Imperialism
“Peter Wickham gives a fine narration of a rather dry work that Lenin wrote while living in Zurich midway through WWI and prior to his return to Russia…Wickham is a highly skilled narrator. His British accent gives a serious, authoritative tone to the entire work, with excellent pacing, enunciation, and intonation. All of these make this production a worthwhile listen for those who wish to hear a historical economic treatise.”
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Written in 1916 against the backdrop of the First World War, Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism explains the flaws and power of capitalism, which inevitably lead to monopolies, imperialism, and colonialism.
Lenin develops Marx’s theories of political economy, which had been put forward fifty years earlier in Das Kapital. He goes on to argue that imperialism is the most advanced state of capitalism, characterized by the domination of monopolies on an international scale, with the export of capital leading to the big imperialist powers carving up the world.
More than a century later, Imperialism remains highly relevant in understanding the historical background to the strategies of many of today’s major nations.
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