Critics of Imperialism

1. J. A. Hobson (1858–1940)

2. Joseph Conrad (1857–1924)

3. Other Criticisms

J. A. Hobson

1902

John Atkinson Hobson

• English economist and critic of imperialism

• His focus was on industrial capitalism as the driving force of imperialism

• In his book, Imperialism, Hobson argued that imperial expansion was driven by a search for new markets and opportunities for investment overseas

• strong opponent of the Boer War, Hobson condemned it as a "conflict orchestrated by and fought for the preservation of finance capitalism at the expense of the working class."

Hobson

• Condemned white imperialist rule over non-whites

• Said double standard existed: Europeans fought for representative gov’t and liberties, but didn’t extend it to their colonies!

Joseph Conrad

1899

Conrad & the Heart of Darkness• J oseph Conrad did not

begin to learn English until he was twenty-one years old. Was born Jozef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski on Dec. 3, 1857, in the Polish Ukraine.

• Conrad is regarded as one of the great novelists in English even though he didn’t speak English as indicated above.

• Imperialism is at the center of Heart of Darkness.

• Heart of Darkness was one of the first literary texts to provide a critical view of European imperial activities

• Conrad’s decision to set the book in a Belgian colony and to have Marlow work for a Belgian trading concern made it even easier for British readers to avoid seeing themselves reflected in Heart of Darkness. Although these early reactions seem ludicrous to a modern reader, they reinforce the novella’s central themes of hypocrisy and absurdity.

Conrad

• Castigated the “pure selfishness” of Europeans in “civilizing” Africa; the main character, once a liberal scholar, turns into a savage brute

Other Criticism’s

• Europeans were winning liberal freedoms at home (representative government, civil liberties, equality of opportunity), but imposing the opposite on their colonies (military dictatorships, forced labor, discrimination).