The
Marxist
Volume: 14, No. 04
Oct-Dec. 1998
The
Communist
Manifesto:
Globalisation,
The
Nation-State
and
Class
Struggle*
The
observance
of
the
150th
anniversary
of
the
Communist
Manifesto
is
taking
place
at
a
time
when
it
is
increasingly
clear
that
global
capitalism
is
entering
a
new
crisis-ridden
phase
and
its
inability
to
provide
solutions
to
the
basic
problems
of
humanity
is
becoming
more
and
more
evident.
The
year
1998
has
witnessed
an
emerging
global
economic
crisis
which
strikingly
illustrates
the
contemporary
relevance
of
the
analysis
of
capitalism
contained
in
the
manifesto
prepared
by
Marx
and
Engels
in
1848.
The
depth
of
the
crisis
cannot
be
hidden
any
more
by
the
free
market
ideologues.
According
to
the
Managing
Director
of
the
IMF,
Michael
Camdessus
"We
are
speaking
not
just
of
countries
in
crisis,
but
of
a
system
in
crisis,
a
system
not
yet
sufficiently
adapted
to
the
opportunities
and
risks
of
globalisation".[i]
The
financial
crisis,
which
has
swept
the
world,
was
preceded
by
the
crisis
of
the
South-East
and
East
Asian
economies
starting
with
Thailand,
South
Korea
and
Indonesia.
Japan,
the
second
most
powerful
economy
in
the
world
was
the
next
to
be
affected.
For
the
first
time
since
the
Second
World
War,
Japan's
economy
has
contracted
for
two
consecutive
years.
Camdessus
has
called
Japan's
recession
and
financial
difficulties
as
"a
crisis
in
the
heart
of
a
crisis".
This
was
followed
by
the
collapse
in
Russia
and
the
spreading
crisis
in
Brazil.
The
IMF
in
the
last
quarter
of
1998
halved
to
2
per
cent
its
forecast
of
growth
of
world
output
this
year.
Within
a
span
of
seven
years,
after
world
capitalism
triumphantly
announced
the
demise
of
socialism,
the
vulnerabilities
and
the
predatory
nature
of
international
finance
capital
have
become
the
preoccupation
of
the
world.
The
debunking
of
the
neo-liberal
prescriptions
and
the
myths
about
globalisation
occasioned
by
the
collapse
of
the
much-vaunted
East
Asian
Tigers
has
set
the
background
for
a
serious
appraisal
of
the
Manifesto
and
its
message.
It
has
become
an
occasion
for
the
renewal
of
the
anti-capitalist
forces
and
a
reaffirmation
of
the
socialist
alternative.
A
vital
part
of
the
creation
of
an
alternative
to
the
exploitative
international
order
is
the
struggle
against
the
imposition
of
a
"globalisation"
driven
by
the
market
forces.
One
aspect
of
the
resistance
to
the
cooption
and
subordination
inherent
in
globalisation
is
the
defence
of
national
sovereignty.
It
involves
retaining
the
space
for
the
nation-state
to
exercise
its
regulatory
functions
on
financial
capital
flows
and
restoring
its
powers
to
formulate
fiscal
and
economic
policies
on
the
basis
of
national
priorities.
It
is
this
national
state
role
which
has
become
an
important
sphere
for
the
class
struggle.
The
Manifesto
The
Manifesto
is
the
revolutionary
charter
for
the
anti-capitalist
revolution.
For
the
first
time,
based
on
the
historical
materialist
standpoint
developed
by
Marx
and
Engels,
the
Manifesto
analyses
the
rise
of
capitalism
out
of
feudal
society
and
the
bourgeoisie
becoming
the
new
ruling
class.
It
lucidly
explains
the
process
of
capitalist
development
and
the
dialectical
and
antagonistic
relationship
between
the
bourgeoisie
and
the
proletariat.
The
enduring
vitality
of
the
Manifesto
stems
from
the
power
of
scientific
theory
combined
with
the
brilliance
of
a
strategy
for
the
revolutionary
movement.
Prior
to
the
development
of
monopoly
capitalism
and
the
era
of
imperialism,
the
Manifesto
in
1848
had
with
startling
prescience
anticipated
the
trends
of
world
wide
capitalist
development
towards
globalisation.
"The
need
of
a
constantly
expanding
market
for
its
products
chases
the
bourgeoisie
over
the
whole
surface
of
the
globe.
It
must
nestle
everywhere,
settle
everywhere,
establish
connexions
everywhere.
"The bourgeoisie has through its exploitation of the world market given a cosmopolitan character to production and consumption in every country……All old-established national industries have been destroyed or are daily being destroyed. They are dislodged by new industries, whose introduction becomes a life and death question for all civilised nations, by industries that no longer work up indigenous raw material, but raw material drawn from the remotest zones; industries whose products are consumed, not only at home, but in every quarter of the globe. In place of the old wants, satisfied by the productions of the country, we find new wants, requiring for their satisfaction the products of distant lands and climes." [ii]
With
the
growth
of
monopoly
capital
and
the
advent
of
imperialism,
the
internationalisation
of
capital
proceeded
apace,
which
was
correctly
analysed
by
Lenin.
Since
then
the
globalisation
of
finance
capital
and
its
phenomenal
mobility
is
a
new
feature
of
the
late
twentieth
century.
Speculative
and
predatory
finance
capital
moving
from
one
part
of
the
world
to
another
transcends
national
boundaries
and
threatens
the
national
sovereignty
of
all
countries.
Such
capital
is
primarily
speculative
in
character,
divorced
from
productive
capital.
It
is
the
operations
of
this
parasitical
finance
capital
and
its
mobility
which
is
at
the
heart
of
the
current
crisis
of
the
world
capitalist
system.
While
commemorating
the
anniversary
of
the
Communist
Manifesto
and
confirming
the
correctness
of
its
critique
of
capitalism
it
is
essential
that
Marxists
devote
primary
attention
to
these
new
trends
in
international
capitalism
and
how
to
confront
its
exploitative
and
destructive
character.
Internationalisation
of
Capital:
At
present
the
unprecedented
internationalisation
of
capital
and
its
mobility
poses
specific
problems
for
the
working
class
movements
at
the
national
and
international
level.
Firstly,
with
the
offensive
of
international
finance
capital
and
its
global
institutions
like
the
IMF-World
Bank
and
the
WTO,
every
nation-state
in
the
third
world
is
subject
to
relentless
pressure
to
open
up
its
economy
to
the
depredations
of
finance
capital.
Under
the
rubric
of
globalisation,
the
advanced
capitalist
countries
led
by
the
United
States,
have
combined
to
prise
open
the
economies
of
the
third
world.
Deregulation,
privatisation
and
financial
liberalisation
are
on
the
agenda
for
all
countries
subject
to
the
domination
of
international
finance
capital.
This
has
resulted
in
the
rolling
back
of
the
State's
intervention
in
the
economy,
its
developmental
and
welfare
role,
heavy
cuts
in
social
spending,
deindustrialisation
and
the
erosion
of
indigenous
scientific-technological
basis.
The
IMF-World
Bank
structural
adjustment
and
stabilisation
programmes
have
led
to
savage
attacks
on
the
living
standards
of
the
working
people.
Growing
unemployment,
impoverishment
of
the
rural
and
urban
poor
and
creation
of
affluent
enclaves
of
the
ruling
classes
have
distorted
economic
and
social
development.
Secondly,
as
a
result
of
this
internationalisation
of
capital
which
is
termed
as
globalisation,
the
gulf
between
the
rich
and
the
poor
nations
have
widened
in
the
last
two
decades
of
the
twentieth
century
in
such
a
manner
which
was
inconceivable
in
the
immediate
post-second
world
war
period
after
the
end
of
old
style
colonialism.
This
worsening
balance
is
one
of
the
major
factors
in
the
weakening
of
the
anti-imperialist
currents
in
the
non-aligned
movement
and
other
international
forums.
Thirdly,
the
concentration
and
internationalisation
of
capital
has
resulted
in
a
right-wing
offensive
in
the
advanced
capitalist
countries
which
has
led
to
the
twin
effects
of
increasing
joblessness
among
the
working
people
and
the
restructuring
of
the
work
force.
With
cuts
in
social
security
and
welfare
expenditure,
there
has
been
a
sharp
increase
in
inequalities
and
wealth
distribution.
The
overall
result
of
this
offensive
was
the
weakening
of
the
working
class
movement.
The
struggles
have
been
of
a
defensive
nature
to
protect
the
gains
made
in
the
earlier
decades.
At
the
peak
of
this
right-wing
offensive
in
the
capitalist
world
came
the
dismantling
of
the
Soviet
Union
and
the
setbacks
to
socialism.
By
the
end
of
the
eighties
the
entire
course
of
historical
developments
in
the
twentieth
century
from
the
October
Revolution
in
1917
to
the
defeat
of
fascism,
the
rise
of
socialist
states
and
the
end
of
colonialism
came
to
be
halted
with
the
onset
of
a
world-wide
reaction.
It
is
in
this
setting
that
the
anti-capitalist
theories
and
movements
against
imperialism
and
world
capitalism
seemed
to
retreat
into
defeat.
The
triumphalist
rhetoric
of
bourgeois
ideologues
obscured
the
systemic
crisis
and
the
structural
difficulties
of
the
new
phase
of
rapacious
capitalism.
Such
an
adverse
climate
had
its
impact
on
the
communist
and
working
class
movements
around
the
world.
A
corollary
to
the
new
offensive
against
Marxism
was
the
response
that
Marxism
itself
has
to
be
revised
in
such
a
manner
that
it
ceases
to
be
Marxist.
It
is
another
matter
that
precisely
when
the
Soviet
Union
was
being
dismantled,
the
capitalist
world
experienced
one
of
the
prolonged
recessions
which
has
marked
the
end
of
the
"golden
age"
of
capitalism
from
the
mid-seventies.
As
Eric
Hobsbawn
aptly
put
it,
"The
collapse
of
one
part
of
the
world
revealed
the
malaise
of
the
other."[iii]
Since
then,
the
serious
difficulties
afflicting
the
financial
system
and
the
world
economy
have
once
again
turned
the
spotlight
back
to
the
real
issues.
The
world-wide
observance
of
the
anniversary
of
the
Communist
Manifesto
provides
the
occasion
for
Marxists
and
Left-wing
theoretical
and
practical
activists
all
over
the
world
to
combat
both
trends
--
to
counter
the
myth-making
propaganda
of
globalisation
and
to
assert
the
validity
and
relevance
of
Marxism.
Globalisation
and
In order to develop Marxist theory and practice for the contemporary times based on the historical materialist outlook, it is necessary first of all to be grounded in the seminal analysis by Marx and Engels of capitalism and bourgeois society; the next step is to pick up the thread of development of world capitalism based on Lenin's analysis of imperialism. There can be no fight back against globalisation without the recognition that imperialism is an ever-present reality in the contemporary world. It is only those who accept the framework of "development" set out by the IMF-World Bank of globalisation as a theory of universal development and of a democratic society based on free market values who will refuse to recognise that imperialism has become more exploitative, deforming and destructive in its impact on the world.
Unbridled market forces and the profit-driven worldwide operations of the MNCs have like Marx predicted "created more massive and more colossal productive forces". But they have not resulted in the elimination of the problems plaguing humanity such as hunger, disease and malnutrition. According to the Human Development Report of 1998: "Among the 4.4 billion people who live in developing countries, almost three-fifths live in communities without basic sanitation; almost one-third are without safe drinking water; one quarter lack adequate housing; one-fifth live beyond reach of modern health services; one-fifth of the children do not get as far as grade five in school, and an equal percentage are undernourished." [iv]
The
current
phase
of
aggressive
free-market
policies
have
not
spared
the
people
of
the
rich
nations
too.
The
same
Report
documents
that
in
the
OECD
countries,
100
million
are
income-poor;
nearly
200
million
people
are
not
expected
to
survive
the
age
of
60;
more
than
100
million
are
homeless
and
37
million
are
jobless.
The world's environment is threatened by a global capitalism which subordinates man and nature to the relentless quest for profits. World capitalism has reached the stage where despite the unprecedented development of the productive forces by utilising the scientific and technological revolution one billion people go hungry everyday. Mass poverty in the third world and reckless consumption of the Earth's resources by the affluent nations have dramatically heightened the threat to the planet from environmental degradation.
In
order
to
get
out
of
this
terrible
predicament
there
is
no
other
way
but
to
put
a
check
to
the
imperialist
plunder
and
to
roll
back
the
destructive
forces
of
globalisation
powered
by
finance
capital.
How
is
Resistance
to
Situated
as
we
are
in
the
third
world
and
subjected
to
the
caprices
and
whims
of
finance
capital,
it
is
essential
to
recognise
a
basic
truth
expounded
by
Marx
and
Engels
in
the
Manifesto.
There
is
no
other
class
in
modern
society
except
the
working
class
which
can
play
a
consistent
role
against
this
worldwide
exploitation.
No
viable
strategy
is
possible
against
the
contemporary
offensive
of
imperialism's
globalisation
without
the
organised
resistance
of
all
sections
of
the
working
people
led
by
the
working
class.
The
Nation-State:
This
raises
the
question,
whether
it
is
possible,
given
the
dominance
of
international
finance
capital,
the
erosion
of
national
sovereignty
and
the
weakened
role
of
the
nation-state
for
any
national
working
class
movement
to
put
up
effective
resistance
against
the
onslaught
of
globalisation.
A
proper
appreciation
of
the
nation-state
as
the
arena
of
class
struggle
is
required.
The
Communist
Manifesto
underlines
the
growing
internationalisation
of
capital
and
global
operations
of
capitalism
.
At
the
same
time,
the
Manifesto
emphasised
the
importance
of
the
class
struggle
within
national
boundaries.
"Though
not
in
substance,
yet
in
form,
the
struggle
of
the
proletariat
with
the
bourgeoisie
is
at
first
a
national
struggle.
The
proletariat
of
each
country
must,
of
course,
first
of
all
settle
matters
with
its
own
bourgeoisie".
In
this
context
arises
the
role
of
the
ruling
classes
of
the
nation-states
which
belong
to
the
lesser-developed
capitalist
countries.
The
bourgeois-landlord
classes
in
most
of
these
countries
have
one
by
one
abandoned
the
quest
for
a
relatively
autonomous
development
of
capitalism
within
their
countries
and
embraced
the
IMF-World
Bank
prescriptions
and
the
Washington
consensus.
The
integration
with
the
global
order
of
international
finance
capital
is
seen
as
the
only
path
for
their
class
development
in
a
world
in
which
socialism
is
absent
as
a
countervailing
force.
This,
however,
will
not
be
a
permanent
phenomenon.
As
the
contradictions
in
the
world
capitalist
system
intensify,
there
will
be
shifts
in
the
positions
of
the
domestic
ruling
classes.
No
Compromise
with
The
ideological
construct
of
a
capitalist
development
integrated
to
the
demands
of
metropolitan
capital
encompasses
a
type
of
political
democracy
which
will
not
affect
the
consensus
on
economic
policies.
We
see
the
spectacle
of
governments
changing
and
political
parties
in
and
out
of
office
with
the
economic
policies
favourable
to
international
finance
capital
remaining
unchanged.
This
consensus
of
the
ruling
class
parties
in
the
third
world
countries
is
a
formidable
obstacle
in
fighting
back
the
gamut
of
policies
of
liberalisation,
privatisation
and
the
roll
back
of
the
State.
The
Left
in
every
country
has
to
resolutely
oppose
co-option
into
the
"globalisation"
regime
and
reject
the
ruling
class
consensus.
There
should
be
no
adjusting
to
the
policies
of
neo-liberalisation-privatisation
which
will
erode
the
power
of
the
working
people
and
disorganise
the
very
basis
of
the
working
class
movement.
This
is
the
message
of
the
Manifesto
translated
into
contemporary
times.
Any
alternative
to
the
IMF-World
Bank
model
should
be
located
in
reinstating/reinforcing
the
intervention
of
the
nation-state
and
regulation
in
the
economic
sphere.
The
dichotomy
between
the
"democratic"
choice
to
change
governments
and
the
continuity
in
economic
policies
must
be
ended.
The
growing
instability
of
political
regimes
run
on
such
policies
in
South
Asia,
and
now
increasingly
in
South
East
Asia
and
Latin
America
indicate
that
this
will
not
be
a
permanent
state
of
affairs.
Mass
discontent
against
the
economic
policies
lead
to
constant
destabilisation
of
governments;
in
worse
forms
it
assumes
ethnic
and
religious
conflicts.
The
vulnerability
and
helplessness
of
nation-states
in
the
face
of
international
capital
flows
should
not
be
exaggerated.
It
is
the
orthodoxy
of
the
IMF-World
Bank
which
postulates
that
no
country
can
survive
and
develop
without
opening
up
to
free
capital
flows.
The
major
lesson
of
the
South
East
Asian
crisis
is
the
folly
of
such
unregulated
capital
flows.
Just
before
the
eruption
of
the
financial
crisis
in
Asia,
the
IMF
had
proposed
change
in
its
constitution
to
make
capital
account
convertibility
a
condition
for
membership
of
the
Fund.
Malaysia
by
imposing
capital
controls
has
challenged
the
Fund-Bank
orthodoxy.
Not
surprisingly,
the
IMF
Managing
Director
called
the
Malaysian
controls
"dangerous
and
indeed
harmful".
But
the
case
for
regulation
of
capital
flows
has
been
definitely
put
on
the
agenda
after
the
recent
global
financial
crisis.
The
nation-state
is
the
only
instrument
to
regulate
the
speculative-profiteering
activities
of
finance
capital.
It
is
not
accidental
that
China
escaped
the
ravages
of
the
crisis
in
the
financial
system
of
the
region
and
India
has
been
sheltered
to
a
great
extent
because
of
capital
controls.
It
should
be
noted
in
this
context
that
the
firm
resistance
to
financial
sector
liberalisation
waged
by
the
Left
in
India
succeeded
in
slowing
down
the
drive
for
full
convertibility
which
was
very
much
part
of
the
IMF-World
Bank
dictated
agenda
for
the
country.
A
major
threat
looming
ahead
is
the
proposed
Multilateral
Agreement
on
Investment
(MAI)
which
envisages
free
movement
of
financial
assets
and
productive
capital
by
MNCs
without
interference
by
national
governments.
This
assault
on
national
sovereignty
would
open
the
way
for
serious
attacks
on
the
rights
of
workers
and
democratic
values
within
a
nation.
A
big
movement
has
to
be
organised
in
each
country
with
international
coordination
to
defend
the
regulatory
rights
of
nation-states.
The nation-state and its apparatus cannot be left to be wielded by the domestic ruling classes to implement the dictates of international finance. Both for the immediate protection of the working people and the fight against imperialist domination, the struggle must be waged to determine the direction of the State must be waged with determination. In order to go forward in the resistance to imperialist domination the working class movement must contend for the leadership of the nation. This is what the Manifesto means by exhorting the working class to "rise to be the leading class of the nation" and "constitute itself the nation" if it is to acquire political supremacy. The increasing weight of the working class led democratic movement in the national correlation of forces would open the way to check and counter the pro-imperialist shift of the domestic ruling classes. In the present juncture, with the convulsions in the financial markets forcing even free-market advocates to rethink, the struggle to maximise the regulatory role of the State within national boundaries can be stepped up in much more favourable conditions. This is relevant not only for the third world countries but also the advanced capitalist nations. In the context of inter-imperialist contradictions, the revival of the role of the nation-states in Europe can help the revival of the nation-state in the third world.[v]
The question of alliances assumes particular importance in this regard for a revolutionary party. It is necessary to unite all the forces opposed to globalisation including sections of the domestic ruling classes, even if their opposition is limited and partial. The platform of defence of national sovereignty should include all spheres – economic, political, military, social and cultural.
The
struggle
for
determining
the
orientation
of
the
State
and
its
instruments
for
fashioning
economic
and
fiscal
policies,
occupies
a
key
role.
All
theories
which
talk
of
political
and
social
movements
sans
the
State
are
in
today's
context
diversionary,
if
not
reactionary.
Globalisation
has
not
marginalised
the
State,
rather
the
State
has
become
central
for
the
implementation
of
the
policies
of
international
finance
capital
for
subjugating
the
national
economies.
The
fight
for
a
State
which
can
effectively
intervene
and
regulate
the
economy
to
protect
national
sovereignty
is
a
task
which
acquires
prominence
in
the
development
of
the
class
struggle
in
most
third
world
countries
today.
In
this
struggle
the
working
class
has
to
be
in
the
forefront.
It
is
the
only
class,
whatever
its
numerical
strength,
which
by
its
location
in
the
economic
and
social
structure,
can
put
up
resistance
and
rally
other
sections
of
the
working
people.
Recent
events
have,
once
again
tellingly,
established
the
centrality
of
this
class
in
the
struggle
against
globalisation.
This
is
true
not
only
of
Europe
where
the
working
class
of
France
in
1995
displayed
its
combative
capacity
with
the
one-week
general
strike
but
also
true
of
Asian
countries.
At
present
the
South
Korean
working
class
is
the
most
militant
and
organised
force
which
has
shown
the
capacity
for
tremendous
sacrifices
in
the
face
of
the
most
serious
crisis
engulfing
the
South
Korean
state
monopoly
capitalism.
The
development
of
an
organised
movement
based
on
this
class
perspective
naturally
does
not
depend
on
only
the
economic
struggles
against
liberalisation
and
privatisation.
The
growth
of
free
market
forces
,
the
rise
of
bourgeois
irrationalism,
the
powerful
effects
of
the
electronic
mass
media
and
the
impact
of
the
predatory
nature
of
globalisation
have
unleashed
a
host
of
ethnic-religious-nationality
problems
in
third
world
countries
and
the
former
socialist
countries.
"The
current
proliferation
of
such
demands
reflect
the
growing
instability
and
economic
insecurity
spawned
by
globalisation
and
the
growing
inability
of
existing,
territorial
states
to
manage
the
regional
or
ethnic
issues
within
their
borders.
But
the
creation
of
ethnic
splinter
states
will
not
solve
these
problems
and
will
generally
create
new
and
even
bigger
ones.
After
all
these
little
states
will
still
have
the
global
market
to
contend
with."
[vi]
The
rise
of
religious
sectarian
movements
and
their
political
mobilisation
is
a
reactionary
response
to
the
crisis
faced
by
many
third
world
countries.
Whether
it
be
the
extreme
form
of
fundamentalism
as
in
the
rise
of
the
Taliban
in
Afghanistan,
or,
similar
movements
in
Algeria
and
other
Islamic
countries,
or,
the
rise
of
Hindu
chauvinism
in
India,
imperialism
has
the
capacity
to
accommodate
and
co-opt
such
forces
into
its
global
strategy.
While
developing
a
national
working
class
movement,
the
rights
of
minorities,
ethnic
or
religious,
have
to
be
protected.
We
have
seen
the
descent
into
barbaric
religious
and
ethnic
hatreds
after
socialism
was
abandoned
in
the
former
multinational
states
of
the
Soviet
Union
and
Yugoslavia.
Conversely,
in
countries
which
have
been
under
bourgeois-feudal
domination
for
long,
the
anti-imperialist
and
anti-feudal
forces
have
to
come
to
terms
with
problems
of
race,
nationality
and
ethnicity
in
their
societies.
More
and
more
imperialism
seeks
to
utilise
the
irrational
forms
of
ethnic
and
religious
nationalism
to
buttress
the
rule
of
capital.
The
Manifesto
while
correctly
foreseeing
the
triumphant
ascendancy
of
global
capitalism
was
over-optimistic
about
its
capacity
to
break-down
national
barriers.
"National
differences
and
antagonisms
between
peoples
are
daily
more
and
more
vanishing,
owing
to
the
development
of
the
bourgeoisie,
to
freedom
of
commerce,
to
the
world
market,
to
uniformity
in
the
mode
of
production….."
In
the
era
of
imperialism,
the
twentieth
century
witnessed
two
world
wars
originating
in
national
antagonisms
and
much
more
slaughter
arising
from
national
conflicts.
Evidently,
bourgeois
domination
has
exacerbated
national
rivalries.
The
proletariat
has
to
acquire
national
supremacy
in
a
number
of
major
and
advanced
countries
before
real
progress
can
be
made
towards
eliminating
divisive
nationalisms.
This,
once
again,
underlines
the
importance
of
the
nation-state
as
the
terrain
for
class
struggle,
as
a
building
block
on
which
a
socialist
internationalism
can
be
founded.
Democratic
Approach
to
The
Manifesto
foregrounded
the
question
of
democracy:
"The
first
step
in
the
revolution
by
the
working
class
is
to
raise
the
proletariat
to
the
position
of
ruling
class,
to
win
the
battle
of
democracy".
Today
in
order
to
win
this
battle
of
democracy
it
is
also
necessary
to
also
build
up
a
democratic
movement
which
incorporates
and
guarantees
the
rights
of
ethnic
and
religious
minorities.
For
doing
so
it
must
be
able
to
formulate
a
theory
and
practice
which
recognises
ethnic
and
national
differences
and
addresses
the
problems
arising
out
of
them
in
a
democratic
manner.
Fighting
both
"big"
and
"little"
chauvinisms
and
their
separatist
divisiveness
is
an
extra
responsibility
for
the
working
class
movement
in
the
third
world
countries.
This
is
the
way
the
proletariat
is,
as
the
Manifesto
said:
"itself
national,
though
not
in
the
bourgeois
sense
of
the
word".
Within
the
bourgeois
landlord
states
in
the
third
world
the
movements
for
devolution,
autonomy
and
democratisation
of
power
are
directly
relevant
to
this
issue.
The
Manifesto
envisaged
the
growing
induction
of
women
into
the
industrial
work
force.
"The
more
modern
industry
becomes
developed,
the
more
is
the
labour
of
men
superseded
by
that
of
women".
Women
would
become
part
of
the
growing
proletariat
as
a
cheap
source
of
labour
power.
At
the
end
of
the
twentieth
century,
in
the
advanced
capitalist
countries,
women
are
being
drawn
in
increasing
numbers
as
workers
to
be
exploited
through
part-time
and
contract
work
with
low
wages.
The
same
process
is
now
seen
in
the
developing
countries.
To
bring
this
female
work
force
which
is
low-paid
and
doubly
exploited
into
the
proletarian
movement
is
an
important
question.
Without
recognising
them
as
part
of
the
proletariat
and
organising
them,
the
advancement
of
the
trade
unions,
and
the
working
class
movement
developing
into
a
"national"
movement
is
not
possible.
The
Manifesto
has
a
compelling
appeal
as
it
is
not
an
abstract
analysis
of
capitalism
but
the
first
programmatic
call
for
a
social
revolution
relying
on
the
working
class
to
emancipate
humanity.
It
spells
out
the
need
for
organisation
of
the
working
class,
for
a
revolutionary
party.
It
would
be
an
injustice
to
the
Manifesto
if
this
main
political
aspect
–
the
development
of
a
Communist
movement
is
ignored.
In
order
to
lay
the
theoretical
basis
for
such
a
revolutionary
movement
a
section
in
the
Manifesto
deals
with
contending
versions
of
socialism
to
establish
the
outlook
of
historical
materialism
and
scientific
socialism.
While
the
Manifesto
envisages
the
worldwide
movement
of
the
working
class
for
socialism,
it
pays
attention
to
the
contemporary
realities
of
each
country
and
the
last
section
deals
with
the
relations
between
the
communists
and
other
political
parties
in
different
countries.
While
the
Manifesto
sets
out
the
main
aim
of
expropriating
capitalism
and
the
basic
approach
to
establishing
an
alternative
system,
it
also
points
out
that
"these
measures
will
of
course
be
different
in
different
countries".
Marx
and
Engels
themselves
pointed
out
how
the
contemporary
references
in
the
Manifesto
to
the
tactics
to
be
adopted
by
communists
became
outdated
a
few
years
after
1848.
It
is
for
those
committed
to
scientific
socialism,
based
on
the
perspective
set
out
in
the
Manifesto,
to
apply
Marxism
creatively
to
each
one's
society
and
conditions
to
be
able
to
go
towards
the
goal
of
human
emancipation
which
is
so
eloquently
foretold
in
the
Manifesto.
* Paper submitted to the “Workshop on the Communist Manifsto”, International Centre for Ethnic Studies, Colombo, December, 1998.
[i] Speech at Annual Meeting of IMF-World Bank, Washington, 6 October, 1998. International Herald Tribune, 7 October, 1998
[ii] The Manifesto of the Communist Party Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1975. All quotations are from this edition.
[iii] Eric Hobsbawm: :The Age of Extremes”, Viking, New Delhi, 1995
[iv] Human Development Report, 1998; United Nations Development Programme, New Delhi.
[v] Prabhat Patnaik: Globalisation of Capital and the Theory of Imperialism, Social Scientist No. 282-83 pp 15-16
[vi] Manfred Bienefeld: Capitalism and the Nation-State in the Dog Days of the Twentieth Century; Socialist Register, 1994 p. 123