Imperialism and the Crisis of Bourgeois Municipal Self-Government

The role of the imperialist state as bastion of the capitalist system and implement of international reaction has grown tremendously under the conditions of the general crisis of capitalism. This state assimilates the new features of imperialism that have arisen under the impact of imperialism's inherent contradictions and of its efforts to survive and adapt to the struggle between the two systems and to the revolution in science and technology. State regulation of capitalism (regulation which responds to the interests of big capital), the offensive against bourgeois democracy, and the intensification of repression (combined with implanting reformist illusions and attempting to "integrate" the workers' movement within the framework of capitalism) serve as means for the self-preservation of contemporary capitalism. (1)