[Marxism] Critique Conference 2004

["Paul Flewers" <trusscott.foundation@xxxxxxxxxx>]

The Critique Conference 2004 will be held in the London School of Economics,
Houghton Street Saturday 28 February 2004, 10.00 to 17.00.

The Conference title is The Inevitable Failure of Nationalism

Speakers include
Professor Mick Cox  , London School of Economics
Professor Hillel Ticktin , Glasgow University
Professor Istvan Meszaros , Emiritus Professor Sussex University
Professor Bertoll Olman, New York University

The theme of this year's conference is around  nationalism. The sessions
will discuss and debate the way in which nationalism has acted as a major
barrier to socialism.

While Lenin made a distinction between the nationalism of the oppressor
nation and that of the oppressed nation, Stalin and the Stalinist parties
adopted nationalism as a 'progressive tendency'. Soviet nationalism and
Russian nationalism were developed and supported and the 'communist' parties
supported a nationalist line as in China, Vietnam, Africa and Latin America.

National Liberation was seen as a first stage in any overthrow of a
country's rulers. Socialism came second. As a result, local elites took
power, as in Angola, and quickly attacked or even massacred the left. By
subordinating the struggle for socialism to a so-called democratic
revolution, or national liberation or simply to an anti-Americanism, the
working class was led into a blind alley. They were often materially worse
off under independence than under colonialism as a result.

Unfortunately the left is still bedevilled by unclarity on the national
question. Lenin's dictum makes sense if we are talking of the necessity of
eliminating national exploitation and cultural oppression  but it has been
used as an excuse for subordinating the struggle for socialism to the
national struggle. Too many groups in developed countries have found their
rationale in supporting this or that national struggle, without thinking
through whom they are supporting. Anti-americanism to which some are reduced
is itself a form of nationalism.

Nationalism necessarily brings the capitalist class and working class
together. Inevitably the working class has to subordinate its demands to
that of the capitalist class. If socialism is on the agenda then nationalism
has to be fought. Today, with Stalinism dying, nationalism appears as  the
last ideological support for capital. How can we analyse it and combat it?
It is also clear that the nationalist path has not led to genuine
independence or to a higher standard of living for the majority, even if a
new elite or class are better off. Why?

http://www.critiquejournal.com
email : critique@xxxxxxxxxxxxx



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