Essay 2

Choose and answer 2 of the following prompts, using two quotes per response, from appropriate in-class reading. Each answer should be around .75-1.5 pages, 1.5 or double-spaced, but the length is not the main thing. The main consideration is that you 1. Address every aspect of the prompt, showing a grasp of what the writer thinks and showing that you are working through your own position on the matter,

1. Define “imperialism” as Lenin lays it out, in as much detail as you can, without going on too long. Do you think it is right to understand late 19th century colonialism and the first world war as resulting from basic tendencies of capitalism? If you agree with Lenin that imperialism stems from capitalism, what could we do to reduce both? If you disagree with his analysis, say how and why.

4. Contrast the anti-authoritarianism of Flores-Magon with the authoritarianism of Mussolini and Hitler. Do you support either of their views, or is the optimal relation to authority somewhere in the middle? Explain. Then say where in your experience Americans fall on this continuum (are they utterly defiant, utterly compliant, or somewhere in the middle—and are they really… where they think they are… or do they just say that, while the reality is otherwise?).