Some
Enlightenment writers expressed anti-imperialist ideas in the 18th century, especially targeting
luxury as an issue. In the late 1870s, the term "imperialism" was introduced to the English language by opponents of the aggressively imperial policies of British Prime Minister
Benjamin Disraeli (in office: 1874–1880). It was shortly appropriated by supporters of "imperialism" such as
Joseph Chamberlain (1836-1914). For some, imperialism designated a policy of idealism and philanthropy; others alleged that it was characterized by political self-interest; and a growing number associated it with
capitalist greed.
John A. Hobson (1858-1940) and
Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924) added a more theoretical
macroeconomic connotation to the term. Many theoreticians on the left have followed either or both in emphasizing the structural or systemic character of "imperialism". Such writers have expanded the time-period associated with the term so that it now designates neither a policy, nor a short space of decades in the late-19th century, but a global system extending over a period of centuries, often going back to
Christopher Columbus. As the application of the term has expanded, its meaning has shifted along five distinct but often parallel axes: the moral, the economic, the systemic, the cultural and the temporal. Those changes reflect—among other shifts in sensibility—a growing unease with the fact of power, specifically Western power. The relationships between
capitalism,
aristocracy and
imperialism have been discussed and analysed by theoreticians, historians, political scientists such as
John A. Hobson and
Thorstein Veblen,
Joseph Schumpeter and
Norman Angell. Those intellectuals produced much of their works about imperialism before
World War I (1914–1918), yet their combined work informed the study of the impact of imperialism upon Europe and contributed to the political and ideologic reflections on the rise of the
military–industrial complex in the United States from the 1950s onwards.
Hobson John A. Hobson strongly influenced the anti-imperialism of both Marxists and liberals, worldwide through his 1902 book
Imperialism: A Study. He argued that the "taproot of imperialism" is not in
nationalist pride, but in capitalism. As a form of economic organization, imperialism is unnecessary and immoral, the result of the mis-distribution of wealth in a capitalist society. That created an irresistible desire to extend national markets into foreign lands, in search of profits greater than those available in the Mother Country. In the capitalist economy, rich capitalists received a disproportionately higher income than did the working class. If the owners invested their incomes in their factories, the greatly increased productive capacity would exceed the growth in demand for the products and services of said factories. Hobson was influential in liberal circles, especially in the British Liberal Party. Historians Peter Duignan and
Lewis H. Gann argue that Hobson had an enormous influence in the early-20th century that caused widespread distrust of imperialism: Optimistically, Hobson argued that domestic social reforms could cure the international disease of imperialism by removing its economic foundation. Hobson theorized that state intervention through taxation could boost broader consumption, create wealth and encourage a peaceful multilateral world-order. Conversely, should the state not intervene,
rentiers (people who earn income from property or securities) would generate socially negative wealth that fostered imperialism and protectionism.
Liberal anti-imperialism There have been many examples of liberal anti-imperialism. However, liberal anti-imperialists are distinct from socialist anti-imperialists because they do not
oppose capitalism. the economic stage in which
monopoly finance capital becomes the dominant application of capital. As such, said financial and economic circumstances impelled national governments and private business corporations to worldwide competition for control of natural resources and human labour by means of
colonialism.
Leninism and Marxism–Leninism The
Leninist views of imperialism and related theories, such as
dependency theory, address the economic
dominance and
exploitation of a country:
economic imperialism rather than the military and the political dominance of a people, their country and its natural resources. Hence, the primary purpose of imperialism is economic exploitation, rather than mere control of either a country or of a region. The Marxist and the Leninist denotation thus differs from the usual political science denotation of imperialism as the direct control (intervention, occupation and rule) characteristic of colonial and
neo-colonial empires as used in the realm of
international relations. Generally, the relationship among Marxist-Leninists and radical, left-wing organisations who are
anti-war, often involves persuading such political activists to progress from
pacifism to anti-imperialism—that is, to progress from opposing war in general, to the condemnation of the capitalist economic system in particular. In the 20th century, the
Soviet Union represented itself as the foremost enemy of imperialism, thus the Kremlin gave political and financial support to
Third World revolutionary organisations who fought for national independence. This was accomplished through the export of both financial capital and Soviet military apparatuses, with the Soviet Union sending
military advisors to
China,
Vietnam,
Ethiopia,
Angola,
Egypt and
Afghanistan. However,
anarchists as well as many other Marxist organizations, have characterized Soviet foreign policy as imperialism and cited it as evidence that the philosophy of Marxism would not resolve and eliminate imperialism.
Mao Zedong developed the theory that the Soviet Union was a
social imperialist nation, a socialist people with tendencies to imperialism, an important aspect of Maoist analysis of the history of the Soviet Union. Contemporarily, the term "anti-imperialism" is most commonly applied by Marxist-Leninists and by political organisations of like ideological persuasion who oppose capitalism, present a
class analysis of society and the like. About the nature of imperialism and how to oppose and defeat it,
Che Guevara said:
Trotskyism The concept of
permanent war economy originated in 1945 with an article by
Trotskyist Ed Sard (alias Frank Demby, Walter S. Oakes and T.N. Vance), a
theoretician who predicted a post-war
arms race. He argued at the time that the United States would retain the character of a
war economy; even in peacetime,
US military expenditure would remain large, reducing the percentage of unemployed compared to the 1930s. He extended this analysis in 1950 and 1951. The concept has been a core tenet of the British
Socialist Workers Party with founder,
Tony Cliff, examining its application to the
First World War,
American imperialism and colonial empires including Britain, France and Germany.
Islamist anti-imperialism fighters of
Caucasian Mujahidin defend the village of
Salta from the invading
Russian Imperial Army during the
Caucasian War.|left The 18th and 19th centuries witnessed the rise of numerous
colonial and imperial Islamic resistance movements across various parts of the Muslim World. These included the
jihad movement led by the
Imamate of Caucasus and the
Circassian Confederacy against
Russian imperialism during the
Caucasus Wars (1763–1864 CE). Prominent leaders in this resistance campaign included
Ghazi Mullah,
Hamzat Bek,
Shamil,
Hajji Qerandiqo Berzeg,
Jembulat Boletoqo, etc. Other major anti-imperial movements included the
Padri War,
Java War, and the
Aceh War against the
Dutch colonisation of Indonesia,
Moro Rebellion against the
United States, the
South Asian Jihad movement of
Sayyid Ahmad Shahid,
Mahdist State in
Sudan and the Arabian
Muwahhidun that fought
British colonialism,
Emir Abd al-Qadir's military insurgency against
French in Algeria,
North-West Frontier Uprisings of the
Pashtun tribes against the
British Raj,
Omar Mukhtar's Jihad against
Italian Fascists in
Libya, etc. The establishment and defense of
Islamic statehood that enforces
Sharia (Islamic law) based on ''
Qur'an and Sunnah'', elimination of
superstitions and heterodox local practices and folk rituals, etc. were key objectives of these
reform movements.
Muhammad Rashid Rida was an ardent advocate of
Pan-Islamist insurgency against
imperialism. His teachings inspired figures like
Hasan al-Banna,
Sayyid Qutb and
Abdullah Azzam. These anti-colonial movements inspired the rise of
Pan-Islamism during the late 19th century; which gave birth to numerous
Islamist organisations advocating anti-imperialism across the
Muslim World; such as the
Muslim Brotherhood (
Ikhwan al-Muslimeen) and
Jamaat-e-Islami. Syro-Egyptian
Islamist theoretician
Muhammad Rashid Rida (1865 CE/1282 AH–1935 CE/1354 AH), a Salafi theologian greatly influenced by preceding militant
Islamic revivalist movements, was an ardent opponent of European imperial powers; and he called for armed
jihad to defend the Islamic World from encroaching colonialism, complemented by a political programme to establish Islamic states which would implement
Sharia (Islamic laws). He extended this anti-imperialist campaign to the theological level through the Arab
Salafiyya movement; which professed the key theme of returning to the values of
Salaf al-Salih. This encompassed a theological assault on Western ideological currents emanating from the principles of
secularism and
nationalism as well as denunciation of
Western cultural imperialism. After Rashid Rida, the mantle of Islamist anti-imperialism was spearheaded by the
Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood founder
Hasan al-Banna,
South Asian revolutionary Islamist leader
Sayyid Abul A'la Maududi and
Egyptian Jihadist theoretician
Sayyid Qutb. Mawdudi held the belief that West was in decline and that restoration of Islamic prowess was inevitable. Openly equating Western colonialism with
atheism, Mawdudi called upon Muslims to rally in
jihad against the imperialist forces to regain their spiritual, cultural, economic and military sovereignty and self-sufficiency. Sayyid Qutb, an Egyptian scholar influenced by both Mawdudi and Rashid Rida, took their ideas to its logical culmination; proclaiming the necessity of a permanent, un-ending Islamist revolution not only against the imperialists but also its allied regimes in the
Muslim World. This revolution against the apostate regimes has to be waged as an armed
jihad by an ideological vanguard committed to establish the Islamic state and uphold
Tawhid (Islamic monotheism). These ideas gained prominence and arose in influence across the Islamic World during the
post-World War II era. During the
Cold War period, the
Islamist intellectuals from the Muslim Brotherhood and Jamaat-e Islami also launched fervent
anti-communist campaigns, ideologically critiquing
socialism and
Marxism and chiding
leftists as agents of
Soviet Imperialism. In his book "
Al Jihad Fil Islam", South Asian revolutionary Islamist scholar Abul A'la Mawdudi made a comprehensive religious refutation of
imperialism. He argued that oppressive rulers justify imperialism in the name of progress and socio-political reforms. Describing the main features of imperialism, Mawdudi wrote: , the imperialism of secular Western powers was a by-product of their historical
Crusading spirit and driven by ideological differences. The Indian
Jamaat-e-Islami Hind launched a ten-day nationwide campaign titled Anti-Imperialism Campaign in December 2009. Contemporary
Jihadist movements such as
Al-Qaeda, influenced by Sayyid Qutb's thought, declares itself as a "global revolutionary vanguard" waging
jihad to defend
Muslims from atrocities committed by the forces of
Western imperialism and its allies. In the worldview of
Egyptian Jihadist theoretician
Sayyid Qutb, imperialist policies of the
secular Western regimes were a continuation of their historical "Crusading Spirit". In his commentary of the
Qur'anic verse 2:120 "{
Never will the Jews be pleased with you, (O Prophet), nor the Christians until you follow their way..}", Sayyid Qutb writes:
Right-wing anti-imperialism The anti-imperialist movement has generally been linked to left-wing politics, but some right-wing
conservatives,
nationalists,
anti-globalists and
religious fundamentalists that have emerged in reaction to alleged imperialism might also fall within this category. Iran's right-wing anti-imperialism is often linked to
anti-Americanism and
anti-Zionism;
Iranian principlists historically derived much of its popularity from its appeal to widespread anger at American intervention or influence. American
paleoconservatives denounce
neoconservatives as "
imperialists" and support anti-imperialist views to defend
traditionalist,
American nationalist values and
republicanism. == Political movement ==