[PEN-L:32412] RE: Re: Stallin Stalin

["Devine, James" <jdevine@xxxxxxx>]

Title: RE: [PEN-L:32411] Re: Stallin Stalin

Bill Lear writes:
"Nationalist" meaning that which benefits a small elite that fancies
itself "the nation".

Though there's a lot of truth to that, I think it's a bit too simple. Though the nationalist elite (in this case, the Stalinist CPSU) clearly rules the roost and pretends to speak "for the nation," nationalism has again and again mobilized the masses, always or almost always against other nations.

To paraphrase Eric Hobsbawm, nationalism represents a cross-class alliance, replacing overt class struggle: this involved an uneasy merger of popular and democratic proto-nationalisms of the working classes, the ethnic-linguistic chauvinism of many of the middle strata, and elite state-patriotism aimed at stabilizing the social situation, legitimating taxes and centralized government, and raising troops.

Nationalism helped create France, Italy, and a lot of other nations out of a mish-mosh of a variety of ethnicities, often at the expense of minoritie ethnicities. Though elite groups clearly benefit more than the masses, it's more than just a elite-serving ruse.

Jim