Nationalism and Class Consciousness

Re the previous post on nationalism. It never fails to surprise me and always angers me when working people still after all these decades hook into national pride-as if the American or Canadian or whatever capitalist class has anything in common with me and my life as a worker other than the sharing of some geographical space on the planet.

Particularly in this period of globalization and neo-liberalism when it should be clear to all working people that capital recognizes no borders in their greedy quest for profit and organizes internationally to attack working people and the poor, why do we still cling so hard to our national identities and sentiments. Is it not evident that the workers in France and the UK, Canada and the US for instance are experiencing the same attacks on our jobs, pensions, wages, working conditions and public services and that we are all basically suffering in the same way for the same reasons? That workers in Indonesia and Mexico and China have only the same struggles and misery , suffer the same even worse exploitation and the root causes are identical in essence- profit for the capitalists as class.

And then we have all the subdivisions of identity-gender, race ,disabilty-you name it, that the ruling class loves to exploit. Yes we must fight sexism and racism and all the isms-few would question that but we must do it consciously and collectively as working class people united to fight against all the ways capitalism and imperialism has divided, abused and pitted us against each other.

I am a woman-but so are Hilary Clinton and Margaret Thatcher. Obama is a black man -but he has nothing in common with the jobless, half-jobless black worker fighting to feed herself and her family, and fend off banks and the sheriff, fight with the education system and deprived of health care.
Recognizing and fighting all the ways the ruling class has divided us and turned us against each other , fighting all layers of oppression is work we have to do as working people united together across all borders .

But this nationalism stuff-it is absurd. I remember long before I became a socialist I refused to sing the national anthem anywhere and how embarrassed my little son would be at school or sport events when I would sit when everyone else stood to praise and extol the virtues of being CANADIAN in song. But I explained it to him and to this day he understands the absurdity of it.

Sure the various national bourgeoisie have their squabbles, trade wars and protectionist threats etc etc-but they ARE the G8 and the G20 and do their planning together as a class against working people and the public services we all fought for collectively-so we must do our planning and fighting together as a class.

How do we get people across identities and separations of race and gender for example to start thinking of ourselves as having our most basic interests in common as working and poor people?

It is a huge project and everytime we break through the divisions imposed upon us , whether on a picket line, in the throes of a community struggle to protect education or health care or welfare, on the job we are certain that efforts will be made to break that solidarity among us a working people. The development of an international class consciousness, the sharing of stories and struggles and fights against the bosses, the banks and the politicians, across national boundaries and ideological boundaries of race and gender -send shivers down the spine of the ruling class internationally and they will do everything and anything to fight back. They have all kinds of solidarity across national, ethnic, colour and gender lines!

Not only the media but our own labour leaders in reality are complicit depending on their priorities. I get labour council bulletins every week. Last one reported on the attacks on workers, the poor and pensioners in the UK-nothing wrong with that-promotes a collective sense of ourselves as in the same mess , facing the same attacks on our jobs , services and living standards in one form or another to some degree or another - but they said nary a word when in fact the workers and students , old and young were on the streets in the millions on France as the bulletin went out. I guess it is ok to point out common misery sometimes but NOT ok to point to common examples of militant struggle and working people organized to go on the offensive.

Just might give us some ideas!