Harry Targ
Imperialism
I still find compelling the main points about modern
imperialism articulated by Lenin in his famous essay on the subject. Reflecting
on the transformations of capitalism from its early manufacturing days until
the twentieth century he argued that economic concentration had replaced a
multiplicity of semi-independent economic actors, manufacturing capital had
merged with financial institutions creating a system of monopoly finance
capital, and as a consequence the export of capital--what we would call today
foreign investment, financial speculation, and the debt system--would replace
the export of commodities as the dominant form of economic exchange on a global
basis. During some periods capitalist states would divide up the world each
extracting wealth of all kinds from its own sphere of influence and during
other periods they would engage in competition and even war to pursue profits.
Lenin could not foresee a time, from the mid-20th century until now,
when resistance would come not only from competing and militarized capitalist
states but from masses of people in colonized, neocolonial, and dependent
societies.
The
Cold War and Post-Cold War International Systems
The latest phase of the system Lenin described was
constructed at the end of World War II. The United States emerged from the war
as the most powerful nation and used military, economic, political, and
cultural tools to enshrine its dominance. This meant building a system to crush
the emerging Socialist Bloc, controlling the drive toward independence of
former colonies, and shaping the politics of lesser but significant capitalist
states. To achieve these difficult goals, the United States began to construct
a “permanent war economy.”
By the 1960s, the United States capacity to control
the economic and military destiny of the world was severely challenged. The Tet
Offensive of January, 1968 represented a metaphoric great divide as U.S.
presumptions of hegemony were sorely challenged by a poor but passionate
Vietnamese people’s army. From the late 1960s onward the U.S. was challenged
not only on the battlefield but in the global economy. Rates of profit of U.S.
corporations declined. Industrialization had led to overproduction. Working
classes in the United States and other capitalist countries had gained more
rights and privileges. Socialist countries were experiencing significant growth
spurts. Countries of the Global South began to demand a New International
Economic Order that regulated the way global capitalism worked. In addition,
inter-capitalist rivalry grew. On top of all this the price of oil increased
markedly.
The response of the global capitalist powers (the G7
countries) to the crisis of capitalism was a dramatic shift in the pursuit of
profit from the production of goods and services to what became known as
financialization, or financial speculation. The banks Lenin talked about became
instrumental. With rising oil prices, oil rich countries awash in new profits, and
banks swelling with petrodollars, nations were enticed and forced to borrow to
pay for the oil that cost many times more than it had in the recent past. The
global debt system was launched. When the United States freed the dollar from
the gold standard, currencies themselves became a source of speculation.
The debt system gave international financial
institutions and banks the power to impose demands on countries that required
loans. Thus, the IMF, the World Bank, regional international banks, and private
institutions demanded that the world’s countries open their doors to foreign
investors, cut their government programs, privatize their economies, and shift
to exporting commodities to earn the cash to pay back the bankers. The era of
neoliberalism was advanced by globalization, the scientific, technological, and
cultural capacity to traverse the globe. No geographic space could maintain
autonomy from global capitalism. So a Cold War that was launched by creating a
permanent war economy was transformed by financialization, neoliberalism, and
globalization. With the shift of work from higher wage capitalist centers to
low wage peripheries, deindustrialization became a common feature of the
economic landscape.
By the 21st century the system of
neoliberal globalization was facilitated by new techniques of empire. Wars
which traditionally had been fought between states were now fought within
states. The United States established a military presence virtually all across
the globe with an estimated 700 to 1,000 military installations in at least 40
countries. Major functions of the globalization of military operations had
become privatized so massive U.S. corporations gained even more profits from
war-making than they had during the days of the Cold War. The military—public
and private—began to engage in assassinations and covert “humanitarian
interventions.” And, aided by new technologies, the United States and other
capitalist countries, using unmanned aerial vehicles or drones, could make war
on enemies without “boots on the ground.” As we have learned, intelligence
gathering, spying on people, has immeasurably advanced as well.
To put it succinctly, while imperialism remains
generically as it has been throughout history today:
-Imperialism has become truly global.
-The military continues to be big business, sucking
up at least half of the federal budget.
-The United States has developed the capacity to
fight wars without soldiers on the ground.
-Empires, particularly the United States empire,
kill with impunity.
-The connections between economic interest and
militarism remain central.
-Ideologies defending 21st century military
interventions vary from those neoconservatives who argue that the United States
must use its power to maximize our global position to the humanitarian interventionists
who claim that the United States acts in the world for good.
Resistance
This narrative is not unfamiliar to us. What is less
familiar is the idea that throughout history the forces of domination have been
challenged by resistance, sometimes successfully, sometimes less so. It is
important to note that the drive for U.S. hegemony, for example, has been
affected by resistance. A recent articulation of this narrative appears in the
writings of Vijay Prashad, who has described the efforts of the newly
independent nations of the Global South to achieve political and economic sovereignty.
Many of these efforts from the 1950s to the 1970s faltered at the steps of the
debt system and neoliberal globalization. But the struggle has continued. In
addition, there have been examples of people such as the Cubans and the
Vietnamese who, with much pain and suffering, were able to achieve some measure
of economic sovereignty and political independence.
21st century movements for change are
varied and complicate the efforts of imperialism to achieve its goals.
Resistance includes the following:
-Mercosur, a trade organization that includes
Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Venezuela, Chile, and others waiting for admittance
constitutes the third largest trading bloc in the world.
-The development of collaborative relationships
among powerful Global South nations. For example, representatives from the
BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) recently met to chart an
independent agenda in global affairs.
-The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our
America (ALBA) consists of ten Latin American/Caribbean countries which are
launching a program of economic integration and political cooperation.
-The Community of Latin America and Caribbean States
(CELAC) is a new grouping of some 33 Western Hemisphere nations, minus the
United States and Canada, which will seek to expand regional collaboration.
-Individual nations, based on their historic
resistance to imperialism, such as Cuba, Vietnam, Venezuela, and Bolivia,
continue to inspire activists.
-The United Nations system, considerably weakened
from the days of the Cold War, still engages in global mobilizations through
its conferences, support for some progressive NGOs, and projects involving
education, development, and peacekeeping. Affiliated organized such as the
International Labor Organization pursue goals that are sometimes independent of
imperial agendas.
-Global anti-capitalist mobilizations, such as the
World Social Forum, have brought together thousands of activists largely from
the Global South to discuss the problems faced by workers, women, indigenous
people, environmental activists, and others.
-Perhaps most important at this time is the
grassroots mobilizations of millions of people all across the globe demanding
economic justice, worker rights, gender equality, environmental justice, and peace. Such mobilizations, while
stimulated by local issues, are defined as part of a global movement such as
“From Tahrir Square to Madison, Wisconsin.” People worldwide, particularly the
young, workers, and women are seeing the common dimensions of struggle against
imperialism.
Where
Do Left and Progressive Forces Fit?
First, we on the left need to “bring imperialism
back in;” that is socialist organizations can through education revisit and
revise the theory of imperialism so that it is more serviceable for 21st
century socialist movements.
Second, progressives should link war/peace issues to
environmental issues, to gender issues, to class issues, and race issues. As
Martin Luther King declared in 1967: “I speak of the poor of America who are
paying the double price of smashed hopes at home, and death and corruption in
Vietnam.”
Third, every socialist and progressive organization
should challenge the permanent war economy. Andrew Bacevich pointed out that
the framers of the permanent war economy in the 1940s believed that the role of
the citizenry was to remain quiescent, pliant, and supportive of the decisions
made by the foreign policy establishment. That assumption must be resisted.
Fourth, local and national work should link economic
justice, environmental preservation, and peace. These issues are inextricably
connected.
Finally, left and progressive groups should respond
to specific imperial transgressions by:
-working to cut military budgets
-opposing drone warfare
-saying no to US military aid to Syrian rebels
-supporting the just demands of the Palestinian
people
-challenging the construction of military bases in
Asia
-demanding an end to subversion in Latin America
-calling for the release of the Cuban 5
-insisting on the end of the Cuban blockade.
This
essay will be presented to the national convention of the Committees of
Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism (CCDS) on Friday, July 19, 2013, in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
