Internationalism
With the fascist-reactionary wave that is wavering in Europe it is necessary for the working class movements to take back one of it's best ideals: international solidarity. Though the Social Democrats have long since turned it into the same thing as all "solidarity": some sort of loose, moral code to follow, it is more than that. It is one of the most important cornerstones of socialism. If I don't protect my neighbour, how can he protect me? The tragic consequences of the failiure of the First Internationale in World War I is the typical example of what happens when the working class is split on national issues.
International solidarity is not just a question of the Prisoners Dilemma, however. It is also a reservoir of strength in the ability to organize, maintain structure and carry on the long history of the working class in a more continous fashion than what can be done in a single nation or region. With the European Union battered but not broken and with a world that - even if the globalists are wrong - is shrinking, we have to pose an alternative. Tactically, it can sometimes be useful to rally around a nation-state as a bastion for parliamentary power but strategically it is devastating.
There are more trans-continental unions now, but I fear that the communists have lost their internationalism in the long retreat since the Soviet Union fell (a stupid, but understandeable response: I suppose that the Left still had some hope for the Union somewhere deep down. But even the Trots were in disarray). However, to regroup and recuperate we must have a new Internationale - or something alike it. Most reformed communist parties are now wavering somewhere in the air of liberal humanism or social democratic reformism. I'm not so sure that Communism or Social Democracy (as the two terms originally meant) are such good labels anymore, but I won't get into that more on this post.
International solidarity is not just a question of the Prisoners Dilemma, however. It is also a reservoir of strength in the ability to organize, maintain structure and carry on the long history of the working class in a more continous fashion than what can be done in a single nation or region. With the European Union battered but not broken and with a world that - even if the globalists are wrong - is shrinking, we have to pose an alternative. Tactically, it can sometimes be useful to rally around a nation-state as a bastion for parliamentary power but strategically it is devastating.
There are more trans-continental unions now, but I fear that the communists have lost their internationalism in the long retreat since the Soviet Union fell (a stupid, but understandeable response: I suppose that the Left still had some hope for the Union somewhere deep down. But even the Trots were in disarray). However, to regroup and recuperate we must have a new Internationale - or something alike it. Most reformed communist parties are now wavering somewhere in the air of liberal humanism or social democratic reformism. I'm not so sure that Communism or Social Democracy (as the two terms originally meant) are such good labels anymore, but I won't get into that more on this post.
Labels: Internationalism
posted by Björn at 3:19 PM
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