On states and classes in conflict

The central dynamic of capitalism and transition to socialism

    In my last commentary of April 1, I reviewed a March 26 Webinar, “Clarifying the Struggle for Socialism: Uses and Misuses of Marx's Capital,” sponsored by the International Manifesto Group.  My commentary included a summary of the presentation of Radhika Desai, convener of the International Manifesto Group and Director of the Geopolitical Economy Research Group, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada; and the author of Geopolitical Economy: After US Hegemony, Globalization and Empire. 

     In her presentation and in the Q&A that followed, Desai maintained that imperialism, (which is the policy of controlling markets and natural and human resources in other nations), is an intrinsic and necessary dimension of the pursuit of profit, the fundamental driving force of capitalism.  Capitalists, in the pursuit of profit, are compelled to direct their national state to carry out aggressive military actions and economic policies against other states and nations, so that other states will…