De-Americanization and National Liberation

By Comrade Moises

"More than 100 nations and nationalities live in the USSR" - Soviet poster, 1979

As seen throughout history, even when worker states are established, reactionary tendencies from bourgeois society remain. Remnants of the capitalist mode of production, reactionary cultural practices, and through my analysis, possibly the most prominent is nationalist nostalgia for life before liberation as seen with Cuba, China, USSR, etc.

The attempt I see from Liberals and some Marxist from amongst the right opposition who attempt to prioritize the American national identity will realize that in return it will most likely ruin any movement’s momentum. Americanization is assimilation. It wasn't just this spontaneous phenomenon, it was the slow paced introduction of reactionary Anglo-Saxon European ideas and way of life. Participation in the broader American culture isn’t Americanization, it’s the adoption of the American’ mindset which is inherently individualistic, and bourgeois. Within the prison house of nations, the people within have adapted and developed their own nations. 

“A historically evolved, stable community of language, territory, economic life, and psychological make-up manifested in a community of culture” - J.V. Stalin - Marxism and the National Question

This is why separation from the American National identity is crucial for the liberation of all nations within the United States. The attempt to further Americanize and assimilate groups of people, the sooner revolutionary organizers will realize how much harder it will be to push for class liberation. Communists should never push for one single American national identity, as the historical development and the material conditions of American capitalist society is fundamentally different from the conditions of China post the great patriotic war, and post feudal-USSR, etc. If there’s one circumstantial lesson we’ve learned from the past, that being the same reason comrades from previous successful proletarian revolutions learned which is the prioritization of class struggle, and national liberation movements. Attempting to create a monolith or assimilate to one national American identity will never get the full support of the masses solely because of how inherently bourgeois, Individualistically liberal the American identity is. Most would even say a corrupted identity that is past saving. I would agree. 

     The attempt to appeal to one side of an American bourgeois culture war is only shooting oneself in the foot, Advanced Marxists should be meeting those that are amongst the moderate proletariat where they’re at, but to exhaust energy on those amongst the backwards i.e. fascist, white supremecists, Imperialists, and those amongst the bourgeois state apparatus is a complete waste of time. It should be highlighted that we should also counter and discourage reactionary tendencies from either side of the bourgeois cultural war, from influencing our own political views. Americanization has forced those of ethnic backgrounds to adapt and to assimilate, those not willing in the eye of an anglo settler, will never be a real American, encouraging them to forget their people's way of life. To the principled Marxist, Americanization and the American Identity should be seen as erasure of culture from around the world. Domestically and intentionally, the United States imperialist hegemony reaches globally with the advancement of the internet and mode of communication, the degeneracy of Liberal democracy spreads. We must at all times resist and extinguish the notion of liberalism and Americanization.

On Chicanos and Other National Liberation Struggles 

It’s important for advanced marxists from within these struggles to be guided by internationalist values and the immortal science of Marxism-Leninism or Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. It’s important that Marxists highlight the urgent need to center decolonial struggles against the Americanization forced upon the world, in my perspective the Chicano nation, post failed Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo which guaranteed us our autonomy, and our way of life was stripped, the government never properly upholding said treaty. Chicanos and other diasporas separated from their motherland should be encouraged to reclaim their roots, to respectfully re-tribalize if it applies and if they seek the need to. It’s recommended to also reconnect with Mexico or their respective countries, and to reclaim what’s rightfully the proletariats - the land and the means of production. The many Indigenous nations within the southwest should be granted and protected rights to their respective lands, the attempt at indigenous erasure targeted at tribalized and detribalized natives should never be acknowledged as this train of thought only serves the white supremacist settler-state. Nation liberation connected to Indigenous nations, Palestine, Puerto Rican, Hawaii, Congo, Cuba, Chicano, Africa-America, and much more are all connected to the Imperial core, the struggle for collective liberation. 

National Liberation vs Bourgeois Nationalism

There are Marxist who think they are very clever and even call themselves communists who assert that Nationalism of those amongst the periphery is the same as Bourgeois Nationalism of a specific bourgeois country. Communists of these ‘developed’ nations should support and show solidarity with nationalism as long as it serves the cause of winning national and class freedom with the prevailing over Imperialism and or colonialism. We all would agree that any attempt at weaponizing Nationalism for racial, national exclusiveness, or any other reactionary means should be extinguished, met with doubts and heavy critiques. We should approach this social topic like we would any social phenomenon, from a dialectical and historical point of view, with the view of social progress. On many instances Lenin highlighted against mechanical and abstract understanding of the national question, above all acknowledging the fundamental differences between nationalism of an oppressor nation with that of an oppressed nation.

“Some say that Chicano National Liberation is the application of Nationalism to the conditions that are specific to the situation Chicanos face. This definition contains a small particle of truth, but of course not entirely the whole truth by a large margin. Chicanos did apply Nationalism to the conditions of the Segregation era but since the coopting of the movement by liberals, the Chicano petite bourgeois and comprador opportunists; much of the revolutionary momentum eventually led to the Liberal government turning Chicano Revolutionary Nationalism into safe, state-approved nationalism that does not threaten capitalist power or promote self determination. Nationalism without class struggle will always pacify and corrupt militant movements into purely cultural symbolism. This cannot be stressed enough, nationalism alone can easily be co-opted. The struggle must continuously be rooted in Anti-Imperialism, class struggle, and self determination.” - An excerpt from Chicano Liberation Committees Political Program 

With that being said, I do plan on releasing a second volume of this article soon. In the meantime follow me on twitter and other social medias. All in my linktree! Thank you.

¡Viva La Revolución!