Perspectives on American Patriotism Part 1

Perspectives on American Patriotism Part 1

 

For our first ever blog-post we decided to tackle the topic of Patriotism, especially among the American leftists, the background within the article is American however the theme also applies generally. Two members of our syndicate wanted to make their thoughts known about this topic as such we are publishing two blogposts from each author. Enjoy part 1 below:

 

Love Your Nation

Leftists in America are in a unique position. Our very name is used as derogatory buzzword. Our country is the very center of the capitalist ideology, which has infested, abused, and disfigured our country for centuries. Our government has been at the forefront of silencing leftist movements across the world, and destroying real democracies. It is therefore obvious why many leftists hate us, and hate our past. It is obvious why many of us hate our country as well. This however, is detrimental to our movement. 

Through this hate many fall into the traps of liberal thinking. Many will alienate and divide people by race or ethnicity. They will criticise cultures which have arisen across the country, and say that there is no culture. They will say that you can’t speak your mind on an issue, because you’re white, or you’re male, or northerner or southerner or whatever else. The fact of the matter is that none of these traits matter compared to the ultimate divide: class. When you alienate any other group, say, whites, for example, you are being divisive and destructive to the ultimate goal of uniting the working class. The revolution must consist of workers, not of whites or blacks, of men or women. Our country has always strived to eliminate those conflicts between cosmetic, outwardly bonds, to be accepting of all…

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

As such, it is wrong to look at our history more as a struggle of race or any other parameter, than of class. The class struggle is the ultimate struggle. And it is essential that we must be proud of our history, proud of our roots, and proud to be American.
Our country was established on revolutionary ideals. Radical ideas which challenged the authority of the British Empire, that challenged the absolutism which dominated Europe.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights... That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

From the very moment that our independence from the oppressor was declared, our country was built upon values which we must now build upon to synthesise a new American country and ideology. Our government no longer serves us, and so it is now time to abolish it, and organise powers in a new way.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

The extreme importance of this sentence, the Preamble to the Constitution, cannot be understated. The very body which defines the laws of the nation derives its legitimacy from and vests its power in the people. Not in the government, not in the States. The one body of the masses of the entire American Nation. And this fact indeed caused a lot of confusion and turmoil, as evidenced by the objections of Patrick Henry:

Who authorized them to speak the language of ‘We, the people,’ instead of We, the States? States are the characteristics and the soul of a confederation. If the States be not the agents of this compact, it must be one great consolidated national government of the people of all the States.

The history of our country is not the history of the capitalists, it is the history of the working class. Our history is one of immense and beautiful struggle. Our country was founded to free us from oppression, but it has been deformed by capitalism. Our country is the history of the worker who fled from Europe, away from decaying and oppressive systems, seeking opportunity, only to find themselves having sold their soul to the devil, working in his factory all day with no pay, only to find that they have no food to set on the table for their children, who also work in that factory, and no assurance that anything will be okay tomorrow. But the history of our country is also the history of the worker who, fed up, joined a labour union, it is of the workers who striked, and of the socialists who shortened the work day, who abolished child labour, who gave people labour rights.

Our country is the history of the Africans who were enslaved by African warlords—an upper class—and then sent to work on a plantation in this country, to a new upper class. But it is also the history of the civil war which the lower class fought to free their working brethren from the primitive Southern mode of production. New thought emerged in this period, as demonstrated by Lincoln when he said:

 A few men own capital, and that few avoid labor themselves, and, with their capital, hire or buy another few to labor for them. A large majority belong to neither class---neither work for others, nor have others working for them. In most of the southern States, a majority of the whole people of all colors are neither slaves nor masters; while in the northern a large majority are neither hirers nor hired. Men with their families---wives, sons, and daughters---work for themselves, on their farms, in their houses, and in their shops, taking the whole product to themselves, and asking no favors of capital on the one hand, nor of hired laborers or slaves on the other. It is not forgotten that a considerable number of persons mingle their own labor with capital---that is, they labor with their own hands, and also buy or hire others to labor for them; but this is only a mixed, and not a distinct class. No principle stated is disturbed by the existence of this mixed class.

This time period allowed for changes in the American psyche. It is a shame that the bourgeois had grown so strong that they were able to prevent these from taking hold. American beliefs do not have to be fixed with 18th century liberalism; they can grow and evolve.
Our country is the history of white, male slave owners who declared the revolution. But those people were Americans with grand ideas and revolutionary ideas for the future, who were open to change and willing to fight for freedom, and many of them began to campaign against slavery and let their slaves free. Sure, they weren’t as progressive as people are today, but for their time, they were. What is important is their attitude, their willingness to change, to fight injustice. That is the American attitude, that is the American way. It is the way of the reformers who fought for labour rights, it is the way of people who fought against our foreign interventions, and it is our way as well. 

Our history is a beautiful struggle. And despite all challenges, our stubborn, naive, and optimistic American attitude has always led us to victory, even when the costs were immense. Our founding fathers were people who approached issues with logic and rationality, not with blind dogma. It is not American to be lied to or ignorant. These are symptoms of capitalist, anti-american hegemony over our country. “In God we trust” is not an American saying, it is not our value. This motto was only adopted by the capitalists in 1956. Our true motto, the one used from the beginning of our country, is ‘E Pluribus Unum’ - Out of many, one. This is American value, and it does not conflict at all with our socialist ideals.
Today, we are in a unique position. The masses have been lied to and they face a constant barrage of bourgeois propaganda which attacks them from all sides and all aspects of life. The two party political system keeps the masses in useless conflict against one another. The entire country is in the grasps of the capitalist bourgeois warlords, who will cause its destruction. It is an infestation. Our enemies are not the Trump supporters or the Biden supporters. All working class people are our allies. Our enemies are the evil, corrupt bourgeois establishment which is trying to destroy our great country. We must struggle to liberate our people and our great country. We must bring light and knowledge to the darkness. Fiat lux! Fight the American fight against the anti-American capitalist who tries to destroy our nation and cares nothing about our values! Struggle in the name of Americans, struggle in the name of America! 

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