Class and Nation: Problems of Socialist Nationalism

The strength of nationalism can be explained in terms of the malleability of the concept of the nation, which can be defined in very different ways, with consequently varying political implications. Socialism, in theory and practice, has had to respond to the appeal and force of nationalism. One possible response has been to take over and develop a form of left-wing nationalism, and this is illustrated by examples taken primarily from French socialist thought in the period before 1914. Such a form of socialist nationalism has its strengths, both theoretical and practical; but it also involves problems, notably the difficulty of maintaining the separation of a nationalism of the left from a right-wing nationalism with its anti-socialist and antidemocratic appeals.