p The clan and tribe were the most ancient forms of human community. Clans emerged at the same time as man (40-100 thousand years ago).

p The clan is a community of blood relations with a common ancestor, and only comprising about 30-50 people. Its chief characteristics are the following: 1) a common name after the founder of the clan; 2) a common language; 3) common customs and traditions; 4) common religious rites and beliefs.

p The clan conducted a joint economy based on common ownership and equitable distribution. It was headed by a council, which included all the 85 adult men and women and elected and replaced the elders and military leaders. Marriages between members of the same clan were prohibited.

p The clan was a vital stage in the development of mankind, and one can see its distinctive features in the history of peoples all over the world.

p Several closely related clans united into a tribe, which was not only based on ties of kinship but also had a common language and territory.

p Clans and tribes existed under the primitivecommunal system and played an enormous role in the evolution of society. As time went on, however, economic processes outgrew the framework of the clan and tribal organisation of people which began to impede social development, having become historically obsolete. The traces of clan and tribal relations, still to be found in certain countries, are the result of the uneven course of world historical development.

p The clan and tribal form of community was replaced by the nationality, which is typical of class pre-capitalist societies. As distinct from the clan the nationality is based not on kinship but above all on common territory, language and culture. A nationality is also characterised by the weak economic ties between its members.

p Nationalities were formed in different parts of the world at different historical periods. And as 86 historical communities of people, they continue to exist today.

p Economic factors, such as the gradual abolition of feudal fragmentation and the emergence of a single national market, played the decisive role in the emergence and development of nations. Thus, a common economic life represents the main feature of a nation. Marxism-Leninism sees the nation as a stable historical community of people, formed on the basis of a common economic life combined with a shared language and territory, common cultural characteristics, consciousness and psychology.

p Nations should not be confused with races. Racial distinctions are external biological characteristics of people. The emergence of races dates back to the initial stages pf the formation of man and human society. Human races, i. e. distinctions in the physical features of people, emerged in ancient times, when the formation process of modern man was underway. Their appearance was related to the different geographical and climatic conditions under which primitive people lived, and to the fact that groups of people remained isolated from one another for millennia and the level of development of their productive forces was extremely low. Racial features (the colour of the skin and hair, the shape of the skull and nose, etc.), which formed under these conditions, were of an adaptive and protective nature. 87 Further on, as people migrated and resettled, races mixed and numerous racial varieties came into being.

p Generally accepted classification includes three large racial groups: 1) Negroid (black); 2) Caucasian (white); and 3) Mongoloid (yellow).

p Scientific research has proved beyond any doubt that there are no distinctions whatsoever in the way of thinking, or in the intellectual or physical abilities of people belonging to different races. Nevertheless, reactionary bourgeois ideologists propagate unscientific concepts of " superior" and “inferior” races, asserting that some races are predestined by nature for domination, and others, for subordination.

p In the USA and other capitalist countries, racial discrimination, or persecution of people with skin that is other than white, is widespread.

p Racist ideas always served the interests of slaveowners and colonialists. Today, bourgeois ideologists are trying to prove that the peoples of former colonies are psychologically unprepared for an independent existence. However, even if certain non-white peoples are indeed backward, this is not because of the colour of their skin or hair, as some bourgeois ideologists maintain, but the result of the colonial oppression which kept them for centuries subject to the will of their white exploiters.

p Now, having freed themselves from colonial 88 oppression, the peoples of former colonies and dependent countries are successfully developing their economies and cultures. Particularly marked progress is being made by those countries which have chosen the socialist path.

p Today there are two types of nation: capitalist and socialist; they have contrasting socio- economic bases, class structures, political systems and mentalities.

p Capitalist nations were formed with the emergence of capitalism. They are based economically on the capitalist mode of production and capitalist production relations. Capitalist nations are internally divided into two antagonistic classes - the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. There is an incessant class struggle within such nations. Relations between capitalist nations are those of domination and subordination; national inequality and hostility, mutual distrust and national egoism are typical features.

p In bourgeois ideology and politics the character of relations between capitalist nations is marked by nationalism. The latter manifests itself in the preaching of national isolation and the exclusiveness of a given nation, distrust of and hostility towards other nations. Nationalism has two forms. On the one hand, there is the greatpower chauvinism of the dominant nation, characterised by a scornful attitude towards other nations; it is extremely reactionary and therefore 89 firmly rejected by the working class. The nationalism of oppressed nations, on the other hand, displays a tendency to fight for independence and against imperialism and therefore the proletariat supports it. As Lenin wrote: "The bourgeois nationalism of an. oppressed nation has a general democratic content that is directed agains. oppression, and it is this content that we unconditionally support."   [89•1  The nationalism of some of the Asian and African countries which are fighting for their independence belongs to the latter kind.

p The progressive tendency in the nationalism of oppressed nations, however, is temporary and transient owing to the temporary nature of the historically progressive role of the national bourgeoisie in the national liberation movement.

p Socialist nations are formed under socialism, out of the nations and nationalities which existed in capitalist society. They are based on economic relations of co-operation and mutual assistance; they are not divided into the exploiters and exploited, but are composed of friendly classes and social groups that share vital interests and are united by internationalism.

p Such nations exist in the Soviet Union and other socialist countries. In a socialist multinational state, like the Soviet Union, relations 90 between nations display two main features: 1) development and prospering of each nation and 2) their increasing drawing together or rapprochement.

p The rapprochement of nations is becoming the main tendency, a process which is manifested in many definite phenomena. The Russian language plays a great role in bringing the Soviet peoples closer together and strengthening their friendlyalliance and unity. According to the latest census in the USSR, 153.5 million people named Russian as their native tongue (of them, 137.2 million were Russians and 16.3 million, people of other nationalities). Besides this, 61.3 million people stated that they had a fluent command of Russian as their second language. And they had learned it of their own free will. The desire to know Russian is quite natural for the peoples of the Soviet Union. There are over 100 various nations, nationalities, and ethnic groups living in the USSR, each with its own language. To communicate with one another, they have to have a common language. And Russian has become the language of communication for all these peoples.

p With the achievement of developed socialism in the USSR, the prospering and drawing together of nations within a single socialist state has resulted in the formation of a new historical community-the Soviet people. This is not some sort of “supranation”, but a new social and intcr- 91 national community of people living in the same country, having a single economic and political system, a common Marxist-Leninist world outlook and a common culture.

p The drawing together of nations will ultimately end in their merging. However, the merging of nations and the overcoming of distinctions between them is a prolonged process which will not be completed in the near future. Marxists believe that this process should neither be impeded, nor in any way accelerated.

p Bourgeois nationalism is opposed by proletarian internationalism.

p Internationalism is a fundamental principle of the ideology and policy of the working class and its party. It embodies the international solidarity of the working people of various countries in their fight against capitalism, for social and national liberation, and for socialism and communism.

p Internationalism has its roots in the common class interests of the proletariat and the ultimate aim of its struggle, irrespective of the state or nationality to which its members belong. It emerged at the dawn of the international communist and working-class movement; Marx, Engels and Lenin gave it a theoretical substantiation. Marx and Engels also formulated the now famous internationalist slogan: "Workers of all countries, unite!"

p Alongside the concept of proletarian interna- 92 tionalism, Marxists-Leninists also make extensive use of the concept of socialist internationalism, which is the idea of proletarian internationalism developed to reflect modern-day conditions. Socialist internationalism extends, not only to relations between the proletariats of all countries, but also relations between socialist nations and nationalities within a multinational socialist state.

p Relations between countries engaged in building socialism are also based on the principles of socialist internationalism. The socialist community of nations developing within the world socialist system signifies a new landmark on the path of the development of mankind and a prototype of the future community of free peoples.

All genuine Marxists-Leninists are true and consistent internationalists. They place particular value on active internationalism and its implementation in everyday activities.