Imperialism Reading Group - Super Imperialism, by Michael Hudson - Week 3 - March 3rd to March 9th, 2025
This is a weekly thread in which we read through books on and related to imperialism and geopolitics. Last week's thread is here.
Welcome to the third week of Michael Hudson's Super Imperialism: The Origin and Fundamentals of US World Dominance! I'm reading the Third Edition, but I imagine most of the information is the same if you have an earlier edition.
We are reading one chapter per week, meaning we will finish in June. Obviously, you are totally free to read faster than this pace and look at my/our commentary once we've caught up to you.
Every week, I will write a summary of the chapter(s) read, for those who have already read the book and don't wish to reread, can't follow along for various reasons, or for those joining later who want to dive right in to the next book without needing to pick this one up too. I will post all my chapter summaries in this final thread, for access in one convenient location. Please comment or message me directly if you wish to be pinged for this group.
This week, we will be reading Chapter 2: Breakdown of World Balance, 1921-1932, which is approximately 25 pages.
SeventyTwoTrillion [he/him] - 10mon
Super Imperialism ping list!
Last week, we saw how the United States put everybody in debt after World War 1. This week, we see the problems it causes everybody, including the United States itself.
Just jumping into it. Question to those in the know, how much does Hudson attribute to the ride of fascism the monetary policy against Germany between the wars? I feel like I'm about to read that claim, which I feel strongly ideologically opposed to (because I take the Red Sails fascism explanation as the best materialist take).
5
GoodGuyWithACat [he/him] - 9mon
Can you reiterate the Red Sails take? I think I've read it before but I want to hear your take.
I will say that multiple congruent explanations can exist without contradicting each other.
4
MLRL_Commie [comrade/them, he/him] - 9mon
It's the position which starts with the primitive accumulation of Marx, incorporates Cabral's position on fascism as colonialism turned inwards, and proves fascism not as some fairy tale demon but a living, existing human system whose prophets can only react to the revolutionary thinkers of their time.
I don't think I can better describe the core of it than the work itself summarizes it at the end of the essay:
Fascism is as co-constitutive of capitalism as liberalism is. Liberalism corresponds to the operational aspect of surplus value exploitation in the core, whereas fascism corresponds to the operational aspect of primitive accumulation at its temporal and spatial boundaries.>
My personal addition to this is that the form of fascism might've been forced by some conditions imposed by the US, that being, internally facing towards a significant group (form=ethnic periphery genocide) and externally towards the only group within reach not still required to pay debts back (form=settler colonialism in the east). Germany was fascist because it's a requirement to perform primitive accumulation to maintain a stable capitalist system, not because the US debt.
I can just smell that take coming the more I read this chapter (I hope I'm wrong) and it'll be another example of where I find the abstraction away from value and material production towards finance, money, and debt to be detrimental to the analysis. My position is that this is all easily fixed with some good thinking/reworking, but that it can lead to weird conclusions after good analyses.
3
MLRL_Commie [comrade/them, he/him] - 9mon
As far as I can tell, my worry is yet unwarranted! The financial situation is placed squarely on US debt and credit systems, which was pretty convincing as the way the US intended it to work by the time of the great depression. Overal enjoyed the chapter despite the creeping feeling. I'm gonna have to read again to understand perfectly how the debt system worked, because I admittedly didn't follow it 100%.
4
BodyBySisyphus [he/him] - 10mon
Gotta paper to finish and then I'm looking forward to jumping in on this!
3
SeventyTwoTrillion [he/him] - 10mon
I suppose there's never a non-timely place to read this book because it's been pretty relevant for decades.
But given Trump's recent protectionist actions, it's interesting to compare and contrast this early period of America trying to work out how to be the world hegemon and fuck over the Europeans but failing to be truly competent at imperialism (by not providing a way for other countries to earn dollars), and the current period. I do wonder if we're seeing the beginning of the return of the policies of the inter-war period, except because history isn't actually cyclical and global material conditions do develop, there's no way for America to industrialize, and obviously China and friends are generally on the ascension compared to Europe's fall from its world-spanning colonial empires to a mere major economic bloc.
While I was reading the chapter, I kept thinking that there's a similar degree of incompetency at imperial management, even if today's it's more "libertarian failsons who think that reducing government should also happen to key imperialist machinery", as well as the parallels with the rise of fascist governments in Germany, Italy, and Spain and today with places like Hungary.
9
GoodGuyWithACat [he/him] - 9mon
Very interesting chapter, you can see the US experimenting in how to be the world's economic hegemon but not having the knowledge/political will to commit to it.
3
Cowbee [he/him, they/them] - 9mon
Still being cautious with reasing this, but there's a lot of really useful analysis in here already.
SeventyTwoTrillion in theory
Imperialism Reading Group - Super Imperialism, by Michael Hudson - Week 3 - March 3rd to March 9th, 2025
This is a weekly thread in which we read through books on and related to imperialism and geopolitics. Last week's thread is here.
Welcome to the third week of Michael Hudson's Super Imperialism: The Origin and Fundamentals of US World Dominance! I'm reading the Third Edition, but I imagine most of the information is the same if you have an earlier edition.
We are reading one chapter per week, meaning we will finish in June. Obviously, you are totally free to read faster than this pace and look at my/our commentary once we've caught up to you.
Every week, I will write a summary of the chapter(s) read, for those who have already read the book and don't wish to reread, can't follow along for various reasons, or for those joining later who want to dive right in to the next book without needing to pick this one up too. I will post all my chapter summaries in this final thread, for access in one convenient location. Please comment or message me directly if you wish to be pinged for this group.
This week, we will be reading Chapter 2: Breakdown of World Balance, 1921-1932, which is approximately 25 pages.
Super Imperialism ping list!
Last week, we saw how the United States put everybody in debt after World War 1. This week, we see the problems it causes everybody, including the United States itself.
@RedDawn@hexbear.net @Cowbee@hexbear.net @kittin@hexbear.net @Sebrof@hexbear.net @TrippyFocus@lemmy.ml @OrionsMask@hexbear.net @0__0@hexbear.net @SummerIsTooWarm@hexbear.net @mbt2402@hexbear.net @BanjoBolshevik@hexbear.net @BodyBySisyphus@hexbear.net @NinjaGinga@hexbear.net @Test_Tickles@hexbear.net @luddybuddy@hexbear.net @Coca_Cola_but_Commie@hexbear.net @niph@hexbear.net @redline@lemmygrad.ml @glimmer_twin@hexbear.net @MF_COOM@hexbear.net @MiraculousMM@hexbear.net @StarkWolf@hexbear.net @StillNoLeftLeft@hexbear.net @BGDelirium@hexbear.net @THEPH0NECOMPANY@hexbear.net @devils_dust@hexbear.net @iridaniotter@hexbear.net @Ehrmantrout@hexbear.net @quarrk@hexbear.net @RaisedFistJoker@hexbear.net @Lemmygradwontallowme@hexbear.net @darkmode@hexbear.net @PaulSmackage@hexbear.net @FunkyStuff@hexbear.net @IceWallowCum@hexbear.net @Babs@hexbear.net @PerryGirl@hexbear.net @Rojo27@hexbear.net @OgdenTO@hexbear.net @iie@hexbear.net @Wertheimer@hexbear.net @Blobber@hexbear.net @MLRL_Commie@hexbear.net @XxFemboy_Stalin_420_69xX@chapo.chat
Just jumping into it. Question to those in the know, how much does Hudson attribute to the ride of fascism the monetary policy against Germany between the wars? I feel like I'm about to read that claim, which I feel strongly ideologically opposed to (because I take the Red Sails fascism explanation as the best materialist take).
Can you reiterate the Red Sails take? I think I've read it before but I want to hear your take.
I will say that multiple congruent explanations can exist without contradicting each other.
It's the position which starts with the primitive accumulation of Marx, incorporates Cabral's position on fascism as colonialism turned inwards, and proves fascism not as some fairy tale demon but a living, existing human system whose prophets can only react to the revolutionary thinkers of their time.
I don't think I can better describe the core of it than the work itself summarizes it at the end of the essay:
My personal addition to this is that the form of fascism might've been forced by some conditions imposed by the US, that being, internally facing towards a significant group (form=ethnic periphery genocide) and externally towards the only group within reach not still required to pay debts back (form=settler colonialism in the east). Germany was fascist because it's a requirement to perform primitive accumulation to maintain a stable capitalist system, not because the US debt.
I can just smell that take coming the more I read this chapter (I hope I'm wrong) and it'll be another example of where I find the abstraction away from value and material production towards finance, money, and debt to be detrimental to the analysis. My position is that this is all easily fixed with some good thinking/reworking, but that it can lead to weird conclusions after good analyses.
As far as I can tell, my worry is yet unwarranted! The financial situation is placed squarely on US debt and credit systems, which was pretty convincing as the way the US intended it to work by the time of the great depression. Overal enjoyed the chapter despite the creeping feeling. I'm gonna have to read again to understand perfectly how the debt system worked, because I admittedly didn't follow it 100%.
Gotta paper to finish and then I'm looking forward to jumping in on this!
I suppose there's never a non-timely place to read this book because it's been pretty relevant for decades.
But given Trump's recent protectionist actions, it's interesting to compare and contrast this early period of America trying to work out how to be the world hegemon and fuck over the Europeans but failing to be truly competent at imperialism (by not providing a way for other countries to earn dollars), and the current period. I do wonder if we're seeing the beginning of the return of the policies of the inter-war period, except because history isn't actually cyclical and global material conditions do develop, there's no way for America to industrialize, and obviously China and friends are generally on the ascension compared to Europe's fall from its world-spanning colonial empires to a mere major economic bloc.
While I was reading the chapter, I kept thinking that there's a similar degree of incompetency at imperial management, even if today's it's more "libertarian failsons who think that reducing government should also happen to key imperialist machinery", as well as the parallels with the rise of fascist governments in Germany, Italy, and Spain and today with places like Hungary.
Very interesting chapter, you can see the US experimenting in how to be the world's economic hegemon but not having the knowledge/political will to commit to it.
Still being cautious with reasing this, but there's a lot of really useful analysis in here already.