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Marxist-Leninists understand that the globalization of capitalism has had momentous consequences for class relations, ideology, and culture, and that these changes are of enormous significance for all people who seek a progressive and peaceful world civilization based on socialism, as opposed to a barbaric world of resurgent fascism, increasing capitalist exploitation, and perpetual war. Changes brought about by economic globalization are in a state of extreme dialectical tension between their positive and negative tendencies, so it is imperative for Marxist-Leninists to gain a better understanding of how these conflicting attributes affect prospects for the advancement of socialism.
A most important observation is that economic globalization is a positive development for socialism in many respects. Globalization brings the nations of the world into peaceful contact. It promotes commercial interaction between previously isolated or hostile peoples, fosters development of the productive forces, and teaches the peoples of the world how to utilize and improve these forces. It greatly expands world trade and creates opportunities for developing countries to use their comparative advantage in attracting investment and jobs. It encourages cultural exchange and scientific cooperation, and increases workers' recognition of the interests they share with other working people throughout the world. It facilitates global economic planning and regulation, and advances other internationalist values and initiatives conducive to building a socialist community of nations.
Civilization develops dialectically. As long as capitalism continues to exist, it will continue to produce socialism. Instead of sweeping socialism into the dustbin of history, the changing world economy is creating the material and cultural conditions for new forms of socialism to arise. This observation agrees with Marx and Engels's view that the globalization of capitalism prepares the world for socialism. We are all familiar with the famous passage from the Communist Manifesto in which they observed, "The need for a constantly expanding market for its products chases the bourgeoisie over the whole surface of the globe" (1976, 487). In the same vein is Marx's 1858 letter to Engels, which asserts: "The proper task of bourgeois society is the creation of the world market and the production based on that market" (1983, 347). The founders of scientific socialism had a firm scientific basis for asserting that capitalism's creation of the world market would open many...