Against progressive patriotism
From La France Insoumise, to Podemos, to the ‘Communist’ Party of Britain, a number of figures and groups on the left believe that rallying around the national flag is the best way to attract the support of the working class.
This opportunism goes back a long way. Both the reformists and the Stalinists have tended to bend to the chauvinism of the ruling class, leading to the betrayal of workers and oppressed peoples.
As communists, we understand that the working class has no nation, and that reshaping or filling nationalities with a ‘progressive’ content cannot lead the masses to emancipation.
In this talk, Jack Tye Wilson will show why communists must reject these siren calls for ‘progressive’ patriotism. Instead, we must put forward a programme of proletarian internationalism. Only on this basis can the world working class achieve its common interests.
Recommended reading: ‘Left patriotism’: An opportunist disorder
Further reading: Marxism and the National Question / Critical remarks on the national question – V.I. Lenin
Recommended listening:
