To understand the current conflicts in Ukraine and elsewhere, it is necessary to understand why war is inherent to capitalism. In this talk from the recent Marxist Student Federation summer school, Daniel Morley outlines what imperialism is, how it emerged, and how revolutionaries must approach inter-imperialist conflicts.
War criminal and careerist Suella Braverman recently said that Britain’s ‘former colonies should pay the British back’ for the good that the Empire did. Meanwhile, these countries continue to be bled dry by imperialism.
Whilst the Chinese Communist Party rule over China, it works with a capitalist mode of production. This is a historic peculiarity which originates with the successful Chinese Revolution in 1949. This revolution overthrew capitalism, but without workers power. This meant a slow return to capitalism was inevitable without successful revolutions internationally. But how did they return to capitalism while keeping the CCP in place? In this talk, RCP Central Committee member Tom Crozier, explains the process.
In the 19th Century, British imperialists waged the Opium Wars and forcibly dragged the Chinese state into the world market. This began what is known in China as its ‘century of humiliation’, with British capitalism stoking the world’s first opiate epidemic to bleed the country dry.