Having discussed the essence of Marxist theory in general,

let us move to the Marxist theory of international relations.

And according to Marxism,

international relations is the struggle,

the class struggle at the international or global level.

So the basic unit of international relations according to Marxism is class.

It is not the nation state as it was in Realism,

or it is in Realism.

It is not the human individual as in Liberalism,

but it is class.

So class is the dominant actor in the international system,

and international relations are presented as

the class struggle at the international or global level.

The class of capitalists,

the exploitaters is presented by

the capitalists in the leading industrial capitalist countries,

who dominate this countries,

they are the dominant class in the major industrial countries in the world.

The class of workers and peasants are presented by workers and

peasants on the relevant parties in the developed capitalist parties,

but also by socialist countries like the Soviet Union,

and its allies in the times of the Cold War,

when the world socialist system existed.

And there is a permanent conflict.

A permanent antagonism up to the very end between these classes.

Between the capitalist world,

and the socialist world.

Between the capitalists and the workers in capitalist countries.

According to Marxism, peace or corporation are

impossible in the international system as long as capitalists exist.

As long as there are capitalist classes,

the capitalist class and the capitalist countries.

Cooperation is impossible either between

capitalists and workers in the capitalist states,

or between the capitalist countries, and socialist countries.

The peace is impossible.

Because the corporation is

impossible between the classes of explotaters and the class of the workers.

The natural state of relations among them is conflict.

So states clash in the world not because of anarchical structure of international system,

or clashing national interests as the realism claims.

More of by the lack of morale as liberalism emphasizes.

But because of this class conflicts,

because of the inherent and permanent conflict

and clash between the class of capitalists,

and the class of workers.

The first thinker who created

the Marxist theory of international relations was Vladimir Lenin.

He upgraded the teachings of Marx and Engels,

and then apply that to the realities of world politics,

and world economy of the late 19th early 20th century.

The era which Lenin defined as imperialism.

And as already mentioned,

one of the major works of Lenin is called imperialism as the last stage of capitalist.

Imperialism, the highest stage of Capitalism.

What is this imperialism?

Lenin defines Imperialism in the following way.

It is the concentration of production and capital that developed to

such a high stage that it has created

monopolies which play a decisive role in economic life.

It is the merging of band capital with industrial capital,

and creation of the financial oligarchy.

It is the export of capital as distinguished from the expert of commodities,

which acquires exceptional importance.

It is the formation of international monopolist capitalist associations,

which divide the world among themselves.

And imperial countries divide the world according to Vladimir Lenin.

And finally, imperialism is a situation when

the whole world is divided among the biggest capitalist countries.

So imperialist system is global,

which means that the whole world is divided among several imperialist countries.

And secondly, it is inherently prone to conflict in wars.

Wars are inseparable from this imperialist system.

Wars are unavoidable.

And the major illustration of this unavoidable wars is the first World War.

Which according to Vladimir Lenin,

became the imperialist war.

World War One is the imperialist war.

War for imperialism is used is necessary to conquer and control colonies,

to prevent the development of socialism,

and to compete with other imperialist powers.

According to Lenin, and basically Marxism in general,

periods of peace in the imperialist environment are

quote nothing more than a truce on period between wars.

So it is an exception not the rule.

The rule is war. The rule is conflict.

And World War One as I already said is understood as the major inter-imperialist war,

as the imperialist war.

In the World War One caused the huge devastation in Europe.

In Western Europe, World War One is called The Great War.

Up to now, the Great War.

And the only way to stop this Great War,

the only way to stop this unavoidable world wars,

according to Marxism, is global socialist revolution.

Once again, you have to eliminate the essence of imperialism,

which is the class of capitalists.

And the foreign policy of the Soviet Union provides us with an example of how

this Marxist theory of international relations can

be applied to the realities of global politics,

through to the realities of foreign policy over a particular state.

The purpose of the foreign policy of the USSR was to

acquire the full victory of communism to reach the full victory of communism,

to ensure Socialist and Communist revolutions to spark

Socialist and Communist revolutions in the major capitalist countries,

in thus to achieve peace.

This approach was mostly manifest in foreign policy of the USSR in its early period.

The 1920s and 1930s.

When the Soviet Union indeed supported the spread of the revolution,

the world communist movement,

and encouraged revolution in capitalist states.

For instance, the Soviet Union established and sponsored the

so-called "Kuomintang" the Communist International.

Today, we would call

this entire Communist International a global terrorist, and extremist organization,

because it indeed proclaimed that its purpose was to overthrow

constitutional regimes in the violent way to stage revolutions in sovereign countries,

and in the capitalist countries,

and bring them towards socialism,

establish socialism and communism there.

So that was the essence of the four foreign policy of

the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 1930s.

Whereas after the Second World War,

Marxism Leninism remained as ideological frame for the Soviet foreign policy,

but on the strategic level,

its nature was increasingly becoming a realist.

This was the result of the realities of the Cold War and bipolar international structure.

However, tactically, Marxism Leninism of course remained as

the essence of the foreign policy of the USSR and its foreign policy toolbox.

For instance, Soviet Union supported the spread of socialism to

the countries that were getting independence in the course of decolonization,

and to the countries it controlled as a result of the Second World War.

Such as the countries of the East Central and Eastern Europe,

North Korea, Afghanistan, and so on, and so forth.

Also, this classical Marxist Leninist approach to

international relations was manifest in the Soviet foreign policy priorities,

and in its protocols.

According to which the leaders of communist parties of the socialist countries,

and the leaders of the communist parties of the capitalist countries,

were officially considered and treated as more

honorable and respectful than the leaders of capitalist states.

Witness for instance, the funerals of such Soviet leaders as Leonid Brezhnev,

Yuri Andropov, and Konstantin Chernenko on YouTube.

You will see that this sequence of people who were approaching for instance Andropov,

to explain condolences with the death of Brezhnev was the following.

First, were the leaders of the communist parties of the socialist countries.

Second were the leaders of the communist parties of the capitalist countries,

and only after them,

followed the heads of states of the capitalist countries.

And it was very funny,

for instance to witness the leader of the Communist Party of the United States,

to go before the Vice President of the United States.

But this sequence which would seem

absurd for us nowadays was indeed pre-determined by this logic of Marxist Leninism,

and the Marxist Leninist approach to the International Relations.

Lenin and theory of imperialism

Understanding International Relations Theory

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