Issues in Anarchism - Nationalism

Nationalism

Anarchism has a long history of opposing imperialism, both in the core nations (the colonizers) and the periphery nations (the colonized). In general, anarchists have preferred to focus on building revolutions at home and doing solidarity work for comrades in other countries, e.g., Guy Aldred was jailed for printing Shyamji Krishnavarma's'The Indian Sociologist.

Another example of this was Rudolf Rocker, a prominent German anarchist and anti-fascist, who was particularly active amongst Jewish workers. In his Nationalism and Culture he argued for a "federation of European peoples" which would include Jews. Rejecting biological theories of race, and rejecting the concept of nation, he argued that since it was European States that had conquered and colonized the rest of the world, successful libertarian organization amongst Europeans was "the first condition for the creation of a world federation, which will also secure the so-called colonial peoples the same rights for the pursuit of happiness" (p554). Many modern anarchists and other anti-imperialists share this approach.

Chinese anarchists were very active in the early Chinese nationalist movement and in the resistance to British and later Japanese colonization of China. Anarchists were also deeply involved in anti-imperialist nationalist movements in Vietnam, Korea, Cuba, Ukraine, Ireland, Mexico, and all over Africa.

Anarchism is also an influence in the modern Indigenist movement.