Marxism and the National Question

ati In the following article we piece tugether from varicus sources the Marxist | vositicn on the National questicn).

Scientific Socialism - Marxism - is international in scope, both in its sims and in the cbjective circwustances for achieving them. This does not mean that a revoluticn can only be successful if it is carried cut at cne moment on an international scale. Leon Trotsky has been, most often, reported inaccurately as arguing this. However, he made his positicn to the contrary quite dear:- | MWe had a socialist revolution in the Soviet Union. I participated in it.

The Socialist revolution signifies the Scizure of power by a revolutionary class, by the proletariat. Of course, it cannot be accomplished sinmltaneously in every country, Some historic time is given for every country by its conditions. A socialist revolution is not only possible but inevitable in every country, What I affirm is that it is impossible to construct a hOW socialist society in the environment of a capitalist world."

tOn the Eve of World War 11! - Interview 23.7.'39, from Writines of Leon as Trotsky (1938 - 1935), New York, 1969 Merit Publishers.

an ation" Subsequently Tretsky reinforced this statement :ssing tice "Help comes to him who helps himself, Werkers mst develop the revolutionary struggie in every country, colonial or imperialist, where favourable conditions have deen established and through this set an example for the workers of other countries. Only initiative and activity, resoluteness and boldness can pists give reality to the call “Workers of the world, unite!"

oe * Manifesto on the Imperialist War and the Proletarian Revolution - 1946.

What proletarian internationalism does mean is that socialist revolutionaries in each country strive against developing nationalist tendencies in their working classes into policies complete in themselves, or into spheres where Lenin, the great authority on this, wrote in "Critical Remarks on the National Question", "Marxism cannot be reconciled with naticnalism, be it even of the 'most just’ purest, most inspired and civilised brand. In place of all forms of nationalism Marxism advances internaticnalism, the amalgamation cof all nations in the higher unity, a unity that is growing before our eyes with every Mile of railway line that is built, with every internaticnal trust, and every workers! association that is formed (an asscciation that is international in its economic activities as well as in its ideas and aims).

"The principle of nationality is historically inevitable in bourgecis society and, taking this society into due account, the Marxist fully recognises

——— i sc ee = = the historic legitimacy of national movements. But to prevent this recognition from becoming an apclogia cf nationalism, it must be strictly limited to what is progressive in such mvements, in order that this recognition may nct lead to bourgecis idealogy cbscuring proletarian consciousness.

"The awakening cf the masses fmufeudal lethargy, and their struggle against all national oppression, for the sovereignity of the people, of the naticn are progressive. Hence, it is the Marxist'ts Bounden duty to stand for the most resolute and consistent democratism on all aspects of themational question. This task is largely a negative one But this is the limit the proletariat can go tc in supporting naticnalism,for beyond that begins the "positive? activity «f the bourgecisie striving tc fortify naticnalisn, "Tc throw off the feudal yoke, all naticnal opsressicn, and all privileges enjoyed by any particular naticn cr language, is the imperative duty of the prcletariat as a democratic farce, and is certainly in the interests of the proletarian class struggle, which is obscured and retarded by bickering on the naticnal question. But te go beyond these strictly limited and definite historical limits in helping bcurgecis naticnalism, means betraying the »roletariat and siding with the bourgecisie. There is a border-line here, which is often very slight..."

"Questions of National Policy and Proletarian Internaticnalisn" PP 27-28 Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1567, Later, in his article, "The Right of Naticns to Self-Determination" he deals with this matter acain:- "The proletariat....while recognising equality and equal rights to a naticnal state....values above all and places foremost the alliance of the proletarians of all nations, and assesses any national demand, any national separation, from the angle of the workers' class struggle....

And:- “The International's resclution reproduces the most essential and fundamental propositions in this point cf view; on the one hand, the absolutely direct, unequivocal recognition of the full right of all nations to self-determination, on the other hand, the equally unambiguous appeal to the workers for international unity in their class struggle." ‘ And for James Connolly:- “Under Socialism, states, territories cr provinces will exist only as geogranhical expressions, and have no existence as sources of governmental power, though they may be seats of administrative bodies."

"Socialism Made Easy", p.40, Plough Book Service, 1971.

What does this mean in practice ? Connolly never defined his concent of a nation,(In practice, he seems tc have confused "natiorl'with "race"), Lenin accepted, indeed he may even have inspired, J.V. Stalin's definition:- " A historically evolved, stable community of language, territory, economic life, and psychological make-up manifested in a cormmnity of

culture....like every other historical vhenomenon (it) is subject tc the law of change, has its history, its beginning and end," Tais cannot develon before the rise of capitalism. As Lenin remarked:- "Throughout the world, the period cf final victory for capitalism cver feudalism has been linked up with naticnal movements, Fcr the complete victory of ccrmodity production, the bourgecisie must capture the home narket, and there must be pvlitically united territc ries whcse populaticn speak a single language, with all obstacles tc the develcoment cof that Language and tc its caonsclidation in literature eliminated. Therein is the economic foundation cf national mvements. Language is the nest irpc-rtant means of human interccuurse, Unity and unirmeded develonment oj Language are the mest important conditicns for genuinely free and extensive commerce on a scale ccrmensurate with modern capitalism, for a free and broad grouping cf the population in all its various classes gd, lastly, for the establishment of a close ccnnecticn between the rarket and each and every proprietor, big er little, and between the yer. 'Therefure, the tendency of every national mcvenent is towards the fornsrion cf national states, under which these requirements of modern capalism are best satisfied. The mest profound eccnomic factors drive «wards this goal, and therefore, for the whole of Western Europe, nay, or the entire civilised world, the naticnal state is typical and normal or the capitalist period. (Lenin, op.cit. PP 46 - 47.)

Sut economic differences - the law of combined and uneven development men that all nations dc not appear at the same morient in time. To quote Stalin arain:nme British, French, Germans, Italians and cthers formed themselves intc nstions at the time cf the victcricus advance of canitalism and its -riutiph cver feudal disunity.

"fat the formation cf nations in these instances at the same time signified their conversicn intc independent national states. The British, French and other maticns are, at the same time, British, French, etc., states. Ireland, which did not particinate in this process does not alter the general picture.

‘Matters proceeded somewhat differently in Eastern Eurene. While in. the West the nations developed intc states, in the East multi-national states were formed, each consisting of several nationalities. Such are Austria, Hungary and Russia. In Austria, the Germans proved to be politically the rost developed, and they took it upon thenselves tu amalgamate the Austrian nationalities into a state. In Hungary, the best adapted for state organisation were the Magyars - the kernal of the Hungarian Nationaliticsand it was they who united Hungary. In Russia, the role cf welder of nationalities was assumed by the Great Russians, who were headed by an aristocratic military bureaucracy, which had been historically fcrmed and was powerful and well-organised, Such was the case in the East, and this peculiar method of formation of states could take place only where feudalism had not yet been eliminated, where canitalisn was feebly develoned,

——— where the natichalities which had been fc reed inte the backereund had not yet been able to consclidate thenselvés economically into integrated nations. Wut canitalism als. began te devel.» in the Eastern states. Trade and ~eans of ccrrmmication were developing. Large tows were s>ringing up.

The naticns were beecming eccurically consclidated. Canitalisn, erupting into the tranquil life -f the ~usted naticnalities, was arcusing then and stirring them ints activn. The develomie:t of the press and the theatre, the activity .f the Reichstat (Austria) and «f the Duna (Russia) were helsing t. strengiten Inaticonal sentients!, The intelligentsia that had arisen was being imbued with "the nati nal idea! and was acting in the saw directisa. Wwaut the vusted Aaticns, aroused tc independent life, could m longer shane therselves int. indesendent national states, they enesuntered tie suyerful resistance of the ruling strata uf the dcninant nations, which had leng age assumed the c-ntrol or the state. They were too late!

In this way the Czechs, Poles, etc., ford thoriselves int: naticns in Austria; The Croats, etc., in Sungary, the Letts, the Lithuaaians, Ulrainians, Gecrgians, Anericans, etc., in Russian. What had been an excertion in Western Survve (Ireland) became the rule in the Zast.

iIn the West, Ireland responded tu its exeesticnal j siticn by a naticnal a rovenent. In the Zast, the awakened nativns were bound to resocnd in the soine fashicn.” Similerly, in Asia, national dasands were rade after the annearance tf the West Burcyean naticn-state.

Wfhe revolutions in Aussia, Persia, Turkey and China, the Balkan wars such is the chain of world events -5 cur seri.d in vur 'Orient'. And caly a blind maa eculd fail tc see in this chain of events the awakening «f 4 wile series «f bouurge.is-demeratic national mvenents which strive t- create naticnally indenendent and maticnally unif-rm states" - Lebin op.cit 7.56. The sticmlus for the Asiatic naticnal nm venents and for the subsequent struggles that they had to fight was net the erowth cf canitalis=: within a rmlti-nation stete, but, <f cturse, the devel-pment -f the ca italisn .f established naticnal cazitalist states ints imerialism., As Lenin wrote in his analysis of tiis Snuencmena:- FF wie characteristic feature .f the >serioc under review is the final partiticn cf the gicbe - final, not in the sense that a revartiticn is imssible, on the contrary, renartiticns are yssible and inevitable - but in the sense that the col<nial-sulicy f the casitalist c.untrics has curmleted the seizure cf the uieccu, jied territirics cn cur slaact™.

mperialis;, tue Wighest Staze of Cajitalisn 7.90, Forsign Languages “ress, reking, 1565.

The reasins fr this are sim le ‘ig yrincizal feature -f the Latent stare of cazitalism is the d:minaticn of remnelist ecmbines cf the big canitalists. These sun xclies are mst firclly established when all the s.urees .f raw materials are cantured by one gYrtun, and we have seen with wnat zeal the internaticnal cazitalist combines exert every cffurt tu make it ins-ssible for their rivals t compete with Kai by buying up, fcr exmrle, irn cre fields, cil Sued etc., Cclinial >:ssessicn alcne gives the mono aclies c.Iplete guarantes aroinst all c: Hedtieoriefes in the struggle with cormetitcrs, including the contingency that the latter will defend themselves by moans cf a law establishing a state miunpily., The cure cajitalism is devel ned, the mre stronely the shortage +f raw materials is felt, tho ore intense the ccm netitica and the hunt fr scurces .f raw materials throughout the whicle Wi oe the mere desnerate is the struggle f.r the acquisition <f culenies" = 7.88 i?inanes canital is interested mt cnly in the already discovered s_urces .f raw Gaterials but alse in p tential scurces, because present-day technical devel stent is extrenely racic, the land which is useless tcday may be made fertile t_murrow if new methods are axplied (t. devise these new Methods a big bank can equis a snecial emediti- n .f engineers, azricultural oxserts cic. and if larse aunts of canital are javested. ‘This als; avalies to »rusvecting fir “rtinerals, tu. new nethcds of working up ani utilizing raw materials, etc., etc. ~ Mence the inevitable strivins .f finance canital t. enlarge its ecuncmic territury and even its territ.ry in seneral, In tie same way that the trusts cazitalize their arunerty et tw cr tliree tines its valuc, takinz ints accuunt its '>.tential' (and nit aresent) mrvfits and the further esults cf mom sLy, so finance eapital strives in 7eneral t. scize the larrest sussible amcunt .f land of all kinds in ‘all laces, and by every Deans, takine int. aceccunt teutial scurces .f raw materials and fearing t+ be left-behind in Th. the fierce struggle for the last scrajs of undivided territiry, ur fcr the recorniticn of those that have aiiesdy been divie 10d.

Whe int Drag sursued in expcrting caszital alss give immetus t. the conquest <f cc lonies, fur in the cil-nial mrket it is easier tz exploy tmoncpolist metiids (and eemeties they are the cnly methids that can be empl ae t. clininate ccmetiticn, t sain: sure uf contracts t: secure the necessary ccnnecticns, éte. — Ibid 2.?. ss-160 ® This »orvcess was described, aie ,» by Levn Tr:tsky in his article "The lation and the Zecn:my", (This was dentunced by Lenin fur its fra but a30 ecntent is relevant.) | = France and Germany in the nast sericd apr ached a tyne .f naticn state.

si m teans cid this srevent their -licy at ¢ aes, nut their >resent nlans tu expand their esnective fr.aticrs t. the Rhine and the S.ime.

An indesendent Nungary, Schemia ur ?.land will, in exactly the samc way, seel: an cutlet t. the sea by means cf te viclati_n cf the rishts .f _ther mticus, as Iraly is seeking to du at the exense .f the Serbs and as the Serbs themselves arc seelting at the exzense .f the Albanians, Nati:nal eonLOraey is awakened by capitalism which strives t) weld as many element s of naticns as »cssible int: one ecco nurbe unit. But it is this very capitalism which strives evarywhere it sets down rects tu omand

eS — ———— the linits cf the internal rarket as widely as ~ossible, ts create as many fav-urable cutlets as possible t. the world market, t. impse its d.iimti.n ver rogicns with an arrarian tron: cf econumy, The nati_nal princinle is for national canitalisn neither an abs. re idea nr the final cr: wing f the edifice. It is cnly the spring) ward fur a new lean - in the direast ncf world dutinaticn. At the sresont iba _£ devele aient, theo nati_nal idea anpears as a banner of struggle against feudalisn, particulargi barbarisn or freign military accressivn. In the lung tern, by creating self-suificient psychul.cy <f hati_nal epuisn, it becites itself a t.:1 f canitalist enslavement f wealcer nativns: an indissensable t..1 uf imperialist barbarism’, - ashe Sliv. 3.7.115.

With these facts in wind: Where is every sign that itmerialis: will leave its successcr, Sccialisn, a heritare #34 a dermmcratic frontiers, a number of annex aticns in Eurve and in cther parts cf the world. Is it tu be suppusec that vict risus s.cialisn, restoring anc iimlexenting full demcracy all aline the line, will refrain fr.m domcratically desarcating state frontiers anc ignore the sympathies uf the s pulaticn? - Lenin, Questi-ns _f Mati_nal 7 licy and Prcoietarian Interraticnalisn ?.?, 126 - 126 In fact, the Socialist must chovse between nations. In the Wirlc Wars _f the Twentieth century, the leadinz sarticipants (apart, by its Sucialisn, fre: 1 the U.S.5.R. in the Second teri¢ 1 lar) were all struggling equally as ysoresssrs (as Trotsky > inted ty abive). t, at the sane tine, there were mticns such as the Irish, the Arabs and the Chinese (and, indeed, many of the cnppresscr nations that had the misfortune to be occupied such as France) wicse structeles were on a different level: they were cosressed nati.ns strucgling acainst imerialisn (in the first cases) and t: cormlete the tasks of their b.urce is reviluticns. Such struggles had tc be sunperted. WLinitaticn cf freeden cf mvenent, cisfranchisement, suppressicn cf lanzuage, restriction of schucls anc cther forms .7 repressicn affect the workers m less, if mct tore, than the bsurzecisie, Such a state .f affairs can cnly serve t. retard the free develusment cf the intellectual furces ef the orcletariat of subject naticus. There can be m sm ssibility cf a full develuwment .f the intellectual faculties f the Tartar cr Jewisl worker if he is not allcwed t: use his native lancuace at neetings and lectures, and if his scho.ls are cl.sed d:wn.

| "But the policy .f naticnal repressi-n is canzer_us tu. the cause of the orcletariat als. cn anther accsunt. It diverts the attention cf large strata of the soyulaticn from sccial questicns, questicns .2 the class struggle, t. naticnal questicns, questicns tecmmmn! t. the srcletariat and the boursecisie., And this creates a favourable soil fur lying pri sacanda regarding ‘harcunay .f interests’, f.r sl.ssing -ver the class interests sf the »rletariat and for the intellectual cnalavermnat cf the workers cf all natisnalities. If a cunsiderable sruzurtin cf the Polish workers are still in intellectual bondage t. the bourgecis nati_aalists, if they still stand al«:f from the international labour movement, it is chiefly because the age-lene anti-Polish sclicy -f thets:wers that

oe! .creates the suik for, and hinders the atiancivaticn of the workers frin this bondape. . put the a licy «of resressicn cves nut stu» hefe, It nt. infrequently asses froma 'systen! fc cd5ressiin t. a 'systeat cf incitine naticns asainst each other, t: a System! of sassacres and pogroms. Of course, the latter is mt everywhere and always p.ssible, but where it is scssible - in the absence cf elementary civil rizots - it frequently assuuecs hu rrifying vropyrticns and threatens ta drow the cause «f amity f the workers in blucd and tears. The Caucasus ax. S uth Russia furnish: — nut us examsles "Divide ani rulet - such .is the purnise of the nulicy f inciting maticns against ach other, And where such 4 »olicy succeeds ‘ij is a tremendcus evil fur the =rcletariat and a sericus ubstacle t.

a the work <-f uniting the workers cf all the naticnalities in the state.

"But the workers aro interested in the e.:mlete ammlcamaticn uf all ‘their g.tiraces int. a singe internaticnal. arny, in their seedy and final.

enancivaticn frm intellectual subjecti.n t. the burse isie, and in the full ant free cevel.-uent :f the intellectual forces -f their lathers, whatever the nation t. which they. belong. ' tthe w.rkers therefur c-mbat and will e.ntinue te eumbat . slicy Jf nati.nal copressicn in all its, furus, subtle or crude, as alsu the sclicy of inciting naticns ‘against each other in all its firme", Thus Stalin (Marzisn anc the Haticnal Questi:n). Lenin is equally defin te: "Ty their fear of playing int. the hands uf the bource is nati.nalism -f onpressed natiun,s »ecple play int. the hands nit merely of the buurzecisiec hat of the reacticnary natilnalisa cf the suoressur naticn” Lein eCit.

510, + “NIf we co. mt want tc betray sccialisi we (MUST) support every revoltagainst our chief enemy, the bourgeoisie of the big states, provided it is not the revolt of a reactionaty class. By refusing to support the revolt of annexed regions we become objectively, annexationists. It is precisely in the ‘era of imperialism’, which is the era of nascent social revolution, that the proletariat will today give especially vigorous support to any revolt of the annexed regions so that tomorrow, or simultaneously, it may attack the bourgepisie of the 'great' power that is weakened by the revolt."

Ibid. p.137 "In my writings on the national question I have already said that an abstract presentation of the question of nationalism in general is of no use at all.

A distinction must necessarily be made between the nationalism of an oppressor nation and that of an oppressed nation, the nationalism of a: big nation, the nationalism of a small nation" ; Ibid.p.168 And Trotsky agrees: "Social Democracy stands always and everywhere for the interests of ‘economic development and opposes all political measures capable of holding it back, However, it understamds economic development, not as a self-sufficient, extra-social, productive -technical process, but as a basis for the develppment

of human society into its class groupings, with a national political superstructure, etc. This viewpoint leads in the last analysis, not to insuring for local or national capitalism success over the capitalism of other places and countries, but to insuring the historic progress and systematic growth of mar's power over nature.

The class struggle of the proletariat itself is the most important factor ensuring the further development of the productive forces - by leading them out of the imperjialist blind alley into the broad arena of socialism. A state of nationalities and national groups, which exists through force (Russia and Austria are examples) may, without doubt for a certain time, develop the productive forces by creating for them a broader internal market. But, by generating the bitter struggle of national groups for influence on the state power, or by working "separatist! tendencies - that is the struggle for separation from that power - such a state paralyses the class struggle of the proletariat as the most important force of economic and general historic progress. The workers are deeply interested in the elimination of all artificial frontiers and barriers, in the greatest possible extension of a free area of development. But they cannot buy this aim for a kind of price which, above all disorganises their own historic movement, and thus weakens and lays low the most important force in contemperary society", - The Nation and the Economy - I On this basis both Lenin and Trotsky could approve the Easter Rising. Lenin approved on several occasions the participation of Socialists in national struggles.

"K Keutsky... opposed Rosa Luxenburg and proved that her materialism was extremely fone-sided'., according to Kautsky, the International could not at the time make the independence of Poland a point in its programme; but the Polish Socialists were fully entitled to put forward such a demand. Even the socialists! point of view it was undoubtedly a mistake to ignore the tasks of national liberation in a situation where ae oppression existed" - Lenin Op.Cit. p.82 (Emphasis added by present author, "The working class should be the last to make a fetish of the national question, since the development of capitalism does not necessarily awaken all nations, to independent life. But to brush aside the mass national movements once they have started, and to refuse the support what is progressive in them means in effect, pandering to nationalistic prejudices, that is recognising ‘one's* own nation! as a model nation or, we would add, one possessing the exclusive privilege of forming a state." - Ibid. p.87 "We would be very poor revclutionaries if, in the proletariat's great war of liberation for socialism, we did nct know how to utilise every popular movement’ against eve single disaster imperialism brings in order tc intensify and extend the crisis", Ibid p.162 To defeat the reactionary tendencies that exist in the national claims of even an oppressed nation, Lenin declared:- "A Social Democrat from a small nation must emphasise in his agitation the second word of cur general formula: ‘voluntary integration’ of nations. He may, without failing in his duties as an internationalist, be in favour of both the political independence of his nation and its integration with the neighbouring state of x,y,z, etc, But in all cases he must fight against small nation narrow mindedness, seclusion and isclaticn, consider the whole and the general, subordinate the particular to the general interest." Ibid. p.152

pit ion nt beration . Ibid as hout ¥y%5 aclusion the In his 1915 article quoted above, Trotsky put furward the call for a United States of Eurcpe tc encourage internaticnalism on the part cf the national movements of the workers. Connolly can be seen not to have opposed this line (as some have claimed he did); he made it clear that the Irish national revolt was but the beginning of a European Secialist one: - “Ireland may yet set the torch to a Evroepeen con?lorration that will not burn cut until the last throne and the Jast capitalist t-n> and debenture will be shrivelled con the funeral pyre of the last war lord”, = Lich Worker 8th August 1914 In the second place, the revolutioaary socialist in the cppressed country has a duty to maintain the democratic nature of that country’s national struggle.

“The proletariat demands a democracy that rules out the forcible retention of any one of the nations within the bounds of the state. 'In order nct to infringe on the right to self-determination, therefore, we are duty bound tc vote for the right of the seceding region to decide the question itself”, Lenin Op.Cit. p.9 "The right to secession presupposes the settlement of the question by a parliament (Diet, referendum, etc.) of the seceding region, not by a central parliament."

Ibid. p.100 "By transferring canitalism into socialism the proletariat creates the possibility of abolishing national cppression; the possibility becomes reality tonly? - tonly!

with the establishment of full democracy in all spheres, including the delineation of state frontiers in accordance with the ‘sympathies? of the population, including complete freedom to secede. And this, in turn, will serve as a basis for developing the practical elemination of even the slightest national friction and the least naticnal mistrust, for an accelerated drawing together and fusion of nations that will be cc: pleted when the state withcrs away.” p.130 "Tne national programme of working class democracy is: absolutely no privileges for any one nation or any cone language; the solution of the problem of the political selfdetermination of nations, that is, their Separation as states by completely free, derieratic methods; the promilcation of a law for the whole state by virtue of which any measure (rural, urban or cormrimal, etc., etc.) introducing any privileges of any kind for one of the nations and miiitating against the equality of mations or the rights cof a national minority, shall be declared illegal and ineffective, and any citizen of the state shall have the right to demand that such a measure be annulled as unconstitutiona and that those who attempt to put it into effect be punished." p.1l5 Accordingly :- "The bourgecise nationalism of any cppressed nation has a general democratic content that is directed against oppression, and it is this content that we unconditicnally Support. At the same time we strictly distinguish it from the tendency towards nationa exclusiveness, we fight against the tendency of the Polish bourgecis to cppress the Jews, etc., etc."p.62

| In the last resort applicaticn of the principles « cf self-determination are denendent on the Marxist analysis of the specific circumstances of their spheres of action. - There can be no question of the Marxists of any country drawing up their national programme without taking into account all these general histcrical and concrete state conditions". - Lenin Ibid p 52 "The several demands of democracy, including self-determination, are not an absolute but only a small part of the general democratic (now general socialist) world movenent. In individual concrete cases, the part may contradict the whole: if so so, it must be rejected. It is pcssible that the republican movement in one country may be .

merely an instrument of the clerical or financial monarchist intrigues cf other countries: if so, we must not support this particular concrete movement, but it wuld bé ridiculous to delete the demand for a republic from the prograrme of international Social-Detwcracy on these grounds." Ibid. p.146 "Nc derecratic demand can fail tc give rise to abuses, unless the specific is subordinated tc the general; we are not cbliged to support either tany' struggle for indenendence for ‘any? republican or anti-clerical movement.

Secondly, no formula for the struggle against national cppressicn can fail tc suffer from the same 'shortcoming’, - Ibid. p.154