Internationalism: History, Theory, Practice

On the eve of the 1848 Revolution, the young Karl Marx concluded the Communist Manifesto with these thunderous words: “Workers of the World Unite!” The charter document of left-internationalism painted a compelling vision in which oppressed peoples from across the world would unite to overthrow capitalism. Against the world market, Marx reasoned with implacable logic, only a world revolution would suffice to realize socialism. Ever since, internationalism has been baked into the socialist worldview. Yet, from the very beginning, the dream of world revolution faced massive challenges, from competing political visions to the practical difficulties of organizing masses of workers across borders. But, more than anything, it was imperialism, nationalism—and later fascism—that proved to be the greatest obstacles to its realization, as evidenced by the collapse of the Second International, the degeneration of the Russian Revolution, and the failure of the European movement to actively support decolonization.

Today, the dream of world revolution seems largely exhausted, especially in the West, while its nationalist and fascist foes are once more on the ascent. And yet, the call for internationalist solidarity remains, irrigating contemporary resistance movements from Palestine to Minneapolis, and posing the problem of internationalism all over again. In this course, we will study the history and theory of left-internationalism from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. Reading across the socialist, communist, and liberal traditions, we will ask: what are the historical and theoretical foundations of left-internationalism? What can we learn from its successes and its failures? How do race, gender, and religion fit into internationalist solidarity? What parts of classical left-internationalism should we retain or rethink? Who is the revolutionary subject of the present and what should a twenty-first century internationalism look like? Authors will include Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Rosa Luxemburg, Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky, Frantz Fanon, Michael Hardt, and Antonio Negri, among others.