This volume assembles the main documents of the international debate on imperialism that took place in the Second International during the period 1898-1916. It asseses the contributions of the individual participants, placing them in the context of contemporary political debates.

The theory of imperialism is usually associated with some of the ‘big names’ in the history of European Marxism, such as Lenin, Rosa Luxemburg, Rudolf Hilferding and Nikolai Bukharin, alongside whom the English Progressive John Hobson is usually mentioned. However, little is known about the development of Marxist theory on this subject besides the books of these figures. This volume assembles for the first time the main documents of the international debate on imperialism that took place in the Second International during the period 1898–1916. It assesses the contributions of the individual participants to the developing theory of imperialism, placing them in the context of contemporary political debates.

This volume addresses the entanglement between archaeology, imperialism, colonialism, capitalism, and war. Popular sentiment in the West has tended to embrace the adventure rather than ponder the legacy of archaeological explorers; allegations by imperial powers of "discovering" archaeological sites or "saving" world heritage from neglect or destruction have often provided the pretext for expanding political influence. Consequently, citizens have often fallen victim to the imperial war machine, seeing their lands confiscated, their artifacts looted, and the ancient remains in their midst commercialized. Spanning the globe with case studies from East Asia, Siberia, Australia, North and South America, Europe, and Africa, sixteen contributions written by archaeologists, art historians, and historians from four continents offer unusual breadth and depth in the assessment of various claims to patrimonial heritage, contextualized by the imperial and colonial ventures of the last two centuries and their postcolonial legacy.

The approach of the majority of the left on imperialism is drawn from Lenin's 'Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism' and the conclusions drawn from this by the Communist International: ie unequivocal hostility to imperialist wars and critical support for nationalism in the subordinated countries, even where this takes unattractive forms, like Ba'athism or Islamism. A small minority has criticised this line as anti-democratic or even pro-fascist, arguing either for support for the "War on terror" or for non-opposition to it. Both sides of this argument rest on a myth: that in the past there was a non-imperialist capitalism. The origins of this myth can be traced back to Karl Kautsky's 1898 articles on colonialism. This book publishes these with an introduction exploring the articles and their legacy. The aim is to expose the rotten foundations of the myth and to help the left escape from the political traps of both pro-nationalist "anti-imperialism" and Yankee-philiac "anti-anti-imperialism".

Originally published: New York: Columbia University Press, 1984.

China and other Third World societies cannot 'catch up' with the rich countries. The contemporary world system is permanently dominated by a small group of rich countries who maintain a vice-like grip over the key parts of the labour process – over the most technologically sophisticated and complex labour. Globalisation of production since the 1980s means much more of the world’s work is now carried out in the poor countries, yet it is the rich, imperialist countries – through their domination of the labour process – that monopolise most of the benefits. Income levels in the First World remain five and ten times higher than Third World countries. The huge gulf between rich and poor worlds is getting bigger not smaller. Under capitalist imperialism, it is permanent. China has moved from being one of the poorest societies to a level now similar with other relatively developed Third World societies – like Mexico and Brazil. The dominant idea that it somehow threatens to ‘catch up’ economically, or overtake the rich countries paves the way for imperialist military and economic aggression against China. King’s meticulous study punctures the rising-China myth. His empirical and theoretical analysis shows that, as long as the world economy continues to be run for private profit, it can no longer produce new imperialist powers. Rather it will continue to reproduce the monopoly of the same rich countries generation after generation. The giant social divide between rich and poor countries cannot be overcome.

Excerpt from The Foundations of Imperialist Policy: A Course of Lectures Read to the Academy of the General Staff in 1918-1919 Ernest Seyere discovers imperialism in the efforts for advancement of separate individuals in racial or national struggles, in the endeavours of one class to dominate another, finally even in socialism. The followers of Seyere have gone even further. Thus some of his pupils discover imperialism not only in human society, but in all phenomena of organic and even inorganic life. One can make the discovery of an ant imperialism, of a bee imperialism, of tree imperialism, and so on. When one ant makes war on another ant it is a manifestation of imperialist tendencies of a certain ant tribe which is struggling with other ant tribes. Amongst bees too there is their own sort of imperialism. Finally, there is imperialism even in the world of plants. Thus, for instance, when an oak in its growth crushes the young shoots, and does not allow the young shrubs to develop, it consummates plant imperialism, the individual imperialism of the mighty oak. When the forest, in spreading, throws its shoots on the neighbouring cultivations it practises collective imperialism. Con sequently, imperialism exists even in the vegetable kingdom. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.