“Nacionalitarism”, anti-imperialism and democracy: a theoretical and practical challenge for XXIst century Marxism

Abstract

One of Lenin’s principal contributions to the study of the national question was the thesis that there is a general democratic content in the nationalism of the “opressed nation.” I argue that this content, which I refer to as “nacionalitarismo,” is not always linked to the political and ideoogical programs of the dominant classes. The examination of this hypothesis is important for the analysis of the national questions that are proliferating at this moment of strong imperialist offensive in a context of a crisis of capitalism.