A nation again is not the solution but the problem

A Socialist World

The Basque and Catalans want to break from Spain. The Flemish want an end to Belgium for an independent Flanders. Even some American states are again talking of seceding from the union. Salmond's SNP and the SSP seek Scottish independence. Socialists oppose the scapegoating, the type-casting, and divisive language of "us" against "them". There is a myriad of politicians on both sides of the spectrum that use the debate on Scottish independence to vent their prejudices and ignorance; and unfortunately people tend to heed what confirms their own biases. While the majority of the people - nationalist or not - do not hold animosity against those who do not think like them, but who hasn't heard someone at work or in the pub talk about the “fucking English”. The United Kingdom share centuries of common history, so to describe the Scots and the English as two separate ethnic groups is simply not true. No one can deny that Scotland has its own history but to try to rewrite history to fit a political agenda is dishonest and dangerous.

Nationalists fight for the freedom of the local capitalist class to exploit "their" workers. The latter are conned into fighting to exchange one lot of bosses (who live abroad) for another lot (who live locally.) Whenever such movements come to power they soon reveal their true nature as we have witnessed with the SNP in Holyrood. The Socialist Party have always argued against the lies of those who are pro-independence and the fake-socialists who hang on to the shirt-tails of the nationalists. Whether a worker’s boss is a Scot, American or from China is irrelevant – what is important is that the exploitation of the worker is the result of capitalist social relations. At its core, nationalism is an ideology of class collaboration. In the world recession we are all in this together, whether as one or as two separate nations. We live in an increasingly globalised world where borders have become more intellectual constructs than real lines on a map. Capitalism is global and has effectively destroyed national boundaries--as far as its interests are concerned. The ruling classes have maintained the illusion of nation states, in order to better control the most basic commodity: labour. Workers everywhere are better served when they fight to break down borders, not when they help create new ones.

Socialist Courier doesn't post about the unionists for the same reason we don't write about the Tories - visitors to the blog are highly unlikely to include supporters of the Tories or to be die-hard unionists. Our traffic does, however, include some people who are at least partially sympathetic to the Left and to Scottish nationalism, so it is to those we direct our blogs. We in the Socialist Party are told that we must be "realistic" in regard to the independence movement but such talk is the age-old language of opportunism. It is a slippery slope. We do not believe in separating ourselves from concrete struggles, but we support only the concrete struggles of the working class fighting for working class interests. Class interest determines the nature of capitalist society. The idea of a general right to self determination is the real utopia. Revolution, as we in the World Socialist Movement are constantly lectured by the "real revolutionaries", is impossible or too distant but reforms are possible and immediate and good and advantageous. The workers are so weak, so uncomprehending. So compromises have to be made with the bourgeoisie. The Left's policy adds up to exhortations for workers to unite for reforms! "Reform, the path to the goal, is everything. Unite with the bourgeoisie then you will obtain many more reforms” .  When reforms can no longer be obtained the reformists promise reforms all the more. This demoralises the working class as nothing is so destructive as to make false promises. While nothing actually happens, the workers still wait credulously for reforms and so our mighty class is tamed. They looked to leaders, to parliaments, and do nothing themselves.

What determines the class nature of any organisation is its political nature, i.e. what its programme is, what it is striving for. The SNP/SSP like all other nationalist movements in the world aims at a capitalist society, differing from their rivals only in where the borders are going to be, or which faction of capitalism is going to be calling the shots in "their" territory. Today, mediocre politicians in the SNP can wrap themselves in a saltire in order to shield themselves from any type of criticism. What good is an independent bourgeois Scotland (still at the mercy of world-wide bosses) to Scottish working-class people. Socialists do not question the fact that the Scottish nobility was bribed by the English – if you cannot beat them, buy them! It was of course not done to unite all ‘British brethren’, but so England merchants could get rid of a competitor and a strategic threat on the British Isle. The price to be paid was to allow the Scottish bourgeoisie to get a share of the plunder of the Empire.

 Nationalism is presented as the way forward but socialism can only ever be won by the working class. Nationalist movements - no matter what their rhetoric - are no substitute. The idea of them moving us "closer to socialism" is misconceived. Nationalism has nothing to offer most of the time but “blood, toil, tears and sweat”. Nevertheless, underneath there does exists the forlorn hope that the well-being of the country does mean the well-being of its citizens. People are poor, live under miserable conditions and work long hours( if they are lucky enough to be in a job),  yet, instead of realising the origins of the problem in the economic set-up most people try to salve their disappointment with nationalist cure-alls. The pursuit of reforms, causes the workers, already so nationalistic, to become even more nationalistic.

A Scottish patriot, so goes the argument, does not look down on other nations, but they love their ain kith and kin more. This love expresses itself in many different ways such as cheering on without question the Scottish team or athlete in whatever sport is on tv. That "we" win if they win is for some reason understood. A Scottish patriot understands that Scottish jobs should go to Scottish workers. Some patriots go even as far as asking how many immigrants "our" Scottish culture can take. Patrioys say "we" are all in this financial crisis together. In the interest of "our" economy we will have to accept austerity cuts. The patriot calls for sacrifices for the nation. Those so-called national interests are in fact the interests of the ruling classes and hence they are contrary to the needs of the people. The working class have no nation. The capitalists cannot take from them something they have not got. Nationalists' identification with their country diverts attention from the real oppressor (the ruling class) and the real issue (capitalism).

Socialists are not opposed to freedom. An individual has the right to think, feel, desire, speak and act in their own ways. That, in fact, is what the right of self-determination really means -- the right to be oneself. The worldwide socialist commonwealth of self-governing parts in a single whole, freely established, will solve any national problem. We're all part of a huge number of what could be called "cultures," aren't we, not just geographical?  Regional variations in culture will undoubtedly remain but to call this nationalism is not particularly accurate. There will be far more mixing of cultural habits once the fetters of nationalism which tie workers to their rulers have been broken. Socialists are the gravediggers of the nation.

The truth is that there are "socialists" of the SSP-Sheridan ilk who regard vote-getting as of supreme importance, no matter by what method the votes may be secured, and this leads them to hold out inducements which are not at all compatible with the uncompromising principles of a revolutionary party. They seek to make their propaganda so attractive— eliminating whatever may give offense to bourgeois sensibilities— that it serves as a bait for votes rather than as a means of education. Votes thus secured do not properly belong to socialism and do injustice to the movement as well as to those who cast them. These votes do not express socialism and in the next ensuing election are just as easily swing to another political party. Socialism is a matter of growth of understanding by education, but never by obtaining for it a fictitious vote. We should seek only to register the actual vote of socialism, no more and no less. In our propaganda we state our principles clearly, speak the truth honestly, seeking neither to flatter nor to offend, but only to convince those who should be with us and win them to our cause through an intelligent understanding of the Socialist Party's mission.

The Glasgow and Edinburgh branches of the Socialist Party are very small but we endeavour exert some influence by encouraging working-class people to struggle for their own material interests. Where these interests clash with "the national interest", which they invariably do, we urge workers to do what will benefit them instead of doing the "patriotic" thing. When there's talk about how we all need to make sacrifices to help the national economy recover - we call upon workers to reject this kind of thinking and to protect their own wages and conditions. Let us stand squarely on our revolutionary, working class principles and make our fight openly and uncompromisingly against all our enemies, adopting no cowardly tactics and holding out no false hopes. Let the capitalists and their nation's economy take care of itself. We are against nationalism and for socialism. If socialists do not stand staunchly and unflinchingly for the exploited of all lands, then they stand for none. Let those reject us because we refuse to support immigration controls that shut the door in the faces of our own brothers and sisters. We will be none the weaker but all the stronger, for they evidently have no clear conception of international solidarity, and are wholly lacking in the revolutionary spirit, having no proper place in the socialist movement while they entertain such notions of their own assumed superiority.

John Lennon sang “Imagine no countries and the world will be as one”. The separatists and nationalists lack imagination.