Workers of All Countries, Unite! — International Working-Class Solidarity Against Capitalism and Imperialism
Proletarian internationalism is the principle that the working class of every country shares a common interest against the capitalist class of every country. Capitalism is a world system; the bourgeoisie organises internationally to exploit workers of all nations; the working class can only defeat this system through international solidarity.
A worker in Manchester has more in common with a worker in Mumbai than with a British billionaire. National borders divide workers and channel class anger into national rivalry. Internationalism is the refusal of this division.
"The Communists are further reproached with desiring to abolish countries and nationality. The working men have no country. We cannot take from them what they have not got."
— Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto (1848)The International Workingmen's Association, founded in London with Marx's leadership, united trade unions and workers' organisations across Europe — the first organised expression of proletarian internationalism.
United mass socialist parties and passed resolutions against war. But in August 1914, social-democratic leaders voted for war credits, sending millions to slaughter. This collapse proved that reformism leads to social-chauvinism.
Founded by Lenin after the October Revolution, the Comintern united revolutionary parties on every continent under a common programme, linking the proletarian struggle to national liberation in the colonial world.
Coordinated communist parties in Europe during the early Cold War. Expelled the Tito clique for nationalist deviation and maintained unity among the people's democracies.
"There is one, and only one, kind of real internationalism, and that is — working wholeheartedly for the development of the revolutionary movement and the revolutionary struggle in one's own country, and supporting this line in every country without exception."
— V.I. Lenin, The Tasks of the Proletariat in Our Revolution (1917)Lenin established that the right of all nations to self-determination is a fundamental demand communists must support. We distinguish between the nationalism of the oppressor — reactionary and chauvinist — and the nationalism of the oppressed — progressive in so far as it fights imperialism.
Every victory for national liberation — from China to Cuba, from Vietnam to Angola — weakens the world capitalist system. Stalin showed that under imperialism the national question becomes the national-colonial question: a central front in the world revolutionary process.
Soviet support enabled Cuba to survive the US blockade and itself become an internationalist force — sending doctors and soldiers to Africa and Latin America.
Soviet aid was decisive in Vietnam's victory over French colonialism and US imperialism — the greatest military defeat of a superpower in history.
Soviet and Cuban forces helped Angola win independence and defeat South African apartheid aggression at the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale.
Soviet and Chinese support enabled Korea to resist US invasion. The DPRK maintains independence despite decades of sanctions.
"An internationalist is one who unreservedly, unhesitatingly, and unconditionally is prepared to defend the USSR, because the USSR is the base of the world revolutionary movement, and it is impossible to defend, to advance this revolutionary movement unless the USSR is defended."
— J.V. Stalin, Joint Plenum of the Central Committee and Central Control Commission (1927)Social-chauvinism is socialism in words and chauvinism in deeds. In 1914 the social-democrats sent workers to slaughter workers of other nations. Lenin showed this betrayal was rooted in imperialism's superprofits, which bribe a labour aristocracy into becoming the social base for opportunism.
Today it takes many forms: the "left" backing NATO for "human rights," trade union leaders blaming immigrants for low wages, social democrats voting for sanctions against Cuba or Syria. Marxist-Leninists follow Lenin: the main enemy is at home.
"A nation cannot become free and at the same time continue to oppress other nations. The liberation of Germany cannot therefore take place without the liberation of Poland from German oppression."
— Friedrich Engels, Speech on Poland (1847)Demand NATO's dissolution, the closure of foreign military bases, and oppose every imperialist war regardless of pretext.
Decades of occupation and genocide backed by US imperialism. Solidarity with Palestine is a litmus test of genuine internationalism.
The US blockade of Cuba is the longest siege in modern history. Sanctions are economic warfare. Internationalists demand their unconditional lifting.
Oppose the imperialist drive toward confrontation with China through propaganda, tariffs, and military encirclement.
Africa, Asia, and Latin America suffer under debt slavery, unequal trade, and military intervention. Concrete solidarity is an internationalist duty.
The EU's border regime kills thousands yearly — a product of the imperialism that destroys the countries people flee. Oppose racist immigration controls.
Internationalism must be organised, practical, and sustained. The essential tasks for communists:
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