"...we have a category we call social imperialism. The imperialist power saw imperialism as part of the overall strategy of conquests. They said, "Look, if you've got economic problems at home and you've got a lot of unemployed workers — also in France — if you've got a lot of unemployed workers who happen to be socialists, or in Italy, that you could kind of export your problems, because you can point people in the direction and say, 'Hey, times are tough here. But if you go to Algeria, we'll rip off some Arab land for you and you'll be just fine.' Or 'You can go make it rich in Vietnam.' Or 'You can go to Kenya or to Ghana,' (or what would become Kenya or Ghana). 'You can export your social problems.'"
This is sort of what New Imperialism meant. A classic case would be the insurrection of 1851. This is backing up before the New Imperialism. What do they do with the people who are arrested after the insurrection of 1851? A lot of them are sent to Algeria. You export your "social and political problems." The irony there, amazing delicious irony, is their great, great, great, great, great grandchildren end up being right-wing supporters of the National Front, and before that of various right-wing groups that believe in French Algeria and who try to keep the French from leaving Algeria in the early 1960s, after the Algerian war of independence.
So, social imperialism is seen by sort of the economic canon, that is, the way of thinking about the political economy of these countries, as a way of keeping things calm at home. They say, "Give people opportunities. Send them to these foreign places." Geez, in the case of France I remember reading these gripping, just pathetic stories of these people who just can't make it in the area in which we live in the south of France. They pack up all their stuff and they walk. They walk or they get little push carts, try to get to Avignon, try to get to Marseilles, try to get a boat to get to Morocco, or Tunisia, or Algeria, to try to make a living there. This, too, is part of social imperialism and is part of the idea that somehow social imperialism is economically determined. That it's the final stage of capitalism. Is that the biggest reason? No. But it's damn important."
© John Merriman
Yale Lectures on European Civilization, 1648-1945 (2008)
[link]
This is sort of what New Imperialism meant. A classic case would be the insurrection of 1851. This is backing up before the New Imperialism. What do they do with the people who are arrested after the insurrection of 1851? A lot of them are sent to Algeria. You export your "social and political problems." The irony there, amazing delicious irony, is their great, great, great, great, great grandchildren end up being right-wing supporters of the National Front, and before that of various right-wing groups that believe in French Algeria and who try to keep the French from leaving Algeria in the early 1960s, after the Algerian war of independence.
So, social imperialism is seen by sort of the economic canon, that is, the way of thinking about the political economy of these countries, as a way of keeping things calm at home. They say, "Give people opportunities. Send them to these foreign places." Geez, in the case of France I remember reading these gripping, just pathetic stories of these people who just can't make it in the area in which we live in the south of France. They pack up all their stuff and they walk. They walk or they get little push carts, try to get to Avignon, try to get to Marseilles, try to get a boat to get to Morocco, or Tunisia, or Algeria, to try to make a living there. This, too, is part of social imperialism and is part of the idea that somehow social imperialism is economically determined. That it's the final stage of capitalism. Is that the biggest reason? No. But it's damn important."
© John Merriman
Yale Lectures on European Civilization, 1648-1945 (2008)
[link]
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