Social imperialism
Social imperialism, also called imperial socialism and socio-imperialism, is a term used to describe people, parties, and states that are "socialist in words, imperialist in deeds", as defined by Lenin.[1] This does not refer to any specific manner in which imperialism is carried out, but rather was first used to describe those who gave "socialist" justifications to supporting their own country's imperialism in World War I, such as officials of the SPD who called on German workers to march into the trenches by claiming that the cause of socialism was bound up with the defeat of Tsarist Russia.[2][3]
Lenin used the terms "social-patriotism" and "social chauvinism" to refer to similar phenomenon: those socialists who justified upholding bourgeois nationalism and/or the national oppression of subjugated peoples, as in the Russian Empire and Austro-Hungarian Empire, on "socialist" grounds.
After the World War I era, the most significant use of this term was in the Maoist critique of the Soviet Union, where Mao Zedong argued that the Soviet Union had itself become an imperialist power while maintaining a socialist facade.[4] Enver Hoxha agreed with Mao in this analysis, though later used this term to condemn Mao's Three Worlds Theory in the Sino-Albanian split.[5]
References
- ↑ Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism Part IX. Critique of Imperialism
- ↑ "Luxemburg, R., (1915), "Rebuilding the International"". Retrieved January 23, 2009.
- ↑ "Lenin, VI., (1915), "Draft resolution of the leftwing delegates at the International Socialist Conference at Zimmerwald"". Retrieved January 23, 2009.
- ↑ "Mao, (1964), "On Khrushchev's Phoney Communism and Its Historical Lessons for the World"". Retrieved January 23, 2009.
- ↑ "Hoxha, E., (1979), "Imperialism and the Revolution: The Theory of 'Three Worlds': A Counterrevolutionary Chauvinist Theory"". Retrieved January 23, 2009.