IMPERIALISM. - The name imperialism should be given to a specific mode of action inspired by a precise theory: to speak of imperialism for the centuries before the 19th is inexact, both because it is only with the 19th century that a "philosophy" of imperialism arises, and because it is with the shift in the quantitative balance of markets and with the era of industrialism and colonialism that this philosophy finds inspiration and at the same time itself prompts action.

Imperialism is theorized by the will to power of F. W. Nietzsche, by the racism of G. R. Gobineau and of H. S. Chamberlain, by the nationalist exaggerations of the later 19th century; and it is put into practice by the overwhelming and convulsive economic pressure of the capitalist countries, by the ruthless grabbing of markets, by navalism, by English, French, Russian, Japanese and German colonialism (Italian imperialism, proclaimed by A. Oriani and by G. D'Annunzio, in practice remained muted, except later for certain aspects of the Fascist attempt in Ethiopia). Communism was among the liveliest opponents of democratic-liberal imperialism (for Lenin, the most consistent theorist of the myth of imperialist collapse, imperialism is the final phase of capitalism, precisely because the anti-feudal struggle of the rising national capitalism has been replaced by a financial capitalism on the defensive, surviving itself); but communism ended up creating its own different proletarian form of Soviet imperialism.

Catholic theory is a clear ideal and moral opponent of imperialism: it is enough to recall the work of Leo XIII, the encyclicals Quadragesimo anno (15 May 1931) and Caritate Christi compulsi (3 May 1932) of Pius XI, clearly opposed to banking imperialism and to nationalist imperialism (men who gather praying to the true God cannot promote nationalist imperialism, precisely because this makes of each people a divinity), and finally the Christmas messages of Pius XII against the false notion that force is the creator of law.

Bibliography12 works

BIBL.: E. Seillière, La philosophie de l'impérialisme, 4 vols., Paris 1903-1908; A. Hobson, Imperialismus, London 1905; E. Marcks, Die imperialistische Idee in der Gegenwart, in Männer und Zeiten, II, Leipzig 1912, p. 287 ff.; R. Michels, L'i. italiano, Milan 1914; F. Sternberg, Der Imperialismus, Berlin 1926; F. Brie, Imperialistische Strömungen in der englischen Literatur, Halle 1928; H. Schnee, Nationalismus und Imperialismus, Berlin 1928; A. Salz, Das Wesen des Imperialismus, Leipzig 1931; N. Cuneo, Filosofia dell'i. Milan 1936; C. Schmitt, Positionen und Begriffe im Kampf mit Weimar-Genf-Versailles, Hamburg 1940, p. 162 ff.; W. L. Langer, La diplomazia dell'i., 2 vols., Italian trans. A. Tedeschi-Borio, Milan 1942; G. Volpe, Italia moderna, II, Florence 1949, pp. 341-81. For the Leninist position: Lenin, L'i. fase suprema del capitalismo, Italian trans., Rome 1948. For the Catholic position, beyond the encyclicals and the pontifical messages, cf. A. Messineo, Spazio vitale e grande spazio, ibid. 1942, and the bibliography cited there.

Massimo Petrocchi

@incollection{ec6_imperialismo, author = {Petrocchi, Massimo}, title = {Imperialismo}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VI}, pages = {1709--1710}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1951}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/imperialismo} }

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