EUROPE AND AMERICA AS THE PERIPHERIES OF HISTORY

History starts in Mesopotamia, India, Egypt and China as well as in Iran and Anatolian plate and spreads into the other places. Not more, but only five centuries of Greek and Roman civilizations imply a temporary shift. Even they are a part and an extension of the East.

Europe did rise after the sixteenth century and connect itself to intellectual and political traditions of Rome and Greece. Untill that time, it had not had any historical significance.

It became a historically revolutionary geography by re-introducing and re-interpreting ancient theories. But, more importantly, it invented capitalism as a new stage of social evolution in history by dissolving feudalism, religious ideology and static agrarian life.

Politically, it put foward individual, rationality and science and made them the centers of life.

English, French, and American revolutions established the modern liberal system in economy, politics and ideology.

America and Europe, however, became outmoded with the uprisings of 1848 when socialist revolutions erupted all over Europe. Paris Commune of 1871 became the sign of the coming social relations, political systems and a new life.

Historical death of Europe and America was seen in the rising power of the working classes. Once socialism, with its theory and concrete class forces, became a political, economic, ideological and social force, the historical contribution of Europe and America had been exploited in favor of new historical forces and geographies.

History and geography of social forces for change were shifted to the East, as Kautsky and then Lenin observed.

The twentieth century objectively demonstrated this global shift in the centers of change as the Russian Revolution was written in the name of Marx by Lenin.

The center of the world for change had been operating outside Europe and America.

Not surprisingly, with and after the fall of Russian socialism, the center has been still in the East and has not gone back to Europe and America. Probably, it will not.

European and American working classes still need the imperialist rents extracted from rest of the world. Even if they are defaulted, they still keep the hope for rolling over their debts after a governmental change. They do not know what socialist revolution is. They do not have coordinated socialist organizations. They have still powerful hopes towards their political and economic systems. Their middle classes, that is, petty-bourgeoisie, prefer capitalism to socialism since their proletariat is only a lower section of the middle classes.

China, India as well as the Middle East and Central Asian masses are composed mainly of workers and peasants. All of them, nevertheless, support and hope something from, economic development of their countries.

However, they will learn that they have to offer not only normal amount of surplus value to their states and capitalists, but also an additional amount, that is monopoly rent, to the Europeans and Americans. They already know that the price of their economic development is over-exploitation, environmental deterioration, dissolution of families, suicides and mental breakdowns.

The East cannot shoulder such a burden and cannot keep capitalism in operation so long.

The East's development shows the parasitic characteristics of the West and more significantly, that it is the center of radical change for it and for the West.

In Lenin's time, the West had been expected to mobilize its revolutionary power to support the Russian Revolution. But now, it can be just expected that the West include itself to the revolutionary change in the East.

Therefore, currently, the West needs the support of the East, contrary to Lenin's time.

Now on, the main role, surely, is in China, India, and the Middle East, as the central, revolutionizing powers of history.