ABSTRACT
Leninism has grown and become established in the age of imperialism, when the conflicts within capitalism have reached a climax, when the proletarian revolution has become a question of practical politics, when the period of working-class preparation for the revolution is passing into that in which the capitalist fortress is being stormed. Imperialism means the omnipotence of monopolist trusts and syndicates, of banks and the financial oligarchy, in industrial countries. The historical significance of the great war, the imperialist war, was that it concentrated these conflicts, and brought them simultaneously into play, thus facilitating and accelerating the revolutionary battles of the proletariat. In other words, the growth of imperialism has not only made the revolution a practical necessity; it has also created conditions favourable to an immediate onslaught on the strongholds of capitalism. The conflict between the various financial groups and the different imperialist powers in their competition for control of the sources of raw material, for foreign territory.
