Lenin pointed out that imperialism is the highest stage of capitalism,which was mainly based on the fact that separation of monetary capital and industrial capital had reached the highest level,and financial capital had achieved a dominant position. This paper holds that neo-imperialism today is the final stage of imperialism, mainly because big capital has begun to disengage from production and reap benefits mainly relying on power. Lenin believed that the imperialist stage started in Europe at the beginning of the 20 th century; this paper believes that the stage of neo-imperialism started in the1970 s. Lenin thougth that the typical economic feature of imperialism is capital exports; this paper suggests that the typical economic feature of neo-imperialism is the export of paper money, also known as IOU export. Besides,neo-imperialism uses of intellectual property rights to collect rents,the power to regulate carbon emissions to impose levies on excessive emmissions. Neo-imperialist countries and forces that are exporting IOU are fighting against each other due to changes in the balance of power. Therefore, the end of neo-imperialism and the total demise of capitalism are not only inevitable, but also not very far off, which is the cause of the great changes unprecedented in the past century.

Editor: Zhong Yao、Zheng Yifan

From:World Socialism Studies.2021.No.4.