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| FOR WORLD SOCIALISM ONE WORLD ONE PEOPLE |
This weekend as many in Ireland and in Scotland commemorate the centenary
of the 1916 Dublin Easter Rising, it is incumbent upon those of us in the
Socialist Party to discourage nationalist feelings among our fellow workers.
Capitalism is a single world system, a single world economy.
There is no such thing as the "British economy", the "Irish
economy" or the "American economy"; there is only one economy,
world capitalism. This view has important implications. First, that there are
no national solutions to today's social problems. The various states into which
the world is divided are political, but not social units. The state does not
define the boundaries of the present social system, which is worldwide and
capitalist. Since capitalism is the cause of today's social problems and is a
single world-wide social system, it clearly follows that the solution to these
problems can only be a world-wide social change (from world capitalism to world
socialism). Nation-states do, however, try to distort the market for the
benefit of the group of capitalists they represent. The stronger the state
machinery, the more its ability to distort the world market in favour of the
interests it represents.
Capitalist society is class society. The inherent instability and unpredictability
of capitalism, and the impossibility of eradicating the class struggle
altogether, means that we can never predict for certain where or when the next
upsurge in working class struggle will occur. Despite claims, the unity of the
nation-state is an illusory one, because capitalist society is divided into
economic classes. The primary function of the state is to protect and defend
the social and economic privileges of the propertied classes. It is an
institution of class domination which lords over the whole of society and
imposes economic dependence and servitude on the great mass of humanity in the
service of an opulent minority. The interests and freedom of working people are
subordinated to a mythical "national unity" that masks the continued
subjugation and exploitation of the working class.
What is particularly galling to socialists is that the Left
has not always seen nationalism as a regressive demand. The Left, such as it is
today, all too often uncritically embraces the slogan “national liberation”—a
slogan that has echoed through its ranks without regard for the basic ideal
voiced in the “International.” – “The
International will be the human race.” The tendency of nationalist
movements is to narrow solidarity to the nation, barriers are created to
developing a broader solidarity between working people of different
nationalities, which weakens the power of working people in struggles for their
own empowerment.
Nationalism has always been a disease that divided human
from human and it can never be viewed as anything more than a regression toward
tribalism and a fuel for war. How is it that working people can so totally deny
its own interests and enter so completely into the service of the ruling class?
Certainly socialism will allow the fullest linguistic and
cultural diversity, but this cannot be achieved through nationalism. The
problems that confront ethnic minorities, can only disappear when the vast mass
of people have become socialist in outlook. Given that nationalism does nothing
to further this understanding, however, it is an obstruction to world
socialism. There is no place in a free society for nation-states—either as
nations or as states.
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