Marxism and Nationalism

Vanguard July 2011 p. 4

The ideal of Communism is a world society based on human cooperation, without the historical divisions of class or nation. Communists are true internationalists who confront the issues of class and nation in order to abolish them forever.

It is true that in the Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels stated, “The workers have no country”. But far from advocating the complete disregard for national issues, they went on to say, “…the proletariat…must rise to be the leading class of the nation, must constitute itself the nation, it is, so far, itself national, though not in the bourgeois sense of the word.” Lenin also linked the class struggle to the struggle for national liberation.

Revolutionary program
Australian Marxist-Leninists have sometimes been unfairly accused of petty-bourgeois nationalism by promoting a program of revolution by stages; a stage of anti-imperialist national independence, leading to the later stage of socialism.

As with all matters, nationalism has a class basis. Bourgeois nationalism promotes the chauvinist jingoism of imperialism. The working class position upholds the revolutionary anti-imperialist stand of internationalism. It is entirely different.

One distortion is the idea that any alliance of the working class with other class forces, such as sections of the petty bourgeoisie and sections of the national bourgeoisie, formed to struggle against imperialism, is bound to mean surrender to the interests of these other classes.

This simply ignores the Marxist-Leninist position of promoting the leading role of the working class and the position of upholding the independence and initiative of the working class revolutionary forces within the united front (or national movement against imperialism). In Russia, China, Cuba, Vietnam and other places where revolutionary forces achieved success, this was due to Marxist-Leninist leadership which was able to mobilise the masses well beyond the purely working class core.

A second distortion is the refusal to recognise the fact that Australia is not merely a capitalist economy, but is one dominated by the ownership and interests of large foreign corporate monopolies which control all key sectors of the productive and financial economy.

This fact, plus the overwhelming direct and indirect influence of the United States in the political and military matters of Australia, means that US imperialism is the main and strongest pillar of capitalism in Australia. The domination of US imperialism is defended by the Australian state apparatus. Revolutionary overthrow of US imperialist domination of Australia inevitably strikes at the heart of the capitalist system, including the state apparatus.

A third distortion comes from the failure to see the dialectical relationship between the stage of anti-imperialist struggle and the stage of struggle for socialism. In the revolutionary struggle to expel imperialism and seize ownership and control of Australia’s key industries and resources, the working class will emerge with a much heightened political consciousness and organised capacity.

In the new situation with imperialism defeated, the class forces will re-align (not disappear) and revolutionary struggle will continue in the building of socialism. Some people are pleased to hail this process of continuing revolution in far-away places such as Venezuela, but choke over the idea that it should or could happen here.

Nation-States
Writing on matters of nation and the relationship to capitalism Lenin noted, “Developing capitalism knows two historical tendencies in the national question. The first is the awakening of national life and national movements, the struggle against all national oppression, and the creation of nation-states. The second is the development and growing frequency of international intercourse in every form, the breakdown of national barriers, the creation of the international unity of capital, of economic life in general, of politics, science, etc. Both tendencies are a universal law of capitalism. The former predominates in the beginning of its development, the latter characterises a mature capitalism moving towards its transformation into socialist society.” (Lenin Critical Remarks on the National Question 1913)

In our present era of mature, decaying capitalism (“globalisation”), the various (national) economic systems of capitalism are being transformed into a single (international) system of imperialism. While this may be news to some, Lenin recognised the process more than eighty years ago. “Imperialism is the highest stage of development of capitalism. Capital in the advanced countries has outgrown the boundaries of national states.” (Lenin Theses: Socialist Revolution and the Right of Nations to Self-Determination 1916). In setting up the conditions for a global economy, monopoly capitalism is also preparing the economic basis for the eventual merging of nations.

International movement against imperialism
The division and re-division of the world between the imperialist powers has been a feature of the last century, with US and European imperialism now moving towards further confrontation, while Japanese imperialism is falling well behind.

In addition to these conflicts, imperialism is weakened by endless cycles of economic crisis, as well as the conscious world-wide movement against it. This growing movement includes the peoples of the socialist countries, the workers and peasants of countries struggling against imperialist bullying and resisting neo-colonialism, and it also embraces the workers and working people of advanced counties such as Australia, and within the imperialist nations themselves.

Struggle against imperialism is class struggle
“The characteristic feature of imperialism is that the whole world, as we see, is now divided into a large number of oppressed nations and an insignificant number of oppressor nations, which command colossal wealth and powerful armed forces.” (Lenin Report of the Commission on the National and Colonial Questions July 1920)

Australian Marxist-Leninists place Australia in the category of an oppressed nation, one that is economically and politically subservient to the imperialist “world order”. The reality of capitalism in Australia is domination by US imperialism, and to a lesser extent, European imperialism. The class struggle for socialism in Australia cannot ignore the national question, cannot effectively oppose capitalism without calling for the overthrow of imperialist-dominated capitalism.

National independence movement
Leading this struggle, the Australian working class stands in the front line, as it is the class most exploited and oppressed by imperialism, the class with nothing to lose, the best organised and determined class.

But it is not the only class oppressed by imperialism. Potential allies of the working class include the working small farmers and small producers, and some local industrial capitalists. This is shown by example in Western Australia of an alliance between local steel manufacturers and construction and manufacturing unions in a campaign to have all construction materials made in Australia.

Building a united movement against imperialist domination of Australia is not petty-bourgeois nationalism. It is the application of Marxism to the reality of Australian conditions.