Imperialism Today: Unequal Exchange and Globalized Production

How should Marxists revise their understanding of imperialism to fit the major global shifts that have occurred in the past century? How does a highly globalized capitalism extract surplus value from underdeveloped regions of the world? In this video we consider the relevant components for a contemporary theory of imperialism.
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Narration, script, and editing by M.
Animated intro by Jack, co-host of the Auxiliary Statements podcast @AuxStatements on Twitter.
Intro music by Charles Tristan:
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Patreon:
Twitter:
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References:
Amin, Samir. 2018. Modern Imperialism, Monopoly Finance Capital, and Marx’s Law of Value. New York: Monthly Review Press.

Attewell, Paul A. 1984. Radical Political Economy Since the Sixties: A Sociology of Knowledge Analysis. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press.

Ross, Robert J. S., and Kent C. Trachte. 1990. Global Capitalism: The New Leviathan. SUNY Series in Radical Theory. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

Suwandi, I. Value chains: The new economic imperialism. 2019. Monthly Review Press.

Smith, John. 2016. Imperialism in the Twenty-First Century: Globalization, Super-Exploitation, and Capitalism’s Final Crisis. New York, NY: Monthly Review Press
Additional Information:
Lenin, V.I. 1917. Империализм как высшая стадия капитализма. [Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism]. Zhizn’ i znanie.

Marx, Karl. 1991. Capital: A Critique of Political Economy. Compiled by Friedrich Engels. Translated by David Fernbach. Vol. 3. 3 vols. N.p.: Penguin Group.

Kubálková, V., & Cruickshank, A. 2015. Marxism-Leninism and the theory of international relations (Vol. 4). Routledge.
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00:00 - 03:36 Introduction
03:37 - 06:49 Dependency Theory
06:50 - 14:03 Unequal Exchange
14:04 - 17:44 Globalization and Value Chains
17:45 - 20:12 Conclusion

[VictorZenloth]

Growing up in the third world with an inferiority complex looking up to a supposedly shiny western capitalist system in the wake of the fall of Soviet Communism, Marxist Theory has helped me look deeper into the roots of today's reality and also find revolutionary answers as well as hope that comrades can organize for something better. Subjectively, your work to me is invaluable. Solidarity and Revolutionary Greetings from ✊✊✊✊✊

[BalkanOdyssey_]

These kinds of videos are a breath of fresh air - it's always nice to see quality contemporary analysis. Amazing stuff.

[latviesustrelnieks]

I love the serious, scientific approach of your videos. Keep up the great work, comrade!

[windowmark]

I had to read Lenin's chapter on imperialism and found this channel. You guys do a great job at summarizing difficult topics. I look forward to learning more.

[destroctiveblade]

I find no better channel that can explain marxist economics and marxist theory this well, keep up the good work

[MisterTactless]

great video. A book that covers this topic extensively is John Smith: Imperialism in the 21st century

The only point I would stress is that low wages in the periphery are due to high unemployment, authoritarian repression of labour organizations, etc.
Wages in the core are kept high due to borders like US-Mexico and Europa-African borders keeping people (labour) from moving freely and equalizing wages.

[melz]

Omg finally some good modern Marxist analysis. I find it so rare nowadays to find socialist that find something new to say. I know a lot of aspects from marxism is timeless, but so much is changing and it's important to stay fresh

[wolverineclaws]

I'm quite impressed by how well you summarized Emmanuel's theory of unequal exchange. Most Marxists usually replace it with Amin's distorted version, which you thankfully avoided

[DemandBetterEntertainment]

This channel makes some of the best content on this damn platform

[cwnveqv]

good job keeping everything concise, i’m sure every section of this video on its own could be the topic of five full videos

[depotemkin]

Спасибо что продвигаешь правду в массы, товарищ ❤️

[hindigente]

Great video and wonderful animations, as always. These videos should be posted to r/socialism.

[MasterOfBaiter]

A good example for the way things are valued is to compare shipping rates VS imports of two countries. For example it's many times more expensive to rent a shipping container from the US to China than the other way around. Meanwhile the import figures even while showing a difference does not show the same drastic difference. We also see a lot of western companies like for example pharmaceutical companies move manufacturing out and then exporting the commodities back home to sell to the domestic workers with more buying power. You can also just straight up compare to similar products of two countries and realize they are prized in proportion to wage costs (surprise)

[RevanImmortal]

Dang as a developing leftist this channel is peak

[vadimk]

Good video, as it usually it with The Marxist Project, kudos! Although (not to sound like that guy who says "acktually..."), but I personally think that it should have been emphasized more that Lenin's work (or any other classic marxist literature) is not obsolete but has rather become incomplete due to natural course of history, and thus sometimes needs to be complemented, not reviewed or altered. Otherwise, revisionists of different kinds will surely pop up, yelling that "Marx and Lenin are old garbage, we need to invent new theory from scratch", effectively steering marxism away from its intended course.

[buff]

These videos are always excellent in explaining the difficult subject in a simple way.

[Ricky-Spanish]

So I have a question that might be entirely out of left field, but here goes: In a hypothetical socialist society, is it possible once the bourgeoisie-proletariat class contradiction is superseded, that a new class contradiction could emerge? So for example, in this hypothetical scenario, if some kind of cybernetic form of planned economy was established that only required say 10% of the population to work, could there be a new emergent class contradiction of worker vs non-worker? Because theoretically, workers (at least the engineers specifically) would have more power and influence over the system, even if a cybernetic system would technically necessitate participation from every member of society that engages with it in some form or another (unless they're 'living off the grid' or something). The workers in this case wouldn't own the productive forces per se, but they might wield a higher degree of influence. Even setting the cybernetics scenario aside, you might have workers that aren't necessarily involved in engineering the system but just doing socially necessarily work in general, but if there was relatively far less work to be done, to the point where it wouldn't make sense to just divvy it up amongst all those willing to work, would there be a potential issue there? Like, this might just be misunderstanding the idea of the 'dictatorship of the proletariat', but in an arrangement like that, could it play out so that not only is the state used as a tool for class war against the old bourgeoisie but also what is now referred to as the 'lumpen' proletariat or just unemployable people?

This concern is partially inspired by Thorstein Veblen's idea of a 'soviet of technicians', but I'm aware it could amount to little more than conjecture, lol. I'm just sort of thinking out loud here and this seemed like as good a place on YT as there is to pose the question, thanks in advance!

[onestraw-zxph]

Fairly good analysis of the economic nature of Imperialism, as a feature inherent in capitalism in contrast to traditional Leninist explanations. BUT, the presentation contains misunderstandings, such as the comparison of constant / variable capital in core and peripheral countries ( aka organic composition of capital) and also a lack of explanation of the rates of surplus value. There's s too much to explain here, so I will just recommend reading volume 3 of Capital and a really good explanation by Professor Andrea Ricci's book " Unequal Exchange in International Trade." Thanks.

[kariemh]

Samir Amin & Emmanuel have a fundamental difference in their approach to wages/ productivity, as in what the main force behind underdevelopment is

[jonathankammer]

I agree with how important the theories presented in this video (and other, like from “Hakim”), AND I also think that Colin Drumm has interesting and important critiques of Marx’s monetary theory, critiques that I don’t think refute this analysis of imperialism.