Imperialism

The Original Version

Marx wrote about modern imperialism in two contexts: the origins of European capitalism and its extension to the rest of the world. His analysis of the “primitive accumulation of capital” includes the role that colonialism played in the creation of the capitalist mode of production in Western Europe. The accumulation of nonlanded property through tribute, pillage, slavery, and the slave trade facilitated the employment of land and labour under capitalist relations of production in Europe. Once the system was established, Marx argued, imperialism proper proved indispensable in spreading capitalist relations throughout the globe. Marx claimed that all non-European societies lacked internal dynamism, so that imperialism was essential to introduce progress. On these matters he did not depart significantly from the dominant liberal opinion of the early nineteenth century, as reflected for example in James Mill's writings on India.

In Marx's account of imperialism, it is the general acquisitiveness fostered by capitalism that propels its geographical expansion, rather than its contradictions or any particular conjunctural events. These may play some role in explaining capitalist imperialism, but only with regard to its specific forms and precise chronology. Sometimes capitalism can insinuate itself into existing exchange relationships in precapitalist economies and, by its superior efficiency, transform them into capitalist exchange relations. More frequently, capitalist penetration is impeded or wholly blocked by the operation of precapitalist systems, and in these cases some form of imperial domination and forceful restructuring along capitalist lines is essential for expansion to proceed. In both circumstances, capitalism will ultimately act as a solvent on established modes of production, as well as [Page 395]creating the basis for economic, cultural, and political modernity. Destruction tends to precede reconstruction not only for obvious reasons of sequencing but also because imperialism itself initially exhibits many precapitalist features, reflecting the imperfect transformation of the metropolitan centres, and these wither only as capitalism is purified on its home ground. Thus, while many of the phenomena associated with precapitalist forms of imperialism remain evident for long periods, including tribute and outright theft, for Marx their significance is totally different from that in precapitalist imperialism. Ultimately, as genuine capitalist expansion into new territories takes place, a duplication of European achievements will occur, including rapid and sustainable economic growth.

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