Criticisms of Lenin's theory of imperialism as it relates to monopoly capitalism?

I'm looking for some critical resources and opinions on Lenin's theory of imperialism and monopoly capitalism as the highest stage of capitalism. A few things:

1) capitalism was always imperialistic from the beginning.

2) I skeptical of the claim that capitalism is at a new stage of monopoly capitalism, and I want to better understand what imperialism is in the context of global capitalism governed by the law of value (does that make sense?)

3) How does anti-imperialism as a politics change if we are to throw out this concept of monopoly capitalism? What does that mean for how we orient toward national liberation struggles?

also, related to this, any

also, related to this, any criticisms people have of the monthly review school's theory of monopoly capitalism would be appreciated!

A topical but false

A topical but false classic
Lenin: Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism
http://www.ruthlesscriticism.com/lenin.htm

A Problem of Methodology, by Karl Niebyl

I shall be concerned in this paper in the main with some problems of methodology as practiced by Baran and Sweezy in their analysis of Monopoly Capital.

http://www.marxistlibr.org/meth.html

there's this one, which

there's this one, which relates in particular to the critique of national liberation struggles

http://en.internationalism.org/ir/019/on-imperialism

Margaret Wirth's Zur Kritik

Margaret Wirth's Zur Kritik des staatsmonopolistischen Kapitalismus (1973), and a response (in German) by Robert Katzenstein (a defender, who appears to offer a variation): http://archiv.ub.uni-marburg.de/es/2014/0003/html/pdfs/Zur_Monopolproblematik.pdf

Thank you all, comrades!

Unfortunately, Noa Rodman, I

Unfortunately, Noa Rodman, I don't speak German, but if you are able to -- I'm really interested in what this variation is.

The Uneven and Combined

The Uneven and Combined Development literature (in academic IR rather than Trot groups) tends to operate as a critique of aspects of Lenin's theory of imperialism ('inside-out' methodological internalism, stagism, weak account of societal multiplicity). Anievas and Nisancioglu's How the West Came to Rule is good on colonialism/imperial rivalries in the rise of capitalism, and this interview summarises their approach:
http://www.basepublication.org/?p=144

It is said (in an obituary,

It is said (in an obituary, linked on his wiki-page) that Katzenstein's position differed somewhat from the more mainstream in the DDR, in that he rejected a simplistic notion of the state's control by the monopolies. I don't know how far that's accurate. Here is a list of his articles online.
--
The French CP theorist of state monopoly capitalism is Paul Boccara:
http://www.pcf.fr/31856