ABSTRACT
The major capitalist countries are now undergoing a serious "energy crisis," Shortages in petroleum supplies have caused a "petroleum upheaval" in their production and life. Factories are closed because of the shortage of electric power. Automobiles are not driven because of the lack of fuel. Under the capitalist system, "the production of surplus value or profit is the absolute law of this mode of production" (Marx, Capital). The aim of the monopoly bourgeoisie is to seek maximum profits. In exploiting energy resources, the capitalists are not concerned with using natural resources rationally, but only with gaining ever greater profits. Imperialism means aggression and plunder. In view of the economic and strategic value of petroleum and the greater profits gained by seizing the petroleum of foreign countries, the monopoly capitalists have competed in seizing the land and the oil of the Third World countries rather than extracting the petroleum in their own countries.
