Law of Uneven Economic and Political Development of Capitalist Countries

It is also called “the law of unbalanced economic and political development in capitalist countries in the period of imperialism”. During the period of monopoly capitalism, the economy of some capitalist countries developed by leaps and bounds, catching up with or surpassing those with higher economic development level, it is required to re-divide the sphere of influence according to the new strength contrast, which intensifies the contradictions and struggles between capitalist countries and eventually leads to the outbreak of war.

The imbalance of economic and political development is not the unique law of monopoly capitalism, that is, the stage of imperialism, but the common law of different stages of capitalist development. Under the influence of the law of surplus value and competition, the development of every capitalist enterprise, every production department and every country must be unbalanced. Some enterprises prospered, others went bankrupt; some production sectors expanded rapidly, others stagnated and declined. On the basis of the unbalanced development of various enterprises and departments, the imbalance of economic development among the whole country has been formed. The root cause of the imbalance of the economic and political development of capitalism is the capitalist relations of production and the basic contradictions of capitalism based on the relations of production.

In the capitalist stage before monopoly, free competition dominated. At that time, the degree of production concentration and socialization was not very high, the scale of enterprises is small and the operation is decentralized. Although the development between enterprises and departments is unbalanced, the scope and degree of influence are limited; although the development of capitalist countries is unbalanced, and there are contradictions and struggles between countries, they have not developed to the stage of World War. After entering the stage of monopoly capitalism, the situation is different. Due to the high concentration of production and capital, the degree of socialization of production has increased rapidly, and the development of science and technology is changing with each passing day. It is possible for the later capitalist countries to use the latest scientific and technological achievements and advanced production equipment to develop new industrial sectors and accelerate the development of national economy. At the same time, the former backward countries can make full use of the imported foreign capital and domestic cheap labor force, and quickly catch up with and surpass the old capitalist countries by improving the competitiveness of their products in the world market. On the contrary, in the face of the new development of science and technology, the old technology and equipment of the advanced countries with developed industries are lagging behind. Therefore, the speed of economic development appears to be slow. In addition, a large amount of capital export has been formed, which leads to a certain stagnation trend in the economy of capital exporting countries to a certain extent. In this way, the backward countries will be able to surpass the advanced countries in economic development. For example, Britain had been the first in the world’s industrial production before 1870, known as the “world factory”. However, in the 1880s, relying on the development of new industrial sectors, the United States quickly caught up with Britain and leapt to the first place in the world’s industrial production. Germany at the end of the 19th century and Japan in the second half of the 20th century also had such catching up experience. The unbalanced development of the capitalist countries in the international political arena will inevitably result in the unbalanced development of the state’s military and economic power. With the growth of economic and military strength of the later capitalist countries, they strongly demand to redistribute the world territory according to the new power balance. By the time of imperialism, the world territory had been divided up. In order to occupy new markets and raw material producing areas according to their own strength, the new countries must seize them from the old capitalist countries. Although the strength of those old capitalist countries has declined relatively, they still need to keep their vested interests and maintain their original sphere of influence. In this way, sharp contradictions between the old and the new capitalist countries have been created. As a result, imperialist war became inevitable. The outbreak of the two world wars is the inevitable result of the unbalanced development of capitalist countries and the intensification of their contradictions in the period of monopoly capitalism.

In the period of monopoly capitalism, the law of unbalanced economic and political development in capitalist countries is the theoretical basis and starting point of Lenin’s doctrine that socialist revolution can be victorious at first in one country or in a number of countries. Monopoly capitalism, or sharp contradictions and wars between imperialist countries, weakened the power of imperialism and caused the weakest link in the whole capitalist chain, and thus, the proletariat can break through the chain of imperialism in one country or several countries and win the victory of socialist revolution first. The proletariat should be good at making use of the contradictions between imperialism, widely mobilize the masses, transform the imperialist war into a domestic revolutionary war, and seize the opportunity to win the victory of the proletarian revolution. Lenin’s theory enriches and develops the basic principles of Marxism and provides a powerful ideological weapon for the proletariat in various countries. The victory of the October Revolution in Russia and the people’s revolution in China and other socialist countries confirmed the scientificity and correctness of Lenin’s theory.

After the World War II, capitalism has undergone profound changes, showing some new characteristics. However, the law of unbalanced economic and political development still exists and is increasingly obvious. Germany, Italy and Japan were defeated in the war, while the old imperialist countries such as Britain and France were weakened, only the United States made use of the economic and military power greatly expanded in wartime to become the most powerful superpower in the capitalist world and dominate the world market. Since the second half of the 20th century, the power balance of capitalist countries has been constantly changing. The strength of Japan and Germany has increased, while the hegemony of the United States has declined. However, it has not completely lost its dominant position in the capitalist world, and the United States is still trying to maintain its sphere of influence. The struggle between the United States and other capitalist countries for control and anti–control, struggle and anti–scramble is one after another. All these show that the law of unbalanced economic and political development in capitalist countries still exists and is increasingly obvious.