From Nationalism to Internationalism

We have just published a booklet, "From Nationalism to Internationalism".

This booklet tells the story of an activist over a period of about 35 years. For him, it is an easy enough transition from nationalist to Maoist groups, for almost all of them are fundamentally nationalist, with the Stalinist justification of the concept of "socialism in one country" for the latter. He has been well acquainted with Maoists having been a militant founder of the Maoist group In Struggle! (En Lutte!) This booklet is his political autobiography.

In the introduction he writes: “The purpose of this booklet is to comment on my political activity as a militant, while grounding myself on my current knowledge of Left communist positions.”

His booklet is both intended as a criticism of past activities (for example, a critique of the Maoist current in which he’d long evolved) and to show that these same activities were alien to the proletariat. In fact, he is writing this booklet so that young workers and students can avoid the same mistakes and gain an understanding of the politics of the Communist Left, the real proletarian camp. To learn from our struggles and past mistakes is an important aspect of Marxism.

Here’s an excerpt:

“The October 1917 Russian Revolution was the first step toward world communist revolution in an international revolutionary wave that ended the imperialist war and lasted several years. The failure of that revolutionary wave, particularly in Germany in 1919-23, condemned the Russian Revolution to isolation and rapid degeneration. Stalinism was not the product of the Russian Revolution, but its gravedigger. The bourgeoisie’s biggest lie for the past 80 years has been in calling Stalinism “communism”. “

Table of Contents

Introduction

My origins

My years in the dead-end of nationalism or the nation before classe struggle

Taxi drivers’ Struggle against Murray Hill

My years in the dead-end of Maoism or socialism in one country

October 1970 crisis

Other important events in Quebec and internationally that influenced me

L’Atelier Ouvrier

The In Struggle! (En Lutte!) team

1976 Olympic Games underground

Once again, the police and their mercenaries

Dissolution of the Maoist group In Struggle!

Fight against pesticides in a suburban town

Years ‘89 and ‘90: the collapse of the Soviet Union and its satellites

Summer of 1990 :The Mohawk bourgeoisie’s struggle against the Quebec and

Canadian bourgeoisie

Memoir that plays into the hands of bourgeois democracy

1996 socio-economic summit

Summit of the Americas Quebec City April 2001

Discovering the existence of the communist Left

The International

Appendices

I- Basic Positions of internationalists of Montreal

II- "every man for himself"

III- Marxism and the police

IV- Terrorism, a War Weapon of the bourgeoisie

V- A circus of darkness and lies: the National Assembly

VI- from The Question of Trade Unionism in Quebec

VII- Data on major Quebec companies

VIII- Origin of the Communist Left

IX- Capitalism is dying !

 It is still available. Send your address to: klasbatalo@gmail.com