War Crimes and Punishment

 

 The media and the political mouthpieces of capitalist ideology have done their job well. Ukrainian and Russian workers are being caught up by their respective "patriotism" to fight and die for “their” country.  Socialists work for the day "patriotism" will simply mean being proud to be part of humanity. 

Patriotism is better called national chauvinism. This "patriotism" equates loyalty to the nation with loyalty to the capitalist-controlled government and its policies. It seeks the acquiescence of workers in the crimes, aggressions, depredations and depravities of the ruling class and its agents.  It is intended to trick workers into sanctioning whatever is deemed in the interests of the oligarchy. It's nationalistic baloney asserts that our interests as a “nation” are totally bound up with, if not identical, to those of our exploiters. But as we know, in class societies the state does not serve everyone equally. Instead, its main efforts are directed to helping the class that rules over the economy. In capitalism, that means essentially helping the capitalist class accumulate capital, repress opposition to their exploitative rule, and legitimise all the forms in which this goes on.  But to do this job well, the state has to appear legitimate in the eyes of most of its citizens, which requires above all else that its consistent bias on behalf of the capitalist ruling class be hidden from view. The flag and other patriotic symbolism are crucial to the success of this effort. Throughout, emotions play a much larger role than reason or thinking generally, and the strongest emotion evoked by patriotism is the pleasure of belonging to a cooperative social community where everyone is concerned with the fate of others. Unfortunately, the social community only exists in the shadow of an illusory community dominated by the ruling economic class and its state, where none of this applies.

There is a form of “patriotism” to which workers should adhere; it is loyalty, not to the institutions of the nation, but to the people; more precisely, to the majority of the people -- the working class -- with whom they share a common material interest. For workers today, class consciousness - loyalty to one's class -- is patriotism. International working-class interests are the paramount interests to be served - not those of any capitalist nation state. Without solidarity to one's class and to one's comrades. workers are helpless in the face of the ruling class's monopoly of the means of production. If workers can stick together, they can respond to employers' control of work. Solidarity between workers is therefore an essential prerequisite for success in class struggle. Class consciousness is the key to working-class victory in ending the class struggle.

Dividing our class on national lines and allowing us to be played off against each other can only serve our masters. It can hardly be denied that national borders have repeatedly divided the working class. To confront business-driven austerity, militarism and war requires a united social and political struggle by the worlds working class aimed at the abolition of capitalism. How does the erection of new borders and the formation of new nation-states further the unity of the working class anywhere? The capitalist class makes use of many weapons. One of its most efficient psychological tools is nationalism. Patriotism is the cattle prod that keeps workers apart and weakened. The socialist argument is not to tell people “to fight for independence” but to explain “you are not independent, comrade, and you should not be. You are dependent on the working class of the world and they are dependent on you. We all depend on each other.” A genuine socialist party globalises the agenda and explain that all local issues have global causes that calls for global solutions.

Patriotism works to disguise the real differences which exist amongst people—which are differences of class and which involve irreconcilable differences of interests—and to encourage workers to identify with the institution—the state—which is the primary defender of class society. The slogan “workers of the world unite” is in part a call on proletarians to acknowledge that their home is in the company of other members of their class wherever they are to be found. Working people have only one country—the planet earth. There is only one foe—the bosses. The Socialist Party doesn’t believe in patriotism. Our critics can call us unpatriotic but we will take pride in being unpatriotic.