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Social-imperialism
Social-imperialism is a term used by Marxist–Leninists and anti-revisionists in particular. At its core, it means "socialism in words, imperialism in deeds." Social-imperialism may refer to an ideological position by nominal "socialists" in support of imperialism and its conflicts (e.g. the social-chauvinists of the Second International supporting the First World War) or an established system constructed by ex-socialist states under revisionism (e.g. the Soviet Union after de-Stalinization).
Examples
Soviet Union
"Hoxhaists" and Maoists argue that the Soviet Union after 1956 became social-imperialist and restored capitalism. They believe that policies such as "limited sovereignty" and the economic specialization the Soviet Union enforced on other countries embodied this. According to these tendencies, organizations like the Warsaw Pact and COMECON were facilitators of social-imperialism.[1]
"Soviet social-imperialism is a brutal, aggressive and expansionist imperialism which practices an exceedingly colonialist and neo-colonialist policy which is based on the power of capital and weapons. This new imperialism is struggling as a rival of US-imperialism in order to conquer strategic positions and to extend its clutches to all regions and continents. It excels as a fire extinguisher of the revolution and oppressor of the liberation struggle of the peoples." —Enver Hoxha, Theory and Practice of the Revolution
China
The People's Republic of China, particularly after the rise of Deng Xiaoping in the late 1970s, has been argued by many to be social-imperialist due to its policies of dept-entrapment, "Going Global", and more recently the Belt and Road Initiative. All of these policies entail the mass-exportation of capital abroad to less developed markets, a key feature of Lenin's conception of imperialism.[2]
Further reading
- The Theory of “Limited Sovereignty” – A Flagrant Expression of the Imperialist Policy of the Soviet Revisionists (1972) by Agim Popa. Available on the Marxists Internet Archive
See also
References
- ↑ Enver Hoxha (1969). "The Demagogy of the Soviet Revisionists Cannot Conceal Their Traitorous Countenance". Available on marxistleninists.org.
- ↑ Central Organ of the Communist Party of Ecuador — ML (PCMLE) (March 3, 2023). "Inter-imperialist Contention: China vs the United States". The Red Phoenix.