Date: Tue, 18 Mar 1997 23:32:40 -0500 (EST)
Subject: M-TH: Re: M-I: Lenin and the rate of profit


SOMEONE NAMED KARL WROTE THE FOLLOWING,

On Sun, 16 Mar 1997, Karl Carlile wrote:

> A KARL CARLILE MESSAGE:
> 
> Lenin in his booklet, Imperialism, The Highest Stage Of Capitalism 
> argues that in the developed economies capitalism has become 
> "over-ripe" and that consequently capital cannot find a field for 
> profitable investment. In response to this Lenin makes the claim 
> that for the purpose of increasing profits these imperialist countries 
> export capital to the"backward countries". He comments that in "these 
> backward countries profits are usually high. He continues:
> 
> The export of capital is made possible by a number of backward
> countries having been already drawn into world capitalist
> intercourse: main railways have already been built in those
> countries, elementary conditions for industrial development have
> already been created, etc.
> 
> Now  Lenin proclaims:
> 
> The need to export capital arises from the fact that a few countries
> (what are often called the imperialist countries) capitalism has
> become "over-ripe" and ....capital  cannot find a field for
> profitable investment. (Bracketed comments are mine). 


MY REPLY,

     Could you tell me what section of the book this quote from Lenin 
is in?  There are 10 sections in my edition.  I want to narrow it down.


KARL CONTINUES,
> 
> If the above passage is valid then it follows that tropical Africa
> must in large part form a destination for the export of capital. Yet
> this has not been the case. If anything the rate of export of
> capital to this region has been contracting rather than expanding so
> much so that this region of the world containing millions of people
> has been largely marginalised by the developed economies in terms of
> economic development.


MY REPLY,

     You say "this has not been the case."  Are you serious?  Money has 
been flowing into the most exploited capitalist nations at an ever 
increasing rate.  Where did you get those figures and where did you 
obtain the idea that "the rate of export of capital to this region has 
been contracting rather than expanding."  That is just factually false.  
     What do you mean by "economic development"?  We are talking 
about economic exploitation, not development.  Capitalists couldn't 
care less about developing nations economically.  Productive 
enterprises within the poorest nations can be extremely profitable for 
capitalists but do nothing for the people or the infrastructure.  The 
latter is only developed by capitalists in so far as it aids in the 
accumulation of profits, largely through the extraction of resource 
and raw materials via roads, rail, pipes, and shipping.  In other words, 
they may have been marginalized in terms of economic development 
if you are referring to the improvement of living standards, social 
conditions, and infrastructure but not in terms of fostering financial 
accumulation.



KARL CONTINUES,

> 
> Furthermore most capital exports from individual imperialist 
> economies have been to other imperialist economies. This means that 
> capital exports are concentrated predmominantly within the so called 
> core economies.


MY REPLY,

     Where did you get this figure?  Even more importantly, if you had 
spent more time concentrating on what Lenin said and less on trying 
to devise a refutation, you would have noted that he never said 
internal investment within the major capitalist powers would come 
to a grinding halt or even diminish.  He very much left open the 
possibility of it increasing as is shown in his earlier chapters 
regarding inter-European disputes over various regions, such 
as Alsace and Lorraine and the Ruhr, and the accompanying 
investments.



KARL CONTINUES,



 Now if, as Lenin claimed, capital is over-ripe in these 
> core economies then it should follow that the biggest percentage of 
> the export of their capital should be going to the so-called third 
> world especially to regions such as sub-Saharan Africa.


MY REPLY,

     You are repeating the core of your argument and again I 
would like to know where you are getting your figures.  Did 
you go out and personally add up the investments or did you 
receive them from a "reliable" bourgeois source?
     Secondly, and even more importantly, where did Lenin put 
any dollar amounts or percentages on the amounts of money 
that would be invested in subsequent years.  He said the 
scramble for profits would take the capitalists into every nook 
and cranny of the world in fierce competition and ruthless 
exploitation, but where did he say that investments in one 
area would perforce have to exceed those of another?  That is 
a conclusion not only unsubstantiated by the text of the book 
but no doubt drawn from years of anti-Lenin bias.



KARL CONCLUDES WITH,

> 
> The only valid conclusion that can be drawn is that Lenin was patently 
> wrong and that all copies of his booklet Imperialism, The Highest Stage of 
> Capitalism ought to be consigned by all god fearing 
> socialist revolutionaries to recycling containers.
> 
>                                       
> 
> 
> 
> 
>                           Yours etc.,
>                                      Karl   
> 

MY CONCLUDING REPLY IS,

     Correction!  The only valid conclusion that can be drawn is
 that in your exuberance to refute Lenin you have no qualms 
about perverting part of his invaluable written legacy.  You 
would do well to spend more time reading and less time 
warping.  If there is anything that needs to be consigned to the 
dumpster, (forget about any salvation through recycling) it is an 
analysis based more on proselytization than confirmation.  The 
work you are so quick to condemn is a fountain of wisdom and 
accurate assessments, nearly all of which are as applicable to 
events of today as those of a century ago.
     Take my advice.  Before you begin to think you know more 
about the world scene than Lenin, read, memorize, believe, 
and closely adhere to the time honored adage: Fools rush in 
where wise men fear to tread. 
     Incidentally, the word is predominantly, not predmominantly. 
> 
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