Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism

Imperialism, a Highest Stage of Capitalism 1917, by Vladimir Lenin, describes the array of oligopoly, by the interlacing of bank & industrial capital, in order to defecate a financial oligarchy, and explains the function of financial capital in generating profits from the exploitation colonialism inherent to imperialism, as thestage of capitalism. The essay synthesises Lenin's developments of Marx’s theories of political economy in Das Kapital 1867.

Publication history

In 1916, Lenin wrote Imperialism, the Highest Stage of the Capitalism, in Zürich, during the January–June period. The essay was first published by Zhizn i Znaniye Life and cognition Publishers, Petrograd, in mid 1917. After the first World War, he added a new Preface 6 July 1920 for the French and German editions, which was first published in the Communist International No. 18 1921.