Cn - Session 17 Nationalism And Communism

Session 17 Nationalism and Communism – Szporluk Reading ► Catalan

Nationalism in Comparative Perspective ► IES

Barcelona ► FALL 2007 PROGRAM

► ►

Instructor: Andrew Davis e-mail: [email protected] 1

Communism ► Marx’s

impact can only be compared with that of religious figures like Jesus or Muhammad. ► For much of the 20th century, nearly 4 out of every 10 people on earth lived under governments that considered themselves Marxist/Communist.

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Marx ► Engels

claimed at Marx’s funeral that his real mission in life was to: ► ‘contribute, in one way or another, to the overthrow of capitalist society and of the state institutions which it had brought into being, to contribute to the liberation of the modern proletariat…’

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Communism ► Communism

is an ideology that seeks to establish a classless, stateless social organization based on common ownership of the means of production. ► It is usually considered a branch of the broader socialist movement that draws on the various political and intellectual movements that trace their origins back to the work of Karl Marx. 4

Marxism ► Capitalism

is bound to self-destruction. Oppression unavoidably will awake the working class, they will realize of their common interests and pursue them. Classconsciousness. ► Once class conscious, they will rise in arms against the state to destroy it. ► 1st: revolution of the proletariat ► 2nd: dictatorship of the proletariat. ► 3rd destruction of the superstructure (the capitalist state) ► 4rth: communist society 5

The Communist Manifesto ► ‘National

differences are disappearing, one world literature is emerging, the world market is subjecting backward nations to the rule of those more advanced, and the workers have no country’

►

„...the bourgeoisie has left no other bond between man and man than naked self interest...”

► Where

did all this come from? What was the context?

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Historical context of Communism ► 19th

century time of great change overall – revolutions of 1848. ► German question. 1870 Germany becomes a unified state. German nationalism very much associated to modernization, industrialization. ► Competition among national economies and industries engenders harsh conditions for working classes and a small elite to prosper. ► Marxism/Communism offers another explanation/hope for some. 7

Friedrich List, the antiCommunist? Economics based on nations

► …or

why nations are important. ► List contrasted the economic behavior of an individual with that of a nation. ► An individual promotes only his own personal interests but a state fosters the welfare of all its citizens.

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Friedrich List ► An

individual may prosper from activities which harm the interests of a nation. "Slavery may be a public calamity for a country, nevertheless some people may do very well in carrying on the slave trade and in holding slaves.“ ► Free and open trade will never allow industrializing societies to catch up – need protection of nation. 9

Economic Nationalism ► Main

goal:

 Internal development of the national economy ► Advocates:

 Alexander Hamilton (USA, 1755-1804)  Friedrich List (Germany, 1789-1846)

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Economic Nationalism ► State

  

policies:

Trade protection Protection of infant industries Promoting of domestic industries ►Subsidies

 internal and external competitiveness

 Manufacturing was considered more important than agriculture 11

Nationalism and Communism

► What

are the similarities between the

two? ► Differences?

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Parallels between Marxism and Nationalism ► Both

have strong ties to industrialism ► Both offer a primordial or at the very least a ‘natural order’ definition of communities ► Pre-existence and objectivity of interests of those communities. 13

Nationalism vs Marxism II ► Szporluk

goes beyond the traditional notion of the proletariat organizing against the political economy (capitalism and its effects) ► He argues, Communism not only a reaction to political economy, but it is also a reaction to conceptualization of nations. 14

Nationalism vs Marxism II ► Tripolar

relationship ► Communism – which disagrees with the political economy of capitalism ► Communism – which disagrees with nationalism and society based on nations. 15

Where did Marx go wrong? ► Of

course, we never see the global Communist revolt predicted by Marx. Why? ► Severely underestimated the lure of (German and other) nationalism ► Equally mistaken about the 1848 revolutions. They took their power from idea of nation. ► Underestimated the power of the state and significance of national boundaries 16