Friday, August 08, 2014

Freedom Not Nationhood

ARUNDATHI ROY, Indian writer
Nationalism has swept onwards with increasing force, threatening to engulf workers. And the more the movement for emancipation of labour wallows in the doldrums, the more nationalism blossoms, despite the fact that national differences between the peoples are vanishing more and more.  Socialists, however, will never allow their heads to be turned by nationalist slogans and must resist the siren call of patriotism and national chauvinism by proclaiming the unity and indivisibility of the class struggle. Separatism weakens the workers' sense of solidarity and frequently drives them to strike-break on a national level. The principle of international solidarity of the workers is an essential element for the triumph of the working class. It is critical for working class people to organise themselves independently of all capitalist interests. Capitalism can’t afford to have everyone live well.

You have the right to choose between separatism or unionism, but you can only choose one thing - capitalism. The choice is clear. If capitalism is to be maintained, business must be allowed to squeeze out its profits and the banks their interest. When times are tough it is the working people who must be squeezed. Fewer workers will have to do the work once done by more, and they will receive less pay. Social services needed by working people will have to be drastically cut. And capitalists invariably demand harsher terms from reformist politicians than from others: the risks are greater, and therefore the returns must be greater or the sources of investment will dry up and go elsewhere. During these crisis-ridden times the small gains that were possible in the 1960’s are out of the question in the present state of capitalism. How many times have workers been told  “don’t rock the boat; we’ll wheel and deal in the corridors of power” to permit governments to carry out their austerity programmes. With full control of a separate Scotland state, the SNP will have additional powers  to force Scots to “tighten their belts in the interests of the nation.”

Rosa Luxemburg presented the Marxist case in regards to nationalism:
"A "right of nations" which is valid for all countries and all times is nothing more than a metaphysical cliché of the type of "rights of man" and "rights of the citizen...When we speak of the "right of nations to self-determination", we are using the concept of the "nation", as a homogeneous social and political entity… In a class society, "the nation" as a homogeneous socio-political entity does not exist. Rather, there exist within each nation, classes with antagonistic interests and "rights"."

The fact that nationalism is a blind alley does not stop people going down it. The idea of the division of humanity into nations is etched into people’s consciousness under capitalism. If one national state fails them, the easiest thing is to turn to the idea of creating a different national state. Independence seems to offer a quick way for people to break from the hold of a Tory government and the effects of Britain’s recessions and so support for nationalism has grown. Nationalist influence is greatest where demoralisation among workers is strongest. The political field is left to those who preach nationalism when the economic battle-ground is deserted. Nevertheless, the parties that established new capitalist states means inevitably them turning against their own workers. When the nationalist frenzy fades, the economic problems – and with them the class struggle – suddenly move back to the centre of the stage.

The independence then socialism tactic is nothing but a dead-end. It doesn’t bring us closer to socialism, only farther away from it. We’re not going to get any closer to socialism by building up the SNP, a party that represents the interests of Scottish business. Whether they like it or not, the people who advocate independence first fall right into class collaboration. The left nationalists have been giving the SNP conditional and tactical support and in fact end up supporting them as the” lesser evil”. The left-wingers attacks against the SNP are only for show. By refusing to subordinate the national struggle to the class struggle for socialism, their option helps keep capitalism alive. The class struggle here as elsewhere is between employers and employees. The nationalists say that the main enemy of Scottish workers inside the country is the English ruling class. According to this, Scottish workers have less to fear from Scotland’s own capitalists. But the truth of the matter is that Scottish capitalists have been an integral part of the British bourgeoisie ever since the 1707 Union. The ruling classes of Scotland and Wales have long been merged with that of England and the working-class of Scotland, Wales and England has long been one homogenous working class. Capitalists who are Scots, be they big or small, are not any less a part of the British elite than their English counterparts. Separation is no stepping stone to socialism. It can only chain workers to the national capitalist class and hold back the struggle for socialism. Socialism and nationalism in Scotland are mutually exclusive. One can only be propagated at the direct expense of the other.

In a statement from 1916 by some members of the SDKPL,  the political party of Luxemburg, they show a remarkable degree of understanding on this issue:

"The so-called right of self-determination is also used with the proviso that it will become a reality for the first time under socialism and is thus an expression of our striving for socialism. This proposition is open to the following objections. We know that socialism will do away with all national oppression, because it removes the class interests that furnish the driving force of such oppression. We also have no reason to assume that the nation, in socialist society, will form a politico-economic unit. By all indications it will have the character of a cultural and linguistic unit; for the territorial division of the socialist cultural unit, insofar as this will survive at all, can only follow the needs of production, and this division would have to be determined, not by individual nations separately, from their own power (as the "right of self-determination" demands), but through the joint action of all interested citizens. The carrying over of the formula of "right of self-determination" into socialism arises from a complete misunderstanding of the nature of socialist society."

We say spoil your voting paper.  Does this mean standing on the sidelines in this referendum? Not at all – we should expose the referendum as a nationalist nonsense and calls for developing socialist awareness even more!  The slogan of independence does not raise the socialist understanding of the workers in the slightest.

“YES” or “NO” to independence is boxing workers into the proposition of “Heads (YES) the bosses win, Tails (NO) the workers lose.” 

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Its an England-dominant Britain, politically; perhaps an independent Scotland could keep young Scots out of overseas economic wars?

Anonymous said...

I would put money down at William Hill's that this ramble was written by someone from Scotland who is uncomfortable about the idea of Scottish identity;interesting the use of the word 'separatism' like the Labour and Tory politicians use too. Of course, this is not the 'separatism' of the Working class of Britain from the working class of the wider world, but only applied to Scotland, why?

ajohnstone said...

Is there then a proposal to exit NATO? Or to carry on membership like another small nation, Denmark, who did contribute troops to foreign wars? Even non-NATO Ireland has sent troops to serve with the UN...do you consider the UN as neutral?

The blog has on numerous occasions criticised certain working class ideas that we consider separatist, not merely UK or EU but much wider..such as proposals for stricter immigration controls. We have criticised the policy of left-wing NO2EU as merely British nationalism and devisive. Two wrongs does not make a right as the saying goes so why persist in continuing a mistaken policy. The blog has expressed sympathy for such labour organisations as the Industrial Workers of the WORLD.

Will an independnt Scotland close down the armament factories? Raytheon in Glenrothes supplying components to the so-called smart bombs falling in Gaza right now. Or halt the Rosyth warship industry? We very much doubt that the interests of workers in other parts of the world will take precedence over national interests.

Indeed we do question such a concept as some sort of unique special Scots "identity" Or are you the one trying to imposing such a thing on a person born and raised in Stornoway, Stranraer, Selkirk, Stonehaven, Stirling, Shetland? The reality is that it is capitalist consumer society that is marketing to the public a universal product, stripping away any individual personality or characteristic, McDonaldisation ...perhaps you have heard of it. So it is the fight to end world capitalism that will protect peoples identity...

Ireland historically tried with its Irish language promotion policy...English still remains its tongue.

I'd place my money at Ladbrokes that nothing of importance will change if Scotland opts for independence..workers will still be unhappy employees of profit seeking employers who the new independent government will favour.

ajohnstone said...

Oh, i did overlook the Norwegian troops in Afghanistan where several have been killed. Wikileaks have revealed some atrocities committed by them there and we all know that the Scottish regiments have a far worse record, don't we?

You make an assumption that an independent Scotland would be uninvolved in foreign wars that is unwarranted.

Anonymous said...

To be fair to the contributor, he or she made no such assumption, there was a suggestion of "perhaps". A raw nerve has been touched going by the lecturing tone of the blog writer. I would suggest that it is possible to have a class identity and a Scottish one too. Such as John Maclean. Now we will get a lecture about John Maclean.

ajohnstone said...

i don't believe i was making a false assumption despite the use of the caveat "perhaps" in making the point that an independent Scotland would necessarily avoid being complicit in various wars. I offered the example of Denmark in the Iraq invasion and Norway in Afghanistan. I also mention the Irish army involvement with UN...almost a dozen occasions and since 1960 in the Congo 86 young Irish have died wearing the blue helmet.

i think John McLean recognised more a Gael identity rather than a Scottish one but that is my own personal interpretation. You maybe interested in this article from the 20s just after John McLean died.
http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/1920s/1925/no-254-october-1925/confusion-scotland

But i think you will find this older blog post on Celtic Communism also of interest
http://socialist-courier.blogspot.com/2012/05/celtic-communism-gaelic-commonwealth.html

Anonymous said...

He was a brave man, John Maclean . His desk , from time of First World War, is on display on the top floor of the Peoples Palace, Glasgow Green. Will look at above blogs, thanks.

ajohnstone said...

There is no doubting his personal courage or his determination to put forward his views. But we do challenge his politics, and nor are we alone. Even the people who formed the Communist Party differed with Maclean and he found himself very much an outsider, obliged for a period to temporarily joining the SLP for a political home.

Nor should we neglect to include the bravery of the other comrades throughout the UK who suffered prison for anti-war attitudes.