Imperialism: The Last Stage
of Capitalism
By N. LENIN.
INTRODUCTORY
During the last ten or fifteen years, especially since the Spanish-American War (1898) and the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902), the economic and political literature of the two hemispheres has studied more and mare often the notion of imperialism as a characteristic feature of our era. In 1902, a book by the English economist, J. A. Hobson, Imperialism was published in London and New York. This author, who adopts the point of view of social reform and pacifism, identical in the end with the present-day point of view of K. Kautsky, gives an excellent description of the chief economic and political characteristics of imperialism.
In 1910, there appeared at Vienna the work of the Austrian Marxist, Rudolf Hilferding, Finance Capital. In spite of a mistake on the part of the author in the theory of money, and inspite of his tendency to conciliate Marxism and opportunism, this work is a very valuable attempt at a theoretical analysis, as its sub-title tells us, of "the latest phase of capitalist development." Indeed, what has been said of imperialism during the last few years, especially in a great many newspaper and review articles, what was said about
