National Sections of the L5I:

Nationalism

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Marxism and the national question

The collapse of Stalinism has seen nationalist wars erupt in Yugoslavia and the former USSR. The unity of numerous “third world” states is also challenged by a new wave of national struggles. Marxism has a rich tradition of analysis on the national question, yet the lie is still repeated that there lies its Achilles’ heel. Dave Stockton looks at the classical period of this analysis Read more...

Marxism and the national question

The collapse of Stalinism has seen nationalist wars erupt in Yugoslavia and the former USSR. The unity of numerous “third world” states is also challenged by a new wave of national struggles. Marxism has a rich tradition of analysis on the national question, yet the lie is still repeated that there lies its Achilles’ heel. Dave Stockton looks at the classical period of this analysis Read more...

MRCI Theses: The anti-imperialist united front

The overthrow of Marcos, the growth of Sinn Fein, the struggle of the Tamils for Eelam all involve a conflict with imperialist or a fight for bourgeois democratic demands rights. These theses of the MRCI outline the tactics of communists towards non-proletarian classes in this struggle Read more...

France: On tactics towards the Gilets Jaunes

The Gilets Jaunes (yellow vests) are spreading around Europe and gaining support and sympathy from a wide variety of political forces, from the extreme right to the radical left. Read more...

The British far left and the European referendum

Nearly 41 years on from the last time they voted on it, Britons will go to the polls on 23 June to decide whether to remain in the European Union or to leave it. Read more...

Theses on the Middle East and North Africa

Middle East and North Africa Theses: revolution and counter-revolution in the Arab Spring. Adopted by International Executive Committee, June 29th, 2014 Read more...

The revolutionary wave in the Middle East and North Africa

The revolutions and mass struggles that have gripped the Middle East and North Africa will change history - every dictator now trembles in fear at the possibility of a popular uprising against their rule. In the West the imperialist powers look on nervously as loyal regimes come under sustained protest which threatens to topple crucial allies. This resolution, adopted by the International Executive Committee of the League for the Fifth International outlines the perspectives for the revolutionary movement and the importance of the fight for working class power. Read more...

The anti-imperialist united front, its applications, possibilities and limitations

Simon Hardy examines the united front tactic against imperialism and how it can be used for revolutionary goals Read more...

Boycott apartheid Israel

Israel’s siege of Gaza since June 2007, its indiscriminate bombardment of Gaza’s people in December 2008 and January 2009, and now its attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla have all brought about an increased momentum in favour of the campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS). Read more...

On the Sino-Japanese War

Article by Leon Trotsky, published in the Internal Bulletin, Organizing Committee for the Socialist Party Convention (New York), no. 1, in October 1937. Taken from Marxists Internet Archive

This article outlines Trotsky's views on the anti imperialist united front front, in relation to the invasion of China by Japan in 1937 Read more...

Leon Trotsky - Three Concepts of the Russian Revolution

An article by Leon Trotsky written in August 1939 in which he outlines the debates about the nature of the Russian revolution and explains how the strategy of permanent revolution Read more...

Marxism and the National Question in Latin America

The development of capitalism presupposes the destruction of the fetters of feudalism and the creation of a national bourgeoisie, an internal market and state. During the last century the great European nations achieved their unification on the basis of wars in which the bourgeoisie played an historically revolutionary role. This enabled them subsequently to develop as modern imperialist powers. The western European nations and North America were constructed as oppressor nations which would go on to enrich themselves by the plunder and oppression of other nations.
In Latin America it has not been possible to resolve the tasks of national unification in the same way that other democratic tasks (agrarian reform, national sovereignty, full democracy) have not been able to be fully completed. Read more...

Socialism and "backward" countries

How and why do revolutions happen in 'undeveloped' countries? Read more...

Iraq and Imperialism

The recent crisis in Iraq has revived a debate on where socialists should stand in the event of an armed conflict between the US/UK and Saddam’s regime. The answer lies in a clear understanding of Iraq’s status in the world capitalist order. Keith Harvey and Richard Brenner investigate the history of Iraq and explain its continued subordination to western imperialism. Read more...

Forging the nation? The failure of third world nationalism

Dave Stockton continues a series on Marxism and the National Question with a survey of the development and fragmentation of national consciousness under the impact of colonialism. Read more...

Capitalism and nationalism in the “Third World”

After the 1982 debt crisis the IMF wielded a big stick over the semi-colonial countries. At the same time it dangled a very small carrot a considerable distance ahead of them. To make themselves credit worthy once again and attractive to foreign investors they would have to slash state budgets, strive for a balance of payments equilibrium and exchange rate stability. They would have to abandon all attempts at import substitution and orient their production to maximise export earnings. Finally they were obliged to auction their state assets to the highest bidder. For the big banks the purpose of this programme was clear. Read more...

Capitalism and nationalism in the “Third World”

After the 1982 debt crisis the IMF wielded a big stick over the semi-colonial countries. At the same time it dangled a very small carrot a considerable distance ahead of them. To make themselves credit worthy once again and attractive to foreign investors they would have to slash state budgets, strive for a balance of payments equilibrium and exchange rate stability. They would have to abandon all attempts at import substitution and orient their production to maximise export earnings. Finally they were obliged to auction their state assets to the highest bidder. For the big banks the purpose of this programme was clear. Read more...

The Bolsheviks and the National Question: uniting theory and practice, 1913-1923

The Bolshevik programme for the national question was developed out of a critique of the experience of the Second International in the years up to and including the First World War. It was a revolutionary policy hammered out in response to a new period of capitalist development ushered in by imperialism. Dave Stockton looks at the debates within Russian social-democracy up to the the Russian revolution of 1917 and examines the policy of the Bolsheviks at the head of a young Soviet State trying to resolve the problem of national oppression within the former Tsarist empire. The contrast with Stalin’s later actions in respect of non-Russian minorities is thereby all the more obvious. Read more...

Are the Bosnian Muslims a nation?

The proposed settlement over the partition of Bosnia-Herzegovina is a big blow against the longstanding multi-ethnic character of the old republic in former Yugoslavia. For centuries economic and political developments have combined to prevent the Bosnian Muslims, in particular, from attaining a national consciousness. Michael Gatter explores the reasons for this, and asks what difference the experience of war has made. Read more...

Nationalism, Nation States and National Liberation

The national question has been an ongoing issue for Marxists since the middle of the 19th century. How can revolutionary socialists best answer the question of national oppression, something that is of particular relevance in the epoch of imperialism and globalisation when national oppression has again taken on a colonialist character, for instance in Iraq and Afghanistan? This work was produced by the League in the mid 90's and represents a thorough and comprehensive view of the struggle for national liberation across the world. Read more...

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