Could imperialism be an economic effect of Industrialization in the 19th century?

[deepflesh642]

Or are they two completely separate things that don't really have much to do with each other?
If they are, how is it? Thanks.

[Naz F]

Imperialism is a direct consequence of the "contradiction of capitalism"---To explain what that 'contradiction' is: Capitalism always tries to maximize profits, by driving down wages, and paying the least possible for raw materials. But by driving down wages, you get a situation where workers can't afford to buy the products they themselves have made...To make up for this 'contradiction', some countries go out and conquer new lands; to get cheap labor, and cheap raw materials.

Industrialization has been the cause of Imperialism not just in the 19th century, but also in the Imperialism of Japan around ww2 (creating the Co-Prosperity Sphere), Hitler's attempt to conquer Russia, and the most recent Gulf War.

[P.O.U.M.]

Imperialism is an advanced stage of capitalism, and was attained by some nations in the 20th-century. Those nations, like the United States, Britain, France, who were industrialised became the leading imperialist powers in the world at the time (19th/20th century). The epoch of imperialism opens when the expansion of colonialism has covered the globe and no new colonies can be acquired by the great powers except by taking them from each other, and the concentration of capital has grown to a point where finance capital becomes dominant over industrial capital.

The surplus capital of these corporations, which arose from the exploitation of Labour, is exported to less developed countries where capital is more scarce, the price of land lower, wages lower, and raw materials cheaper; all resulting in a widening of profit margins. Capitalists need to export capital because in the most developed countries capitalism has become "overripe", the working class consciousness too advanced for heavy exploitation (i.e. huge profit margins), and while finance capital has a breeding ground for growth, productive capital (computer and clothing factories, etc) can be much more profitable elsewhere.

Thus, the history of capitalism generally begins with free competition; (i.e. petty-bourgeois production), which naturally progresses to a concentration of production (bourgeois production), which continually strive towards monopolies (socialized production). Monopolies, being so contrary to the foundations of capitalism, are the greatest contradiction of capitalism, a contradiction rampant in the imperialist stage – for every business not only strives toward, but needs to dominate markets completely, to become a monopoly, while government must do everything it can to prevent this in order to survive, realising this social form of production ultimately destroys the capitalist system.