Contemporary war has an imperialist character. This war has been created by the conditions of an epoch in which capitalism has reached the highest stage of its development; when the export not only of commodities but also of capital has acquired paramount significance; when the cartelization of production and the internationalization of economic life have attained considerable dimensions; when colonial policy has led to the partition of nearly the entire terrestrial globe; – when the productive forces of world capitalism have outgrown the narrow confines of national-state divisions; – when the objective conditions for the realization of socialism have fully matured.