For those interested, here is my critique of Promise Li’s concept of
“Antagonistic Cooperation”.
*Imperialism: A System of “Antagonistic Cooperation” or of Antagonistic
Contradictions?*
*/Reply to a contribution of Promise Li to the Marxist imperialism theory/*
/An Essay (with 8 Tables and 2 Figures) by Michael Pröbsting, 23
November 202//4/
https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/imperialism-a-system-of-antagonistic-cooperation-or-of-antagonistic-contradictions/
https://links.org.au/imperialism-antagonistic-cooperation-or-antagonistic-contradictions-reply-promise-li
Am 15.03.2026 um 20:57 schrieb hari kumar via groups.io:
Thanks Patrick.
The article by /Promise Li/ you link to is interesting
(https://internationalviewpoint.org/Imperialism-as-Antagonistic-Cooperation
). I had not appreciated before this any link between /Ruy/ and
/Thalheimer/.
But in addition he outlines two views - the "Tricontinental theorizes
the current stage of imperialism as “hyper-imperialism" and "In
contrast to Tricontinental. some see the form of imperialism today as
an interimperialist conflict in the same vein as the First World War,
which Bolshevik revolutionaries V. I. Lenin and Nikolai Bukharin first
theorized. [4] This view overly downplays the decline of US hegemony”.
He then proceeds to say "These faulty conceptions are two sides of the
same coin: they overstate the dynamics of rivalry, thus obscuring
salient sites of interconnection in the imperialist system that can
yield powerful opportunities for solidarity across antisystemic
struggles...
Antagonistic cooperation, a conceptual framework developed by Marxists
in postwar Germany and Brazil, provides the best tools for analyzing
this particular stage of imperialism.”
Your synopsis of what has happened is very eloquent that the BRICS is
an example of "when some in the pack do bark left, we should not be
distracted or surprised when – as any Palestinian knows – they
simultaneously bite right.”
Aren’t we now seeing the developing of “an interimperialist conflict
in the same vein as the First World War, which Bolshevik
revolutionaries V. I. Lenin and Nikolai Bukharin first theorized“?
Whether or not as Li says, it " overly downplays the decline of US
hegemony” ?
You point to this when you say:
"collaboration becomes, ultimately, more durable due to mutual
interest in improving the global terrain for capital accumulation and
profiteering, than might be suggested by multipolar rhetoric or than
is indicated by sporadic sites of struggle:
-the current Iranian fight-back and closure of the Strait of Hormuz;
-China’s brief threat to ban sales of rare-earth minerals to Trump’s
U.S. and its eventual retaking of Taiwan;
- the South African case against Israeli genocide at The Hague; and
- Russia’s 2014 and 2022 invasions of Ukraine."
Are we seeing there the development of one side of a coming
"interimperialist conflict in the same vein“?
Be well, H
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