Hear , hear, Waistline CB
^^^^^^^^^ > Comment > > Obviously the modern Chinese state is not a SETTLER STATE or seeking to > secure or maintain a colony established by settlers. Treating > "imperialism" in > this era of political domination of speculative finance as a general > "imperialism" defeats the mean of this tread: "the end of the imperialist > epoch." Qualifying and quantifying the meaning of imperial-colonialism is > part > of asking the question "end of the imperialist epoch." > > Lenin's Hobson unraveling of "modern imperialism" of his era was useful > because a real imperialism was examined in its economic and political > features. Lenin spoke of monopolies, finance capital > (financial-industrial > capital); hundreds of millions of slaves of a direct colonial system and > the fight > amongst direct colonizers for a re-division of an already divided world. > This fight for spheres of influence was based in the national productive > logic of huge multinational state structures. > > The history of colonialism - at least in general Marxist terms, has meant > more than "imperial outreach" or a lack of rights of those beings > colonized. > Imperialism of the epoch we are leaving has meant an end to the direct > colonial system; the end of neo colonialism and the imperial colonization > based on financial-industrial capital. > > The post WW II period and into the 1980's saw the rise and fall of the > colony and neo colonialism as these political forms of rule expressed > financial-industrial capital. Vietnam Liberation and unification in 1976 > is a > world book mark on an epoch that began with our revolution of 1776. This > does > not mean no one of earth is oppressed and exploited through world > bourgeois > production relations. Rather, a specific form of imperialism -colonialism, > has been superseded. > > America inaugurated an epochal wave of colonial revolutions that would span > > two hundred years. We settled our national liberation struggle against the > British Empire - with a Slave Oligarchy intact seeking its distinct > "anti-colonial interest" imperialist interest, and then settled the war > against > the slave system. American finance capital emerged from the Civil War > facing > a world with colonial states as direct appendage of imperialist state > structures preventing its free flow of finance capital beyond Latin > America. > > The First World Imperialist War shook imperialism - the direct colonial > system, to its foundations, with the Soviets breaching the political and > economic bourgeois imperialist chain. The political basis for imperialist > war in > the past century, rather than the economic impetus for war under > capitalism, (anarchy of production with war production being a profit > center) was > the fight for colonies or spheres of influence based on colonial > possessions. > The fight between imperialist states was not over one huge state > colonizing another but over the colonies represented by these massive > states. This > form of imperialism is very much part of the question "end of the > imperialist epoch." > > The Second World Imperialist War sounded the death knell of direct > colonialism. The defeat of German fascism was the last gasp of a form of > finance > capital politically dominated by industrial capital seeking to recreate > the > direct colonial system. For the German state direct colonialism meant > revitalization of economic and social life - "the thousand year rule," or > in lay > person terms "French wine, Polish hams and Slavic slave women." > > American finance capital - emerging 50 years before Lenin's "Imperialism," > > sought to recreate the political world leading the charge to wipe direct > colonialism from the face the earth. American financial imperialism sought > to > defeat its enemies and identified them as direct colonizers of the world. > It's slogan was "national independence" and self determination of nations > up to and including the formation of separate states. This battering ram > against the direct colonial system explains why "Uncle Ho" armies entered > Hanoi at the close of WW II with CIA in tow playing the Star Spangled > Banner. > Then of course came the policy change and the Cold War. > > This era of financial-industrial capital - finance capital, from direct > colony to neo-colony spanned from the results of the Civil War until the > 1980's and the Reagan administration. Bush I declared the "New World > Order" to > the citizens of earth. This meant in my mind the imperialism we had known > was being jettisoned from history. Not imperial outreach but imperialism. > > The imperialist epoch is the epoch of the bourgeoisie rather than Imperial > > Rome, as its politically dominant sector - based on its connection in > commodity production, sought to recreate the world in its interest. > Hence, a > specific form of imperialism. Each era and epoch has its distinct > political-economic interest. What is the political interest of an > imperial capital > resting on a non-banking financial architecture increasingly driven by > notional > capital, fiat currency and economic logic increasingly based on notional > - > imaginary, value? > > Tibet is no colony, unless the new definition of colony means historically > > evolved peoples lacking a political state. Tibet is an autonomous region > within the multinational state of the Peoples Republic of China. > > Self determination of nations can also mean autonomous regions within a > socialist or capitalist state with the degree of autonomy depending of all > kinds of factors. In real life there is no possibility of Tibet forming a > separate political state within a multinational state framework. This > does not > make Tibet a colony, even within a framework of a "capitalist China." > > Dragging Tibet into a discussion of "the end of the imperialist epoch" adds > > nothing to examining our brave new world politically dominated by > speculative finance. > > Waistline > > > > _______________________________________________ > Marxism-Thaxis mailing list > Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu > To change your options or unsubscribe go to: > http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis > _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
