New Left Review I/25, May-June 1964

Ernest Mandel

After Imperialism?

Michael Barratt Brown’s After Imperialism is undoubtedly one of the most important economic works recently published in English—indeed probably the most important for socialist theory and practice. The author’s purpose is ambitious: to test Lenin’s definition of imperialism against the realities of the British Empire, from the eve of the industrial revolution up to the present day. In doing so, he provides a fascinating history of the British Empire’s rise and decline, and describes the economic and social transformations both in Britain and in the colonial countries from which it sprang, and the economic and social changes it has in turn wrought in all the countries it has touched.

’My institution subscribes to NLR, why can't I access this article?’