Lenin's Imperialism nearly 100 years on: an outdated paradigm? 

Marshall, A. (2014)
Critique: A Journal of Socialist Theory, 42 (3). pp. 317-333.
ISSN 0301-7605
Copyright © 2014 Taylor and Francis
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/42356878.pdf

Lenin’s Imperialism nearly 100 years on: an outdated paradigm?

Abstract: Lenin’s Imperialism. The Highest Stage of Capitalism formed part of the canon of
mainstream Marxist writing for much of the twentieth century, and also represented a critical
reference point for Marxist attempts to interpret international relations for much of the same period.
At one and the same time both a stinging condemnation of the betrayal of the European working class by their political leaders in 1914, and a synthesis, with some original elements, of existing contemporary Marxist theory on imperialism, Lenin’s ‘popular outline’ subsequently (from around the time of the ‘New Left’ onwards) came under increasing fire for being both incoherent, irrelevant, and overrated. This article revisits both the contemporary genesis of the text, and the question of its longer term pertinence and relevance in the light of capitalism’s current crisis.