NATIONALISM—AN ENEMY OF THE WORKERS

 

Nearly all the sports practised nowadays are competitive. You play to win, and the game has little meaning unless you do your utmost to win . . . At the international level sport is frankly mimic warfare. But the significant thing is not the behaviour of the players but the attitude of the spectators: and, behind the spectators of the nations who work themselves into furies over these absurd contests and seriously believe—at any rate for short periods—that running, jumping and kicking a bill are tests of national virtue. George Orwell

Around the world, nationalism is on the march and the battle cry is “Independence.” What many people forget is that newly won sovereignty will be the freedom to administer capitalism. The joys of becoming an independent country are, by and large, illusory for the mass of the peoples of the “liberated” countries and not worth the effort and sacrifice so often involved in achieving it. This is what the Socialist Party has been saying throughout its history. Of course, this attitude brings us no popularity.

The workers to-day has nothing to fight for. The interests of the masters are not their interests. National prestige is not their prestige. What workers have to realise clearly is that the interests of their fellow workers in other lands are nearer to theirs than are those of the masters in their own country. The bonds which bind worker with worker, irrespective of nationality, are those of class solidarity. The truth is that the very essence of socialism is internationalism. 

When asked why we do not support struggles for Independence by fellow workers in other parts of the world, we point out that, at best, they will simply be exchanging one lot of masters for another. They may win or be allowed a little more freedom within the system but while it remains they must depend on the capitalists — state or private — for their subsistence. For workers, independence is merely a change of rulers. Nationalism is a ruse to lure workers into supporting the rights of the business class to make profits at their expense. Nevertheless, our rejection of nationalist delusions ought never to show insensitivity to the valid concerns of oppressed people. Moreover. it strengthens the appeal of socialism to show that in contrast to the imposed uniformity and centralisation of commodity production we aim for a way of life which, of its nature, fosters cultural freedom and diversity.

Most  people are more worried about the necessities of life: putting food on the table, a roof over their head, and other ultimately far more important considerations, than the name of the state they happen to live in. Different languages, skin tones, sexes, and customs pale next to the economic differences in a single country or ethnic grouping. The working class will never be served by nationalism or its bed-mate, racism. The only way out is to establish Socialism, which will organise the world so that everyone, whatever their sex or colour of skin, has free access to the world's wealth and stands equal to the rest of humanity. Independence solved none of the problems resulting from exploitation.  Independent governments are wedded to the same set of priorities and subject to the same constraints as any other capitalist government. Poverty in the midst of a potential for plenty remains a running sore, exploitation and massive disparities of wealth continue to exist, wars with neighbours claim the lives of those with no class interest in the outcome, environmental degradation continues virtually unabated. That is the lesson for workers to learn all over the world.

The Socialist Party calls for the end of exploitation and an end to the domination of the privileged few over the majority, not for its replacement by another, more local elite. We view our fellow-workers as the revolutionary force that could overthrow the tyranny of the capitalist system, freeing people and breaking their chains of wage-slavery, if only they can halt the virus of nationalism from spreading. Socialism needs to be placed at the heart of a new approach to living, locally, regionally, and globally. It is a unifying sharing principle that will encourage cooperation, which, unlike nationalism, brings people together and builds social harmony. Ours will be free unions of free people in free associations.  Democracy for socialists isn’t just the ballot, but the participatory democracy, revocable—delegated—social and economic democracy based on a world co-operative commonwealth. The message of socialism is world wide however. It reaches across the artificial national boundaries erected by politics. 

Our One Demand - Socialism

 

The Socialist Party in declining to put forward a programme of immediate demands does not take up the untenable position that the position of the workers under capitalism is such that they could not be worse off if they gave up the struggle to defend their wages and working conditions; nor do we maintain that reforms are valueless.

What we do maintain is that reform programmes inevitably attract reformists, and produce reformist organisations incapable of working for socialism; that only by working directly for socialism will it be achieved; that parties lacking solid socialist support and depending on reformists cannot achieve socialism even if they obtain control of the political machinery; that reforms cannot end the subject-position of the working class although they may be of small temporary or sectional benefit; that the small value of the reforms obtainable by reformist political action is In no way commensurate with the years of work and the volume of effort required to achieve them ; and that incidentally the capitalists will give concessions more readily in an endeavour to keep the workers away from a growing socialist movement than they will in response to the appeals of bodies based on programmes of reforms. We point out that experience has also shown the danger and uselessness of programmes of immediate demands.

 Experience has taught the lesson that programmes of immediate demands do not serve as a means of organising socialist parties. They serve as a sure means of destroying socialist unity, of thrusting the socialist objective into the background and of attracting into the organisation non-socialist elements which drag it into the mire of compromise and bargaining with capitalist parties. Every one of the capitalist countries provides its examples of parties whose original socialist aims have been subverted and their organisation corrupted in this way. 

The most tragic observation of all is not only that members of the working class should behave against one another in such a way, as resenting the skin colours of fellow members of their own exploited class while their common enemies, the exploiting capitalist class, live on their backs, but that the move away from segregation came from outside and not from within the states concerned. Unfortunately, the ignorance of the economic forces at work within capitalism, from which this conduct springs, cannot be banished merely by the Supreme Court making rulings although to whatever degree events turn against segregation it is a healthier sign than its unchallenged continuation.

It will finally only be when workers turn to socialism that they will cease to be a prey to nationalist or racial prejudice of one variety or another, because only then will they no longer see themselves as one with their respective national ruling class, but will see that their real oneness lies in union with the wage slaves all over the world, geography, sex and so-called race making no difference. We would conclude by saying that the “education” machine of capitalism whose function it is to turn out obedient, efficient wage slaves will never direct its efforts towards socialism, but the hard facts of life and the common problems which universally smite all workers will direct their interest our way.

The despairing and apathetic attitude of workers is part of the fruits of their having blindly voted for people who promise them things. All the  parties promise the same things and childishly blamed one another for past failures in bringing the same “houses for the homeless,” “food for the hungry,” “pensions galore” and “better roads,” etc., as have been promised for many elections past. One thing that should be obvious is that if any of them had ever redeemed their past promises there would be no need to keep coming back for re-election to do the same thing. This should clearly show to any thinking worker the utter  futility of voting for any of them unless you want more in the future of what you have had in the past and if you do, then one could hardly call that thinking. It is quite evident  that the whole approach of the Socialist Party is very different from and opposed to that of the parties of capitalism.

Meanwhile, the politicians will go on with their “better world” promises and we for our part will go on vigorously advocating the abolition of the nightmare, which these hirelings seek to preserve, and its replacement by socialism—the world of social equality of all men and women of the world, of one community of interest based on holding the means of living in common, and production entirely and literally for use.

The Fetish of the Flag

 

The whole world is in a crisis. Everywhere society is in chaos and ferment. Unemployment and hunger; recessions and war are shaking up the thinking of millions of  workers and impelling them on the road of struggle against the system which oppresses them and drives them toward catastrophe. Socialism is our only hope. Marxism is the science of human society which supplies the key to the development of social existence, past and present, and projects the direction in which it is moving – must move if it is to survive. It is the theory and practice of working class action, of social revolution.

In small communities the principle of all for each and each for all is not entirely lost. There was a time when the regions of  Britain were separate political entities. Even today the distinction between these districts are embodied in sport in which, Geordies, Scousers, Mancunians, Londoners and so on  respectively boast of their football, rugby or cricket virtues. The Socialist Party confidently hold that such trivial rivalries and differences will be reflected in the future when the dividing lines between existing nation-states in a world commonwealth disappear. The cause of the working class is lost if they allow itself to be caught  permanently in the snare of nationalism. The sentiment of “My country right or wrong” will be seen for the abomination that it is. If it is possible to love a city, a nation then surely our love can be spread wider to humanity itself. The perpetuation of hatred of foreigners based on distinction of nationality is  obviously  subservient the selfish interests of the profit-makers of those rival countries and by no means of the peoples. The Socialist Party embraces all humanity. Revolutionary socialists  will have neither to keep its ancient national identities nor to constitute new ones because by becoming free the whole world will be its home. We are convinced that separate countries have had their time.

Socialism groups people, poor against rich, working class against the capitalist class, without taking into account the differences of race and language, and especially the artificial frontiers created by accidents of history. The Socialist Party will not fight to defend existing countries nor to bring new ones into being but we will fight if we need to bring about socialism or to defend it as soon as we have succeeded in establishing it. The class war is the only war which brings some real hope to the exploited of all countries. The class-conscious proletariat, in its fight against the employer class, still more the Socialist Party cannot consistently hold an attitude of loyalty to  ones own capitalist State to the detriment or disparagement of other peoples. If there is one doctrine fundamental to socialism it is that of the class struggle as supersedes the national struggle. We are patriots for mankind as a whole, but not for any particular section of mankind.

Patriotism consists in giving loyalty without considering right or wrong. “Love of country” becomes unquestioning obedience to the country’s government. Patriotism is particularly dangerous because it both isolates and confuses us. Patriots feel good about themselves. It fills something missing in their life. People have a need for community. The churches used to offer it. Sports stadiums have turned into cathedrals and music festivals have become a substitute to the religious jamboree. However, sectional devotion to a more or less mongrel population, even if they all speak varying dialects of the same language, is cant and humbug. The bulk of the population of Britain is as unknown to me as the population of Outer Mongolia.

Workers cannot espouse a narrow nationalist attitude. What happens to the workers in one country has its effect on workers elsewhere and is the concern of socialists everywhere.

Dealing with the realities of life

 

Poverty, unemployment, bad housing, crime, and the host of other evil social phenomena that continually haunt us all have their groups of “do-gooders” spending time, money and effort vainly trying to stem the flood of misery or effect reforms, but these evils remain. As workers, ever close to the miseries which shock our reformers, and socialists, knowing full well the reason for such miseries. Capitalism is the basic social cause of all these evils; that which the reformers of this world struggle against are but the effects.

 Even the reformers have been forced to concede that only dismal results have been so far achieved in the fight against widespread deeply entrenched misery. They fight shadows, the Socialist Party prefers to get to grips with substance. we know that there is only one truly effective “reform," and that is socialism.

Capitalism, with its private ownership of the machinery of wealth production, forces on the mass of people a condition of slavery, wage-slavery. All the things necessary to the sustenance of human life become commodities, their use value only incidental to their exchange value. Even our physical energies—our labour power—has a commodity character which, since we are propertyless, we are obliged to sell to the owners of the factories, mills, land, etc., in order to get the wherewithal to buy the things we need.

It is a staggering thought that even the humble loaf of bread—the stuff of life to the masses—is not produced, under our present social system, primarily for the purpose of being eaten. If you have the money you can buy all the bread you want, and there is no law to prevent you burning it should you so desire? On the other hand, if you are without money and starving you will go without bread.

Socialism can only be majority action—Democracy.

Socialism is an attempt then to show the prime causal factors in the evolution of human society. Men and women make history and socialists contend and what some have made, others can understand. In this way, history becomes an intelligible process and the past is capable of being reconstructed by the same pattern of enquiry which marks other fields of scientific investigation. Marx’s views on history were sharp and clear. Human effort and struggle he held were the means which brought about the historically determined. He never sought to make history a mystery. Indeed he claimed that history had no greater reality than that which could be discovered by the analysis of actual historical events. While unlike Hegel he never believed that history was the outcome of logic and reason, he nevertheless believed that it could be rationally explained. Marx had then a view point on history. He did not believe it could be explained by abstractions like power drives or impulses. Nor it might be added by spirit, nature or some economic first cause. For Marx history had no purpose which was not the purpose of man. No goals which are not human goals. It is men who will to do things. But what men will is always connected with elements in the social situation which are unwilled. Because society is a continuous process, men always find themselves in a set of conditions which is given. It is these conditions which give the scope and set the stamp on particular social aims and goals. When and whether they will be effectively realised will depend upon the objective possibilities within the social situation. Socialism must be willed by men but it is not until a particular set of social relations namely capitalism, appear, can there arise the objective means for socialism to be realised. Marx’s theory of historic causation explains then why men in different historic phases seek to achieve certain ends and what have been the nature of the circumstances which have allowed them to succeed —or fail. Critics of Marx have seized upon the term “objective” conditions, isolated it from its context and then accused Marx of propounding a prime mover on economic first cause which propel men along some predetermined path. The whole purpose of Marx’s teaching was that only by understanding capitalism and acting upon that understanding would we be effective in changing it to something better.

Capitalism provides us with hungry millions, surely a reason for unrelenting work, and at the same time with armies of unemployed; capitalism gives us our slums for there is little profit in providing homes for the slaves of the system; capitalism, with its need to protect its foreign investments, gives us wars and their attendant evils. Even if it were feasible to attack the problems of capitalism singly for the purpose of piecemeal reform, which, of course, it is not, it would be an odious task indeed, placing them in their evil perspective. While you fight slums, war creeps nearer, while you organise peace pledges, slums go unattended, while you are re-habilitating the refugees their compatriots are creating refugees, and so on.

There are no short cuts to socialism and certainly trying to patch up a bankrupt social system is not progressing. If all those people who are genuinely desirous of putting an end to the evils they see around them actively joined with the World Socialist Movement, they would put an end to their objection that socialism is a long way off.

In socialism, no individual will be dependent on another individual for his or her means of sustenance, but every man, woman and child will be the responsibility of the whole community.

Scottish Racism

 

A report into racism in Scottish cricket has been described as “the most devastating verdict to be delivered on any sporting institution in the United Kingdom” and as “a wake-up call for all of Scottish sport”.

The authors detailed 448 examples of institutional racism at Cricket Scotland and concluded that of 31 indicators of good practice, the organisation failed to meet 29 and fully satisfied none. 31 allegations of racism against 15 different people, two clubs and one regional association have been referred for continued investigation. Some allegations have been shared with Police Scotland as potential hate crimes, and others may be referred to the police in future. In addition, many participants who had “clearly witnessed or experienced racism” have chosen not to proceed with the process.

The report found that not only was Cricket Scotland not trusted to manage allegations of racism effectively, several allegations “had not been investigated at all”. 

Some of those who raised concerns had been victimised or forced out of the organisation completely. One volunteer within the Western District Cricket Union – whose area covers half the population of Scotland, and who the report also recommends should be placed in special measures – said “it was very difficult to work in West Scotland and not witness racism”.

The entire board of Cricket Scotland resigned on Sunday in advance of the report’s publication and released a joint statement apologising “to everyone who has experienced racism, or any other form of discrimination, in cricket in Scotland”. 

But Aamer Anwar, the lawyer who represents Majid Haq and Qasim Sheikh, the two former internationals whose descriptions of the discrimination they experienced during their playing careers prompted the report, said the apology was “too little and too late” and that the board’s resignation was “the cowardly option, meaning that today there is nobody to answer for their failure of leadership”.

Majid Haq is Scotland’s all-time leading wicket-taker and made 209 appearances, and after he made an allegation of discrimination during the 2015 World Cup he was sent home and never picked again. Qasim Sheikh was also not picked again, aged 27, after in 2012 publicly questioning why he was not being selected for the national team.

“It should never be normal for a young person to be made to feel worthless, to be dehumanised in a sport they love, to be brainwashed into thinking it’s their fault,” said Anwar, “but that sadly is the brutal story of hundreds of young people of colour who played cricket in Scotland.”

In addition to prejudice on the grounds of race, gender, religion and nationality, the report’s authors also found grounds for “concern over the perceived bias towards the recruitment of players from public schools over state schools”. Opaque selection processes for national teams at all levels were a constant issue, while the board of Cricket Scotland is described as being “only concerned about the men’s national squad and no interest or oversight on any other part of cricket”

‘Devastating’: Cricket Scotland faces special measures after racism report | Scotland Cricket Team | The Guardian

Post-Capitalism (video)

 

Nationalism, a Menace to Socialism

 The typical liberal seeks to give the rights of self-determination to all the various nationalities. The Socialist Party denies the necessity of the existence of nations; it wants to abolish all countries and states. However, we do understand the attachment to hearth and home, to one's community and neighbourhood, to familiar traditions and customs. As a socialist, we love our land. But we also love other people’s lands, too, when we visit them.

The liberation aimed at by the Socialist Party is freedom of development for the individual as for society. This liberty the Socialist Party sees to be impossible under a regime of private property-holding in the means of production. All the existing limitations on freedom, alike for the individual and for society, the Socialist Party finds traceable to the system of private ownership in these means of production. Starting from the fundamental basis of socialism, that the common ownership of the means of production is essential to human liberty, it is right to assume the collectivist basis of socialism, is, indeed, only a means whereby such liberty can be realised. The policy of the Socialist Party is subservient to this goal.

It is capitalism that attacks and destroys all the things close to the human heart. Capitalism ruthlessly discards people’s heritage and ideas opposed to its progress It exploits and corrupts those customs and practices once held sacred. This country is not "our" country.

 

Nationalism involves the doctrine of “My country right or wrong” which the Socialist Party contends is utterly incompatible with world socialism. Socialist principles and socialist interests take precedence over all national interests whatsoever. Socialists cannot recognise any duty, of whatever nature, that is at variance with these principles. Patriotism is an objectionable sentiment since it means the placing of one’s own country, its interests and well-being, above those of the rest of humanity. Patriotism is ridiculous for propertyless proletarians. We all know what patriotism means nowadays. A gang of thieves who by fraud or otherwise lay hold of the power of the State, and with that power in their hands proceed to start a quarrel with another people, whom they consider sufficiently weak and defenceless to be a safe prey, in order to enrich themselves and the class they represent by the plunder and enslavement of the people.  A citizen must on no account condemn their actions or reveals oneself lacking in “patriotism” and like a true “patriot,” must cheer them on.  Patriots see in their “country’s enemies”  any unfortunate people whom its governing and parasitic classes wish to plunder. A patriot nowadays is either an empty-headed knave or an unthinking fool.

Nationalism first appeared during the rise of capitalism, in the struggle of the nascent capitalist class to establish the nation-state as a framework for the expansion of private property, freedom of enterprise and trade.  The nation did not come into being because of mystical or cultural impulses; it was the product of a definite process of economic and class development. Nationalism is based on mythical history. While race and language have been convenient expressions of the nation, the nation has itself created “race” and “language,” and often suppressed or amalgamated them in the fulfilment of its historic mission.

It is undeniable that the attitude of the Socialist Party’s internationalism joins hands with that of anti-patriotism, with that of anti-nationalism. The consistent socialist certainly does relegate nationality to a place secondary to that of Humanity. All socialists have an abhorrence of the cant of the patriot and the lying humbug of the Jingoism which would attempt to whitewash every crime committed in the name of their country.

The national struggle is a diversion from the class struggle. It is proper to look forward to the day when nationalism and patriotism shall be swallowed up in worldwide brotherhood and when supposed differences shall vanish in human solidarity.

No person is duty-bound to fight or sacrifice oneself in defending from attack his or her country. The political independence of a nation is not worth the degradation. Let us cast off all sectionalism, all parochialism, and sit down as brothers and sisters together in an earnest effort to find a common cause against the capitalist enemy. The class struggle is the supreme issue for the Socialist Party. No socialist would suggest for a single moment that a mere change from a foreign to a native-born capitalist would help the workers. Socialists adopt a policy of unrelenting antagonism toward nationalism. We find nothing inspirational in the thought that we are wage slaves of one government than another rival one. Hasten the day when the working people of the world will finally abandon the national flags of their masters, and muster themselves under the red flag of socialism for human brotherhood. The Socialist Party regrets that all the dedication and devotion to the service of the modern nation-state is not forthcoming when it is a question of a new society, for the Socialist Cooperative Commonwealth.