>In actuality the working class sees
>nationhood in much the same way as the
>bougeoisie, as a question of freedom
>from the domination of some foreign
>power.
It appears that the Palestinian masses are not ready to settle for what an Arafat would settle for, to take just one example.
>The vagueness of it all underlines the potential
>for opportunism in Leninist doctrine re: nationalism.
The content & direction of a nationalist movement can only be understood through concrete analysis.
***** The categorical requirement of Marxist theory investigating any social question is that it be examined within definite historical limits, and, if it refers to a particular country (e.g., the national programme for a given country), that account be taken of the specific features distinguishing that country from others in the same historical epoch.
<http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1914/self-det/ch02.htm> *****
We live in the period of Pax Americana to which Israel & Zionism make no small contribution, so many leftists -- not just Leninists -- naturally consider Palestinian oppositions to them to be in some way progressive & worthy of (conditional) support. Zionism in particular & Jewish aspirations to nation-statehood in general, however, didn't always have the function of being an actual support for the hegemon, & such critics of Zionism & Israel as Norman G. Finkelstein are the first to emphasize this fact. It is not opportunism to recognize historical change.
Yoshie