Reader Response 2

1

Imperialism

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Imperialism is a Latin word that means having absolute power over something. In a simple meaning, it means that a certain nation, country, or even an empire has gained and maintained dominance over the other nations by controlling them. Through this, they will control the natural resources that the country is providing and the raw materials they sell in their own countries and factories. There are major causes of imperialism, including the money, the pride that a certain nation wants to have, racism is another cause, and lastly, the religion of the colonizing country. This was brought by the Europeans who wanted the colonies to provide the raw materials for their factories, and through this, they could make more money when they traded with the new colonies.

Imperialism had a great impact on society. It was the major cause of the slave trade in the countries which later led to discrimination in these countries and all over the globe. Through this, they destroyed the cultures causing disunity among the natives of a country. The countries took the natural resources from the natives, and they left them with nothing in return. In her book, the philosopher thinker Rosa Luxemburg, The Accumulation of capital, showed a close relationship between industrial capitalism and imperialism. She argues that capitalism could not survive without imperialism. She first narrated the situation between the colonized countries (Halsall, 1999). She goes ahead and says that there is a struggle against imperialism. It develops the ever more into decisive struggles, and they are in between the capital and labor.

According to Luxemburg, some capitalists sought to realize the profits they made by offloading surplus commodities onto the non-capitalist economies. This is the phenomenon of imperialism, the capital states that sought to dominate the countries with the weaker economies. This led to the destruction of the non-capitalist economies as they had an increased absorption in the capital system. The destruction led to more places where the markets could offload surplus commodities, and capitalism would break down. Luxemburg criticized this accumulation of capital (Halsall, 1999). The conclusions were that the limits of the capitalist system were the cause of imperialism which then led to war in the countries. During her time, she campaigned against militarism and colonization since these were the things that led to war during the total war, the main aim being the accumulation of wealth.

References

Luxemburg, R. (1916). The war and the workers-The Junius Pamphlet. URL (consulted Nov. 2004): http://www. h-net. msu. edu/~ german/gtext/kaiserreich/lux. sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/1916luxemburg-junius.asp