Imperialism

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1. By imperialism we refer to a situation in which the ruling class of one country dominates the people and territory of another country. In other words, there is a situation of external domination by an outside power. This relationship assumes different forms in different contexts.

2. As Anarchists/Syndicalists we are opposed to imperialism because of the suffering and oppression that it brings. We do not accept the argument that imperialism is a progressive force, whether this argument proceeds from the idea that imperialism "advances the productive forces", "intervenes to keep the peace", "civilises" etc. Imperialism is responsible for genocide, national oppression, attacks on working class conditions, war, underdevelopment, starvation, and poverty. Imperialism is not, however, the only cause of these problems, and is itself the product of capitalism and the State.

3. The key imperialist powers are the dominant First World states and their ruling classes: Western Europe, the United States of America, Japan etc. These are commonly called the First World, or the West, or the "core" or the metropolitan countries. In addition to these countries, the main Eastern bloc countries such as Russia and China have also acted as imperialist powers.

4. The other side of the coin are the countries and regions dominated by imperialism: Africa, East Europe, South Asia, the Caribbean, the Middle East and Latin America . These countries are often called the Third World, the South or the "periphery" , the "satellite" countries or "colonial and semi-colonial regions".

5. At the same time, the Third World is not an homogenous zone. Some countries are more regionally powerful and economically dominant than others. These countries often (but not always) act as the local enforcers and allies of the imperialist powers and are backed up by these powers. These range of countries are sometimes referred as the industrialised Third World, the Newly Industrialising countries (NICs), or the "semi-periphery". Examples of semi-peripheral countries that act as the local partners of imperialism are South Africa and Israel. Semi-peripheral countries which do not act overtly as the junior partners of imperialism include Poland, Brazil and South Korea.

6. Although Apartheid /racial capitalism in South Africa shared many of the features of an imperialist relationship (particularly of the settler-colonial type) insofar as a settler-derived oligarchy (ruling class-dominated alliance of different White classes) historically exercised political and economic domination in the country (Apartheid/racial capitalism) , Apartheid / racial capitalism was not strictly speaking an imperialist relationship. This is because this system of domination was internally based. It was not governed from outside in the manner typical of a settler-colony such as Zambia or Kenya. Instead, the settler -dominated ruling class took local State power in 1910, took ownership over most of the economy in the subsequent decades and made the key political and economic decisions. This fact is not changed by the point that the local ruling class (and its African allies the chiefs and homeland bourgeoisies) were backed by the imperialist powers. Thus, there was not an external enemy to be expelled, but a localised situation of oppression to be confronted. This is not to say that South Africa was independent of the broader world imperialist system, as it acted as a semi- periphery / junior partner of imperialism dominating the southern part of Africa.

7. Anarchism and Syndicalism have an exceptionally proud record of anti-imperialist commitment.

7.1. This repudiation of the theory and practice of imperialism is logically implied by Anarchist- Syndicalism's rejection of coercive political structures and economically exploitative modes of production in favor of a freely constituted international federation of self- administrating communes and workers' associations based on stateless socialism.

7.2. On the theoretical and practical level, theorist-activists such as Bakunin, Reclus and Berkman all condemned and fought against imperialism. In the colonial world, Anarchist- Syndicalists played an important role in anti-colonial and anti-imperialist struggles, including those in Cuba, Ireland, Korea, Macedonia, Mexico , Nicaragua and the Ukraine. For example, the national hero of Nicaragua, Augustino Sandino, who led a revolt against the American occupation in the 1920s and 1930s was an Anarchist-Syndicalist; in Mexico, the Anarchists and Syndicalists of the PLM , the IWW and the CGT consistently challenged American imperialism and anti-Mexican discrimination in Mexico, both before, during and after the Mexican Revolution; James Connolly, the famous martyr of the 1916 Easter rebellion in Ireland against British imperialism was an Anarchist/ Syndicalist union organizer in the United States and Ireland and was strongly influenced by Syndicalist ideas; in Korea the Anarchists were a key force in the struggle against the Japanese occupation that begun in 1910 and even managed to establish a massive self-governed liberated zone in Manchuria in the 1930s; in the Ukraine, the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Nestor Makhno expelled the occupying Central Powers in 1918-9. In the imperialist countries, Anarchist- Syndicalists were also at the forefront of the fight against imperialism. For example, in Japan, the prominent Anarchist Kotoku Shusi was framed and executed in 1910 after his Commoner's Newspaper campaigned against Japanese expansionism; in 1909, the Spanish Anarchists organized a mass strike against intervention in Morocco (the "Tragic Week"); in Italy, the Anarchists consistently opposed Italian expansionism into Eritrea and Ethiopia in the 1880s and 1890s and organized a massive anti-war movement against the Italian invasion of Libya in 1911, and intervention's in Albania in 1919.

CAUSES OF IMPERIALISM

 

8. Imperialism existed before capitalism and the modern State.

9. However, imperialism has been a central feature of capitalism and the modern State since their emergence 500 years ago in Europe and their subsequent global expansion. Indeed, this period has been characterized by imperialism on a scale unprecedented in world history. In 1800 the Western empires claimed 55 per cent of the Earth's surface, although in practice they only held about 35 percent of it. By 1878, the proportion held was 67 per cent, and, by 1914, had come to hold 85 per cent of the Earth as colonies, protectorates, dominions and commonwealths . Of these powers, Britain and France were pre-eminent, holding between them Canada, Australia, New Zealand, colonies in North and South America and the Caribbean, most of Africa, the Middle East, the Far East as well as the Indian subcontinent in its entirety. Japan also embarked on colonial expansion in South East Asia, intervening in Korea, China and other countries. Since the relative decline of the European and Japanese imperialist powers in the post- World War Two period, the United States has risen to pre-eminence as dominant imperialist power.

10. Imperialism in the modern period has been driven by two factors.

10.1. Firstly, there is an economic dimension to imperialism: the system arises in part to benefit the imperialist ruling classes (or at least important factions within those classes) by, for example, providing extra- high levels of profit from cheap labor and cheap raw materials, and blocking the access of rival ruling classes to these resources.

10.2. The second factor is the international State system . In the same way that capitalist companies compete in the market, so too do States compete: for territory, for strategic advantage (e.g. sites for military bases), and for expansion. This provides a pressure for national conflicts, war , foreign conquest and attempts at forcible assimilation of conquered peoples as the smaller States are swallowed up and the "greater" ones strive to increase their power and reach.