ABSTRACT
How did John Hobson, Vladimir Lenin, and their contemporaries explain the consequences of imperialism between the 1880s and 1914? Imperialism was fueled by the scramble for overseas markets, investment opportunities, and political control over regions, such as Africa and Asia, where the indigenous populations were either too numerous or too culturally varied to be easily assimilated. The lives of colonial peoples as well as rural communities in the industrial countries were transformed as they were enmeshed in capitalist social relations. Nationalist sentiments surged in the capitalist countries as states sought to consolidate political control, and peoples sought to assert their independence. Anti-imperialist nationalist movements, especially in Asia, began their struggle to free themselves from their imperial overlords. Xenophobia intensified in settler colonies like the United States with the arrival of tens of millions of immigrants, mostly from Central and Southern Europe, who sought and eventually found work in ethno-racially stratified labor markets. This chapter explores the theories of the commentators and the debates that ensued.
