Finance Capital and Militarism as Pillars of Contemporary Capitalism

Abstract

This chapter analyses two pillars of theories of imperialism, namely finance capital and militarism, and their place in contemporary capitalism. It looks to the writings of Hilferding and Luxemburg, two major contributors to the debate. In a critical reading of Hilferding, the author explores the double face of capital defined as social relations and incarnated into capital both in productive capital and capital-property (property rights). He offers a definition of contemporary finance capital as the intertwining of monopoly industrial, merchant, real estate, land and bank capital under the control of capital-property. He then addresses the relationships between finance capital and militarism. He contrasts Hilferding’s and Luxemburg’s approach to this issue, provides historical evidence of the connections between finance capital and militarism, and concludes on the relevance of Luxemburg’s analysis of militarism with regard to present-day contemporary capitalism.