The Co-opted Metropole Working-Class Benefit or Illusion? Flashcards
(30 cards)
What key issue did early twentieth-century critics of imperialism explore in relation to economic expansion? (first sentence)
A corollary to this exploration of the economic imperatives underpinning imperial expansion is the question of how early twentieth-century critics of imperialism understood the role of the white working class in sustaining the imperial project.
In what ways did critics believe the white working class contributed to imperialism?
Whether through:
- material co-optation
- nationalist sentiment,
- or racialised economic stratification -
and the extent to which this dynamic constituted one of imperialism’s central ills.
What did Du Bois, Schumpeter, Hobson, and Lenin agree and disagree on regarding imperialism and the working class?
While thinkers such as Du Bois, Schumpeter, Hobson and Lenin all acknowledged that imperialism primarily served economic interests…
They diverged in their assessments of how the working class within imperial metropoles was implicated in this system
What shaped the differing perspectives of these critics on the working class’s role in imperialism?
Their perspectives were shaped not only by their ideological commitments but also by the historical and intellectual traditions they engaged with – whether political economy, Marxism, liberalism or sociology
How did Hobson interpret the political impact of imperialism on the working class?
This aligned with Hobson’s view that imperialism was an extension of the domestic inequality, reflecting his liberal tradition, yet Hobson, reflecting his liberal traditions, is concerned with the ideological currents that supported imperialism.
How does Hobson prioritise the political consequences of imperialism in his text?
Indeed, he dedicates a substantial amount of the text to the “political implications” of imperialism as he remarks that this is “far more important” than the “economic side.”
What role did Hobson’s experience as a war correspondent play in his critique?
Having worked as a correspondent for the Manchester Guardian during the Boer War, Hobson was exposed to how jingoism and militarism shaped popular support for imperial expansion.
What was Hobson’s critique of militarism and its effect on civic life?
Hobson was critical of how “militarism [can] strike at the root of popular liberty and civic virtues.”
For Hobson, just as imperial wealth placated the working class with material benefits, nationalist fervour distracted them from how imperialism corroded democratic life.
What did Hobson identify as the spearhead of nationalist imperialism?
At the spearhead of Hobson’s critique is the “near-perfect quality of the financier class to direct the patriotic forces” generated by “politicians, soldiers, philanthropists and traders.”
Why was Hobson concerned about soldiers in government?
By virtue of the violent nature of imperialism, Hobson wanted to draw readers’ attention to how excessive militarism distorted rational governance
He believed soldiers in government would be oppressive and illiberal
What did hobson identify as the spearhead of nationalist imperialism?
At the spearhead of Hobson’s critique is the “near-perfect quality of the financier class to direct the patriotic forces” generated by “politicians, soldiers, philanthropists and traders.”
Why was Hobson concerned about soldiers in government?
By virtue of the violent nature of imperialism, Hobson wanted to draw readers’ attention to how excessive militarism distorted rational governance. He believed soldiers in government would be oppressive and illiberal.
How did Lenin build on Hobson’s political economy critique of imperialism?
Lenin and Hobson, working within political economy, placed economic structures at the centre of their analyses, framing imperialism as a mechanism to preserve the economic dominance of elites.
What significance does Lenin place on the accessibility of his anti-imperialist message?
The task of popularising an anti-imperialist text was critical to Lenin as he completed half the text while in exile in Switzerland in 1916.
How does the subtitle of Lenin’s pamphlet relate to his message?
The medium in which Lenin is delivering his critique of imperialism is fundamental to his conceptualisation of the working class within the metropole. Indeed, the subtitle of the pamphlet is “A Popular Outline.”
What does Lenin argue about surplus capital and the standard of living?
Lenin, expanding on Hobson’s critique, argued that the financier class deliberately sought profits abroad rather than reinvesting surplus capital to improve living conditions at home,
contending that “as long as capitalism remains what it is, surplus capital will be utilised not for the purpose of raising the standard of living of the masses … but for the purpose of increasing profits by exporting capital abroad to the backward countries.”
What crisis in the labour movement did Lenin respond to?
Indeed, WW1 had plunged the international labour movement into a crisis as Lenin believed the Second International did not accurately capture the link between imperialism and capitalism.
How does Lenin describe the division within the working class caused by imperialism?
Lenin translated this concern by discussing how imperialism splintered the working class movement, as he cites how “In Great Britain, [there is] a tendency of imperialism to split the workers, to strengthen opportunism among them.”
What does Lenin mean by the term “labour aristocracy”?
This would allow the ruling class, not just in Britain but other metropoles, to utilise sections of their colonial wealth to appease certain parts of the working class, effectively forming a “labour aristocracy.”
How does Lenin connect “socialisation of production” to appropriation and working-class weakness?
Lenin goes on to discuss how the “socialisation of production,” has become more common yet appropriation remains private. In Lenin’s view, the weakening of the militancy of the working class movement would protect this phenomenon of resource hoarding.
What does Du Bois argue about white labour’s complicity in imperialism?
Du Bois, writing from a sociological and historical perspective, foregrounded race as an economic instrument that bound white workers to the imperial project, conceptualising imperialism as both an economic safety valve and a racialised mechanism of social control.
What does Du Bois write in The Crisis (1921) about white labour?
In The Crisis (1921), Du Bois proclaimed that “white labour is particeps criminis with white capital,”
How did Du Bois use The Crisis magazine as a platform?
The medium of The Crisis as an NAACP magazine Du Bois co-founded allows Du Bois to divulge to his readership that the white proletariat could be co-opted.
How does Du Bois articulate racial economic manipulation in Of the Culture of White Folk (1917)?
He writes in the voice of a white labourer in Of the Culture of White Folk (1917), to express how people were encouraged to draw upon their socialised contempt for people of colour and perceive them as threats to their economic instability;
“We must fight the Chinese or they will take our bread and butter. We must keep the Negroes in their places or they will take our jobs,”
