All big capitalist powers and some smaller powers have imperialist foreign policies. That is, they try to dominate and exploit the workers and the resources of weaker countries. Their competition with other rival powers leads to bigger and bigger wars.
Liberal anti-imperialists argue that imperial policies are wrong and should be changed by abolishing their huge military machines and bloody wars. Communists understand that this is impossible under capitalism, since imperialism has its material basis in the nature of capitalism. Conflicts among capitalists drive each to do everything possible to make higher profits to keep from losing out to the others.
Foreign policies characteristic of imperialism have existed since capitalism took root in Europe in the 1400s. Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, English, French, Swedish and Venetian capitalists all fought for plunder like gold, spices and slaves, and for control of trade.
By the end of the 19th century, big capitalist powers managed colonial empires that dominated most of the world. They went beyond plunder and trade to investment in plantations, mines, railroads, ports, factories, etc.
The Russian communist leader Lenin described imperialism as "the highest stage of capitalism." He correctly deduced that the drive for further imperialist expansion would lead to world war.
Two world wars later, in the mid-20th century, the decline of older imperial powers and mass revolts against them forced a change in imperialism, but didn't end it.
Capitalist powers created new arrangements where nominally independent local governments followed orders from imperialists and got a share of the profits. This is now the dominant organization of the planet, with national governments set up, defended or destroyed by imperialists. They exploit the oil, minerals and low-cost labor of countries in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and South Asia.
The appearance, but not the essence, of imperialism had changed. Imperialism's inner drive for further expansion will lead to a third, even deadlier world war.

The Profits of Imperialism
Imperialism is enormously profitable in some ways that existed before capitalism, and in others unique to capitalism.
A key characteristic of modern imperialism is foreign investment ("export of capital"). Capitalists are driven by competition to invest in other countries to keep their profits up. Nearly twothirds of the assets of the 100 largest multi-national corporations are in foreign countries. The United States and the European Union are the biggest foreign investors, and the largest foreign investment target is China, followed by the US, India, Indonesia, Brazil and Australia.
Some investments are aimed at access to large consumer markets or to raw materials like oil and metal ores. However, investment to exploit low wage labor in labor-intensive industries is particularly profitable. Workers in wealthy countries are already paid much less than the value their labor produces. Workers in low-wage areas produce just as much value but are paid far less.
In 2011, the worldwide total direct foreign investment reached $21 trillion, yielding profits of $1.5 trillion, only a 7% rate of profit. In Bangladesh, however, where the government website brags that "wages and salaries are still lowest in the region, a strong business advantage," a total investment of $6.2 billion in 2011 yielded a profit of $1.2 billion, a nearly 20% profit rate. Foreign investment there increased $1.7 billion in 2012.
This super-exploitative foreign investment shows up on product labels that say "made in" Indonesia, China, Vietnam, Mexico, El Salvador, and many more. What the labels don't say is that imperialist domination means starvation wages and deadly working conditions, as in Bangladesh. It means mass repression when workers, like the South African miners, resist the imperialists' local partners. It means that class struggle will nonetheless break out, interfering with imperialist plans.
Imperialism also reaps high profits by monopolizing key resources like oil, gas or metal ores. A power that controls these resources can charge high prices for them, beyond the profits gotten by exploiting the labor of the workers who produce them. Controlling access to resources is also critical to holding back the economic growth and military power of rival capitalists.
Since capitalist profits are at the root of imperialism, we can only end imperialism by destroying capitalism worldwide. The next article will describe how mass mobilization for communism can end capitalism and imperialist war.