The love for the land of your birth is absurd

 "There is nothing more absurd and at the same time more harmful, more deadly, for the people than to uphold the fictitious principle of nationalism as the ideal of all the people's aspirations. Nationality is not a universal human principle; it is a historic, local fact...We should place human, universal justice above all national interests."  Bakunin

For the Socialist Party socialism will be a world without frontiers, a world in which there will be no such thing as nations or national boundaries. As long as workers think in terms of “our country,” it is logical for them to be prepared to defend it.

Nationalism is skilfully masked by socialistic phrases, but it is all the more harmful for that reason. Protected by the language of socialism, it is less vulnerable and more tenacious. It spreads mutual distrust among the workers of different nationalities.

Nationalism remains one of the main features of the capitalist societies. The capitalists have used the tool of division many times. Thinking men and women the world over are beginning to realise that nationalism is too narrow and limited a concept to meet the necessities of our time. Presently, people are divided into “nations” and “peoples.” Our goal is to make all people see that these separations distract them from uniting with each other. There is only one humankind. The love of one’s “own” nation—for any reason—is the exact opposite of the political solidarity amongst all people we want to achieve. Patriotism and international solidarity are mutually exclusive. Nationalists will, sooner or later, turn out to be our opponents as their goal is, in the end, not the liberation of all.

The Socialist Party offers up a vision of a future for a humanity free of national prejudice and chauvinism. All the talk in the world about “unity” is so much clap-trap, unless it is clearly stated what the workers are to unite for. Let all those who talk so glibly about “unity” take note that, as the fundamental problem confronting the workers is how to get rid of their exploitation and poverty, the basis for the organisation of the workers, must be the ending of capitalism and the establishment of socialism.

The Socialist Party insists that the first step to unite the working class is to teach the workers that socialism is their only real hope.

The Socialist Party believes in waging a class war — fighting for the working class against the wealthy classes who exploit their labour for profit, and ultimately fighting for a society where class does not exist. Most of the time, this is not a literal war and does not involve physical violence, but rather involves other forms of actions, a battle of ideas. We link our support to the emancipatory aims that we fight for with arguments.  We don’t have anything in common with people whose critique of capitalism consists of making bankers personally responsible for all evils caused by it, nor with those who want to sustain an imaginary “purity of race,” or those who only dislike dominance when it is exercised by the wrong people for we have no problem with “foreign” domination, but with domination per se. 

Capitalism’s influence is a global one. The socialism we struggle for, which will finally have production follow needs, is unthinkable to establish in a single country. It would take little time any attempt at setting up conditions for a better life for all to be thwarted. And in a world economy based on the division of labour, one would have to support the policies of competition and exchange to gain access to things one could not produce or harvest in one’s own region.

The most common objection we hear to our position of being anti-nationalist is that, in the end, this is “our country” as well. It is “their” country. And once “our country” decides another country be the “enemy,” you will be called upon to kill others or be shot. 

Nationalism is a choice: You may either follow the national government blindly, or you may think for yourself. You may embrace the flag in times of war and peace when the army marches in defence of “national interests”. Or you may look behind the flag and see who is trying to pull your strings and manipulate your emotions. As to defence of “our” country, we should consider, before we side with the arms dealers who helped shape the World as it is today who ultimately are responsible whether our interests really lie with them, or whether they are just as much our enemy as the Banderite or Pro-Putin fanatics.

 

NO WAR BETWEEN NATIONS, NO PEACE BETWEEN CLASSES!