IMRA NetworkInternational Marxist-Leninist Research & Action Network

Topic Map · 3 of 10

Imperialism

Imperialism, war, colonial rule, world market, and internationalism.

帝国主义战争殖民imperialismwarcolonialism

Open Topic WorksBack to Map Overview
45Related works
5Study stages
8Related authors
Covered study stages

01 Class Intuition: Seeing Capitalism in Everyday Life; 03 Political Economy: Understanding the Motion of Capital; 05 Imperialism, Colonial Systems, and World Revolution; 06 Organization, Mass Work, and Lawful Public Practice; 08 Internationalist Collaboration and Contemporary Tasks

Related authors

V. I. Lenin, Mao Zedong, Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Comintern, IMRA Editorial Collective, Che Guevara

Reading Path

From questions to texts, station by station

Start with the core questions, then follow the entry, core, and advanced readings into concrete book and article pages.

Core Questions

  1. Why is imperialism not merely aggressive policy but a stage of the capitalist world system?

  2. How are finance capital, capital export, colonial systems, and war crises connected?

  3. How do national liberation and class struggle relate within an unequal world system?

Entry Reading

4 texts
1916 · V. I. LeninFull textImperialism, the Highest Stage of CapitalismAnalyzes monopoly, finance capital, capital export, colonial division, and imperialism.1920 · V. I. LeninFull textDraft Theses on National and Colonial QuestionsKey Comintern text on national and colonial questions.1938 · Mao ZedongFull textOn Protracted WarClassic strategy text on stages, balance of forces, and people's war.2026 · IMRA Editorial CollectiveFull textWhat Are the Origins of May Day? Study GuideAn introductory guide from struggles over working time into international workers’ memory.

Core Reading

5 texts
1915 · V. I. LeninFull textSocialism and WarWWI text on imperialist war, defeatism, and internationalist politics.1913 · Rosa LuxemburgFull textThe Accumulation of CapitalMajor work on accumulation, non-capitalist milieus, and imperialist expansion.1915 · Rosa LuxemburgFull textThe Junius Pamphlet: The Crisis of German Social DemocracyA classic critique of imperialist war and social-democratic crisis during World War I.1915 · Rosa LuxemburgFull textTheses on the Tasks of International Social-DemocracyA wartime internationalist programmatic text for anti-war and internationalism modules.1916 · V. I. LeninFull textImperialism: Economic Chapters, Selected SectionsFocuses on monopoly, finance capital, export of capital, and the world market.

Advanced Reading

5 texts
1915 · V. I. LeninFull textThe Collapse of the Second InternationalAnalyzes war, social chauvinism, and the failure of the Second International.1916 · V. I. LeninFull textImperialism and the Split in SocialismExplains labor aristocracy, opportunism, and splits in the labor movement.1935 · Mao ZedongFull textOn Tactics Against Japanese ImperialismDiscusses united front, principal contradiction, and anti-Japanese strategy.1911 · Rosa LuxemburgFull textPeace UtopiasCritiques pacifist illusions and stresses imperialism and militarism.1915 · Rosa LuxemburgFull textThe Accumulation of Capital: An Anti-CritiqueResponds to critics of The Accumulation of Capital and clarifies its imperialism theory.

Common Misreadings

  • Reducing imperialism to aggressive foreign policy.
  • Mechanically separating national liberation from class struggle.
  • Applying Eurocentric experience directly to colonial revolutions.