Marxism%20and%20Nationalism

1
Marxism and Nationalism

• Issues of nationality and citizenship have been
  important and controversial to many Marxist
  theories.
• There are several reasons why Marxism and
  nationalism are not easily combined. Two
  fundamental conflicts are that both Marxist
  internationalism and the assertion of the primacy
  of class contradictions are at loggerhead with
  nationalist conceptions of history.

2
Marx and Engels

• Some scholars argue that marx was contradictory
  in his views of nationalism.
• As Nimni argues (Marxism and nationalism, Pluto
  1991), Marx and Engels thinking was ambivalent
  but well developed.
• For Marx, nationalism is epiphenomenal.
  State-building and an advanced economy require
  nation-building, which is therefore essential to
  the formation of a bourgeoisie. It is against
  this national bourgeoisie that the proletariat
  can then rebel.

3
Nations without History

• If the function of nationalist mobilisation is to
  form nation-states, national movements that are
  ineffective because too small or too weak come to
  be seen as regressive.
• These are nations without history.
• They hinder the progress of history towards a
  proletarian revolution. They distract the energy
  of the proletariat.

4
Marxist intolerance of ethnic minorities

• Whilst some national questions are well examined
  by Marx an Engels - such as the Irish question
  for other minorities there is hostility.
  North-African Bedouins, Chinese, Scandinavians,
  Spaniards and Mexicans are seen with scorn.
• Conversely, the Irish question is seen as
  important and in need of a solution because it
  engenders rivalry within the proletariat.
• A separate Irish state would create a
  contradiction between proletariat and
  bourgeoisie, and therefore the premises of a
  revolution.
• Thus there is no intrinsic contradiction in the
  Marxist position (Nimni 1991).

5
Marxist Reductionism

• The reductionist approach of Marx and Engels was
  faithfully followed during the Second
  International. Various forms and justifications
  of reductionism appear in Kautsky, Luxemburg,
  Bernstein, Lenin and Stalin.
• For Lenin there is no national culture, only an
  illusion of it, which is due to bourgeois
  mystification. Every nation has two cultures, a
  bourgeois one and a proletarian one.
• Nationalist movements need to be encouraged only
  when and as long as they advance the forces of
  production.

6
Gramsci

• Gramsci is the first Marxist who clearly rejects
  economic and class reductionism.
• Gramsci connects nationalism to internal
  colonialism, and proposes the concepts of
  hegemony, historical bloc, and organic
  intellectuals in relation to the concept of
  nation.

7
The New Left and Nationalism

• Gramscian Marxism was central to much of the new
  left thinking.
• However, reductionist views still survived in the
  new left engendering controversial debates on the
  nature, scope and future of nationalism.
• Part of the new left simply chose to ignore
  nationalism and abandoned it to the right.

8
The new left as a social movement

• As a social movement, in several countries, the
  new left defined itself in contraposition to the
  extreme right. Nationalism versus proletarian
  internationalism, or more generally
  multi-culturalism came to form the dividing line
  between movement and counter-movement.
• Nationality and nationalism became therefore a
  contentious issue. National symbols, such as
  flags and anthems became central to action
  repertoires.

9
FrontiersRepression

• As Katsiaficas (1987, p. 104)notes, the slogans
  and ethos of the new left was militantly
  anti-nationalist everywhere.
• Nationalism was seen as an exclusionary doctrine
  that divided the working class.
• Pro-immigrant sentiments were voiced, bilingual
  posters seek to integrate foreign workers in
  protest events.

10
RM and the New Left

• With its strong focus on organizational factors
  and resources, RM echoes the ideology of the new
  left.
• Some analysts of the NSM school say that RM is in
  fact only applicable to the movements of the New
  Left
• The New Left constituted a set of ideologically
  similar movements which diffused throughout the
  Western world and in some developing countries in
  the late sixties and seventies. It has been
  called a World-Historical Movement.