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Saturday, March 26, 2016

Fight nationalism, don't embrace it

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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