Marxism and the National Question: Domenico Losurdo’s Contribution to the Dialectics of the National and International

ABSTRACT

In the works of Marx and Engels, the national question does not assume a central role, although their reflections on the independence of Ireland and Poland are very important. From the Second International onwards the debate increased its relevance, particularly through Rosa Luxembourg’s remarks and Lenin’s formulations of imperialism, self-determination, and national liberation struggles. However, it was during the challenges of national independence and construction in the socialist experiences that the national question became central. Domenico Losurdo, addressing the national-international dialectic, contributed to the theoretical maturation of the national question within Marxism, since his views enable a multiscale approach to class struggle in the context of transformations of capitalism and the international system. This article aims to analyze the controversial debate on the national question from the perspective of the formulations of Domenico Losurdo.

KEYWORDS:

• National question
• Domenico Losurdo
• Marxism
• nationalism
• internationalism

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on Contributors

Diego Pautasso is currently a professor of geography at the Military College of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. He holds a master’s degree and PhD in Political Science from UFRGS. He is the author of the book China and Russia in the Cold War and several articles on regional-national development and international insertion of emerging countries.

Marcelo Fernandes is currently Associate Professor of the Economics Department of the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ) and Professor of the Postgraduate Program in Regional Economics and Development (PPGER/UFRRJ).

Gaio Doria holds a PhD in Law from the School of Marxism Studies of Renmin University of China and a master’s degree in Chinese Economics from the same university. He is also a research fellow at the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq, Brazil).

Notes

1 In his more mature writings Marx was aware that the consciousness of the working class was a much more complex matter.

In all the industrial and commercial centers of England, there is now a working class divided into two hostile camps, English proletarians and Irish proletarians. The English common laborer hates the Irish worker as a competitor that lowers the standard of living. ( . . . ) It behaves more or less like the poor whites in relation to the blacks in the former states of the American Union. The Irishman reacts in the same currency. He sees in the English laborer the co-responsible of the idiot instrument of English domination over Ireland. (Galissot 1984, 186)

In the foreword to the Situation of the Working Class of England in 1892, Engels refers to an English worker aristocracy who had a good relationship with their employers and accepted their relatively comfortable position as something definitive (Engels 2010, 345–359).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq).