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SPUSA:
Handbook -
Internationalism
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Internationalism
Socialists hope to overcome national divisions that endanger world
peace and security by stressing that ordinary people of different
countries have more in common with each other than with their leaders.
Socialist parties worldwide are committed to international solidarity
rather than responsibility to a particular nation.
Ways to foster internationalism include international, democratic
control of at least the commanding heights of the international
economy, and resources such as the water ways and seabeds while giving
local communities control over their own economies. Promotion of world
federalism is another socialist goal: a global federation of
cooperative commonwealths.
Socialists recognize that nationalism is a powerful force in today’s
world. Nationalism can have progressive features, when it opposes
imperialism or the nuclear domination of the superpowers. But while
Socialists recognize the rights of self-determination and the rights of
national minorities, we believe that nationalism itself must be
transcended.
Socialists oppose international war, for reasons of solidarity and
internationalism outlined above. Some socialists are absolute
pacifists, dedicated to living a life of non-violence in all
circumstances. The majority of socialists, however, concede that
violence may be necessary under circumstances in which lives would
ultimately be saved. Debs spoke for those socialists when he said, “I
am opposed to all war but one…the worldwide war of Social revolution.
For this reason (and for reasons concerning civil liberties) socialists
have been in the forefront of opposition to the draft.
The increasing totality of modern warfare that leads us to the prospect
of the destruction of civilization through nuclear war – Recognizing
the pointlessness of this path for humanity, and the fact that there is
no defense against nuclear war, the SP calls for unilateral nuclear
disarmament and conversion of the war making economy to peaceful
alternatives.
For further Reading:
Mary Marcy, You Have No Country
E.P. Thompson & Dan Smith, eds Protest and Survive
Handbook Home Page
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