Session 17 Nationalism and Communism –

Szporluk Reading

► Catalan Nationalism in Comparative

Perspective

► IESBarcelona
► FALL 2007 PROGRAM

► Instructor: Andrew Davis

► e-mail: ad374@iesbarcelona.org
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 Communism
► Marx’s impact can only be compared
with that of religious figures like Jesus
or Muhammad.
► For much of the 20th century, nearly 4
out of every 10 people on earth lived
under governments that considered
themselves Marxist/Communist.

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 Marx
► Engels claimed at Marx’s funeral that
his real mission in life was to:
► ‘contribute, in one way or another, to
the overthrow of capitalist society and
of the state institutions which it had
brought into being, to contribute to the
liberation of the modern proletariat…’

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 Communism
► Communism is an ideology that seeks
to establish a classless, stateless
social organization based on common
ownership of the means of production.
► It is usually considered a branch of the
broader socialist movement that draws
on the various political and intellectual
movements that trace their origins
back to the work of Karl Marx.
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 Marxism
► Capitalism is bound to self-destruction.
Oppression unavoidably will awake the
working class, they will realize of their
common interests and pursue them. Class-
consciousness.
► Once class conscious, they will rise in arms
against the state to destroy it.
► 1st: revolution of the proletariat
► 2nd: dictatorship of the proletariat.
► 3rd destruction of the superstructure (the
capitalist state)
► 4rth: communist society
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 The Communist Manifesto

► ‘National differences are disappearing, one

world literature is emerging, the world
market is subjecting backward nations to
the rule of those more advanced, and the
workers have no country’
►
„...the bourgeoisie has left no other bond
between man and man than naked self
interest...”

► Where did all this come from? What was the

context? 6
 Historical context of
Communism
► 19th century time of great change overall –
revolutions of 1848.
► German question. 1870 Germany becomes a
unified state. German nationalism very
much associated to modernization,
industrialization.
► Competition among national economies and
industries engenders harsh conditions for
working classes and a small elite to prosper.
► Marxism/Communism offers another
explanation/hope for some.
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 Friedrich List, the anti-
Communist?
Economics based on nations
► …or why nations are important.
► List contrasted the economic behavior
of an individual with that of a nation.
► An individual promotes only his own
personal interests but a state fosters
the welfare of all its citizens.

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 Friedrich List
► An individual may prosper from
activities which harm the interests of a
nation. "Slavery may be a public
calamity for a country, nevertheless
some people may do very well in
carrying on the slave trade and in
holding slaves.“
► Free and open trade will never allow
industrializing societies to catch up –
need protection of nation.
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 Economic Nationalism
► Main goal:
 Internal development of the national
economy

► Advocates:
 Alexander Hamilton (USA, 1755-1804)
 Friedrich List (Germany, 1789-1846)

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 Economic Nationalism

► State policies:
 Trade protection
 Protection of infant industries
 Promoting of domestic industries
►Subsidies  internal and external
competitiveness

 Manufacturing was considered more

important than agriculture
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Nationalism and Communism

► What are the similarities between the

two?
► Differences?

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 Parallels between Marxism and
Nationalism

► Both have strong ties to industrialism

► Both offer a primordial or at the very
least a ‘natural order’ definition of
communities
► Pre-existence and objectivity of
interests of those communities.

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 Nationalism vs Marxism II
► Szporluk goes beyond the traditional
notion of the proletariat organizing
against the political economy
(capitalism and its effects)
► He argues, Communism not only a
reaction to political economy, but it is
also a reaction to conceptualization of
nations.

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 Nationalism vs Marxism II

► Tripolar relationship
► Communism – which disagrees with
the political economy of capitalism
► Communism – which disagrees with
nationalism and society based on
nations.

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 Where did Marx go wrong?
► Of course, we never see the global
Communist revolt predicted by Marx.
Why?
► Severely underestimated the lure of
(German and other) nationalism
► Equally mistaken about the 1848
revolutions. They took their power
from idea of nation.
► Underestimated the power of the state
and significance of national boundaries
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