The Ambitions of Colonialists and Imperialists - Essay Example

?Insert Insert Grade Insert Insert Imperialism I. Introduction Imperialism is where an economically and politically dominant nation invades for other people’s land, labor, raw materials, and markets for their own good. Imperialism was mainly practiced in order to give nations political and social power. The more territories a country conquered the more it became powerful. Industrialized countries such as German and Britain scrambled for colonies in less industrialized countries. Once these countries were conquered, the colonizing countries used their labor, land, and capital for their own benefits. II. Modes of Resistance A. Example 1 There are so many methods that countries used to resist imperialism. The first method was by collaborating with other imperialists. The imperialists or the bourgeois also fought for the control of territories. The resisting countries took advantage of this and sought the protection of another imperialist country in case of invasion. One such example is in Lenin’s letter to American workers when he says that he sought the help of France when the German forces invaded Russia. The French army had explosive experts and they were to be used to blow up railway lines in order to make it hard for German forces to invade Russia. Lenin knew very well that France was also an imperialist nation but he used it for the benefit of his people. France assisted Russia because it wanted to prevail over Germany. Lenin says that by using Russia to prevent Germany invasion, he had reduced the bourgeois power and assisted in preservation of the rights of the working class. This mode of resistance was also adopted by America when it was fighting for liberation from British colonization. The Spanish and the French had also invaded the northern part of America. The Spanish, French, and the British were always in conflict. The United States took advantage of this and sometimes fought on the side of Spanish and French forces against the British. Lenin says that they (USA) collaborated with the oppressors for the benefit of their people. B. Example 2 Another mode of resistance that was adopted was armed resistance. Example of this was when European countries invaded the Asian countries (Panikkar 231). These countries responded by armed resistance. This led to destruction of institutions that had been established by the colonizers. Since such revolutions would erupt in many of their colonies, it was hard to suppress them leading to weakening of the imperialists. This resulted in the imperialists granting independence to their colonies. Even though this strategy is criticized for leading to much causality, Lenin claims that it saves many people from oppression by sacrificing a few. In fact, Lenin claims that the imperialists during their own struggles normally killed many innocent citizens. C. Example 3 Another mode of imperialist resistance is refusing to depend on the imperialists. This is when a country decided not to depend on the products of the colonizers. The country enhanced its own industries and endeavored to solve its own problems. It was sometimes hard because these were non-industrialized countries but Lenin in his letter to American workers says that it is through mistakes that people learn how to do things right. This strategy was meant to incapacitate the imperialists economically and it was achieved through boycotting their products or not accepting employment in their industries. Through this, the workers would be able establish and strengthen their own national industries and learn how to manage them. They will establish new working rules and have a say in their trade unions. This frees them from the manacles of imperialism. D. Example 4 The last strategy of resisting imperialism was through stepping on the rights of imperialists. The imperialists may have the right to own property, but the property that they held was grabbed from the indigenous population. When power went back to the citizens of the colonized states these properties were taken from the imperialists and given to the poor citizen. An example of this was in Russia when the government forcefully took all good buildings in the country from the wealthy and offered them to peasants and workers to utilize them for their meetings. This has also been exercised in several colonized countries around the world where the imperialists land have been confiscated and given to the citizens of the colonized country. III. Karl Max Karl max says that the world is transforming from feudalism to bourgeois. This is a wealthy class that does business in the society at the expense of the masses. Karl Max says that since the bourgeois have the finances they transform the businesses from small indigenous industries to centralized and mechanized industries. These industries lead to extinction of small industries. They make people to believe that these are the appropriate technologies. The industries exploit human labour; workers are not paid the wages that are commensurate with their labour. They are just offered subsistence wages to maintain them. The introduction of machines further lowers the wages. Bourgeois also lead people to migrate from their rural homes to towns in such of work. In the long run each person is converted in labour. This capitalism reduces independence and increases interdependence. Max says that the bourgeoisie are sowing seeds of their own destruction. Soon the oppressed workers would put up a resistance against them. From the perspective of Karl Max, just as the people waged armed resistance against the colonialists, the workers will also eventually stand up against capitalism. They will boycott work and demand better working conditions. They will be organized into trade unions that will organize protests that may end up into violent riots. In the end, this will lead into better working conditions for workers and end of bourgeoisie. Secondly, just as the citizens collaborated with other imperialists to resist imperialism. The workers might also collaborate with other bourgeoisie to fight certain bourgeoisie. Take for example, workers that have been exploited by a foreign company, they may join hands with home companies to revolt against this company. These home companies may also be oppressing their workers. The last strategy here is refusing to depend on bourgeoisie; in this case, people revert to indigenous small industries and live to depend on the capitalists. They do not go to town to such for labour or depend on the businesses of the wealthy class. This is a sure way of bringing the bourgeoisie down. Read More