On Imperialism & Opportunism

by Vladimir Lenin, Kommunistisk Arbejdskreds (KAK) (Editor), Torkil Lauesen (Introduction)

This collection of texts by V.I. Lenin was originally compiled by the Communist Working Circle [Kommunistisk Arbejdskreds], a Danish anti-­imperialist group. In the late 1960s, the CWC [KAK] developed the so-­called “parasite state” theory linking the imperialist exploitation and oppression of the proletariat in the Global “South” with the establishment of states in the Global “North” in which the working class lives in relative prosperity. In connection with studies of this division of the world, CWC published these texts by Lenin with the title “On Imperialism and Opportunism.”

What is the relevance of these texts today? Firstly, the connection that Lenin posits between imperialism and opportunism—that is, the sacrifice of long-­term socialist goals for short-­term or sectional gains—is more pronounced than ever. Second, imperialism may, in many respects, have changed its economic mechanisms and its political form, but its content is fundamentally the same, namely, a transfer of value from the Global South to the Global North, with the political outcome being that the working class is divided into a highly-­exploited proletariat in the South and a working class in the North which lives in relative prosperity. Lenin referred to this better-­off section of the working class as a “labor aristocracy.”

With an introduction by former CWC member Torkil Lauesen.

191 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, leader of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Bolsheviks), statesman and political theorist. After the October Revolution he served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until his death in 1924 and of the Soviet Union from 1922 until his death in 1924.

Reviews

[Morgan]

Collection of texts compiled by the Danish KAK, parallel to their Marx-Engels collection. The introduction is more relevant in this case, given that it does deal with Lenin's thought, but the focus remains elsewhere - this time the KAK's theory of the parasite state and its later elaboration by Torkil Lauesen. Lenin's texts are somewhat repetitive (unsurprising, given his 'aggressive unoriginality'); particularly jarring is the almost word for word parallel between the excerpts from Imperialism and sections of 'Imperialism and the Split in Socialism' (which is included in full). The repetition is nevertheless useful in hammering home his conception of opportunism as a material force underpinned by imperialism.