Modern imperialism is a world economic system characterized by an international division of labor in which certain nations impose their will and interests on others. This is achieved not only by occupation and direct military pressure, which occurs in some cases, but mainly through the economic dependence of the nations of late capitalist development for loans, technology and investment by the great powers. In this way, the imperialist powers impose their hegemony over the planet, forcing other nations to conform to international norms designed by supranational institutions which favor the profits of their powerful corporations. “Finance capital is such a great, such a decisive, you might say, force in all economic and in all international relations, that it is capable of subjecting, and actually does subject, to itself even states enjoying the fullest political independence” (Lenin). Such a system is far from being democratic or stable.
In its modern sense, imperialism is a relationship that is established between countries as soon as one is able to export capital (in the form of investments) to another at a significant level. This relationship is based on monopoly (dominance by a handful of large companies) and the merging of industrial and banking capital, generating financial capital and shaping the state in its interests. But these economic characteristics of imperialism, which at the beginning of the 20th century were unique to the great global powers, are now present in much of the world. This means that nations that are not global imperialist powers can sometimes establish imperialist-type relations with other subordinate nations.
Brazil, a nation subjugated to the imperialist powers in the international context, has an imperialistic relationship with Paraguay and Angola through the dominance of its transnational companies associated with imperialist (mainly American) capital in these countries. Brazilian companies capture a significant share of the local markets, exploiting the population and resources of these countries. It was in seeking to defend and expand this status that Brazil occupied Haiti in defense of American interests and today is a potential ally in the threat of attack against Venezuela. This, however, does not make Brazil a global imperialist power.
Russia, although it has a predatory position in relation to some countries of the former Soviet bloc and in the Middle East, is also not a world imperialist power, although certainly its oligarchs have this desire and aspiration. It is a regional power that, in relative terms, is surrounded and under pressure by global imperialist forces. If we considered Russia and Brazil “imperialist powers”, we would have to categorize them as third and fourth level, respectively, and also consider the fact that they are largely penetrated by and dependent on capital from greater imperialists.
The hegemonic imperialist power since the end of World War II is the United States, which has established military bases and an economic presence through investments in practically every corner of the planet. Its power is not even comparable with that of the imperialist powers of Europe (Germany, United Kingdom, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain) or of Japan, which still retain significant areas of influence, but have so far accepted American supremacy. This forestalled, on the one hand, the occurrence of a third imperialist world war, along with the potentialof total destruction since the emergence of atomic weapons. But it has not prevented the United States from waging an endless series of wars and coups against subordinate and neo-colonial nations that try to escape, even if only partially, from the order they impose. Hence the interventions in Iraq, Libya, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen, just to mention the most recent ones. The notion created by American imperialism of an “axis of evil” derives precisely from this need to impose its will and deepen its control over these areas. At the moment, the hawkish eyes of American imperialism are aimed at China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela.
Other imperialist powers, such as France, are running to keep up, and also carry out armed incursions to guarantee their investments, control of raw materials and markets in Africa, a continent where European imperialists are still hegemonic. The European Union is an institution for the dominant imperialist powers of that continent (especially Germany and France) to face the United States in some global disputes while better guaranteeing the domination and exploitation of subordinate European territories.
Imperialism today is a much more complex arrangement than it was a hundred years ago. There are various forms of joint or shared exploitation of the subordinate nations, as well as the formation of various temporary blocks of imperialist powers. Secondary imperialist powers exploit their “areas of influence” in association with global powers, as in the case with Australia and New Zealand in the Pacific, who exploit the neocolonial nations of that region in a joint bloc with British and American imperialists. But it is still a system that leads to insatiable conflict for the division of the world, where agreements are always unstable and temporary.
The increasing loss of the hegemony of American imperialism in disputes with local powers like Russia; the impressive growth and expansion of China’s presence in world trade and their control of certain branches of high technology; and the weakening of the productive forces in the US itself, has created a situation of profound instability and threat of new wars and invasions in the face of the desperate rush of US imperialists to remain at the top.
Marxists recognize the situation of inequality between nations and defend oppressed nations against oppressors. This means exposing and denouncing the predatory exploitation by imperialist bourgeoisies and their interests in subordinate nations, including the submission of the local bourgeoisies, and fighting diplomatic and material forms of pressure (such as economic sanctions) against nations that partially reject imperialist dictates.
In the case of conflicts – invasions, coups and civil wars – provoked by imperialists in oppressed nations, Marxists always take the side that opposes the deepening or intensifying of imperialist exploitation. This falls undoubtedly within the Marxist tradition, which defended semi-colonial China against Japanese occupation and Ethiopia against Italian takeover in the 1930s. It was also the position of the Marxists in the intervention against Iraq (2003) and Libya (2011) by United States. The defeat of imperialist troops and of forces subordinate to the imperialists is also a priority in the Syrian Civil war. The same prognosis is clearly relevant today in the face of new American threats, echoed by their puppets, against Venezuela and Iran. This is a task even when the opposite camp is dominated by bourgeois factions. Marxists must always defend their own program, denouncing all bourgeois factions and not providing them any political support. But the defeat of the imperialist powers and of their local proxies in these conflicts is, in these cases, the preferable outcome.