THE LENINIST MYTH OF IMPERIALISM
647
ously the foremost of these nations (with the exception of England)
returned to protectionism. The great German coal and steel trusts
financed a press campaign for an ambitious program of naval con–
struction before 1914, just as they financed National Socialism be–
fore 1933; similarly, certain American trusts torpedoed the disarma–
ment conferences. The First World W'ar ended in a new division of
the German colonies among the victors, and if the Germans had won,
they would have done the same thing-their notorious plan for an
"Mrican belt"
is
sufficient proof of this assumption.
But the objections to these summary and wholesale views are as
strong as the arguments adduced in their favor are plausible. There
is no relation between the
economic
need for expansion, such as
should have obtained according to theory, and the actual facts of
colonial expansion. French capitalism was one of the least dynamic
in Europe; yet the Mrican empire that France acquired at the end
of the nineteenth century is second in importance only to that of
Great Britain. Russia, which ,at that time was only entering upon
its capitalistic career, and whose immense territory was still un–
developed, was nevertheless diplomatically active both in Europe and
in Asia. The interest she displayed in Manchuria and in the South
Slavs was not dictated by economic considerations, nor was it the
result of capitalist machinations.
Neither the first nor the second European war originated direct–
ly in a conflict over colonies. Morocco provoked several interna–
tional crises; all of them were settled by diplomatic negotiations–
it was as though none of the great powers regarded these remote
rivalries as a sufficient motive for resorting to arms. The twenty years
preceding the first war were probably among the most prosperous
in the history of capitalism. The discovery of the Transvaal gold
mines had resulted in a steady advance in prices, which was not,
as during the preceding advance in prices, accompanied by a slowing
up of mechanization and technological progress; rather, it was linked
with an acceleration of these processes, owing to a number of new
discoveries. The prevailing protective tariffs remained moderate. The
national income of Germany doubled in ,twenty years. International
trade continued to grow. The image of a Europe constrained to des–
troy
itself
by its economic contradictions
is
of a mythological order.
It
is
undeniable that capitalism tends to incorporate still unex-
