yep, it's nationalism again....

rc-am rcollins at netlink.com.au
Wed Jun 2 09:33:20 PDT 1999


Chaz wrote on pen-l:


>>One must first determine whether it is nationalism of an oppressed or
oppressor nation.<<

perhaps one must first decide whether one is a marxist or a leninist?

Marx wrote about the conflicts between nations and states as a reflection and response to class struggles within those nation-states, he did not write from the perspective of one nation-state against another as a proxy for class struggles.

it was Lenin, and subsequent leaders of nation-states who reconfigured their narratives of class struggles as something played out _between_ nationalisms and nation-states. this change in perspective was understandable - not always best for the class struggles around the world, nor indeed for those within those countries, but certainly understandable. however, continuing this perspective at a time when there are no (even nominally) socialist (let alone communist) states, seems nostalgic at best, and at worst, has resulted in the kind of substitution of ethnicist and racist discourses for a class struggle perspective that marxism can and should provide.

Angela --- rcollins at netlink.com.au



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