Export of Capital, the transfer of capital, owned by monopolies and the financial oligarchy of one country, to other countries in order to raise monopoly profit, strengthen their economic and political positions in the struggle for overseas markets, and expand the sphere of imperialist exploitation. The export of capital is typical under imperialism: it is one of its most important economic features. The need for and possibility of exporting capital are the result of changes in the capitalist economy as monopolies emerge. Monopoly domination of the major industries prevents the sufficiently profitable application of new capital and gives rise to a relative “surplus” of capital, which begins to look for a sphere of profitable investment abroad. The biggest monopolies, which have immense capital at their disposal, become major capital exporters. As history has shown, capital first began to flow to the economically backward countries, colonies and semi-colonies, where labour and land were cheap, so that a high rate of profit was guaranteed. The import of capital to these countries helped expand the sphere of capitalist exploitation and bring capitalist relations of production there. However, foreign capital prevented the growth of national capital, and was a means of the further enslavement of the economically backward countries by the imperialist powers. The monopolies of the imperialist powers obtained huge profits abroad through the export of capital, which enabled them to allocate certain means to bribe the "privileged sectors" of the working class at home. Lenin called the export of capital "parasitism raised to a high pitch" (V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 23, p. 106). There is a constant struggle between the imperialist powers for the spheres of application of capital, which was 134 one of the reasons for the creation of the colonial system of imperialism, where the monopolies of the metropolis enjoyed privileges in applying their capital. Today this struggle has become especially acute. It is being waged between the imperialist powers and between monopolies for economic domination in certain countries or regions of the world. The export of capital is important as a factor making it possible to step up the export of commodities. Capital is exported in two basic forms: as entrepreneur capital and as loan capital. The former is invested in industry, agriculture, finance and trade. The owner of the exported capital obtains entrepreneurial profit. Capital investment in foreign enterprises is called direct if it is sufficient to ensure control of them; and portfolio, if it is not great enough to ensure control. The export of loan capital takes the form of loans, credits—including export credits—deposits in current accounts in foreign banks, etc. Exported loan capital brings in interest. As the general crisis of capitalism is aggravated, and colonialism is forced out of existence, the export of stateowned capital by the imperialist powers in the form of loans, credits and subsidies to former colonies and dependent countries also becomes an important form of the export of capital alongside that exported by private monopolies. The above-mentioned means, which the imperialists try to say is “assistance” to the young national states, have in fact political and economic strings attached which benefit the monopolies, and are a major form of neo- colonialism. They are used to support proimperialist regimes, build elements of an infrastructure that help create favourable conditions for private capital investments in the developing countries, accelerate commodity exports from the imperialist powers, and increase the young states’ economic dependence on imperialism through their growing foreign debt: the total foreign debt of the developing countries reached 285,000 million dollars in early 1978. Loans and credits provided by the capitalist countries’ international financial organisations (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, International Development Association, International Finance Corporation, etc.) are one form of the state export of capital. Political instability and the struggle of the developing countries against foreign capital forced the imperialist powers to insure private investments and private export credits in the developing countries. The directions and structure of the export of private capital are also changing: formerly capital exported to the developing countries was mainly invested in primary industry and plantation agriculture; today it is increasingly invested in manufacturing. However, foreign capital is used only to build enterprises of the incomplete cycle, thus giving rise to new forms of dependence of the developing countries on the imperialist states. The scientific and technological revolution helps monopolies of one group of countries increase exports of capital to other industrialised countries. This is a consequence of the striving of the biggest corporations with superior technology to use it to monopolise the production of certain products not only at home, but also throughout the capitalist world. The export of capital to the industrialised countries increases the interdependence of the economies of the capitalist countries, expands the role of the transnational monopolies and inter-national monopolies, and exacerbates imperialist contradictions.