by _JustAPotato
We communists are fundamentally internationalist. Marx and Engels write in the Manifesto of the Communist Party (1848):
»Workers have no fatherland. You cannot take away what they do not possess.«
And further:
»The worker has more in common with the worker of another country than with the capitalist of his own.« (Paraphrased, principle of international solidarity)
This is the clear foundation of our movement. We distinguish ourselves sharply from other labor movements or parties that promote national or even reactionary divisions. Our goal is a classless society, free from state, capitalism, and exploitation. But before we reach this goal, an indispensable transitional phase lies ahead of us: socialism and the dictatorship of the proletariat. The dictatorship of the proletariat means that the ruling class of capitalists is overthrown by the political power of the majority—the working class. In this phase, the proletariat uses state power to socialize the means of production, suppress the resistance of the bourgeoisie, and lay the foundations for socialism. In socialism, the means of production are collectivized, and the remaining class residues are “re-educated” by the communist party— preparing the way for the classless communist society. At the same time, the socialist state must be defended against the imperialist forces of the international ruling class.
In this transitional phase, the working class needs an extra form of unity and mobilization: revolutionary patriotism.
Simply emphasizing class position as a mobilization strategy is no longer sufficient. Because your international proletarian comrades—who should actually be brothers in the class struggle—are incited against each other by imperialist propaganda and threaten to destroy your revolutionary state. That is why revolutionary patriotism is necessary: to defend the state established by the working class—as a concrete, living unity that transcends national borders but simultaneously protects the common ownership and achievements of socialism. Revolutionary patriotism gives workers a clear, militant reason to stand up for the defense of their socialist fatherland—against imperialist aggression and division.
Revolutionary nationalism is not reactionary but a strategic necessity of the communist movement. It fundamentally differs from bourgeois nationalism, which today is often misused as a chauvinistic or imperialist ideology. Revolutionary nationalism aims at liberation and independence from the imperialist pigs and the creation of an own state, often in alliance with socialist movements.
Examples include the Palestinian liberation struggle (PFLP), the Irish war of independence (IRA), Korean nationalism against US Imperialism, and anti-colonial movements in the global South. These liberation struggles decisively weaken the imperialist international bourgeoisie and strengthen the worldwide proletarian fight—they must therefore be actively supported by all the communist parties and organizations.