

The guy is acting as if a forum for Brezhnevites is compatible with pro-Hoxha persons. Both the Chinese and Albanian presses made comparisons to Nazi Germany when the Soviets invaded Czechoslovakia. Hoxha even joked that Hitler had more tact when he invaded.

Oh,oh.Thanks for clarification.