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Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism
Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism is a book by Vladimir Lenin, written in Zürich in 1916 and published in Petrograd in 1917, originally as Imperialism, the Newest Stage of Capitalism. It argues that capitalism had moved from competition to monopoly, that the merger of bank and industrial capital produced finance capital and a financial oligarchy, and that the export of capital to undeveloped countries divided the world among the great powers. Lenin presented the First World War as a predatory war among empires. He drew on Imperialism: A Study (1902) by John A. Hobson and Finance Capital (1910) by Rudolf Hilferding, and rejected Karl Kautsky's theory of ultra-imperialism.
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- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/imperialism-the-highest-stage-of-capitalism
- MLA
- “Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/imperialism-the-highest-stage-of-capitalism. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/imperialism-the-highest-stage-of-capitalism.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/imperialism-the-highest-stage-of-capitalism (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻