V. I.   Lenin

NOTEBOOK “β”

(“BETA”)

On the question of imperialism:
Subjects: (approximately)

• 5.1 Finance capital.
• 4.2 Banks.
• 2.3 Cartels and trusts.
• 3. Monopoly.
• 1.4 Concentration and big industry.
• 6.5 Export of capital.
• 7.6 Colonies. Their significance.
• 8.7 History of the colonies.
• 9.8 Division of the world.
  [[BOX: International trusts
  colonies
  Calwer ]]
• 10.9 Free competition versus imperialism.
• 11.10 Back to free competition or forward to overcoming imperialism and capitalism?
• 12.11 Ultra-imperialism or inter-imperialism?
• 12 bis: Uneven growth.
• 13.12 Hobson, Kautsky, imperialism.
 
• 14.13 Apologists and petty-bourgeois critics of imperialism.
• 15.14 Parasitism in imperialist countries... (“decay”) ((“the rentier state”)).
• 16.15 Definitive split of the working-class movement... [“imperialism and opportunism”].
• {{2 17.16 Diplomacy and foreign policy 1871–1914.
• {{2 18.17 The national question in the imperialist era.
• 19.18 Interlocking versus “socialisation” (cf. Riesser). Component parts of the concept “imperialism”. Roughly:
  • {{4 1. I monopoly, as the result of concentration
  • {{4 2. II export of capital (as the chief thing)
  • {{4 4. III {{{2 division of {{{{2 (α) agreements of international capital
  • {{4 5. IV {{{2 the world {{{{2 (β) colonies
  • {{2 3. V bank capital and its “threads”
  • {{2 6. VI replacement of free trade and peaceful exchange by a policy of force (tariffs; seizures, etc., etc.).

Hilferding’s shortcomings:

1. 1) Theoretical error concerning money.
2. 2) Ignores (almost) the division of the world.
3. 3) Ignores the relationship between finance capital and parasitism.
4. 4) Ignores the relationship between imperialism and opportunism.

[[DOUBLE-BOX: “Imperialism, the highest (modern) stage of capitalism.” ]]

[[DOUBLE-BOX: Roughly:
these 6 {{{

1. I. Three chief (fully independent) countries
   • {{{3 Great Britain
   • {{{3 Germany
   • {{{3 United States
2. II. Secondary
   • (first class, but not fully independent)
     • {{3 France
     • {{3 Russia
     • {{3 Japan
3. III.
   • Italy
   • Austria-Hungary

Notes