Series link to three part conversation with Prabhat Patnaik, co-author of “Capital and Imperialism”. Patnaik argues imperialism which existed in the colonial era persists to this day and the system cannot do without it. Series published August 2021.
Imperialism then and now: [1] Wealth, unemployment and insufficient demand
Prabhat Patnaik reviews the connections between imperialism and capitalism through history to stress that by necessity of the accumulation of wealth, somewhere demand has to be suppressed to provide cheap inputs to ‘the markets’. That colonialist relation is retained to the present, with changing subjects.
Imperialism then and now: [2] Drain of wealth, depression, the role of the State and globalization
Prabhat Patnaik explains how the colonial system led to depression. Then, in advanced countries governments stepped in to increase demand and productivity, but how unless the periphery is available for extraction of wealth and cheap provision of inputs the system would collapse. So, the Global South was absorbed by a globalization process where finance becomes predominant, income deflation is widespread and governments everywhere are turned into servants of financialization.
Imperialism then and now: [3] Capital relocation, inequality, encroachment and protracted crisis
Prabhat Patnaik shows that as capital is relocated, real wages do not rise, inequality widens, and global demand is suppressed. The system remains in protracted crisis; Keynesianism in the North alone is no solution. The struggle is everywhere.
