Parasitism of Imperialism

During the period of imperialism, the financial capitalists and the countries representing the interests of financial capital did not work and lived on profit.

The emergence of financial capital makes the ownership and management rights of capital more deeply separated, and then further strengthens the separation of labor and ownership, so that financial capital can gradually separate from the production process and trade pure financial products. These people have gradually become simple profit eaters. They make a living by cutting coupons. They can make huge profits by idling around all day without doing anything. Lenin argued that parasitism is a “very important aspect” of financial capital.

Due to the emergence and formation of monopoly, a large amount of monetary capital has been accumulated in a few developed capitalist countries. The monopoly of the colony also played a similar role. Lenin said: “The income of the rentiers is five times greater than the income obtained from the foreign trade of the biggest ‘trading’ country in the world! This is the essence of imperialism and imperialist parasitism.” The monopoly and external expansion of financial capital have not only created the class of domestic profiteer, but also produced the “rentier state”. With the formation of a small number of usurpers, the monopoly bourgeoisie seized a large number of overseas high profits from the colonies and overseas countries, from which they could take part of the profits. This is the economic basis for the emergence of opportunism in the labor movement. The workers and nobles live a good life, have a stable job, and have a high social status. They took advantage of their influence in the working class, carried out the line of opportunism, represented and safeguarded the interests of financial capital, and played a role that the bourgeoisie could not play. Therefore, Lenin said, “there is a tendency in imperialism to divide some privileged classes among the workers and separate them from the broad masses of the proletariat.” The emergence of workers’ aristocracy is also a significant manifestation of the parasitism of imperialism.