{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism (Upstream)","description":"Alyson and Breht were invited to join Robbie on the Upstream podcast to talk about Lenin's "Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism".  Capitalism, imperialism, monopoly\u2014far from being separate concepts that just happen to take shape parallel to one another or to overlap from time to time, these terms all really refer to the exact same overall process. We call it capitalism because it\u2019s not always practical to call it \u201cmonopoly capitalism in its imperialist stage\u201d or something like that, but really, capitalism is, as we\u2019ll see, inevitably monopolistic and imperialist. The process of capitalism\u2019s historical evolution from its so-called, and somewhat fabricated stage of free-enterprise to monopoly capitalism, and then further into what we refer to as imperialism, was outlined both theoretically and empirically by Vladamir Lenin well over a century ago in his classic text, Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism. The connection between monopoly and imperialism might not seem quite straightforward to you at first, and an understanding of imperialism itself as a process grounded in political economy may seem somewhat counterintuitive\u2014especially if you\u2019re used to thinking of imperialism and empire in the more popular sense of the words. But that\u2019s why we\u2019ve brought on two guests to walk us through this crucial text and help us make sense of it all.  Alyson Escalante and Breht O\u2019Shea are the hosts of Red Menace, a podcast that explains and analyzes revolutionary theory and then applies its lessons to our contemporary conditions, and they\u2019re both return guests of the show. In fact, they\u2019ve been on a number of times to talk about other texts by Lenin but also to explore a wide variety of topics from trans liberation to revolutionary Buddhism. Breht is also the host of the terrific podcasts Revolutionary Left Radio and Shoeless in South Dakota.  In this episode, we unpack Lenin\u2019s Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism. This episode is an excellent introduction to the text but it also takes deep dives and gets granular at times, picking apart the nuances and various interpretations of the text. We explore the historical context in which Lenin wrote this book and then trace capitalism\u2019s history from its early stages into its monopoly form. We explore how finance capital emerged and became similarly concentrated, how this merging of concentrated finance and industrial capital began to spread out from capitalist countries into the periphery and began to carve up the world, and how this process led to what we now understand to be capitalism\u2019s final and highest stage: imperialism. And, of course, we apply the text to a variety of current events and explore how we can apply Lenin\u2019s ideas in ways that help us grow and strengthen our socialist movements globally.  Learn more about Upstream HERE ","author_name":"Red Menace","author_url":"http:\/\/redmenace.libsyn.com\/website","html":"