A change of masters

“The whole world will be one brotherhood…That can only be obtained when the people of the world get the world and retain the world.” – John MacLean, 1918

One of the strongest holds the capitalists have over the minds of the workers is given by the workers' ready acceptance of the dogmas of nationalism and patriotism. 

Nationalism bequeaths to the working class only a change in the hand that wields the lash. Nationalism is merely the substitution of one style of coercive state for another. Socialism, by contrast, will be a state-free society in which human beings all over the world will co-operate for the communal good. The achievement of that society must be the democratic, conscious act of the world's working class and they will not need violence or coercion to introduce the first age of human freedom, unity and abundance.

When the left-nationalists start talking about the importance of preserving national independence it's a clear sign of a total lack of elementary socialist consciousness. They may call it maintaining local democracy but what's meant is maintaining local capitalism. Real meaningful change to peoples' lives can only take place when the root causes of the problems facing humanity are considered on a worldwide scale. Even in the most politically democratic countries on the planet the producers of all real wealth, the working class, are simply wage slaves whose lives are dominated by the money-shuffling activities of a minority class of capitalists which, by controlling their means of life, controls their lives and denies them freedom.

  Marx, after the most penetrating analysis of capitalism, affirmed that it was a system of social organisation in which a relatively small class exploited the great majority by its ownership and control of the means and instruments of production. The method by which these owners, or capitalists, carry out this exploitation is the wages and money system. Given then that capitalism is a system based on the exploitation of the working class it is patently absurd to suggest that there can be any form of national government that can make it function in the interests of the class it exploits. Within capitalism there is obviously an inevitable conflict of interest, a class struggle, between the overwhelming majority who produce but do not own and a relatively small minority class who own but do not produce. Members of the working class do not voluntarily elect to join this class struggle; we are mostly born into it and it governs the way we live. To promote the notion that the area of our birth (‘our’ country) or a religious or political ideology transcends or neutralises our class status or gives us a common cause with a class that socially deprives and demeans us, that imposes either mere want or grave poverty on our lives and the lives of our families, is to be cruelly deceived by the political machinations of capitalism.

Nationalism is a political doctrine that preaches that people with a common history or language or religion form a separate "nation" from all other people and have the right to have their own political state to defend their common interest. Socialists have always rejected this doctrine, not just because it isn't true (people who have a common history or speak the same language do not have a common interest; they are divided into classes, and a worker who speaks a particular language has a common interest with workers speaking other languages but not with a capitalist who speaks the same one) but also because of its practical consequences. Without the ideology of nationalism, capitalist states would be unstable since, being based on minority class rule, they need a minimum allegiance from those they rule over. Nationalism serves to achieve this by teaching the ruled to be loyal to "their" so-called "nation-state". In states where a sizeable minority of the population do not fit into the definition of that state's "nation"—because, for instance, they speak a different language, especially if this is the language of another state—then there is at least a potential problem, to which the final solution is so-called ethnic cleansing. 

Socialism is the complete antithesis of capitalism. In a socialist world private and/or state ownership of society’s means of life will give way to social ownership and production of goods and services solely for use. So goods and services will no longer be produced as commodities for sale and profit. Accordingly there will be no role in socialist society for a means of exchange; hence, the entire, utterly wasteful commercial sinews of capitalism will be obsolete. The class-free, wage-free, money-free society envisaged in the socialist adage: “From each according to their ability; to each according to their needs” will become a reality. A world free from the corruptive influences of money and power where government of people will give way to a simple administration of things.

Scottish workers who are foolish enough to help Scottish capitalists to win independence from Great Britain should learn that the capitalist system is the same wherever it exists, and whatever the nationality of the rulers who use the State to keep the workers' hands off their property. We, in the Socialist Party have no sympathy whatever with the demand for independence made by native capitalist groups. We would no more assist them than assist the British Government against them. A plague on both their houses! Our only interest is to try to get our fellow-workers leave this quarrel about the right to exploit to the people who gain from exploitation. Many so-called socialists think, or at any rate act, differently. Some of them are still very much the victims of the mental disorder called patriotism.  Some left-nationalists are playing a double game which they call "tactics." They argue that as the people among whom it is desired to propagate socialism are still entirely wrapped up in nationalist illusions, then the way to clear their minds is to tack their patriotism on to the socialist case. It is hard to imagine anything less calculated to further socialism. When the left are so adaptive and opportunist their propaganda becomes a farce and they degenerate usually into the more or less open tools of local business interests.

The sooner they give up pandering to working-class political ignorance and devote themselves to teaching socialism, the sooner will the nationality problem be solved. The capitalists of the “oppressed” nations will line up together for protection against the growing unity of the working class, and the way will be cleared for the real fight — the fight for working-class emancipation. Our vision is of a world without borders where resources are shared communally. A world where a co-operative effort of a free association of producers aims at meeting human need in the widest sense. A world where relationships are based on equality and mutual respect, overthrowing all relationships where a few dominate others. As we struggle for such a society which will put human need first, we need to build up links with others doing the same thing worldwide. Fundamental problems like war and the destruction of the planet by climate change need to be tackled globally. Fostering distinctive cultures is positive but beware of governments and bosses using nationalism to divide us and promote a false “national interest”. In Scotland, as in all countries, there is no common interest between the employers and the working class.