De Leonism

De Leon, however, occasionally found it necessary to warn against the danger of misconstruing Socialist internationalism as the opposite of nationalism — that is, as anti-nationalism. Nationalism, representing a growth, had come into being to serve a purpose in the evolutionary process of society and, since it was not the result of arbitrary whim, neither could it be disregarded or abolished out of hand, any more than we can disregard or abolish the State out of hand. Without nationalism (not to be confused with jingoism, or phony patriotism — the kind denounced by Dr. Johnson as the last refuge of the scoundrel) — without nationalism there could be no inter-nationalism, since the latter flows from, and rests upon, the former. Without nationalism (always remembering that we are speaking of a world in which capitalism is the ruling principle) — without nationalism there would be chaos.

It was De Leon's keen understanding of the relation of present-day nations to true internationalism which saved him, on the one hand, from the pitfalls of the social chauvinism into which the European Social Democrats fell during the first world war (and into which the Stalinist social-chauvinists have fallen — or jumped — during this war) ; and, on the other hand, from the chaos and anarchy which would be invited by accepting as internationalism the amorphous thing designated as anti-nationalism. The latter is peculiarly the specialty of the petty bourgeois "rebel"...

In quite a different sense it might also be said that the capitalist class likewise manifested indifference to race or nationality. De Leon's rejection of the nationalistic fetish and his refusal to draw the color line were, of course, prompted by considerations of working class international solidarity, while the attitude of the capitalist class was determined by considerations of capitalist class international solidarity—- their internationalism was and is cynically selfish and inspired solely by prospects of profits and power. De Leon described that attitude graphically in these words:

"The capitalist class knows no country and no race, and any 'God' suits it so that 'God' approve of the exploitation of the worker. Despite all seeming wranglings, sometimes even wars, among them, the capitalist class is international, and presents a united front against the working class. But for that very reason the capitalist class is interested in keeping the workingmen divided among themselves. Hence it foments race and religious animosities that come down from the past."