The speaker stated that “we are at an important historical turning point,” adding, “The world is ruled by capitalism and imperialism. Even socialist China has adopted a market economy. Some criticize this move, arguing that it represents a step backward rather than progress. We must understand Lenin’s concept of imperialism clearly.”
He continued, “One of the monopolies of this era is technology. In the economy, monopoly means monopolizing goods and exploitation. This has existed for a long time. While the concept of monopoly can be applied flexibly, the mere existence of a market does not negate monopoly. Today’s mass production is based on scale. Overproduction is relatively the norm, while individual production is very rare. This is because producing in large quantities is relatively cheaper than producing in small quantities.”
The speaker explained, “Lenin described imperialism as the situation of capitalism in his time. Lenin described imperialism as the state of capitalism in his time. What is important is that, gradually, only a few imperialist powers survive and go on to exploit all other countries.
“There are those who think imperialism has nothing to do with monopoly. Some simply define imperialism as something that applies only to powerful nations, but we must have a clear understanding of the basic idea of monopoly,” they said. He continued, “Russia has gas, but does it deliver it to the market in a monopolistic way? Russia exports to nearby countries, but that’s not a monopoly—it’s simply because transportation costs are lower.”
And he emphasized that, “It is a mistake to think that all capitalist countries are the same and are inevitably on the path to becoming imperialist powers.”
After a Q&A session, the participants gave the speaker a big round of applause, bringing the lecture to a close.
