Imperialism divides the world up. Even today, when the direct rule over colonies by the imperialist powers has given way to a world of supposedly independent states, the subordination of these former colonies is guaranteed by economic power and political interference. They have become not free, but semi-colonies of the imperialists. Imperialism had changed, said the critics of Lenin. They praised imperialism for beginning to develop the economies of backward countries.
Fashions quickly go out of date.
Speculation on money markets will give way to war. And the idea that imperialism has brought prosperity to the Third World now looks like a sick joke. Tell it to the millions who have died in Africa's famines, who live in shanty towns across Latin America, or who are forced to sell their children in Asia. Some opponents of imperialism see it differently. They believe imperialism is simply a policy which the imperialist powers could change if they wanted to.