Lenin’s Imperialist Theory And Its Value

In 1916,Lenin completed the book Imperialism Is the Highest Stage of Capitalism,which marked the formation of Lenin’s theory of imperialism.The formation and development of this theory has its unique historical background,theoretical origin and practical basis.In the era of imperialism and proletarian revolution,Lenin used the scientific methodology of Marxism to systematically analyze the nature and basic characteristics of imperialism through the window of Russia,and revealed the historical destiny of the parasitism,corruption and mortality of Capitalism.However,with the development of Capitalism worldwide,especially after world war ii,Capitalism has undergone some new changes,which are mainly reflected in economy,class structure and class relations,state functions and macro-control,ideology and other aspects.Capitalism seems to have entered a new stage of prosperity: the world’s major capitalist countries have made use of the new technological revolution to vigorously develop productive forces,and the state monopoly Capitalism has been strengthened and the economy further developed.Later,with the development of the national liberation movement and the collapse of the old colonial system,the term "imperialism" was gradually forgotten.In particular,the upheaval in eastern Europe,the collapse of the Soviet-union,the socialist movement suffered major setbacks,Lenin’s theory of imperialism has also been ignored.Generally speaking,the capitalist world after world war ii "temporary prosperity" as well as some new changes,does not mean that the internal contradictions of Capitalism and the disappearance of the potential crisis,Capitalism still contains the insurmountable internal contradictions and crises,such as multinational company implements the global strategy and the contradiction between the global market anarchy,the infinite world production capacity expansion and insufficient effective demand around the world,of the proletariat and the bourgeoisie in the global scope,etc.,but many scholars still have quite a lot of Lenin’s imperialism theory.Under the evolution of the inherent contradictions of Capitalism,the global financial crisis broke out in 2008.After the crisis,the capitalist countries began to reflect on the causes of the crisis,which mainly came down to the following aspects: the theoretical failure of neoliberalism,the disorder of financial market,the weakening of state functions and the lack of government supervision.However,the root cause is still the insurmountable basic contradiction of Capitalism itself,which is the institutional root of the outbreak of the financial crisis.In order to save the crisis,capitalist countries adopted a series of adjustment policies,and new changes took place in their internal: capitalist countries began to reflect on the neoliberal theory,strengthen the state functions,re-emphasize the real economy and so on.At this time,we reexamine the historical fate of Capitalism,Lenin’s theory of imperialism is more forward-looking,profound and contemporary.The recurrent and regressive changes of Capitalism after the second world war and the financial crisis have verified Lenin’s correct understanding of the operation rules of Capitalism,correctly revealed the insuperable internal contradictions of Capitalism and its inevitable demise,and made Lenin’s theory of imperialism shine with the light of truth.In the context of the new era,we should correctly understand the relationship between the two social systems in the new era,fully explore the value of Lenin’s theory of imperialism,enrich and develop the theory and practice of scientific socialism,and firmly believe in the inevitable victory of socialism.