Marx & Engels ─ On Colonies, Industrial Monopoly and the Working Class Movement

Originally compiled and edited by the Communist Working Circle (CWC), in

1972, this is a republished collection of excerpts from the corpus of

Marx and Engels. These show the evolution of Marx and Engels's ideas on

the nascent labor aristocracy and the complicating factors of

colonialism and chauvinism, with a focus on the British Empire of their

time.



This edition of "On Colonies" includes a substantial introduction by

Marxist economist Zak Cope and former CWC member Torkil Lauesen,

centering these concepts in theory and history. Cope and Lauesen show

how Marx and Engels's initial belief that capitalism would extend

seamlessly around the globe in the same form was proven wrong by events,

as instead worldwide imperialism spread capitalism as a polarizing

process, not only between the bourgeoisie and the working class, but

also as a division between an imperialist center and an exploited

periphery. This fundamental contradiction gave capitalism completely new

conditions of growth and accounts for its tragic longevity.



Both foundational and indispensable, "On Colonies" provides a useful

introduction to "Third Worldist" analysis of global capitalism, tracing

its roots back to Marxism's earliest works.