Nationalism - Strong against the Weak, Weak against the Strong

Nationalism is a sign of fear. The bosses are confronted with a possibility that workers everywhere around the globe who have to fight under increasingly similar conditions and who are now moving around will recognise the global nature of the companies and industries so employers and the state use migration in order to play us off against each other; on the company level and beyond. It was no surprise that the normally anti-strike right-wing press applauded the “native” workers at the Lyndsey oil refinery in 2009 when they went out on strike against the employment of Portuguese. The tabloids gleefully featured front page pictures of strikers on picket lines clutching "British jobs for British workers" placards. Less was written by the newspapers about the weakness of the trade unions in the face of their bosses  who blamed the traditional militancy of the engineering construction workers in the UK which led to the necessity to use of overseas workers.

If workers use their various experiences of having lived and fought in different countries they can become stronger. Workers worldwide know enough now about how to get rid of the bosses and politicians, who profit from us. We possess the knowledge and the power to create something better. Nationalism has been transcended by the need for working class emancipation. Since workers have a common interest to overthrow capitalism and establish a free association based on common ownership and democratic control of the economy, national liberation is no longer a desired objective. Capitalism is global, international and has effectively destroyed national boundaries--as far as its interests are concerned. The ruling class has maintained the illusion of nation states in order to better control the flow of the most basic commodity: labour. capitalist and their politicians are constantly preoccupied with "safeguarding" their national borders because the uncontrolled movement of workers and other commodities can give some sectors of their class disproportionate advantage over others. They enlist the support of indigenous workers by convincing them that newly arrived foreign workers threaten their livelihood or otherwise undermine access to social services. They, the capitalists, seem not to mind it too much when foreign capitalists come to the U.S. to invest in their economy.

Workers everywhere are better served when they fight to break down borders, not when they help create new ones. Setting up an independent state in a capitalist world of state is not anti-imperialist. Such a state always falls under the influence of a bigger bloc of states such as Scotland with the EU. The rise of nationalism cannot be separated from the crisis of the enormous vacuum on the left, which leaves those who preach nationalism (or religious fundamentalism) with little socialist competition.

National unity is class collaborationist. Socialism can only ever be won by the working class. nationalist movements - no matter what their rhetoric - are no substitute. hence the idea of them moving us "closer to socialism" is misconceived.  The only "independence" offered by capitalism is the wonderful autonomy granted by the market (i.e. none at all) no matter what flag happens to fly over the places of exploitation. The idea of the division of humanity into nations is etched into people’s consciousness under capitalism. If one national state fails them, the easiest thing is to turn to the idea of creating a different national state. It seems so much more “practical” to rearrange the pieces on the board than to build an entirely new sort of society.  Nationalism makes sense so long as there is not a challenge to the system as a whole.

The ruling class, using nationalism, has side-tracked the aspirations of the working class.  National independence is by no means the liberation of workers.   National capitalists want a bigger slice of the profits from the exploitation of workers. Nationalist capitalists have little political and economic force and cannot take power without the mass support of the working class. That’s why it resorts to all sorts of demagogy to the effect that it will “liberate” the workers (whom it would force to pay the price for “independence”). The “Left-nationalists” contribute nothing but division and confusion as they ally themselves with the little bosses to reach a larger audience. One of the reasons the left is in such poor shape to deal with nationalist challenges is that it does not understand these things.  Pro-nationalists are driven by their desire to find a special explanation for the oppression of minorities. The class struggle is not enough; there must be a “national struggle” as well.  Nationalist theories merely isolate people in their struggle against exploitation.  Only socialism, in removing the material basis of nationalism and racism, the discrimination and exploitation of some workers in the competition for jobs, can achieve equality between different sections of the working class.World socialism cannot be achieved by the adding to nation-states, but by opposition to them all. 

The problems of Scottish workers will not be solved in the framework of an independent capitalist state. Socialists have to understand the only way to bring workers of different nationalities together is to insist on free association. Internationalism does not mean identification with existing states.  The fate of Scot's workers is irrevocably bound up with the fate of the rest of Britain's workers. Socialism is the order of the day. A socialist British Isles as part of a socialist world is the future. Members of the Socialist Party are not proud of their nationality. They are proud of the denial of their nationality. Socialists do not stand for the protection and promotion of their “own” national culture, but for the integration of all that is best in every culture into a new human culture. 

The working class is the only class capable of overthrowing the capitalist system. For this there needs to be a genuinely socialist party. Only a solid working-class base can accomplish the socialist revolution. The Socialist Party opposes all nationalism. With this opposition, we are not alone. For many people, they identify with their home country which they call patriotism. Indeed, in the debate around the referendum for Scottish independence the “Yes” campaign was repeatedly accused of being nationalist, whereas somehow unionists did not have to answer the same accusation of being British nationalists. Some people might reject mainstream or right-wing nationalism as oppressive but posit the “real nation” or local “community” against it. When members of the Socialist Party oppose nationalism we oppose the nationalist segmentation of humanity into different peoples. The Socialist Party aims to win all workers to fight the source of their exploitation.