Nationalism serves as a powerful wedge, weakening the workers’ movements and preventing them from uniting against capital. My “nationality” first feeds the sentiment that it is non-natives rather than the capitalist ruling class which is responsible for exploitation. It retards the process of building class unity and consciousness.
Our task as socialists is to expose and condemn nationalist organisations as agents of the capitalists who can lead only to further oppression of the workers. Marxism views classes and class struggle as the fundamental contradiction of modern society. The struggle between the working class and the employers conditions the whole of social life, and creates the contours for the development and transformation of society from one stage to another. The class war, then, is the most profound dividing line in modern times. As Marxists we never put the rights of nations above the rights and duties of our class. We must always and everywhere advance the class line over every other, whether it is colour, sex or nationality.
Jim Larkin says that one of the last things that he said to James Connolly was not to go into the nationalist movement, not to join the Irish Volunteers, which was the armed force of the nationalist movement. Connolly did go into the Easter Rebellion. Sean O’Casey, the Irish playwright, in a pamphlet he wrote on the Irish Citizen Army, declares baldly that James Connolly died not for Irish socialism but for Irish nationalism. In all events, the Irish Citizen Army was decimated, and crushed in the Easter Rebellion. There were few left to carry on the “socialistic” side of Connolly’s doctrines. The entire movement was swept along in arise of Irish patriotism and Irish nationalism. Sinn Féin was in complete control of the movement. Instead of discussing socialism, they discussed Ireland. After all the sacrifice of blood, the Irish people changed masters, and a new Irish bourgeoisie developed and grew. The Scottish worker is now counselled to repeat the mistake of Connolly and subordinate socialism to nationalism. Our place of birth was accidental, but our duty to our class is worldwide.
There cannot be any national unity in a real sense as long as 1% of the population lives off the fat of the land because they OWN the machines, while 99% do all the useful WORK of society. And you certainly don’t have national unity when the government speaks and acts as the protector of the 1%. The bosses consider “national, unity” to be achieved when labour quits striking against pay cuts and co-operates with speed-ups.
Our task as socialists is to expose and condemn nationalist organisations as agents of the capitalists who can lead only to further oppression of the workers. Marxism views classes and class struggle as the fundamental contradiction of modern society. The struggle between the working class and the employers conditions the whole of social life, and creates the contours for the development and transformation of society from one stage to another. The class war, then, is the most profound dividing line in modern times. As Marxists we never put the rights of nations above the rights and duties of our class. We must always and everywhere advance the class line over every other, whether it is colour, sex or nationality.
Jim Larkin says that one of the last things that he said to James Connolly was not to go into the nationalist movement, not to join the Irish Volunteers, which was the armed force of the nationalist movement. Connolly did go into the Easter Rebellion. Sean O’Casey, the Irish playwright, in a pamphlet he wrote on the Irish Citizen Army, declares baldly that James Connolly died not for Irish socialism but for Irish nationalism. In all events, the Irish Citizen Army was decimated, and crushed in the Easter Rebellion. There were few left to carry on the “socialistic” side of Connolly’s doctrines. The entire movement was swept along in arise of Irish patriotism and Irish nationalism. Sinn Féin was in complete control of the movement. Instead of discussing socialism, they discussed Ireland. After all the sacrifice of blood, the Irish people changed masters, and a new Irish bourgeoisie developed and grew. The Scottish worker is now counselled to repeat the mistake of Connolly and subordinate socialism to nationalism. Our place of birth was accidental, but our duty to our class is worldwide.
There cannot be any national unity in a real sense as long as 1% of the population lives off the fat of the land because they OWN the machines, while 99% do all the useful WORK of society. And you certainly don’t have national unity when the government speaks and acts as the protector of the 1%. The bosses consider “national, unity” to be achieved when labour quits striking against pay cuts and co-operates with speed-ups.
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