Donald and Rudy join John Smith, author of Imperialism in the 21st Century: Globalization, Exploitation and Capitalism’s Final Crisis for a discussion on imperialism and unequal exchange. We discuss the history of three global commodities: t-shirts, iPhones and coffee and what they can tell us about the worldwide social relationships of capitalism, why GDP and productivity are illusions that hide exploitation and super-profits, the concept of labor aristocracy and super-profits and the political programs of Arghiri Emmanuel, Samir Amin and Ruy Mauro Marini. We then turn to the present, including capitalism’s crisis, decaying US hegemony, the possibilities of North-South solidarity and the existing actual solidarity links in trade unions. We finish by discussing what fair trade relationships between socialist countries could look like.
