Episode Details

The introductory lead off from the session, "Nationalism And The National Question", in the weekly online discussion programme of "Marxist ABCs". More online events: https://workersliberty.org/c19-online More recordings of public meetings: https://soundcloud.com/workers-liberty/sets/public-meetings Democracy is more than individual rights because people are more than individuals. They identify themselves as part of a community and, in the modern world, as part of a nation. From this reality stems the idea of "the right of nations to self determination". But nations also conquer and oppress other nations. And borders divide nations and peoples. Ultimately socialists want to abolish national divisions. Discussing how the revolutionary Marxist tradition has approached the national question. Reading • Basic issues: https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2011/07/14/socialists-and-national-question Further reading: • 1920 Communist International Theses on the national question: https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2017-07-26/communist-international-1920-theses-national-and-colonial-question • The case of Catalonia: https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2019-10-23/free-catalan-political-prisoners • Civil ware in ex-Yugoslavia https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2019-06-05/break-yugoslavia • Populism (nationalism's twin) https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2019-11-20/populism-dead-end-left Much more reading https://www.workersliberty.org/nationalism-and-national-question