Letter: National cultures within socialism (1987)

Letter to the Editors from the November 1987 issue of the Socialist Standard

National cultures within socialism

Dear Editors.

How pleasing it was to read Steve Coleman’s support for national cultures (though it’s true he refers to ’’local areas", a term which nationalists with whom I am in contact would not quarrel with). He would be pleased to know that there are very many on the ’’fringe" of Plaid Cymru who hold Steve Coleman's view that some nationalists do not indeed want to be dominated by capitalists, and that their nationalism arises from a desire to be masters of their own destiny, on their own patch of ground and at the same time aware of their rights and duty to society in general throughout the world. This must include a natural pride in their own contribution which can only be made by nurturing its own distinctive culture including its indigenous language. Regarding the latter, the Socialist Standard itself paid a compliment by printing an article in the Welsh language - something which did not go unnoticed by the Marxist-thinking element on the edge of Plaid Cymru. (I refer to the SS of July 1969.) Such understanding of the nature of Welsh and Scottish nationalism is to be expected of a party like the SPGB who speak of the international nature of socialism inasmuch as internationalism has no meaning without its constituent parts, ie nations.

Speaking of the Marxist influence among present Welsh nationalists. I quote Gareth Miles, a member of the Marxist "fringe" movement within Plaid Cymru, as follows: "A nation's language is part of its cultural heritage and its continuation, growth or decay depends on the social conditions prevailing”. He continues: "There is already in existence a philosophy which, if adopted, could solve the ideological problems of its nationalists — its name is socialism". This is in line with Steve’s statement about a society, local area or what you will wherein people can control their own lives or. as he puts it, "one that they can call their own".

Gareth Miles exposes the fallacious thinking within the nationalist party: "Some of the leaders of Plaid Cymru claim it to be a socialist party — that is not true. It does not look to the creation of a socialist Wales. Its aim is to fashion for Wales a more effective capitalist system than exists at present. Its policies are not different from Labour's". The Editor of Welsh Socialism emphasises this theme: "it is vital that we recognise that we are merely another part of the international capitalist economy . . . I believe that the answer. . . lies in international socialism with the establishment of a world socialist order". (The writer is an active member of the Welsh Republicans, a body which is antagonistic to what is described as loony anarchism or Stalinism.) Miles, in the pamphlet A Free Wales, points out to the Nationalists in no uncertain manner: "A government which would try to operate capitalism in a Welsh way would be a servile one to outside capitalist corporations . . . in such a crude materialistic climate every language other than a commercial language is a valueless anachronism. Profit not culture is the ideal"

While we see a measure of unanimity between Steve Coleman and spokesmen on the fringe of the Welsh nationalist party, it would be interesting to remind ourselves of other thinkers and writers of the past. One such a person was Rudolph Rocker whose manuscript Nationalism and Culture was published in English in 1937. This scholarly work explains how. in terms which pre-date Steve’s statement on the nature of nationalism, pride in one's homeland is not patriotism or love of the state but a natural love of familiar surroundings. one's friends and of a culture that has grown out of the soil. Rocker insists that the alchemy which exploits this natural feeling into a love of the state is: "One of the most grotesque phenomena of all time". (How many readers today remember Lord Baden Powell's book Scouting for Boys wherein is found a classic example of this: ”. . . be prepared to die for your country if need be. so that when the moment arrives you may charge home not caring whether you are to be killed or not".

Many present-day members of Plaid Cymru are aware that that party has equated its so-called socialism with that of the Labour Party and there is much to be grateful for that they are no longer hoodwinked. The pamphlet. Welsh Socialism. asks the question "Who will formulate a revolutionary policy for us?” and answers it by saying "Who but you and me?". In other words the thinking is that of Clause 5 of the SPGB. ie "The emancipation of the working class must be the work of the working class itself. There is. it seems to me. much hope inasmuch as the republican/Marxism element of Plaid Cymru can state openly: ". . . the answer lies in international socialism and the establishment of a world socialist order”. It seems to me that workers holding such a view can no longer afford to fight the class struggle in isolated political boxes.

Steve Coleman invites all workers by saying: ". . . let us unite as a class". A great idea! Would he agree that a class is but an economic concept and as such the skeleton of production for use must be clothed with the rich and diverse cultures of the world s ethnic/national/regional groups, if life is to be lived to the full?

In the present worldwide uniformity of the capitalist "blanket" we have reached the position where the only cultural forms which are "pushed" are those which are tied to profit-making. "Big is beautiful ”, is the philosophy and small organisations (and indeed nations) must fare as best they can. Welsh people know this to their cost and one would suppose that the SPGB in its day-to-day struggle against the overwhelming propaganda of the capitalist machine also knows it.

"Gyfaill"

Cwmdeall, Trecynnon 

Reply:

Socialists are opposed to all nationalism: the workers of the world have no country. As our correspondent recognises, there is a difference between political nationalism and the desire of people to retain or revive their own cultural traditions and identities.

Our correspondent is mistaken in suggesting that the difference between national cultures and regional cultures is of merely pedantic significance. While socialists support fully the aims of our fellow workers who wish to live in particular localities in cultural conditions which are not imposed upon them from without, we are opposed totally to those who seek to establish "national cultures ”. To take Wales as an example, we have little doubt that within a socialist society many Welsh people will choose to use their own, native language and to maintain Welsh traditions of living. Those who decide to develop their cultural Welshness will not be discriminated against for so doing or denied free access to the common store of social goods and services, even if they constitute a very small minority. But they will not be living their culture within a nation called Wales, for, like all other nations, that country will not exist. In a world socialist society there will be no national frontiers, there will be no presiding states. Rather than there being a single Wales, embodying its own national culture, which is what nationalists aim to achieve, a socialist society will respect the various local cultures which exist within the administrative territory which is now lumped together as Wales. Socialists are aware of the danger which nationalism poses of creating new states which then impose their own national cultures, often at the expense of local cultures which are then discriminated against. For example, would a new Scottish state, so desired by the SNP, impose the cultural norms of urban industrial Scottish capitalists upon rural highlanders? Would a united Palestine under the PLO be tolerant towards ethnic minorities within a new Palestinian state? Under capitalism, with its national powers, we have every reason to believe that the gain of the right to a national culture for some will mean cultural oppression for others who lack economic power. The case of the Eskimo minority in Greenland is instructive. The Eskimo language is called by three different names, depending upon whether you live in Canada (where it is called Inukitut). Alaska (Inupit) or Greenland (Kalaalisut). In Greenland, where books in Eskimo language are published with government funding, the Eskimos’ main complaint is the destruction of their linguistic culture by Danish and English. But in Canada and Alaska the Eskimos have an additional grievance: most books published in Greenland are inaccessible to them because they are written in Kalaalisut. This shows how absurd it would be for capitalism to attempt to create some kind of "right” for a single Eskimo culture to exist. In a socialist society the world's 100.000 Eskimos will not only be able to live their own cultures if they so choose, but will be free to do so in accordance with local variations.

The Socialist Party does not stand for international socialism, but world socialism. In a socialist society there will be no nations to unite.

We are pleased to be alerted to the existence of people on the fringes of Welsh nationalism who recognise the capitalist outcome of a Welsh nation, the anti-socialist nature of the Labour Party and the need for workers to emancipate themselves without leaders We look forward to talking with such people, but under no circumstances would we compromise our hostility to all nationalist movements. and nor can we see any possible future for such people within a party which is fighting a losing battle to create yet another rotten capitalist state. 

The Editors.