There are but only two “nations”. To which nation do you belong? Do you belong to the nation that lives by working, or to the “nation” that lives by working the workers. One ”nation‘s” motto is “Workers of the world, unite.” That means Scots, English, Pole and Romanian, Asian or African or American, black and white and brown. The other “nation” stands for elitism and inequality.
Bill Gates, Richard Branson, The Queen do not belong to our “nation”, no matter where they are born or where they live; no matter where you were born or where you live. Our country is the world. Those who perform useful labour are our compatriots. The “foreigners” are the class enslaving and grinding down the lives of our brothers and sisters for profits.
Every plutocrat, every profiteer, every exploiter, every oppressor will tell you that you must be loyal and patriotic to their particular “nation". Are you their ally or is your allegiance to your class, your own “nation”? Workers must be united and act together. Solidarity must be the watchword.
Political unity and industrial unity will give us the power to conquer capitalism and emancipate the workers of the world. As individual wage slaves we are helpless and our condition hopeless. As a class, we are the greatest power on Earth. The individual wage slave must recognise the power of class unity and do all to bring it about. That is what is called class consciousness. Class conscious workers recognise who their “nation” is. They join the union and the party of their class and gives their time and energy to the work for the emancipation of their “nation.” We do battle against the “nation” of the bankers and the bosses who applaud their own "patriotism" and who glory in robbery and plunder. The object of nationalism is the transference of political power from London to the upper classes of Scotland. The SNP are hostile to the very idea of classes and class-struggle. The Scottish nationalist wants to exploit working-class in the name of “Freedom”, which when realised, will mean the freedom of the native bourgeoisie. The nationalists leaders decry any movement which gives predominance to class-interest over national interest.
The reformists within the nationalist camp promise that independence will alleviate the sufferings of the Scottish toiling masses. As a Marxist party, we know that any efforts made with such an object will be only gilding the chains of slavery. The economic freedom of the producing class can be conquered only through a revolutionary struggle from beginning to end! This fact should be clearly and unequivocally expressed without any ambiguity. Workers should not be taken in the reformist and utopian slogans of the nationalists.
The Socialist Party as the party of the working class makes its appeal to the workers of our “nation”. It is not begging for votes, nor seeking for votes, nor bargaining for votes for the political spoils office. But we want all the votes we can get only as a means of advancing the political power of the working class in the struggle for industrial freedom and as a means of wresting the control of government and of industry from the capitalists. The Socialist Party knows neither sex, colour nor nationality. It knows no foreigners among the oppressed and down-trodden. For us there are no nations, but only workers and comrades, whose mutual sympathies are perverted by the capitalist class whose interest it is to stir up rivalries and hatreds between the dwellers in different lands. The Socialist Party will only fight to bring about a social organisation superior to the others not only in its political form, but in the mode of production and distribution of wealth. Therefore we will not fight to defend existing countries, nor to create new ones; but we will fight when we need to bring about a socialist society (or to defend it as soon as we have succeeded in establishing it.) A revolutionary working class will neither keep its ancient nationalities nor create new ones because by becoming free it will abolish classes: the world will be its country.
As the Socialist Party said in 1911, workers are bound together by the shared ties of our class position. On the other hand, we have nothing in common with the master class, whose interests are everywhere opposed to our own. Therefore, it is the capitalist class who are the undesirable aliens. They are not part of our “nation” and are the real outsiders.
To be a socialist is to look beyond national boundaries.
Bill Gates, Richard Branson, The Queen do not belong to our “nation”, no matter where they are born or where they live; no matter where you were born or where you live. Our country is the world. Those who perform useful labour are our compatriots. The “foreigners” are the class enslaving and grinding down the lives of our brothers and sisters for profits.
Every plutocrat, every profiteer, every exploiter, every oppressor will tell you that you must be loyal and patriotic to their particular “nation". Are you their ally or is your allegiance to your class, your own “nation”? Workers must be united and act together. Solidarity must be the watchword.
Political unity and industrial unity will give us the power to conquer capitalism and emancipate the workers of the world. As individual wage slaves we are helpless and our condition hopeless. As a class, we are the greatest power on Earth. The individual wage slave must recognise the power of class unity and do all to bring it about. That is what is called class consciousness. Class conscious workers recognise who their “nation” is. They join the union and the party of their class and gives their time and energy to the work for the emancipation of their “nation.” We do battle against the “nation” of the bankers and the bosses who applaud their own "patriotism" and who glory in robbery and plunder. The object of nationalism is the transference of political power from London to the upper classes of Scotland. The SNP are hostile to the very idea of classes and class-struggle. The Scottish nationalist wants to exploit working-class in the name of “Freedom”, which when realised, will mean the freedom of the native bourgeoisie. The nationalists leaders decry any movement which gives predominance to class-interest over national interest.
The reformists within the nationalist camp promise that independence will alleviate the sufferings of the Scottish toiling masses. As a Marxist party, we know that any efforts made with such an object will be only gilding the chains of slavery. The economic freedom of the producing class can be conquered only through a revolutionary struggle from beginning to end! This fact should be clearly and unequivocally expressed without any ambiguity. Workers should not be taken in the reformist and utopian slogans of the nationalists.
The Socialist Party as the party of the working class makes its appeal to the workers of our “nation”. It is not begging for votes, nor seeking for votes, nor bargaining for votes for the political spoils office. But we want all the votes we can get only as a means of advancing the political power of the working class in the struggle for industrial freedom and as a means of wresting the control of government and of industry from the capitalists. The Socialist Party knows neither sex, colour nor nationality. It knows no foreigners among the oppressed and down-trodden. For us there are no nations, but only workers and comrades, whose mutual sympathies are perverted by the capitalist class whose interest it is to stir up rivalries and hatreds between the dwellers in different lands. The Socialist Party will only fight to bring about a social organisation superior to the others not only in its political form, but in the mode of production and distribution of wealth. Therefore we will not fight to defend existing countries, nor to create new ones; but we will fight when we need to bring about a socialist society (or to defend it as soon as we have succeeded in establishing it.) A revolutionary working class will neither keep its ancient nationalities nor create new ones because by becoming free it will abolish classes: the world will be its country.
As the Socialist Party said in 1911, workers are bound together by the shared ties of our class position. On the other hand, we have nothing in common with the master class, whose interests are everywhere opposed to our own. Therefore, it is the capitalist class who are the undesirable aliens. They are not part of our “nation” and are the real outsiders.
To be a socialist is to look beyond national boundaries.
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