National question

[Искра]

I'm writing an article on national question and left.

So far I read discussion between Lenin and Luxembourg and now I'm reading Stalin (Marxism and national-colonial issues). I also read few stuff on web site of International Communist Current.

I'm interested here in good books or articles, both theoretical and historical, on the national question. I don't care about tendency and I don't care if they are pro or against national question.

Also, anything about China, Vietnam or Cambodia on this matter would be realy good since I don't know much about movement there (except Mao Tse Tung's theoretical work).

Thank you :)

[Alf]

Hello
Jurko
Which articles did you read on the ICC website? What did you think about them?

[Os Cangaceiros]

You may be interested in Anarchism And The National Liberation Struggle, by Alfredo Bonanno. It was written in response to the situation relating to Sicilian national liberation during the 1970's. It contains a line that pretty much incapsulates the correct anarchist position in regards to nat-lib struggles (IMHO): "Anarchists refuse to participate in national liberation fronts, they participate in class fronts which may or may not be involved in national liberation struggles."

[Savage]

http://www.revleft.com/vb/group.php?do=discuss&group=&discussionid=4576 If you haven't skimmed through this discussion it's probably worth while, mind you, If you've already got the Left Communist perspective then your probably on top of this already.

[Soseloshvili]

Nègres Blanc d'Amérique or its English translation White Niggers of America by Pierre Vallières is good.

It will give you the perspective of a Communist group called the Front de Libération du Québec (FLQ) which sought liberation for the francophone nation of Québec from the rest of Canada in the 1960s and 1970s, and ended up being fairly populist.

It's pretty good because it shows that in many cases, class war and national liberation are very much so entangled.

It's more of an example of the left and the national question than a philosophical inquiry, though.

[Искра]

Which articles did you read on the ICC website? What did you think about them?
http://en.internationalism.org/series/339
I read the first two so far, but I'm planning to read them whole. I think that they are good, but in order to discuss this question I need a lot of reading.

Savage thx for link :)

Soseloshvili, aslo :)

Explosive Situation... uf :) I read few Bonanno's works and to be honest I'm scared to read more :D But, of course I'll check it out. Thank you for remining me on that text.

[blake 3:17]

Benedict Anderson's Imagined Communities is excellent. It was instigated by the theoretical problems presented by the conflicts between Cambodia, Vietnam and China. It's an attempt at a Marxist theory of nations and national consciousness.

[milk]

What do you want or need with regard to Cambodia, Vietnam and China? The conflict between them, from the late 1970s, or about them and nationalism in general?

[Soseloshvili]

Nègres Blanc d'Amérique or its English translation White Niggers of America by Pierre Vallières is good.

It will give you the perspective of a Communist group called the Front de Libération du Québec (FLQ) which sought liberation for the francophone nation of Québec from the rest of Canada in the 1960s and 1970s, and ended up being fairly populist.

It's pretty good because it shows that in many cases, class war and national liberation are very much so entangled.

It's more of an example of the left and the national question than a philosophical inquiry, though.

If you don't want to go out and buy the book, Vallières was a prolific writer and fortunately most of his smaller works have been compiled by the Marxist Internet Archive:

http://www.marxists.org/history/canada/quebec/flq/index.htm

Not only does he write about Québec, he writes about struggles he considers to be related - the struggle for liberation in Algeria, Vietnam, etc.

[Искра]

What do you want or need with regard to Cambodia, Vietnam and China? The conflict between them, from the late 1970s, or about them and nationalism in general?
In general. As far as I know all those movements were marxist-leninist (maoist?) but really infulenced with (extreame) nationalism. So, I would like to read more about that etc.

[milk]

Benedict Anderson's Imagined Communities, is here (http://hongweibing.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/benedict-anderson-imagined-communities.pdf).

[SocialismOrBarbarism]

Here's a work analyzing the national question in the context of the changes in the world economy that have taken place in the past few decades. It's in the form of a polemic which I'm not sure if you'll mind or not but I think it should still be helpful:

http://www.wsws.org/exhibits/slreply/toc.htm#part6

[Zanthorus]

You can usually find some glimpses of truth in the writings of Bordigist whacko's, so I guess Programma Comunista's 'Marxism and the National Issue (http://www.internationalcommunistparty.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=53:marxism-and-the-national-issue-nd13-2006&catid=35:internationalist-papers-2006&Itemid=55)' could be worth a read.

[DDR]

Well there's lots of wors from a leftist perspective about the NQ, but right now it comes to mind:

Fatherland and Nationality - Bakunin
The right of nations to selfdetermination - Lenin
On the Slogan for a United States of Europe - Lenin
Marxism and the national question - Stalin
Leninism and the liberation of the oppressed peoples - Ho Chi Min
Socialism and Nationalism - James Connolly

[Android]

Junge Linke's affiliate in Britain, the Wine and Chesse Appreciation Society of Greater London published a text 'Why Anti-National?' (http://libcom.org/library/why-anti-national) which is an interesting attempt to explain continuing appeal of nationalism.