Imperialism and the Split in Socialism by V I Lenin, republished 2024 by Larkin Publications, 54pp paperback £3.95
This is a really significant pamphlet which deserves very careful study. It contains the text of a very important article ‘Imperialism and the Split in Socialism’ by the great communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, and two articles by David Yaffe.
Lenin’s article is very important, since, although written in 1916, it brings together in condensed form all the critical points which today, more than a century later, are at the heart of the crisis of British capitalism and therefore of the politics of FRFI and the RCG. After defining imperialism, he shows that it brings about a division between oppressed and oppressor nations, with the former living at the expense of the latter, as well as a split in the working class: the super-profits enjoyed by the imperialist countries support a privileged section of the working-class who thus have a stake in the preservation of imperialism, and support social chauvinists such as the Labour Party in Britain. The Labour Party does not exist to achieve socialism: its job is to undermine and blunt revolutionary struggle by the working class. It is therefore ‘our duty, if we wish to remain socialists to go down lower and deeper, to the real masses’.
The two articles by David Yaffe show concretely how relevant Lenin’s points are today. In ‘Imperialism, national oppression and the new petit bourgeoisie’, Yaffe examines the nature of imperialism in the present period, showing how, in modern form, it exhibits all the key characteristics identified by Lenin a century ago. The ‘real masses’ in the current period are the poorer sections of the British working class, especially those of colour, who face the double oppression of capitalism and racism.
His second article is a discussion of the continued importance, in the present period, of understanding the split in the working-class movement between the labour aristocracy and the rest of the working-class.
What is important is to spell out the connection between imperialism and the role and strength of opportunist politics within the working class because of the existence of the labour aristocracy. For example, the Socialist Workers Party denounces imperialism, yet completely fails to draw the connection between imperialism and the opportunism of the Labour Party: the reason that there has been no revolutionary challenge to capitalism in Britain is because of the enormous power of opportunism. It is all very well calling for building a ‘real’ labour party with genuinely socialist politics, but if it is based on the labour aristocracy it will simply repeat past failures.
The pamphlet would benefit from a guide to further reading to understand the issues involved, although there are other articles by Lenin and other classic Marxists, as well as considerable relevant material in previous issues of the paper, which can be accessed on the RCG website.
Stephen Parker
FIGHT RACISM! FIGHT IMPERIALISM! 303 December 2024 /January 2025
