Comrade Wolfies' Musings upon 'national Identity'

[Comrade Wolfie's Very Nearly Banned Adventures]

Yes, yes the concept of national identity is directly opposed to Internationalism, a central concept of all leftist thought, but I can't really think of another word to describe this concept, so bear with me! and complain after you've read this!

Assuming that when a revolution takes place it will do inside one nation, not even the most optimistic among us would assume a revolution would be world wide in its entirety, I intend to discuss my ideas on what would be the concepts, customs and identities central to a communistic state.

First of all I the 'communistic state' to which i refer is one, which ( I hope) many of you would support; that of a state of politically independent (Soviets/Workers Councils etc), yet untied by a common political system, as well as some common policies that cross over (foreign policy defense etc) all of them. Finally with a centralized economic system.

Right then, on to the actual discussion, if your still awake.

Once a revolution has occurred, undoubtedly all cultures within said state will be free to celebrate their own festivals and occasions, however what would bind all the various cultures in this state together? what will keep the Basques and Catalans together? what will keep the Scots and English living side by side. Clearly a common identity must be formed within the states' collective consciousness. Simple you might say, that of the working classes! that of revolution! and -Insert your personal political ideology here-!

I would disagree, to attempt to imbue each new nation from birth with a revolutionary ideology is brainwashing, replacing swearing allegiance to the flag by schoolchildren from a US flag to a Red flag is no better. Everyone should be free to find their own beliefs, just as we all have.

Yes, a national identity would be based on the beliefs we (well most of us, I'm looking at you Stalinists!) hold, but instead of being mindlessly smashed into childrens heads, our belifes in equailty freedom and true democracy should permeate society, surrouning and informing all parts of society. Such a identiy not based on notions of nationality, or on values that really only come from being born into a nation (such a Gallicness can't be taught), this would be (in some ways like the flawed and impossible U.S. idenity) would allow it to be applied to any new nations that are filled with revolutionary fervor and break away from their Capitalist shackles.

So then, what of the Soviet Union the spectre of (failed) communism that haunts leftists everywhere, what of their identity? In my opinion much of the Soviet Union retained a distictly Russian identity, The (bizzare) Russian fear of anyone west of St Petersburg, and strange allmost childish desire to be seen as a 'great' nation in the eyes of the world, Putin's Russia is the result of the collapse of this belife within Russia itself and an attept to restore greatness to 'the motherland', but i digress.

So then disscuss, critizies, poke holes in, and let the anarchists complain (that seems to be all they do??).

hugs and kisses,

Comrade Wolfie

(incidently, I am dislexic so appoligies for the massive spelling errors that cover this more than acne covers a 13 year old boy)

[Winter]

I would disagree, to attempt to imbue each new nation from birth with a revolutionary ideology is brainwashing, replacing swearing allegiance to the flag by schoolchildren from a US flag to a Red flag is no better. Everyone should be free to find their own beliefs, just as we all have.

Whether one likes it or not, indoctrination is an essential aspect of growing up. What a society holds dear and what a society deems taboo will automatically form the young individual. It's only at an older age a person can re-asses their views and choose what to keep and what to throw away. I grew up in America having to recite the pledge of alleigance everyday, yet, here I am, un-patriotic and anti-nationalistic.

It's impossible to keep a child's mind a blank slate until they're old enough to decide for themselves. In the meantime, society will effect the child, and there's nothing nobody can do about it.




Yes, a national identity would be based on the beliefs we (well most of us, I'm looking at you Stalinists!) hold, but instead of being mindlessly smashed into childrens heads, our belifes in equailty freedom and true democracy should permeate society, surrouning and informing all parts of society. Such a identiy not based on notions of nationality, or on values that really only come from being born into a nation (such a Gallicness can't be taught), this would be (in some ways like the flawed and impossible U.S. idenity) would allow it to be applied to any new nations that are filled with revolutionary fervor and break away from their Capitalist shackles.

You don't have to actively try to smash ideas into children's heads for them to absorb the concept of what a society values and rejects. BUT, I would add that if you're living in a country where a socialist revolution occured, and the rest of the world is un-friendly towards socialism, you're going to find alot of people gravitating towards a form of nationalism. So long as seperate states exist and are competing with one another, there will be something that unites the citizens of that country, and for lack of a better term, that would be nationalism.


So then, what of the Soviet Union the spectre of (failed) communism that haunts leftists everywhere, what of their identity?

The Soviet Union was the first great socialist success. Russia was the strong-hold for the world proletariat. They did pride themselves in the fact that they were Russians, but at the time same, they did not lose sight of their international responsibility towards the proletarians of the world. I believe nationalism too would whither away along with the state during the late stage of socialism. As I stated above, so long as there are seperate nations that compete/exploit one another, there will always be a unity that rallies its citizens together.

[Comrade Wolfie's Very Nearly Banned Adventures]

Whether one likes it or not, indoctrination is an essential aspect of growing up. What a society holds dear and what a society deems taboo will automatically form the young individual. It's only at an older age a person can re-asses their views and choose what to keep and what to throw away. I grew up in America having to recite the pledge of alleigance everyday, yet, here I am, un-patriotic and anti-nationalistic.

I accept that everyone born will still retain some part of their societies values, all of us here do, I am arguing to attempt to avoid trying to ingrain some form of strongly socialist ideology from birth, as the soviet Union tired to do, with young pioneers and Komsomol.



It's impossible to keep a child's mind a blank slate until they're old enough to decide for themselves. In the meantime, society will effect the child, and there's nothing nobody can do about it.

I agree, that's why I said this:


our belifes in equailty freedom and true democracy should permeate society, surrouning and informing all parts of society.



You don't have to actively try to smash ideas into children's heads for them to absorb the concept of what a society values and rejects. BUT, I would add that if you're living in a country where a socialist revolution occured, and the rest of the world is un-friendly towards socialism, you're going to find alot of people gravitating towards a form of nationalism. So long as seperate states exist and are competing with one another, there will be something that unites the citizens of that country, and for lack of a better term, that would be nationalism.

I fail to see why, Russian nationalism was already focused on a huge 'Us Vs Them' concept, the hostility felt by the Soviet Union only exacerbated this, for example, Chinese nationalism has only really resurfaced as its 'communist' aspects have declined, what unites people will not be common nationality (often a grey issue in many modern states with mass immigration, indigenous minorities etc)




The Soviet Union was the first great socialist success. Russia was the strong-hold for the world proletariat. They did pride themselves in the fact that they were Russians, but at the time same, they did not lose sight of their international responsibility towards the proletarians of the world. I believe nationalism too would whither away along with the state during the late stage of socialism. As I stated above, so long as there are seperate nations that compete/exploit one another, there will always be a unity that rallies its citizens together.

by crippling any revolution that did not take orders from the Kremlin? yes, very revolutionary.

I agree that their would be something that rallies citizens together, but it is not common nationality, it is the comradeship and brotherhood of a shared set of basic beliefs! Nationalism and factionalism has always lost out to a common set of beliefs, otherwise greece would still constitute of various polis and much of Europe would be divided between minor tribes with weird names like Iceni, Trinovates and other celtic nonsese.