Lenin describes imperialism as the highest stage of capitalism, which differs from free competition in the development of monopoly and finance capital, the economic importance of capital exports over goods exports, and the formation of international monopoly associations that divide the world among themselves (Lenin 1960).
Although capitalism reached its highest and final stage, imperialism, more than a hundred years ago, this does not mean that capitalism has not changed since then. While Lenin described a handful of imperialist states dividing the world among themselves and exploiting colonies and dependent countries, today we are dealing with an imperialist world system that emerged from the traditional capitalist states, the states that threw the yoke of colonialism supported by the socialist states and the counter-revolution and the restoration of capitalism in Soviet Union and the other countries of socialism, in 1989-1991. This fact is of strategic and tactical importance. Whereas democratic, anti-colonial upheaval was once the order of the day in dependent and colonial countries, today capitalism – with big businesses, monopolies, at its core – has been developed in almost all countries of the world, and socialist revolution is on the agenda.
In the early 2000s, amid the decline of the communist movement in Austria and the struggles over the orientation of the Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ), Tibor Zenker, under the impression of the counterrevolution in the socialist states of Europe, raised and answered the question whether one can even speak of Austrian imperialism, in his book Stamokap heute (Stamokap Today) . Zenker argued at the time: ‘Austria belongs to the group of approximately 25-30 imperialist states that live primarily from the exploitation of backward countries and regions. (...) Of course, Austria is only a “small” imperialist country with a traditionally not very strong bourgeoisie.’ (Zenker 2005). Against the backdrop of this insight, the present text will examine the role of Austrian imperialism within the EU and the question of what impact the imperialist war in Ukraine has on the orientation of Austrian imperialism.
For this purpose, we will first examine the structure of Austrian monopolies and finance capital based on current data and developments, focusing on how they are structured and what role they play. The text then analyses in more detail how Austrian finance capital claims parts of the world – especially in Central Europe, Eastern Europe and South-Eastern Europe (CESEE region) – for itself and which capital exports take place. In this context, we will trace the historical reasons why this region is particularly relevant for Austrian capital and examine the role played by the EU's eastward expansion. Since the search for profits in this context has not been and is not limited to the EU, we will conclude by discussing Austrian monopolies and their work with Russian finance and monopoly capital. Finally, it is concluded that the monopoly and finance capital of the “small” imperialist country continues to be active in the struggle for influence and sales markets and has had to reorient itself in part due to increasing interimperialist contradictions.