p The main idea of proletarian internationalism was first expressed a century ago in the militant slogan issued by Marx and Engels: “Workers of the World, Unite!” Engels observed: “As the position of the workers of all countries is identical, as their interests are identical, and they have the same enemies, they should struggle together and counterpose the fraternal union of the workers of all nations to the fraternal union of the bourgeoisie of all nations.”  [239•1  Consequently, the slogan of proletarian internationalism has always reflected the objective contradiction of capitalist society, the contradiction between the class interests of the proletariat and of the bourgeoisie, and the real interests and requirements arising from the struggle of the working class.

p Lenin explained the class essence of proletarian internationalism, which is common for all the contingents of the revolutionary movement, when he wrote: “There is one, and only one, kind of real internationalism, and that is— working whole-heartedly for the development of the revolutionary movement and the revolutionary struggle in one’s own country, and supporting (by propaganda, sympathy, and material aid) this struggle, this, and only this, line, in every country without exception.”  [239•2 

p Lenin stood up for the class, Marxist approach to the concept of proletarian internationalism, which he developed 240 and deepened by bringing out two of its aspects—the theoretical and the political—by emphasising their connection and class essence and pointing to the fundamental contrast between proletarian international and bourgeois nationalism.

p He wrote: “Bourgeois nationalism and proletarian internationalism—these are the two irreconcilably hostile slogans that correspond to the two great class camps throughout the capitalist world, and express the two policies (nay, the two world outlooks) in the national question.”  [240•1 

p Proletarian internationalism is therefore the great principle of revolutionary Marxist-Leninist theory reflecting the community of condition, interest and purposes of the national contingents of the international working class, and also a principle of revolutionary action expressing the objective need for international solidarity, co-operation and active mutual assistance between the national contingents of the working class and the international communist movement fighting against imperialism. These two organically related aspects of proletarian internationalism explain why we usually speak of the principles and not of the principle of proletarian internationalism.

p The profoundly viable power of proletarian internationalism and its conformity with the fundamental interests of the working people have been expressed in the fact that every form of the workers’ class struggle against the bourgeoisie— economic, political and ideological—has always been permeated with expressions of effective proletarian solidarity and mutual international assistance between the various national contingents of the working class. This has been evident in every sphere of social life over the long history of the working-class movement.

p Proletarian internationalism has been developing together with scientific socialism and the revolutionary workingclass movement. Before the Great October Socialist Revolution, the international solidarity and mutual support of the national contingents of the working class were naturally directed mainly at the overthrow of capitalism and the winning of political power by the working class, because it was yet to win power in any country.

p The victory of the October Revolution marked the start of a new epoch in world history, whose principal 241 contradiction has become the struggle between world socialism and world capitalism. The centre of gravity of the class struggle carried on by the working class of the world shifted into the world arena. The rapid development of social life and the world-wide revolutionary process has considerably enlarged the objective foundations of proletarian internationalism, and this has been reflected in the emergence of a number of new laws governing its development on the basis and within the framework of its fundamental principles and class essence.

p The first thing that helped to develop and enrich proletarian internationalism was the emergence of the world socialist system.

p The spread of the principles of proletarian internationalism to the interstate relations of the socialist countries is a new and extremely important law. This is based on these fundamentally new developments in history: the coherent economic foundation of the world socialist community— social property in the means of production; a coherent social and political system—the power of the people headed by the working class; the coherent scientific ideology of the Marxist-Leninist Communist Parties directing society’s political organisation; the common interests of the socialist countries in defending their revolutionary gains and true national interests against imperialist encroachments; and their great common goal—construction of a communist society.

p All these objective prerequisites have helped to establish these new lines of proletarian internationalism: 

p the need to strengthen the unity of the socialist countries and consequently the need for effective solidarity, co- operation and mutual assistance between these countries at every level and in every sphere of the class struggle (economic, political and ideological); 

p the utmost effort in each socialist country for socialist and communist construction, which is a common internationalist duty of the socialist countries which they owe to the working people of the world; 

p joint defence of the socialist gains in each socialist country against encroachments by internal and external reactionary forces; 

p joint struggle against world imperialism, and for social progress, peace, security and socialism. 

p Lenin said: “We who are faced by a huge front of imperialist powers, we, who are fighting imperialism, represent an alliance that requires close military unity, and any attempt to violate this unity we regard as absolutely impermissible, as a betrayal of the struggle against international imperialism.”  [242•1 

p Despite the deep-going objective basis for this necessary international struggle for unity and basic social interests of the world socialist system, it will not run of itself. Like all objective social laws, the need for international unity of the socialist countries is secured in struggle, with exceptional importance attaching to the role of subjective factor, specifically the Marxist-Leninist line followed by the ruling Communist Parties in the socialist countries and their resolute struggle against all the hostile class trends and influences which run against proletarian internationalism.

p Furthermore, proletarian internationalism has been enriched by the confirmation provided by practical experience in the world communist movement, the experience of the USSR and the other socialist countries, for the view that the socialist revolution and socialist construction rest on a number of cardinal objective laws which apply to all countries taking the socialist way. These laws, The Declaration of the 1957 Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties of the Socialist Countries said, are manifested everywhere even where there is a great diversity of historically-rooted national specifics and traditions.

p The success of our common revolutionary cause—the great revolutionary transformation of the world—crucially depends on the consideration by the Communist Parties in all the socialist countries in their day-to-day work of the general laws governing the socialist revolution and socialist construction. Of course, this does not at all imply any mechanical or monotonous application of these laws, without consideration for national specific features or concrete historical conditions of each nation’s life. The living practice of creative socialist construction in varying national conditions has well shown, for instance, the diverse forms of political structure that arise in implementing such a general law of socialist construction as the dictatorship of the proletariat. This shows that the principles of proletarian 243 internationalism do not in any sense imply a denial of national tradition and national peculiarities.

p Another important law governing the development of international solidarity and mutual assistance of the working class in the various countries is growing support of the Soviet Union and other socialist countries by the workingclass and the communist movement in the capitalist countries, and at the same time, support of the world workingclass and revolutionary movement by the Soviet Union and the whole socialist community.

p Needless to say this highly profound law, which springs from the basic interests of the working class and all the working people of the world, will not be realised by itself. Here again, there is need for class-conscious action by political parties and statesmen, who must have a sense of common responsibility for the future of socialism, and for the radiant future, not only of their own nations, but of all the nations of the world.

p Finally, proletarian internationalism is being ever more broadly manifested in the effective support and assistance being rendered to the national liberation movement of the emergent nations in strengthening their political and economic independence.

p The present epoch, whose main content is transition from capitalism to socialism, is not only one of struggle between the two opposite systems, but also one of socialist and national liberation revolutions, an epoch of the collapse of imperialism, and the liquidation of the colonial system, an epoch in which more and more nations take the socialist path. Before the October Revolution in Russia, Lenin wrote: “The social revolution can come only in the form of an epoch in which are combined civil war by the proletariat against the bourgeoisie in the advanced countries and a whole series of democratic and revolutionary movements, including the national liberation movement, in the undeveloped, backward and oppressed nations.”  [243•1 

p A 1920 issue of Peoples of the East, the journal of the Communist International, carried on its cover this slogan: “Proletarians of all countries and oppressed peoples, unite!”

p In a speech at a meeting of -the Moscow Party Organisation aktiv Lenin made a point of stressing the profound 244 meaning of that slogan. He said: “We now stand, not only as representatives of the proletarians of all countries but as representatives of the oppressed peoples as well.”  [244•1  The Programme of the Comintern approved in 1931, said: “A fraternal militant alliance with the colonial working masses is ... one of the most important tasks before the world industrial proletariat as the predominant force and leader in the struggle against imperialism.”  [244•2 

p Alliance between the international working class and its main product—the world socialist system—with the national liberation movement has become one of the key regularities governing the development of proletarian internationalism in the present epoch.

p The mighty national liberation movement advancing under the impact of the successes scored by socialism has brought about the disintegration of the colonial system, and, as Lenin had brilliantly predicted, this movement, initially aimed at national liberation, is increasingly turning against capitalism and imperialism.

p Especial importance in the development of proletarian internationalism at this stage attaches to the necessity for the unity of all the streams of the world revolutionary process. The historical law that the world working class and the world socialist system have the leading role to play in the fight against the common enemy—world imperialism—is being brought out with ever greater clarity and conviction.

p As the theory and practice of proletarian internationalism develop, they include and raise to a new and higher level a number of democratic principles earlier developed on the national question, above all, the right of nations to selfdetermination, the equality of nations, and national sovereignty. Respect for, and strict observance of, these principles is a law by which Communists are guided, because they are internationalists.

p “The national and international responsibilities of each Communist and Workers’ Party are indivisible. MarxistsLeninists are both patriots and internationalists; they reject both national narrow-mindedness and the negation or 245 underestimation of national interests, and the striving for hegemony. At the same time, the Communist Parties—the Parties of the working class and all working people—are the standard-bearers of genuine national interests unlike the reactionary classes, which betray these interests.”  [245•1 

p All the democratic principles of national relations on the basis of socialist practice are not simply declared or announced, but are in fact ensured in reality.

p Thus, the Soviet Union, consistently standing up for the right of all nations and peoples to self-determination, has given and continues to give them real assistance in developing their economy and culture.

p The Soviet Union, which has always worked for the complete equality of big and small nations, has in fact established the equality of all the Soviet socialist nations. It is a reliable ally of all the peoples fighting for national independence and equality, and for liberation from colonial dependence.

p The principle of national sovereignty, a reflection of the emergence of nations on the historical scene, served the interests of social progress because it was directed against feudalism, which had outlived its day. However, under bourgeois domination, national sovereignty is nominal and curtailed. For a long time, it was recognised only for nations belonging to the white race. The bourgeois ideologists in fact substituted the idea of supremacy by the exploiters for the sovereignty of nations. Under imperialism, national sovereignty entailed a great many objective contradictions, which could not be resolved on the basis of capitalism. The imperialist states, essentially exploiting states, necessarily resist the urge of the oppressed peoples to rise to full political, social, national and economic emancipation. This explains the numerous attempts on the part of bourgeois ideologists to prove that national sovereignty is an outdated principle.

p Only the successes of socialism have helped to create favourable conditions for the expression of national sovereignty not as a nationalistic principle but as a basis for uniting the working people in the fight against imperialism. Under socialist construction, directed by the working class, when the people become true masters of their future, the 246 defence of national sovereignty is inconceivable apart from the defence and consolidation of socialist positions. National sovereignty, as the sovereignty of the people, is defended and developed only insofar as the socialist system is defended and developed.

On the basis of socialism, nations develop in every way and draw ever closer to each other on the basis of the principles of proletarian internationalism.