ALLIANCE
MARXIST-LENINIST (NORTH AMERICA) NUMBER 39: ISSUE MAY 2001
MARX AND ENGELS ON NATIONALISM, AND CLASS STRUGGLE:
Part One: Are Scotland And Wales True Nations?
INTRODUCTION
Given the extraordinary insights
of J.V.Stalin in his classic "The National Question", Marxist-Leninists
tend to overlook the writings of Marx and Engels on the National Question.
That is to a point acceptable. However, to mis-construe or to selectively
quote them, in order to prove a previously held bias, is unacceptable.
The appendix carries an exchange in the ISML e-List, showing a tendency
in this direction. This was prompted by disagreements upon the "National
Question" in - Britain, the United Kingdom, or England, Scotland and Wales.
This article aims to:
First examine
the general theory around the National Question as seen by Marx and Engels;
Secondly to briefly
re-examine the modern day debate, on the National Question in those islands
labeled as "British Isles". We will ask whether from the point of view
of Stalin's definition of a nation, Scotland and Wales constitute true
"nations"?
Stalin's definition
of a nation is as follows:
"A nation is a historically constituted, stable community
of people formed on the
basis of a common language, territory, economic life, and psychological
make-up manifested in a common culture."
J.V.Stalin; "Marxism and the National Question"; Works";
Volume 2; Moscow; 1956; p. 307.
We refer the reader to the excellent
analysis by the late Comrade W.B.Bland.
His article on behalf of the Communist League (Britain)for the NCMLU is
at the following Alliance web-site: National
Question-Bland. or at the following
NCMLU web-site: National
Question-Bland.
Unfortunately Comrade Bland did
not conclude his work. In addition, his article was not intended to outline
the views of Marx and Engels on Britain in detail. It is these two aspects
that form the content of this current article, that is intended to supplement
Bland’s analysis.
Stalin’s article "the National Question"
rightly, is a foundation for Marxist-Leninist. But this article, largely
reflects the era of mature socialist revolutions and colonial liberation
struggles. Earlier Marxist analysis was immersed in problems of nation
building in the era of capitalist democratic revolution against feudalism,
especially in Western Europe.
There are three broad periods of
step-wise developments in the Marxist-Leninist viewpoint on the National
Question. These may be summarised as follows:
1) The Marxist Period:
A view understood and applied by Marx and Engels; a view of the National
Question – applied predominantly in the era of the transition from feudalism
to capitalist relations of production; and less systematically applied
to the colonial revolution;
2) The Leninist Period:
A view understood by Lenin of the National Question; on applying a consistent
strategy to the national liberation struggle of the colonies of finance
imperialism; and to the immediate socialist revolution in the Russian absolutist
state;
3) The Marxist-Leninist Period:
A view understood by Stalin; that went further in implementing
anti-colonial struggles; and in applying lessons of the National Question
in the building of multi-national socialist states as in the USSR.
This framework models the main contributions
made by Marx and Engels, Lenin, and finally Stalin, to the National Question.
Marx and Engels pioneered the analysis
of colonialism as their articles on India, China and Ireland testify. But,
their immediate revolutionary problems centred on the transition in Western
Europe, from the feudal mode of production to a capitalist one. Similarly,
Lenin did assist translating theory
into the practice of forming a multi-national socialist society. But he
was centred on the two-stage revolution in Russia, and the bulk of creation
of a multi-national socialist society occurred after his death, under Stalin’s
leadership.
The modern current situation follows
a temporary defeat of socialism world-wide, with a resurgence of imperialism.
Naturally this situation had not been analysed by Marx, Engels, Lenin or
Stalin.
This modern current situation, has
resulted in a heightened alienation
of workers. In Scotland and Wales, this has becomes transformed into "national
hopes", for the quiescent-dormant remnants
of nations. These had never resolved their "national" cultural wishes.
Had socialism been developed, these remnant nations
could have been enabled into a socialist federation. But in the current
lull in the working class movement, such stalled grievances are frequently
re-lit as a mythical "national solution" for the working class.
But this "solution" is a false path.
Coming as it does: Within the era of resurgent imperialism; in these countries
where all feudal transitions have been long effected; when the economic
integration with England has long been completed; and when the socialist
revolutionary era is now longer just dawning but is at least at midday.
This Nationalist
false by-way, only divides the working class further and even more delays
the working class goal – Socialism.
Alliance has previously examined the National Question,
largely with reference to the works of Lenin and Stalin. We noted relevant
writings of Marx and Engels, as for instance upon the United States of
America. However, we have not focused on Marx and Engels vis-à-vis
the national question.
It is time that this omission, be
rectified in our view. Current fashions, set by Trotskyites such as Tom
Nairn, dictate that Marx and Engels "did not analyse the British
experience". Nairn writes:
"The marked deficiencies of analysis have unfortunately
an influential origin in the history of British writing: The deficiencies
of Marx and Engels’ own views on the British state. …. From mid century
onwards the main theorists of the following century’s revolutions lived
in the most developed capitalist society, …Yet they wrote very little on
its state and hegemonic structures. Their long exile coincided largely
with an era of quiescence and growing stability in Britain, and this seems
to have rendered them largely incurious about their immediate political
milieu. The absence of curiosity led them to persist in a view (very marked
in other occasional letters and articles on Britain) of the state as a
façade or mask of capitalist realties".
Nairn Tom; "The Break-Up of Britain"; London; 1977;
page 18-19.
Epriam Nimni
takes a step further, and insists that Marx and Engels were "insensitive
" to the national question. Unsurprisingly Nimni finds that the only ‘Marxist"
that is sensitive to the "multidimensionality of the national problem"
is Otto Bauer:
"Marx and Engels were, to put it mildly, impatient
with and intolerant of ethnic minorities. This is clear from their private
correspondence, the most infamous example of which is the characterisation
of Lassalle as a "Jewish Nigger"…….
Only those Marxist theories capable of breaking with
the abortive rigidities of the above named parameters (i.e. of Marx and
Engels-Editor) have managed to provide a more sensitive analysis of the
national phenomena. The work of Otto Bauer and the Austro-Marxists would
be the single most important exception to this misleading stance of classical
Marxism."
Nimni, Ephraim: "Nationalism And Marxism Theoretical
Origins of a Political Crisis"; London 1991; p.30; p.42-43.
Tom Nairn is to the British ‘left’,
the prime exponent of ‘national’ separation. Regrettably this influence
has now influenced Marxist-Leninists. We highlight Marx and Engels own
views, to assist in debunking both Nairn and Nimni. At the same time, some
Marxist-Leninists also calim that Marx and Engels viewed Scotland and Wales
as nations that should be supported as such.
To garner Marx and Engels as authoritative
supports of Welsh and Scottish nationalism was the aim of recent exchanges
on the International Struggle Marxist-Leninist
e-list [See Appendix].
If true, their view would be potent, as Marx and Engels
lived in Britain for a large part of their lives [and contrary to Nairn]
played an active role in the working class and progressive movements of
their adopted country.
Outline of Text
-
We first discuss Marx and Engels on nation formation in
general;
-
We then analyse claims that Marx and Engels supported
Welsh and Scottish nationalism.
-
Finally we will trace the history of Scotland; and then
Wales to the present day from the point of view of whether they still can
claim to be nations.
We argue that Marx and Engels recognised
only two unequivocal nations in the sceptr’ed Isle – Britain [Sometimes
they called it England] and Ireland.
Part One: THE NATIONAL QUESTION
ACCORDING TO MARX AND ENGELS
Overall Synopsis:
General key concepts on nation formation: Marx and
Engels assessed each national claim and movement from the vantage point
of the working class. This required an analysis of each national movement’s
contribution to the overall political movement of the working class – both
nationally and internationally.
i) The Marxist final goal: Formation
of a class with one goal – socialism;
Synopsis: Marx
and Engels argued that nationalist interests could not distract the working
class from their final goal - socialism. But the working class needed to
capture national state power as an interim step. They saw the culmination
of bourgeois society as "civil society" – a highly centralized state that
began to exert an international erosive power on the world’s nationalities.
Marx and Engels discovered that
revolutions in the mode of production both enabled and demanded societal
changes. This intellectual discovery was the foundation of historical materialism.
This philosophy allowed a view of how the modern state had come into being.
The process of the formation of the "Civil Society", was therefore the
result of a real social history, not dependent upon theories, mankind’s
wishes, nor on Statecraft and the actions of ‘princes’:
"The form of intercourse determined by the existing
productive forces at all previous historical stages, and in its turn determining
these, is civil society. The latter, as is clear from what we have
said above, has as its premises and basis the simple family and the multiple,
the so-called tribe…. Already here we see how this civil society is the
true source and theatre of all history, and how absurd is the conception
of history held hitherto, which neglects the real relationships and confines
itself to high-sounding dramas of princes and states."
Marx Karl and Engels Frederick: "The German Ideology";
"Part I: Feuerbach. Opposition Of The Materialist And Idealist Outlook
[5.Development of the Productive Forces As a Material Premise of Communism]";
Volume 5; Moscow; 1976; p.50. or a version is at: http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845-gi/part_b.htm#b1
This real social history had created
the necessity for a centralized state, a need voiced as society emerged
from the "ancient and medieval communal society". It was from the beginning,
a need expressed by the bourgeoisie for their society - bürgerliche
Gesellschaft:
"Civil society embraces the whole material intercourse
of individuals within a definite stage of the development of productive
forces. It embraces the whole commercial and industrial life of a given
stage and, insofar, transcends the State and the nation, though, on the
other hand again, it must assert itself in its foreign relations as nationality,
and inwardly must organise itself as State. The word "civil society" [bürgerliche
Gesellschaft] emerged in the eighteenth century, when property relationships
had already extricated themselves from the ancient and medieval communal
society. Civil society as such only develops with the bourgeoisie; the
social organisation evolving directly out of production and commerce, which
in all ages forms the basis of the State and of the rest of the idealistic
superstructure, has, however, always been designated by the same name".
Marx Karl and Engels Frederick: "The German Ideology";
"Part I: Feuerbach. Opposition Of The Materialist And Idealist Outlook
[10.The Necessity, Preconditions & Consequences of the Abolition of
Private Property.]"; Volume 5; Moscow; 1976; p.89. or a version is at:
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845-gi/part_b.htm#b1
As history wore on, it evolved a force
that transcended narrow national boundaries and eroded national isolation,
creating a "world history":
"History is nothing but the succession of the separate
generations, each of which exploits the materials, the capital funds, the
productive forces handed down to it by all preceding generations, and thus,
on the one hand, continues the traditional activity in completely changed
circumstances and, on the other, modifies the old circumstances with a
completely changed activity. …..
The further the separate spheres, which interact on
one another, extend in the course of this development, the more the original
isolation of the separate nationalities is destroyed by the developed mode
of production and intercourse, and the division of labour between various
nations naturally brought forth by these, the more history becomes world
history. Thus, for instance, if in England a machine is invented, which
deprives countless workers of bread in India and China, and overturns the
whole form of existence of these empires, this invention becomes a world-historical
fact. Or again, take the case of sugar and coffee which have proved their
world-historical importance in the nineteenth century by the fact that
the lack of these products, occasioned by the Napoleonic Continental System,
caused the Germans to rise against Napoleon, and thus became the real basis
of the glorious Wars of liberation of 1813. From this it follows that this
transformation of history into world history is not indeed a mere abstract
act on the part of the "self-consciousness", the world spirit, or of any
other metaphysical spectre, but a quite material, empirically verifiable
act, an act the proof of which every individual furnishes as he comes and
goes, eats, drinks and clothes himself."
Marx Karl and Engels Frederick: "The German Ideology";
"Part I: Feuerbach. Opposition Of The Materialist And Idealist Outlook
[6. Conclusions From the Materialist Conception of History: History as
a continuous Process, History as Becoming World History, The necessity
of Communist Revolution]"; Volume 5; Moscow; 1976; p.50-51. or a version
is at: http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845-gi/part_b.htm#b1
In all this momentous change, what
attitude was the working class to take? The main aim for Marx and Engels
was unequivocally the seizure of state power by the Working peoples. This
was something that was getting closer, as capital "centralised" and "divided"
society more and more. The ‘nation’ of which Engels wrote his famous book
"The Condition of the Working Class in England", showed the "inevitability"
of the coming crisis:
"The centralisation of capital strides forward without
interruption, the division of society into great capitalist and non-possessing
workers is sharper every day, the industrial development of the nation
advances with giant strides towards the inevitable crisis."
Engels, Frederick;1845; "Condition of the Working
Class in England – ‘The Remaining Branches of Industry’"; In Collected
Works; Volume 4; Moscow; 1975 p. 497.
As the priority of the working class
was the social revolution, it naturally meant that they should not be fooled
into narrower goals such as nationalism. But Marx and Engels were not Utopians,
and saw that the first immediate step was the winning of state power by
the working class – it must become "the leading class of the nation".
It was only in this sense that
the working class was "national".
There was little doubt that the
working class victory in several countries, would allow the dissipation
of national wars and jealousies. This is expressed in their famous Communist
Manifesto as follows:
" The Communists are further reproached with desiring
to abolish countries and nationality. The working men have no country.
We cannot take from them what they have not got. Since the proletariat
must first of all acquire political supremacy, 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. National
differences and antagonisms between peoples are daily more and more vanishing,
owing to the development of the bourgeoisie, to freedom of commerce, to
the world market, to uniformity in the mode of production and in the conditions
of life corresponding thereto.
The supremacy of the proletariat will cause them to
vanish still faster. United action, of the leading civilised countries
at least, is one of the first conditions for the emancipation of the proletariat.
In proportion as the exploitation of one individual
by another is put an end to, the exploitation of one nation by another
will also be put an end to. In proportion as the antagonism between classes
within the nation vanishes, the hostility of one nation to another will
come to an end."
Marx Karl, Engels Frederick: Manifesto of the Communist
Party": 1848; In Collected Works; Volume 6; Moscow 1976; pp. 502-03. Or
at: http://www.marx2mao.org//M&E/CM47.html#s2
The bourgeoisie had managed to break all national boundaries
and were sweeping all parts of the world into one vast market:
"The bourgeoisie has through its exploitation of
the world market given a cosmopolitan character to production and consumption
in every country. To the great chagrin of Reactionists, it has drawn from
under the feet of industry the national ground on which it stood. All old-established
national industries have been destroyed or are daily being destroyed. They
are dislodged by new industries, whose introduction becomes a life and
death question for all civilised nations, by industries that no longer
work up indigenous raw material, but raw material drawn from the remotest
zones; industries whose products are consumed, not only at home, but in
every quarter of the globe. In place of the old wants, satisfied by the
productions of the country, we find new wants, requiring for their satisfaction
the products of distant lands and climes. In place of the old local and
national seclusion and self-sufficiency, we have intercourse in every direction,
universal inter-dependence of nations. And as in material, so also in intellectual
production. The intellectual creations of individual nations become common
property. National one-sidedness and narrow-mindedness become more and
more impossible, and from the numerous national and local literatures there
arises a world-literature."
Marx Karl, Engels Frederick: Manifesto of the Communist
Party": 1848; In Collected Works; Volume 6;Moscow 1976; 486. Or at:
http://www.marx2mao.org//M&E/CM47.html#s2
In all this, the revolutionary goal
remained to achieve power. What situations were the most conducive to that
goal? It was only democratic states that could sweep away vestiges of feudalism.
It was this that impelled Marx and Engels to support revolutionary democratic
struggles resulting in the bourgeois revolution – as a prelude to the proletarian
revolution:
"The Communists fight for the attainment of the immediate
aims, for the enforcement of the momentary interests of the working class;
but in the movement of the present, they also represent and take care of
the future of that movement.. . . . The Communists turn their attention
chiefly to Germany, because that country is on the eve of a bourgeois revolution
that is bound to be carried out under more advanced conditions of European
civilisation, and with a much more developed proletariat, than that of
England was in the seventeenth, and of France in the eighteenth century,
and because the bourgeois revolution in Germany will be but the prelude
to an immediately following proletarian revolution."
Mrax And Engels: "The Communist Manifesto"; Ibid;
IV: Position Of The Communists In Relation To The Various Existing Opposition
Parties" CW Volume 6; p. 518-9. Or at:
http://www.marx2mao.org//M&E/CM47.html#s4
ii) The Dialectical View
of Nations: Some have a future and some have a past; The Case Of German
States Taking Over Polish and Bohemian Slavonic lands
Synopsis: Marx
and Engels recognised that nations came into being and died. Those that
died were absorbed by more vigorous nations. However even when absorbed,
remnants would often try to gain national status. In the case of Poland
– this was progressive as it eroded both German and Russian imperial absolutism.
For other nations – those in the "South Slavonic" grouping, their resort
to reactionary alliances such as the Pan-Slavic League dominated by Russia
rendered them insupportable. Support to a national struggle was not immediate,
but contingent on the overall goals of the international working class.
For Marx and Engels, all national
movements were seen through the prism of one over-riding goal: Namely,
to break feudalism, smash absolutist states, and assist the rise of democratic
states. This alone could give the best lift-off to the take-over of the
state by workers and would assist the workers revolution.
Marx and Engels recognised that
national states come into being and pass out of being. They argued that
nations that were waning would not disappear quickly, nor even without
attempts at re-establishing a claim to nationhood. To re-establish such
a claim, some nations (or remnants of nations) might even ally themselves
to reactionary causes. But if they did that, they ran the risk of completely
relinquishing whatever historical ‘rights’ they claimed.
In fact Marx and Engels distinguished
between the national question of Poland and that of Bohemia and Croatian
precisely because of this. It is well known that Marx and Engels supported
the cause of Poland’s national independence. It is less understood that
they repudiated the case for Czech independence. What were their grounds
for this difference?
We review the penetration by first
German nobles, then by the German trading and manufacturing middle classes,
into Slavonic Europe. Engels pointed out that a general process had occurred
whereby the "Tschechs" – or Czechs and Poles were overtaken by a more dynamic
social grouping of German nationality. The process is similar to that of
the colonial penetration of imperialism into colonies:
"The whole of the eastern half of
Germany as far as the Elbe, Saale and Bohemian Forest, has as it well known,
been re-conquered during the last thousand years from invaders of Slavonic
origin. The greater part of these territories have been Germanised to the
perfect extinction of all Slavonic nationality and language……
But the case is different along the whole of the frontier
of ancient Poland and in the countries of the Tshechian tongue, in Bohemia
and Morovia. Here the two nationalities are mixed up in every district,
the towns being more or less German while the Slavonic elements prevails
in the rural villages, where however it is also gradually disintegrated
and forced back by the steady advance of German influence…"
Engels, Frederick : "Revolution and Counter-Revolution:
VIII. Poles, Tschechs, And Germans"; 1852.; In Collected Works Marx and
Engels; Volume 11; Moscow 1979; p. 43; Or At:
http://www.marx2mao.org//M&E/RCR51.html#s8
Underlying the new domination is the
superior social level, consistent with the more advanced mode of production
that the Germans had adopted:
"The Slavonians, and particularly
the Western Slavonians (Poles and Tschechs), are essentially an agricultural
race; trade and manufactures never were in great favor with them. The consequence
was that, with the increase of population and the origin of cities in these
regions, the production of all articles of manufacture fell into the hands
of German immigrants, and the exchange of these commodities against agricultural
produce became the exclusive monopoly of the Jews, who, if they belong
to any nationality, are in these countries certainly rather Germans than
Slavonians. . . . . The importance of the German element in the Slavonic
frontier localities, thus rising with the growth of towns, trade and manufactures,
was still increased when it was found necessary to import almost every
element of mental culture from Germany; after the German merchant and handicraftsman,
the German clergyman, the German schoolmaster, the German savant came to
establish himself upon Slavonic soil. And lastly, the iron thread of conquering
armies, or the cautious, well-premeditated grasp of diplomacy, not only
followed, but many times went ahead of the slow but sure advance of denationalization
by social development. Thus, great parts of Western Prussia and Posen have
been Germanized since the first partition of Poland, by sales and grants
of public domains to German colonists, by encouragements given to German
capitalists for the establishment of manufactories, etc., in those neighborhoods,
and very often, too, by excessively despotic measures against the Polish
inhabitants of the country."
Frederick Engels: "Revolution and Counter-Revolution:
VIII. Poles, Tschechs, And Germans"; 1852.; In Collected Works Marx and
Engels; Volume 11; Moscow 1979; p. 44-46; or at:
http://www.marx2mao.org//M&E/RCR51.html#s8
This was the climate up to 1848 – a
seamless penetration of German capital, which led to German domination
over Poland. The 1848 Revolution struck the notes of national liberation
however, and this awakened the Polish aspirations:
"In this manner the last seventy
years had entirely changed the line of demarcation between the German and
Polish nationalities. The Revolution of 1848 calling forth at once the
claim of all oppressed nations to an independent existence, and to the
right of settling their own affairs for themselves, it was quite natural
that the Poles should at once demand the restoration of their country within
the frontiers of the old Polish Republic before 1772."
Frederick Engels: "Revolution and Counter-Revolution:
VIII. Poles, Tschechs, And Germans"; 1852.;
In Collected Works Marx and Engels; Volume 11; Moscow
1979; p. 45; Or a version is at:
http://www.marx2mao.org//M&E/RCR51.html#s8
What policy should progressive Germans
support, asked Engels? He recognised that the
people of Poland had been over-taken by an apparently more advanced society
in the first place:
"Should whole tracts of land, inhabited
chiefly by Germans, should large towns, entirely German, be given up to
a people that as yet had never given any proofs of its capability of progressing
beyond a state of feudalism based upon agricultural serfdom? The question
was intricate enough."
Frederick Engels: "Revolution and Counter-Revolution:
VIII. Poles, Tschechs, and Germans"; 1852.;
In Collected Works Marx and Engels; Volume 11; Moscow
1979; p. 45; or a version is at:
http://www.marx2mao.org//M&E/RCR51.html#s8
This would imply that the national
rights of Poland were not predominant in the equation. Nonetheless, for
Engels, the solution demanded that all geopolitical forces be resolved
in a simultaneous equation. This therefore, of necessity had to include
the major absolutist state left that threatened European working class
aspirations– i.e. Russia. In this transformed equation, the ‘advanced party’
in Germany would have to support Polish national Statehood, regardless
that the ‘middle classes’ fearing revolutionary spirit would reject Polish
nationhood:
"The only possible solution was in
a war with Russia. The question of delimitation between the different revolutionized
nations would have been made a secondary one to that of first establishing
a safe frontier against the common enemy. The Poles, by receiving extended
territories in the east, would have become more tractable and reasonable
in the west; and Riga and Milan would have been deemed, after all, quite
as important to them as Danzig and Elbing. Thus the advanced party in Germany,
deeming a war with Russia necessary to keep up the Continental movement,
and considering that the national re-establishment even of a part of Poland
would inevitably lead to such a war, supported the Poles; while the reigning
middle class partly clearly foresaw its downfall from any national war
against Russia, which would have called more active and energetic men to
the helm, and, therefore, with a feigned enthusiasm for the extension of
German nationality, they declared Prussian Poland, the chief seat of Polish
revolutionary agitation, to be part and parcel of the German Empire that
was to be. The promises given to the Poles in the first days of excitement
were shamefully broken. Polish armaments got up with the sanction of the
Government were dispersed and massacred by Prussian artillery; and as soon
as the month of April, 1848, within six weeks of the Berlin Revolution,
the Polish movement was crushed, and the old national hostility revived
between Poles and Germans. This immense and incalculable service to the
Russian autocrat was performed by the Liberal merchant-ministers, Camphausen
and Hansemann."
Frederick Engels: "Revolution and Counter-Revolution:
VIII. Poles, Tschechs, And Germans"; 1852.; In Collected Works Marx and
Engels; Volume 11; Moscow 1979; p. 45; Or a version is at: http://www.marx2mao.org//M&E/RCR51.html#s8
The other main area of German penetration,
which led in 1848 to a revival of the National question was Bohemia . This
is now the site of modern day Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic. There,
Engels argued that a national struggle should not be supported. Engels
outlined why he held a view that "Bohemia could only exist .. as a portion
of Germany" - as follows:
"The question of nationality gave
rise to another struggle in Bohemia. This country, inhabited by two millions
of Germans, and three millions of Slavonians of the Tschechian tongue,
had great historical recollections, almost all connected with the former
supremacy of the Tschechs. But then the force of this branch of the Slavonic
family had been broken ever since the wars of the Hussites in the fifteenth
century. The province speaking the Tschechian tongue was divided, one part
forming the kingdom of Bohemia, another the principality of Moravia, a
third the Carpathian hill-country of the Slovaks, being part of Hungary.
The Moravians and Slovaks had long since lost every vestige of national
feeling and vitality, although mostly preserving their language. Bohemia
was surrounded by thoroughly German countries on three sides out of four.
The German element had made great progress on her own territory; even in
the capital, in Prague, the two nationalities were pretty equally matched;
and everywhere capital, trade, industry, and mental culture were in the
hands of the Germans. . . . . .
But as it often happens, dying Tschechian nationality,
dying according to every fact known in history for the last four hundred
years, made in 1848 a last effort to regain its former vitality — an effort
whose failure, independently of all revolutionary considerations, was to
prove that Bohemia could only exist, henceforth, as a portion of Germany,
although part of her inhabitants might yet, for some centuries, continue
to speak a non-German language."
Frederick Engels: "Revolution and Counter-Revolution:
VIII. Poles, Tschechs, And Germans"; 1852.; In Collected Works Marx and
Engels; Volume 11; Moscow 1979; p. 46; or a version is at: http://www.marx2mao.org//M&E/RCR51.html#s8
Engels was so negative about the outlook
for Bohemia-Czech-Moravian nationalism because of two factors:
Firstly its historic role
had been superseded by a more dynamic nation – that of Germany, as outlined
by him above; and
Secondly because it had
allied itself to a reactionary dangerous enemy of the entire European working
class that threatened its’ single ultimate aim: Socialism. This enemy was
Russia (and also Austria at times), and the joint movement where the smaller
Slavonic nationalisms united together with Russia, adopted the name Pan-Slavism.
Engels analysed Pan-Slavism
as a reactionary force, a force that incidentally is still bruited at various
times even nowadays by those who claim "Marxist-Leninist" views. In contrast
to them, on "Pan-Slavism", Engels was firm.
Engels described the various nationalities
comprising the allied movement, as having an overall aim of "subjugating
the civilized West under the barbarian East":
"Bohemia and Croatia (another disjected
member of the Slavonic family, acted upon by the Hungarian, as Bohemia
by the German) were the homes of what is called on the European continent
"Panslavism." Neither Bohemia nor Croatia was strong enough to exist as
a nation by herself. Their respective nationalities, gradually undermined
by the action of historical causes that inevitably absorbs into a more
energetic stock, could only hope to be restored to anything like independence
by an alliance with other Slavonic nations. There were twenty-two millions
of Poles, forty-five millions of Russians, eight millions of Serbians and
Bulgarians; why not form a mighty confederation of the whole eighty millions
of Slavonians, and drive back or exterminate the intruder upon the holy
Slavonic soil, the Turk, the Hungarian, and above all the hated, but indispensable
Niemetz, the German? Thus in the studies of a few Slavonian dilettanti
of historical science was this ludicrous, this anti-historical movement
got up, a movement which intended nothing less than to subjugate the civilized
West under the barbarian East, the town under the country, trade, manufactures,
intelligence, under the primitive agriculture of Slavonian serfs."
Frederich Engels: "Revolution and Counter-Revolution:
IX. Panslavism--The Schleswig-Holstein War"; 1852. In Marx And Engels Collected
Works; Volume 11, Moscow; 1979; pp. 46-47. Or
at: http://www.marx2mao.org//M&E/RCR51.html#s9
Engels pointed to the real political
reality and force, which could effect this wish for nationalism. This real
force was the counter-revolutionary Russian Absolutist State:
"But behind this ludicrous theory
stood the terrible reality of the Russian Empire; that empire which by
every movement proclaims the pretension of considering all Europe as the
domain of the Slavonic race, and especially of the only energetic part
of this race, of the Russians; that empire which, with two capitals such
as St. Petersburg and Moscow, has not yet found its centre of gravity,
as long as the "City of the Czar" (Constantinople, called in Russian Tzarigrad,
the Czar's city), considered by every Russian peasant as the true metropolis
of his religion and his nation, is not actually the residence of its Emperor;
that empire which, for the last one hundred and fifty years, has never
lost, but always gained territory by every war it has commenced. And well
known in Central Europe are the intrigues by which Russian policy supported
the new-fangled system of Panslavism, a system than which none better could
be invented to suit its purposes. Thus, the Bohemian and Croatian Panslavists,
some intentionally, some without knowing it, worked in the direct interest
of Russia; they betrayed the evolutionary cause for the shadow of a nationality
which, in the best of cases, would have shared the fate of the Polish nationality
under Russian sway. It must, however, be said for the honor of the Poles,
that they never got to be seriously entangled in these Pan-slavist traps,
and if a few of the aristocracy turned furious Pan-slavists, they knew
that by Russian subjugation they had less to lose than by a revolt of their
own peasant serfs. The Bohemians and Croatians called, then, a general
Slavonic Congress at Prague, for the preparation of the universal Slavonian
Alliance. This Congress would have proved a decided failure even without
the interference of the Austrian military."
Frederich Engels: "Revolution and Counter-Revolution:
IX. Pan-Slavism--The Schleswig-Holstein War"; 1852. In Marx And Engels
Collected Works; Volume 11, Moscow; 1979; pp. 47.
Or a version is at: http://www.marx2mao.org//M&E/RCR51.html#s9
It was primarily on these grounds that
Marx and Engels consistently supported the Polish movement. It will be
remembered that the Polish revolt precipitated a movement for international
solidarity that resulted in the First International – the International
Working Mens’ Association (IWMA):
"You say:
"That the imperial yoke oppressing Poland is a brake
equally hampering the political and social emancipation of both nations-
the Russian just as much as the Polish";
You might add that Russia’s violent conquest of Poland
provide a pernicious support and real reason for the existence of a military
regime in Germany, and as a consequence, on the whole Content. Therefore
workmen, on breaking Poland’s chains, Russian socialists take on themselves
the lofty task of destroying the military regime: that is essential as
a precondition for the general emancipation of the European proletariat."
Marx, Karl: The General Council of the International
Working Men’s Association to Committee Members of the Russian Section in
Geneva."; March 24th, 1870; London. In Collected Works; Volume
21: Moscow 1981; p.110.
Consistently the diplomatic writings
of Marx and Engels sounded the theme of vigilance against Russian absolutism.
This was one of the reasons for their opposition to Mikhail
Bakunin who supported Pan-Slavism, who had formed a secret alliance
with Russian absolutism.
The whole area’s history was redolent
of the birth and the dying of nations. Marx and Engels felt that this was
not only the story of the Germanic and Slavonic areas of Europe, it was
the story of the entire area of Europe and even beyond – to the Americas:
"Thus ended for the present, and
most likely for ever, the attempts of the Slavonians of Germany to recover
an independent national existence. Scattered remnants of numerous nations,
whose nationality and political vitality had long been extinguished, and
who in consequence had been obliged, for almost a thousand years, to follow
in the wake of a mightier nation, their conqueror, the same as the Welsh
in England, the Basques in Spain, the Bas-Bretons in France, and at a more
recent period the Spanish and French Creoles in those portions of North
America occupied of late by the Anglo-American race - these dying nationalities,
the Bohemians, Carinthians, Dalmatians, etc., had tried to profit by the
universal confusion of 1848, in order to restore their political status
quo of A. D. 800. The history of a thousand years ought to have shown them
that such a retrogression was impossible; that if all the territory east
of the Elbe and Saale had at one time been occupied by kindred Slavonians,
this fact merely proved the historical tendency, and at the same time physical
and intellectual power of the German nation to subdue, absorb, and assimilate
its ancient eastern neighbors; that this tendency of absorption on the
part of the Germans had always been, and still was one of the mightiest
means by which the civilization of Western Europe had been spread in the
east of that continent; that it could only cease whenever the process of
Germanization had reached the frontier of large, compact, unbroken nations,
capable of an independent national life, such as the Hungarians, and in
some degree the roles: and that, therefore, the natural and inevitable
fate of these dying nations was to allow this process of dissolution and
absorption by their stronger neighbors to complete itself. Certainly this
is no very flattering prospect for the national ambition of the Pan-slavistic
dreamers who succeeded in agitating a portion of the Bohemian and South
Slavonian people; but can they expect that history would retrograde a thousand
years in order to please a few phthisical bodies of men, who in every part
of the territory they occupy are interspersed with and surrounded by Germans,
who from time almost immemorial have had for all purposes of civilization
no other language but the German, and who lack the very first conditions
of national existence, numbers and compactness of territory? Thus, the
Pan-Slavistic rising, which everywhere in the German and Hungarian Slavonic
territories was the cloak for the restoration to independence of all these
numberless petty nations, everywhere clashed with the European revolutionary
movements, and the Slavonians, although pretending to fight for liberty,
were invariably (the Democratic portion of the Poles excepted) found on
the side of despotism and reaction. Thus it was in Germany, thus in Hungary,
thus even here and there in Turkey. Traitors to the popular cause, supporters
and chief props to the Austrian Government's cabal, they placed themselves
in the position of outlaws in the eyes of all revolutionary nations."
Frederick Engels: "Revolution and Counter-Revolution:
XIV. The Restoration Of Order—Diet And Chamber"; 1852; In Marx And Engels
Collected Works; Volume 11, Moscow; 1979; pp. 70-71. Or a version is at:
http://www.marx2mao.org//M&E/RCR51.html#s14
On the whole, the main reason that
the bourgeoisie may not achieve their historical role of actually forming
a nation - is dominance by a more vigorous nation. However, another element
may enter the drama – that is the fear of the bourgeoisie that they cannot
restrain their own working class from further revolution:
"It is a peculiarity of the bourgeoisie,
in contrast to all other ruling classes, that there is a turning point
in its development after which every further expansion of its agencies
of power, hence primarily of its capital, only tends to make it more and
more unfit for political rule. "Behind the big bourgeoisie stand the
proletarians". In proportion as the bourgeoisie develops its industry,
commerce, and means of communication, it increases the numbers of the proletariat.
At a certain point - which is not necessarily reached everywhere at the
same time or at the same stage of development - it begins to notice that
its proletarian double is outgrowing it. From that moment on, it loses
the strength required for exclusive political rule; it looks around for
allies with whom to share its rule, or to whom to cede it entirely, as
circumstances may require. These allies are all reactionary by nature."
Engels,Frederick : "The Peasant War In Germany" -
Engels' Preface To The Second Edition of 1870; Collected Works; Moscow
1985; Volume 21; p.97; Another translation of this is to be found at :
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1850-pwg/pwg0a.htm
iii) Workers of one nation,
must assess whether a given national struggle furthers the ultimate goals
of the international working class
Synopsis: The workers of an
oppressing nation must break ranks with their own bourgeoisie and support
the struggle of the workers of the oppressed nations. Unless the workers
of the oppressing nation do this, they will not be able to free themselves.
The workers of an oppressing nation
must recognise that their own revolution demands that they support the
oppressed nation, against their own bourgeoisie. This was especially so
for England, which Marx felt could not be treated simply as any country,
along with all other countries. It must be treated as "the metropolis
of capital."
England was in a special status
since it had outstripped the world in the degree to which it had become
the state home of full blown un-restrained capital:
"Although revolutionary initiative will probably
come from France, England alone can serve as the lever for a serious
economic Revolution. It is the only country where there are no more peasants
and where landed property is concentrated in a few hands. It is the
only country where the capitalist form, that is to say, combined
labour on a large scale under capitalist masters, now embraces virtually
the whole of production. It is the only country where the great majority
of the population consists of WAGES-LABOURERS. It is the only country
where the class struggle and the organisation of the working class by the
TRADES UNIONS have acquired a certain
degree of maturity and universality. It is the only country where, because
of its domination on the world market, every revolution in economic matters
must immediately affect the whole world. If landlordism and capitalism
are classical features in England, on the other hand, the material conditions
for their destruction are the most mature here. …...England
cannot be treated simply as a country along with other countries. It must
be treated as the metropolis of capital".
Marx, Karl: "Letter to Dr Kugelmann"; March 28; 1870:
In Collected Works; Volume 21: Moscow; 1985; pp.118-119; OR at:
http://www.geocities.com/hari6kumar/amarx-confidential.html
But if England was the fulcrum
of world capitalism, the fulcrum of the English revolution was in Ireland,
and the British workers should recognise that they could not participate
in the enslavement of the Irish worker – if only in order to obtain their
own liberation from capital:
"5) Question of the General Council Resolutions
on the Irish Amnesty.
If England is the BULWARK of landlordism and
European capitalism, the only point where official England can be struck
a great blow is Ireland. In the first place, Ireland is the BULWARK
of English landlordism. If it fell in Ireland, it would fall in England.
In Ireland this is a hundred times easier because the economic struggle
there is concentrated exclusively on landed property, because this
struggle is at the same time national, and because the people there
are more revolutionary and more exasperated than in England. Landlordism
in Ireland is maintained solely by the English army. The moment
the forced Union between the two countries ends, a social revolution will
immediately break out in Ireland, though in outmoded forms. English landlordism
would not only lose a great source of its wealth, but also its greatest
moral force, i.e., that of representing the domination of England
over Ireland. On the other hand, by maintaining the power of its landlords
in Ireland, the English proletariat makes them invulnerable in England
itself. "
Marx Karl: "Letter to Dr Kugelmann"; March 28; 1870:
In Collected Works; Volume 21: Moscow; 1985; pp.119-120; or at: Kugelmann
Not only was support to the Irish struggle
imperative from the point of view of the revolutionary balance of forces,
it was also imperative because the forced emigration of the poverty stricken
Irish had created a "divide-and-rule" situation whereby the capitalist
could use division to his own immediate ends:
"In the second place, the English bourgeoisie
has not only exploited Irish poverty to keep down the working class
in England by forced immigration of poor Irishmen, but it has also
divided the proletariat into two hostile camps. The revolutionary fire
of the Celtic worker does not go well with the solid but slow nature of
the Anglo-Saxon worker. On the contrary, in all the big industrial centres
in England there is profound antagonism between the Irish proletarian
and the English proletarian. The average English worker hates the Irish
worker as a competitor who lowers wages and the STANDARD OF LIFE. He
feels national and religious antipathies for him. He regards him somewhat
like the POOR WHITES of the Southern States of North America regarded
black slaves. This antagonism among the proletarians of England is artificially
nourished and kept up by the bourgeoisie. It knows that this scission is
the true secret of maintaining its power.
Moreover, this antagonism is reproduced on the other
side of the Atlantic. The Irish, chased from their native soil by the bulls
and the sheep, reassemble in the United States where they constitute a
huge, ever-growing section of the population. Their only thought, their
only passion, is hatred for England. The English and American governments
- that is to say, the classes they represennt-play on these feelings in
order to perpetuate the international struggle which prevents any
serious and sincere alliance between the working classes on both sides
of the Atlantic, and, consequently, their common emancipation."
Marx Karl: "Letter to Dr Kugelmann"; March 28; 1870:
In Collected Works; Volume 21: Moscow; 1985; p.119-120.
http://www.geocities.com/hari6kumar/amarx-confidential.html
In Conclusion,
the workers of England should recognize that "any people that oppresses
another people forges its own chains". To this end the IWMA adopted resolutions
for the Irish struggle, moved by Marx:
"Ireland is the only pretext the English Government
has for retaining a big standing army, which, if need be, As has
happened before, can be used against the English workers after having done
its military training in Ireland.
Lastly, England today is seeing a repetition of what
happened on a monstrous scale in ancient Rome. Any people that oppresses
another people forges its own chains.
Thus, the position of the International Association
with regard to the Irish question is very clear. Its first concern is to
advance the social revolution in England. To this end a great blow must
be struck in Ireland. The General Council's resolutions on the Irish amnesty
serve only as an introduction to other resolutions which will affirm that,
quite apart from international justice, it is a precondition to the
emancipation of the English working class to transform the present
forced Union – i.e., the enslavement of Ireland - into equal
and free confederation if possible, into complete separation if
need be." Marx Karl: "Letter to Dr Kugelmann"; March 28; 1870: In Collected
Works; Volume 21: Moscow; 1985; p.120-121; or at:
http://www.geocities.com/hari6kumar/amarx-confidential.html
"After studying the Irish question for years I have
come to the conclusion that the decisive blow against the ruling classes
in England (and this is decisive for the workers’ movement ALL OVER THE
WORLD) CANnot be struck in England, but only in Ireland.
…Ireland is the BULWARK of the English landed aristocracy. The exploitation
of this country is not simply one of the main sources of their material
wealth: it is their greatest moral power. They represent, IN FACT,
the domination of England over Ireland. Ireland is thus the, grand
moyen [cardinal means] by which the English aristocracy maintains its domination
in England itself."
Marx to Meyer & Vogt. 9th April 1870.
In Collected Works Volume 43; Moscow; 1988;pp471-476.
Conclusion to Part One: The Legacy
to Lenin and Stalin:
The broad analysis of the national
movements as seen by Marx and Engels has been summarised. At least these
following general principles of their thought are identified:
1) That the national struggle is the usual form of
struggle underlying the bourgeois democratic over-turn of feudal absolutism;
2) Nations are a dialectical entity subject to change
– some come into being and some die;
3) That there is no unequivocal legitimacy to every
national struggle – this must be viewed in the context of the overall working
class aim- state power;
4) That workers of an oppressed nation must shed their
chauvinism and support the national demands of the oppressed nations.
It is of course true, that in some
details Marx and Engels were wrong – for instance the Czech and Slovak
peoples did obtain national status.
Neither Marx nor Engels claimed
to be infallible for all time, and could not predict each and every twist
in the national struggle of all peoples.
At their time in history there
were logical reasons to argue as they did.
Nonetheless, they laid out broad
approaches by which communists must approach the national struggle.
It is worth briefly asking, if
the principles we have adduced from their work was challenged by either
of their successors, Lenin or Stalin? We answer yes.
1) Both Lenin and Stalin pointed out that nations have
a dialectical real existence, in that they have a life and death:
J.V.Stalin:
"Needless to say, "national character" is not a thing
that is fixed once and for all, but is modified by changes in the conditions
of life; but since it exists at every given moment, it leaves its impress
on the physiognomy of the nation. Thus, a common psychological make-up,
which manifests itself in a common culture, is one of the characteristic
features of a nation. We have now exhausted the characteristic features
of a nation. A nation is a historically constituted, stable community of
people, formed on the basis of a common language, territory, economic life,
and psychological make-up manifested in a common culture. It goes without
saying that a nation, like every historical phenomenon, is subject to the
law of change, has its history, its beginning and end."
Stalin, J.V. "Marxism And The National Question";
Part II The National Movement"; In: Works, Vol. 2, pp. 307; Moscow, 1954;
http://www.marx2mao.org//Stalin/MNQ12.html#c2
"But the unity of a nation diminishes not only as
a result of migration. It diminishes also from internal causes, owing to
the growing acuteness of the class struggle. In the early stages of capitalism
one can still speak of a "common culture" of the proletariat and the bourgeoisie.
But as large-scale industry develops and the class struggle becomes more
and more acute, this "common culture" begins to melt away. One cannot seriously
speak of the "common culture" of a nation when employers and workers of
one and the same nation cease to understand each other."
J. V. Stalin, "Marxism And The National Question";
Part II The National Movement"; In: Works, Vol. 2, pp. 339-340; Moscow,
1954; http://www.marx2mao.org//Stalin/MNQ12.html#c2
2) Both Lenin and Stalin pointed out
that nation building was a key part of the process of elimination of feudalism:
J.V.Stalin:
"The process of elimination of feudalism and development
of capitalism is at the same time a process of the constitution of people
into nations. Such, for instance, was the case in Western Europe. The British,
French, Germans, Italians and others were formed into nations at the time
of the victorious advance of capitalism and its triumph over feudal disunity…..
From what has been said it will be clear that the national struggle under
the conditions of rising capitalism is a struggle of the bourgeois classes
among themselves. Sometimes the bourgeoisie succeeds in drawing the proletariat
into the national movement, and then the national struggle externally assumes
a "nation-wide" character. But this is so only externally. In its essence
it is always a bourgeois struggle, one that is to the advantage and profit
mainly of the bourgeoisie."
J. V. Stalin, "Marxism And The National Question";
Part II The National Movement"; In: Works, Vol. 2, pp. 313; 319; Moscow,
1954; http://www.marx2mao.org//Stalin/MNQ12.html#c2
3) Both Lenin and Stalin pointed out
that the working class should not automatically support all demands
for national status: J.V.Stalin:
"The bourgeoisie of the oppressed nation, repressed
on every hand, is naturally stirred into movement. It appeals to its "native
folk" and begins to shout about the "fatherland," claiming that its own
cause is the cause of the nation as a whole. It recruits itself an army
from among its "countrymen" in the interests of . . . the "fatherland."
Nor do the "folk" always remain unresponsive to its appeals; they rally
around its banner: the repression from above affects them too and provokes
their discontent. Thus the national movement begins. The strength of the
national movement is determined by the degree to which the wide strata
of the nation, the proletariat and peasantry, participate in it. Whether
the proletariat rallies to the banner of bourgeois nationalism depends
on the degree of development of class antagonisms, on the class-consciousness
and degree of organisation of the proletariat. The class-conscious proletariat
has its own tried banner, and has no need to rally to the banner of the
bourgeoisie."
J. V. Stalin, "Marxism And The National Question";
Part II The National Movement"; In: Works, Vol. 2, pp. 317; Moscow, 1954;
http://www.marx2mao.org//Stalin/MNQ12.html#c2
"But the policy of nationalist persecution is dangerous
to the cause of the proletariat also on another account. It diverts the
attention of large strata from social questions, questions of the class
struggle, to national questions, questions "common" to the proletariat
and the bourgeoisie. And this creates a favourable soil for lying propaganda
about "harmony of interests," for glossing over the class interests of
the proletariat and for the intellectual enslavement of the workers."
J. V. Stalin, "Marxism And The National Question";
Part II The National Movement"; In: Works, Vol. 2, pp. 319; Moscow, 1954;
http://www.marx2mao.org//Stalin/MNQ12.html#c2
"This, of course, does not mean that Social-Democracy
will support every custom and institution of a nation. While combating
the coercion of any nation, it will uphold only the right of the nation
itself to determine its own destiny, at the same time agitating against
harmful customs and institutions of that nation in order to enable the
toiling strata of the nation to emancipate themselves from them. The right
of self-determination means that a nation may arrange its life in the way
it wishes. It has the right to arrange its life on the basis of autonomy.
It has the right to enter into federal relations with other nations. It
has the right to complete secession. Nations are sovereign, and all nations
have equal rights. This, of course, does not mean that Social-Democracy
will support every demand of a nation. A nation has the right even to return
to the old order of things; but this does not mean that Social-Democracy
will subscribe to such a decision if taken by some institution of a particular
nation. The obligations of Social-Democracy, which defends the interests
of the proletariat, and the rights of a nation, which consists of various
classes, are two different things".
J. V. Stalin, "Marxism And The National Question";
Part II The National Movement"; In: Works, Vol. 2, pp. 321-322; Moscow,
1954; http://www.marx2mao.org//Stalin/MNQ12.html#c2
4) Both Lenin and Stalin pointed out
that the working class of an oppressor nation must support the oppressed
nation.
BIBLIOGRAPHY PART ONE
- Engels, Frederick;1845; "Condition of the Working
Class in England"; In Collected Works; Volume 4; Moscow; 1975;
- Engels, Frederick : "Revolution and Counter-Revolution:
VIII. Poles, Tschechs, And Germans"; 1852.; In Collected Works Marx and
Engels; Volume 11; Moscow 1979;
-Engels,Frederick : "The Peasant War In Germany" -
Engels' Preface To The Second Edition of 1870; Collected Works; Moscow
1985; Volume 21;
- Marx Karl, Engels Frederick: Manifesto of the Communist
Party": 1848; In Collected Works; Volume 6; Moscow 1976;
- Marx Karl and Engels Frederick: "The German Ideology";
"Part I: Feuerbach. Opposition Of The Materialist And Idealist Outlook
[5.Development of the Productive Forces As a Material Premise of Communism]";
Volume 5; Moscow; 1976;
- Marx, Karl: The General Council of the International
Working Men’s Association to Committee Members of the Russian Section in
Geneva."; March 24th, 1870; London. In Collected Works; Volume
21: Moscow 1981;
- Marx, Karl: "Letter to Dr Kugelmann"; March 28;
1870: In Collected Works; Volume 21: Moscow; 1985;
- Nairn, Tom; "The Break-Up of Britain"; London; 1977;
- Nimni, Ephraim: "Nationalism And Marxism Theoretical
Origins of a Political Crisis"; London 1991;
- Stalin, J.V. "Marxism And The National Question";
Works, Vol. 2, pp. 307; Moscow, 1954.
BACK TO TABLE
CONTENTS ALLIANCE 39:
ONTO PART TWO:
2)
MARX AND ENGELS VIEW OF BRITAIN, ENGLAND WALES AND SCOTLAND