As a Marxist, Lenin stood up for the working class, who was oppressed by the imperialistic pursuits of the upper and middle classes. Because the working class made up the mass population, Lenin had the favor of the majority of the people. The upper and middle classes of Europe, which made up the smaller portion of the population, consisted of political elites and wealthy entrepreneurs that played a major role in Europe's economic realms. As the 19th and 20th centuries progressed the upper classes alienated the working class from economic privileges. This caused the standard of living for the majority population of Europe to worsen. Though other European countries believed in the goodness of imperialism, Lenin finds the phenomenon to bring about detrimental effects on the lower class and foreign natives.

In 1916, Lenin wrote Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism, in which...