Ultra-imperialism

[Comrade #138672]

I have a few questions about ultra-imperialism as conceived by Kautsky.

(1) Is ultra-imperialism real? Does it have any material basis?
(2) If so, was Lenin wrong about ultra-imperialism?
(3) If ultra-imperialism is real, then is the EU a form of ultra-imperialism?

I believe that despite Kautsky being reactionary in his time, when he first conceived of ultra-imperialism, he has been proven right by history.

What do you think?

[Zealot]

Lenin said that things definitely tend to move in this direction but Kautsky was wrong in claiming it to be a permanent feature of imperialism since at some point the imperialists will have to take from each other in order to continue expansion and profitability.

[subcp]

Hobson and Angell in effect posed the possibility of a "peaceful" imperialism, or a capitalism stripped of its imperialist defects. Similar notions found their way into the workers' movement prior to 1914: Kautsky imagined the emergence of a "super-imperialist" general alliance of the great powers, whose premises, he thought, could be seen in the cooperation between the European powers (with Japan and the USA) to put down the Boxer rebellion in China.
Lenin gave short shrift to Kautsky and Hobson in his Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism: "in the realities of the capitalist system (...) 'inter-imperialist' or 'ultra-imperialist' alliances, no matter what form they may assume, whether of one imperialist coalition against another, or of a general alliance embracing all the imperialist powers, are inevitably nothing more than a 'truce' in periods between wars. Peaceful alliances prepare the ground for wars, and in their turn grow out of wars; the one conditions the other, producing alternating forms of peaceful and non-peaceful struggle on one and the same basis of imperialist connections and relations within world economics and world politics". Yet in a sense, both Lenin and Angell were correct: Angell showed that war within an advanced capitalist economy could only lead to catastrophe, while Lenin demonstrated (as Luxemburg had before him) that imperialist conflict was notwithstanding inherent to capitalism "in its death throes" (to use Lenin's expression).


After the collapse of the Warsaw Pact/USSR Bloc, some thought Super-Imperialism was again or for the first time a possibility; but the NATO bloc fell apart as well (without the other side of the bloc duality to oppose itself against- the Warsaw Pact). German unification and meddling in the Balkans in the 1990's, or France's actions in Africa today, show advanced capitalist nations acting unilaterally rather than cooperatively in imperialist war.

[human strike]

There's an interesting discussion in Hardt and Negri's Empire on this topic.

[Lokomotive293]

I have a few questions about ultra-imperialism as conceived by Kautsky.

(1) Is ultra-imperialism real? Does it have any material basis?
(2) If so, was Lenin wrong about ultra-imperialism?
(3) If ultra-imperialism is real, then is the EU a form of ultra-imperialism?

I believe that despite Kautsky being reactionary in his time, when he first conceived of ultra-imperialism, he has been proven right by history.

What do you think?

That's quite a hot topic at this time, especially concerning the EU. I have tons of literature on this, but unfortunately, not in English.

The short answer is: No, Lenin was not wrong. Due to the uneven development of capitalism, relations between Imperialist nations are never stable, they constantly change, and as they change, so do the different forms of Imperialist alliances. Consider the quote from Lenin's Imperialism that subcp posted.
The EU is also nothing more (and nothing less) than an alliance between different Imperialist states, dominated by Germany. If you take a closer look at the conflicts between the different member states of the EU, you will see that there are quite different interests at hand, and that the EU doesn't act as a unified bloc at all. Also, monopoly capital is still very national, despite all claims to the contrary.