DYLAN MURPHY looks at how Labour is breaking its pledge to protect the disabled and vulnerable
Government spending and debt: a new approach
Introducing a new paper from Rebuild Britain, FAWZI IBRAHIM argues that it is high time for the working class to drop the Labour Party as its vehicle for change, and take economic matters directly into its own hands
STEPHEN ARNELL on how US power politics is seeping into British broadcasting
The belief that leadership removal can dismantle Iran reflects a flawed reading of history, write RAMZY BAROUD and ROMANA RUBEO
Behind the smoke clouds over Beirut lies a radical vision of a “Greater Israel.” The tactics from Gaza are now being deployed to depopulate south Lebanon, clearing the way for a permanent occupation and the reshaping of the Middle East, says MARC VANDEPITTE
Beneath the folklore of leaping salmon lies a stark reality: the River Wye is under siege from industrial agriculture – but locals aren’t letting water polluters off the hook, says MARK SEDDON
A centenary tour of north-west England uncovers powerful exhibitions and archives connecting the history of the 1926 General Strike with the fights facing workers today. General Strike 100 national co-ordinator HENRY FOWLER reflects on his recent visit to partners in the region
IN his book, Imperialism: the Highest Stage of Capitalism, Lenin refers to imperialism as a “special stage,” “a very high stage of development,” “specific historical stage,” “the latest phase” and “the beginning of its transition to socialism.”
Imperialism, writes Lenin, is the stage of capitalism’s development in which “the dominance of monopolies and finance capital is established; in which the export of capital has acquired pronounced importance.”
Rarely does he refer to it as the highest stage — but, given the title of the work, it has invariably been interpreted literally, that capitalism can evolve no further for it has reached its zenith.
Whether this is what Lenin intended is irrelevant, for this approach has permeated the communist movement and the left in general, yet it has little Marxist merit. It implies that once that stage is reached (which Lenin dates back to the early 20th century), time stands still, capitalism’s internal contradictions disappear and with them any further evolutionary development. But what happens to the socialist embryo that is born within capitalism? Does that cease to evolve as well?
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