Imperialism Hits Home
The 1950's are often referred to as the Golden Age, when life was good, america was free from communism and conflict. It was the time of great prosperity. America was a winner, they had just won the big one, WWII. It had defeated Fascism, with the help of “Communist” USSR under Stalin, and the most powerful Empire in the World, Great Britain, the United Kingdom. The end of WWII led to the dropping of the Atomic bomb showing that America wasn’t messing around anymore. Steadily after 1945 Britain's empire began to decline, and by 1960 almost all of its former territories where freed from colonial rule. This led to a emerging destabilization, in which all countries throughout the world had to chose sides, between USA and USSR. US after WWII seeing insurgency once again rising throughout the world, particularly in Asia, and Latin America, created both the CIA and NSA. Beginning the period of bureaucratization and centralization of power within the government. This as well led to the Truman Doctrine and the goal of US Imperialism to contain “Communism” or as we will refer to it here, as State Capitalism.
The US only rival was the USSR, which was living under State Capitalist rule, under Stalin. However, in 1949, Mao Zedong Communist Party took power in China. China came to power and began spreading State Capitalism, throughout southeast Asia, this led to the first of many conflicts in South East Asia over the next 25 years. This became What is Known as “The Long Imperialist Proxy War (the Cold War)”.
Beginning with the Korean War in 1949.
The US supported South Korea, against State Capitalist North Korea. This made production once again to switch from producing goods, into producing weapons for war. Which seemed like a Hangover from the War economy created by military industrial boom and need for weapons during WWII.
This sets the stage for our story. In 1950 in a rural American town, in the middle of nowhere, Kewaskum,45 minutes North of Milwuakee, Wisconisn. This is where Regal Ware Inc. is the main supplier of employment, and to this day still is.
Here, in Kewaskum, the Imperialist War machine hit home for me. I grew up in Kewaskum all of my life. My grandfather on my father side was a farmer and worked at the Kitchen appliance factory, known as Regal Ware, where they made Pots and Pans. But during War time it became important that the factory change its production from making kitchen commodities, to making weapons for war.
My Grandmothers father, who worked at Regal Ware for Many Years, saved a Shell Casing for the Korean War, that was made in Regal Ware. It was recently uncovered and shown to the family over Easter.
However, this draws to my entire point, at showing how far reaching the systemic problems of Imperialism are within our society.
Lenin once wrote “ Imperialism is the monopoly stage of capitalism. Such a definition would include what is most important, for, on the one hand, finance capital is the bank capital of a few very big monopolist banks, merged with the capital of the monopolist associations of industrialists; and, on the other hand, the division of the world is the transition from a colonial policy which has extended without hindrance to territories unseized by any capitalist power, to a colonial policy of monopolist possession of the territory of the world, which has been completely divided up.”
Lenin pointed to the way in which once Capitalism continued to be centralized it would need to search for new markets and new consumers. As it begins to run out of Markets, it leads competing capitalist interests to come more and more into violent conflict. This is what led to both the First and Second Imperialists Wars (WWI and WWII).
Lenin continues on to Write a important question:“what means other than war could there be under capitalism to overcome the disparity between the development of productive forces and the accumulation of capital on the one side, and the division of colonies and spheres of influence for finance capital on the other?”
In order to get out of the “Great” Depression, the World Capitalist powers needed to go to war to get more and more of the markets and resources, to continue producing commodities.
Taking this into note, we can see how long the fangs of Capitalism sink into our society in the Era of Imperialism. A society in which a local Pot and Pan factory in a small Rural town in Wisconsin in the 1940s and 1950s, began producing Over 1,000,000,000 shells for the Korean War.
America Won “The Long Imperialist Proxy War”. Capitalist Dictatorship and Monopoly Capitalism, triumphed over State Dictatorships and State Capitalism. The Truman Doctrine of Containment, led to the Red Scare, and led to a excuse for the US Empire to spread its influence throughout the world. This led to the US Empire toppling numerous countries through out the world via the CIA, and led to the death of about 40 million people.
In 1975, the Cold War began to come to a end. In which the State Capitalist structures of yesterday began to slowly do away with themselves and begin to privatize state control of Resources, in order to create new markets. By 1991 “The Long Imperialist Proxy War” had ended and the US and the West remained the victor. But for the workers of the world, they were not the victors, what remained was just the scars and bodies of another Imperialist War, in which the poor where sent to kill, slaughter and maim one another in the name of there Capitalist Masters. What was produced after this Imperialist War was a era of US Hegemony, and another War Hangover, what led to this was a US Capitalist Ploy in 2001, to control a majority of the worlds oil supply in the Middle East, by using the fear that was created from the 9/11 attacks, to attack sovereign countries more aggressively than before.
We live in now a new era of this Imperialist war machine, but as rising powers around the world begin to slowly become more intensely conflicted, it is up to the workers of the world, to unite and through there power, use Lenin's idea of Revolutionary Defeatism, to overthrow there Capitalist Masters, and Establish a society for the working people. One far beyond, the commodification of life, the selling of yourself to a mindless market, and the never ending imperialist wars for profit.
