[...] Drawing on Marx’s crisis theory, which (basically) holds that capitalism is based on fundamental contradictions which can never be resolved, only elevated to a higher level of abstraction and violence, Luxemburg sought to show how the inherent limits of capital manifest themselves in destructive wars (notably the First World War), colonial relations of seemingly non-capitalist exploitation (slavery, unfree labour, etc.) and inter-capitalist rivalry. Importantly, for Luxemburg and others, all these more abstract, systemic processes are driven by the growth and increased power of the financial sector. War, colonialism, financialization and monopolies are all Pyrrhic strategies by which capital reproduces itself by elevating its inherent contradictions to a higher level.