The National Question

kurdish rally

The tremendous crisis of capitalism is bringing to the surface all the system’s old contradictions. Instability, polarisation and huge political shifts are on the order of the day. As part of this process, unsolved national questions are erupting once more around the globe. Millions of oppressed people are striving for a way out of the impasse. This striving can take the form of renewed national movements. On the other hand, as the struggle between the national gangs of capitalists becomes more intense, the ruling class pollutes the atmosphere of the whole world with the fumes of national hatred.

For Marxists, the national question is one of the most challenging we face. There is no simple, magic formula for all times and all places. Rather, it is necessary to study each national question in its historical evolution. Marxists must carefully distinguish between what is progressive and what is reactionary in any national movement, as a surgeon carefully distinguishes between healthy and diseased tissue. Above all, we take as our starting point the need to unite the working class on a worldwide scale for the overthrow of international capital.

From Marx’s writings on Ireland and India, to Lenin’s extensive writings on the national question, to the works of James Connolly, there is a tremendous treasure trove of Marxist literature dealing with the subject. For today’s revolutionaries, it represents an indispensable arsenal in the struggle to overthrow capitalism.

Title Created Date Author
What was Lenin's real position on the Ukrainian national question? 22 February 2022 V. I. Lenin
Ireland: ‘Common History, Common Struggle’ – from an error of emphasis to opportunism 20 February 2020 Ben Curry
Long live the general strike in Catalonia! Freedom for the political prisoners! 18 October 2019 Lucha de Clases
IMT rejects jail sentences for Catalan political prisoners 14 October 2019 In Defence of Marxism
Catalan comrades of the IMT say: freedom for political prisoners! For mass mobilisations against the sentences! 14 October 2019 L'Octubre
Marxists and the National Question 04 July 2019 Ben Curry
Why Marxists oppose immigration controls 20 December 2018 Niklas Albin Svensson
One year after the Catalan “Republican October”: a balance sheet and some conclusions 20 September 2018 Jordi Martorell – REVOLUCIÓ
[Audio] Marxism and the national question 10 July 2018 In Defence of Marxism
[Video] Syria, Turkey, and the Oppression of the Kurds 01 June 2018 Socialist Appeal (UK)
For a Republican Anti-Repression Front in Catalonia and the Spanish state! Down with the 1978 regime! 29 March 2018 Lucha de Clases
Greece and Macedonia: ‘Unite against our common enemy!’ 14 March 2018 Epanastasi, paper of the IMT in Greece
The Nigerian State and the National Question: A genuine Marxist approach 27 September 2017 Rashy
[Video] The National Question in the Russian Revolution 15 September 2017 Jorge Martin
The independence referendum and the Catalan national question 28 July 2017 Arturo Rodríguez