Neither Separatism or Unionism

THE REFERENDUM

Down through the ages mankind has been fired with the great vision of a world free of war and strife, without national rivalries, without racial and religious strife. The ideal of the “Brotherhood of Man” has inspired all the struggles against inequality and oppression. As Burns wrote:
For a' that, an' a' that, 
It's coming yet for a' that, 
That Man to Man, the world o'er, 
Shall brothers be for a' that.

The common interests of wage workers transcends all national boundaries and differences. Our aim is the emancipation of all humanity from exploitation and oppression or as the Communist Manifesto puts it:
“in place of the old bourgeois society, with its classes and class antagonisms, we shall have an association, in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all.”

The capitalists have their own type of internationalism, they have a kind of "solidarity" among the capitalists of the world, with their network of international organisations aimed at dominating and grabbing the entire natural wealth of the world and at enslaving the working people of all lands. The working class is impelled to internationalism in outlook and strategy and as Marx explains in the Civil War in France:
 “class rule is no longer able to disguise itself in a national uniform; the national governments are ONE as against the proletariat.”

The socialist revolution, which will put an end to capitalism, must be international. Therefore, the workers must not think so much of their country as of their solidarity with the workers of all countries. Socialists should oppose all measures tending to perpetuate capitalism and be guided in these matters by considerations of tactics. The internationalism of the World Socialist Movement is the abolition of exploitation of man by man in all countries.

The interests of the working class are not tied to any particular country. The struggle of workers takes place on a world-wide scale to defeat the employer class on a world-wide scale. This means the simple solidarity of one worker with another, irrespective of nationality. Class conscious workers understand this and readily support the struggles of workers in other countries. It must look at the struggle in “its” own country in the light of the struggle world-wide. The most crucial aspect of internationalism is the unity of the working class.  There is no way forward for the people of the world without breaking the power of capital and no way of breaking it except through the class struggle and the triumph of socialism internationally.

The more the capitalist world changes, the more it remains the same. The employer buys our ability to work, and for a set period of time, we become theirs. The value of an employee is our wage--the amount of money we need to pay for food, clothes, rent, liquor, bus fare and whatever else we need to keep showing up to work. This is more or less depending on whether we are expected to wear nice clothes and be able to talk about wine and French history with the customers or whether we're just supposed to show up and not spit in the food. It also changes depending on how much food and housing cost in the particular city or country the restaurant is located in. Wages also reflect the balance of power between workers and employers. Where we are strong, we can force wages up. Where we are weak, wages can be lowered to a bare survival level.

All the political actions and judgments of a workers party must always be directed against the capitalist class, and never be taken in collaboration with them. The class struggle is the central principle of socialist politics. It is by carrying the class struggle to its necessary conclusion — that is, to the victory of the working class and the abolition of capitalism — that the socialist society will be realized. And every attempt to find another way, by supporting the capitalists, by conciliation, by collaborating with them, in peace or in war, has led not toward the socialist goal but to defeat and disaster for the workers. Whenever socialists discuss the socialist path, they talk in terms of a worldwide struggle.

Can the socialist revolution come wrapped in the Saltire? The Communist Manifesto said:
 “In the national struggles of the proletarians of different countries, they [the communists] point out and bring to the front the common interests of the entire proletariat, independent of all nationality.”

 It is the internationalist, not nationalist, outlook that must be brought to the fore. It is not the business of communists, nor anyone who wants liberation, to put their shoulder to the wheel of history and push backwards. This means that communists are internationalists, and not nationalists. The Socialist Party position on the independence referendum is that no fundamental problem facing working people can be solved, or even seriously alleviated, by tinkering with the state structure or the constitution. Those on the Left who argue for the right of self determination for all peoples and therefore you must support the Scottish national struggle are expressing a non-Marxist attitude. What role did the Scottish parliament play in the INEOS Grangemouth dispute? Very little. Business decisions are not made in parliaments. The policy being advanced by left nationalists that independence is a solution to workers’ problems, must be exposed as false and a diversion from the real task of  developing a united and class conscious movement of workers everywhere.

Global peace built on a foundation of nation-states is an oxymoron. As historian Michael Howard noted in his book The Lessons of History:
“From the very beginning, the principle of nationalism was almost indissolubly linked, both in theory and practice, with the idea of war. Attempts to create regional or international alliances to bring stability have always been stymied by national interests.”

 National interests are business interests. We won’t begin creating global peace until we learn how to bypass nationalism. Against the mad chorus of national rivalries and ethnic hatreds we advance once more the old slogan of socialist internationalism: Workers of the World Unite!