Theory of “Ultra-Imperialism”

The opportunistic theory put forward by Kautsky, a German Social Democrat, who was one of the leaders of the Second International.

At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the capitalism of free competition developed into the stage of monopoly capitalism, that is, imperialism. The World War I broke out in July 1914 in order to plunder the raw material producing areas, marketing markets and investment sites, re dividing the world and competing for colonies and spheres of influence. The war intensified all kinds of contradictions in capitalism, and the storm of proletarian revolution was brewing in many countries. At this time, the task of the proletariat and its political parties is to expose the economic essence of imperialism and its causes of war, organize the proletariat, unite and educate the masses of the people, turn the imperialist war into a civil war depriving the capitalist class, and welcome the arrival of the socialist revolution. However, at this important historical juncture, some leaders of the right wing of the German Social-Democratic Party and the second international betrayed Marxism and slipped into the position of social chauvinism. Kautsky put forward the theory of “ultra-imperialism” in 1915, which is the theoretical basis for opportunists to oppose the proletarian revolution at that time. Kautsky claimed that with the development of monopoly capital, international financial capital may jointly form a unified trust of the world. In this new stage of “ultra-imperialism”, international financial capital will “exploit the world jointly with international joint financial capital to replace the mutual struggle of financial capital of various countries”. In this “new stage”, the conflicts, arms races and wars among the imperialist countries have disappeared, and capitalism has entered a “new era of lasting peace”. Lenin deeply criticized Kautsky’s erred theory.

Firstly, Lenin criticized Kautsky’s definition of imperialism. Kautsky denies that imperialism is a period or a stage of the development of capitalism, and argued that imperialism is a “preferred policy” of financial capital. “Imperialism is the product of highly developed industrial capitalism. Imperialism means that every industrial capitalist nation tries to annex or conquer more and more agricultural areas, regardless of the ethnic groups living there.” Lenin argued that the characteristic of imperialism is not just industrial capital but financial capital; similarly, the characteristic of imperialism is not just annexing agricultural regions, but trying to annex regions with extremely developed industries. Kautsky’s biggest mistake in the definition of imperialism is to separate the imperialist policy from the economic basis of financial capital, and to regard the annexation of imperialism as a “preferred policy” of financial capital, His purpose was to show that as long as we fight against imperialist policies, we should not touch the economic basis of financial capital. In fact, this is propaganda and reconciliation with imperialism, not to expose the contradictions and problems in the latest stage of imperialism, but to cover up and ease the contradictions with imperialism, “in this way, it is not Marxism, but bourgeois reformism.”

Secondly, Lenin revealed the essence of Kautsky’s “ultra-imperialism”. First of all, Lenin argued that what Kautsky called “ultra-imperialism” was actually what Hobson called “international imperialism” 13 years earlier than him, nothing has been added except to invent an esoteric name. This can only be used to deceive the masses and make them pay attention to some false future in the future. “There is nothing but deceiving the masses.” Secondly, “ultra-imperialism” is a kind of subjective idealism. It is divorced from reality and carries out abstract theoretical reasoning from the abstract definition. The objective reality of imperialism is to fight for world hegemony, ignore the essence of imperialism and wipe out the profound contradiction of imperialism. It is an opportunistic theory that whitewash up imperialism. Thirdly, the theory of “ultra-imperialism” denies the role of the law of unbalanced economic and political development of capitalism, and holds that with the development of imperialism, it is not the sharpening of contradictions, but the continuous relaxation of contradictions, which is obviously contrary to the objective facts. Lenin said: “Financial capital and trust do not weaken but strengthen the differences in the speed of development of various parts of the world economy. Since the contrast of power has changed, what other way can we solve the contradiction with strength under the capitalist system?”