Besides that, imperialism is not simply “a policy of extending a country’s power and influence through diplomacy or military force.”

It is a system culminating from the growing capitalist mode of production.

Imperialism is the {higher} stage of capitalism by Lenin, defined by

1. Dominance of capitalist monopolies in everyday life

2. Bank capital (think shareholders and money-lenders) + industrial capital (think factories and mass production ) --> Finance capital, whose surplus value is increasingly dominated by dividends and interest, rather than industrial profit of enterprise.

You might call this rentier capital.

3. Export of capital around the world is dominant, rather than export of commodities, in search of new sources of surplus value

4. International capitalist monopolies are established

5. Territorial division and redivision of the colonized world, on the basis of monopoly capitalism. (even then, under neo-colonialism, you don’t need to even occupy; you just have to exert economic and military dominance/hegemony on the ‘ex-colonies’)

Thus, it is important to be anti-imperialist, in the sense of Lenin.

If ye wanted a book recommendation intro, here’s one by Cowbee

https://lemmy.ml/post/22417306

There’s also this one.

Basic Marxism-Leninism study plan

This is the Marxism-Leninism “basic study plan” of the Anti-Imperialism Movement (Movimiento Anti-Imperialista or MAI). I think this is a very decent set of texts to read, so I’ve translated the original list and added links to all English and free-to-read versions available online. Since people very often ask for this kind of thing I hope some of you will find it useful.

You can find these at marxists.org

Introduction Lenin. The three sources and three component parts of Marxism

Lenin. Karl Marx

Marx, Engels. Manifesto of the Communist Party

Historical Materialism

Marx, Engels. The German Ideology, chapter 1

Scientific Socialism

Engels. Socialism: Utopian and Scientific

Lenin. What is to be done?

Lenin. State and Revolution

Lenin. Texts against revisionism and opportunism:

The historical destiny of the doctrine of Karl Marx

Opportunism and the collapse of the Second International

The collapse of the Second International

Imperialism and the split in Socialism

Certain features of the historical development of Marxism

Marxism and Revisionism

Marxism and Reformism

Lenin. Left-wing Communism: and infantile disorder

Engels. Anti-Dühring, part III: Socialism

Stalin. The foundations of Leninism

Philosophy

Mao. On contradiction

Engels. Anti-Dühring, part I: Philosophy

Engels. Ludwig Feuerbach and the end of classical German philosophy

Marx. Theses on Feuerbach

Political Economy

Marx. Wages, price and profit (Ouais)

Engels. Anti-Dühring, part II: Political Economy

Marx. Capital Volume I (This is a big one; oof)

Lenin. Imperialism, the highest stage of Capitalism