Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism

In the original preface, Lenin says that he wrote his book during the spring of 1916 while living in Zurich. Although he was deprived of many source texts, he made use of the work of J. A. Hobson, an English social scientist and economist. Lenin’s original text was written and published under the scrutinous eye and heavy censorship of the tsarist regime.

This preface precedes the French and German editions. Lenin says that his primary objective is to present “a composite picture of the world capitalist system in its international relationships at the beginning of the twentieth century” right before World War I, a war which he identifies as an “imperialist” scheme to divide the world into disparate parts for the purpose of exploitation (8).

The spread of national railways and their increasing centralization are a means by which to track the “basic capitalist industries [of] coal, iron and steel” (9). When viewed with greater scrutiny one can see how railways are also tied up in the industries and monopolies of the cartels, trust, and banks that govern the world. World War I proves that the capitalist system and the primacy of private property inevitably leads to war.