At the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, capitalism reached the stage of monopoly, as was predicted by Marx. The capitalists of the day, as well as the bourgeois economists, were aware that the situation had changed, and began to refer to the new situation as imperialism. It was Lenin who conducted a detailed analysis of capitalism in its new monopoly stage, using facts and figures of the capitalists themselves, and in 1916 wrote a book, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism.
The statistics make it quite clear that size matters, and in fact it matters a great deal. One huge factory can produce far more than a great many small factories. As Lenin phrased it, ”at a certain stage of its development, concentration itself, as it were, leads straight to monopoly…This transformation of competition into monopoly is one of the most important – if not the most important -phenomenon of modern capitalist economy”.
Lenin goes on to speak of cartels, which he refers to as ”one of the foundations of the whole of economic life. Capitalism had been transformed into imperialism.” Thus Lenin says that the transition from capitalism to imperialism is marked by the formation of cartels, a natural result of the creation of monopolies.
These new creations have certain characteristics, are created by the capitalists in order to ensure maximum profits. In short, ”Cartels come to agreement on the conditions of sale, terms of payment, etc. They divide the markets among themselves. They fix the quantity of goods to be produced. They fix prices. They divide the profits among the various enterprises”, as per Lenin.
We may add that the most famous cartel is the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC.
In America, we have a similar situation, in that we have trusts instead of cartels. Whereas the goal of cartels is to generate maximum profit by selling at a particular price, perhaps by limiting the production of a particular product, say oil, the goal of trusts is to generate maximum profit by any and all means that come to hand. What ever it takes to eliminate the competition. American capitalists tend to be more focused than their counterparts in other parts of the world.
The bourgeois economist have documented the methods the capitalists use to better ”organize” their businesses. These admissions, by the capitalists themselves, which were no doubt written for the benefit of other capitalists, have been documented by Lenin, and these admissions he refers to as ”edifying”, as indeed they are. He lists them in the following order:
1: Stopping supplies of raw materials
2: Stopping the supply of labor with the use of unions
3: Cutting off deliveries
4: Closing of trade outlets
5: Agreement with the buyers
6: Lowering of prices, even selling at a loss, in order to ruin the competition
7: Stopping credits, in that the bank cuts off a line of credit to the competition
8: Boycott
These are the weapons which the monopolies, corporations, cartels or trusts, use to drive the competition, the small business, into bankruptcy. The mere threat of such attention from a corporation is frequently enough to force such a small business to shut down or at least submit, perhaps becoming a division of a corporation.
The capitalists who set up and run these monopolies, or corporations as they are frequently referred to in North America, do so with the goal of ensuring a steady supply of profit, of eliminating crises in capitalism. Frequently, they end up assuring precisely the opposite. As Lenin phrased it, ”when monopolies appear in certain branches of industry it increases and intensifies the anarchy in capitalist production, as a whole.” italics by Lenin
Our bourgeois economists, belly crawling boot lickers, one and all, assure us that the way to prevent crises in capitalism is through the creation of ever bigger, more complete, more powerful corporations, those which are currently referred to as Too Big To Fail. Those same belly crawlers do not mention the fact that the rest of us are Too Small To Succeed.
In fact, these ever larger, more complete monopolies merely intensifies the crises. These crises ”in their turn increase very considerably the tendency towards concentration and monopoly”, as Lenin phrased it.
Under imperialism, monopolies are not limited to corporations, trusts and cartels. Lenin: ”Large scale enterprises, especially the banks, not only completely absorb small ones, but also ‘join’ them to themselves, subordinate them, bring them into their ‘own’ group, or ‘concern’…by having ‘holdings’ in their capital, by purchasing or exchanging shares, by controlling them through a system of credits…Scattered capitalists are transformed into a single collective capitalist”.
In effect, the banks possess an accurate picture of the universal book keeping of the whole capitalist class, the small business men, office clerks, and even of the upper stratum of the working class. No doubt they find this information to be quite useful.
Lenin goes on to speak of the export of capital. He explains that ”Under the old type of capitalism, when free competition prevailed, the export of goods was the most typical feature. Under modern capitalism, when monopolies prevail, the export of capital has become the typical feature.” italics by Lenin.
As we live under ”modern capitalism” and without doubt ”monopolies prevail”, it is up to Marxists to explain to the working people that it is only natural for the capitalists, the bourgeoisie, to export their capital, even in the form of factories, to other countries. It does not matter how many well meaning members of Congress are sent to Washington, the export of capital will continue. It is up to Marxists to drive that point home to the working class.
At the same time, we should encourage Americans to become card carrying members of the two mainstream political parties, Democratic and Republican. As such, these ”party bosses” can then decide the individual to run for any and all political office, on behalf of both parties. The idea is that we can then flood Washington with not only social Democrats, but also social Republicans.
This will not result in a peaceful transition to socialism, as many utopian socialists and revisionist Marxists maintain, but will lead to an increase in the level of awareness of the working people. They will soon realize, from their own bitter experience, that nothing will change. Even if Washington is swamped with such socialist, or Leftist people, capital will continue to leave the country, the billionaires, the bourgeoisie, will remain in charge, and nothing substantial will change. That may be just what it takes to convince working people.
Indeed, imperialism is the monopoly stage of capitalism. This means that, as Lenin says. ”surplus capital…will be used for the purpose of increasing those profits by exporting capital abroad…in these backward countries, profits usually are high, for capital is scarce, the price of land is relatively low, wages are low, raw materials are cheap.” It is facts such as this which must be stressed to the working class, time and time again.
Marxists should also encourage the members of the working class, or at least the most advanced workers, to read this book by Lenin. It is the most advanced workers who lead, as the less advanced pay strict attention to the more advanced.
As I write this, the government shut down is now into its fifth week. The main stream press, that which Trump refers to as the ”fake news”, is doing a fine job of exposing the lies and deception of Trump. This is to their credit, and as the news outlets are owned and operated by the capitalists, the billionaires, the bourgeoisie, it shows that those same owners have turned against Trump. Even though he is one of their own, a fellow billionaire capitalist, they have likely decided that he is too independent, too unpredictable, and has to go.
With that in mind, they are planning something, and do not want any publicity. So the journalists who work for them have been instructed to make no further mention of the White House Resistance or of the fact that the government is scheduled to run out of money in less that three weeks, on February 8.
Thieves love darkness, and the bourgeoisie are planning something more than simple theft. That which they have in mind falls more under the heading of treason. Talk of the lies of Trump, of the former stooges of Trump, many of whom are on their way to jail, of the politicians who have recently been elected to Congress, and of the upcoming 2020 election, are nothing more than a diversion, a smoke screen.
Bear in mind that, as Lenin phrases it, ”the political features of imperialism are reaction all along the line”. What ever the imperialists are planning, it is not in the interests of the working class. We had best be prepared.
It is my hope that this little article inspires working people to study carefully this work of Lenin. I also hope that it inspires Marxists to prepare for the approaching revolution, which is very likely any day now.
Workers, of the World, Unite!
Gerald McIsaac Science Project 