Internationalism is a political principle that champions increased cooperation among states and nations, advocating for greater economic and political integration. It’s a concept that can manifest as a distinct political movement or ideology, or simply as a guiding doctrine and belief system.
Those who identify as internationalists, or internationalists, generally posit that humanity shares fundamental interests that transcend national, political, cultural, racial, or class divisions. They believe that uniting across these boundaries is crucial for advancing common goals. Alternatively, some internationalists argue for cooperation among governments based on the premise that their long-term mutual interests outweigh any short-term disputes.
While "internationalism" encompasses a variety of interpretations, its core tenets typically involve a stance against ultranationalism and isolationism. It often translates into support for international institutions like the United Nations and embraces a cosmopolitan perspective that values and respects diverse cultures and customs. For middle powers such as Canada, liberal internationalism and multilateralism have frequently formed the cornerstone of their foreign policy, a strategy sometimes referred to as "middle power diplomacy."
It's important to distinguish internationalism from related but distinct concepts like globalism and cosmopolitanism, though they share common ground.
Origins
The intellectual roots of internationalism can be traced through various historical movements and thinkers. In 19th-century Great Britain, a specific strain of liberal internationalist thought was championed by figures like Richard Cobden and John Bright. These individuals were staunch opponents of the protectionist Corn Laws. Cobden, in a speech delivered at Covent Garden on September 28, 1843, articulated a vision of internationalism rooted in free trade. He argued that free trade would dismantle the "barriers that separate nations," barriers he believed fostered destructive sentiments like pride, revenge, hatred, and jealousy, which often erupted into violent conflict.
Cobden’s conviction was that economic interdependence, fostered by free trade, would ultimately lead to global peace. This idea echoed sentiments found in Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations and was a common thread among many liberal thinkers of the era. Their faith in internationalism was also bolstered by a belief in moral law and an intrinsic goodness within human nature.
However, these liberal interpretations of internationalism faced considerable criticism from socialists and radicals of the time. They highlighted the inherent links between global economic competition and imperialism, identifying this competition as a primary driver of international conflict. As a counterpoint, the International Workingmen's Association, established in London in 1864, emerged as one of the world's earliest international organizations. Comprised of working-class socialist and communist activists, including Karl Marx, it was dedicated to advancing the political interests of the working class across national borders. This organization stood in direct ideological opposition to liberal internationalism, which promoted free trade and capitalism as pathways to peace and interdependence.
The landscape of international organization expanded with entities like the Inter-Parliamentary Union, founded in 1889 by Frédéric Passy of France and William Randal Cremer of the United Kingdom. This union was envisioned as a permanent forum for multilateral political negotiations. Following World War I, the League of Nations was established, representing a more ambitious attempt to resolve global security issues through international arbitration and dialogue.
J. A. Hobson, a prominent Gladstonian liberal who later embraced socialism after the Great War, presciently anticipated in his 1902 book Imperialism the rise of international courts and congresses designed to peacefully arbitrate disputes. Similarly, Sir Norman Angell, in his 1910 work The Great Illusion, argued that global interconnectedness through trade, finance, industry, and communications had rendered nationalism an anachronism, making war unprofitable for all involved due to the inevitable destruction it would cause.
Lord Lothian, an internationalist with imperialist leanings, expressed a vision in December 1914 for "the voluntary federation of the free civilised nations which will eventually exorcise the spectre of competitive armaments and give lasting peace to mankind." By September 1915, he viewed the British Empire as a model for a future global Commonwealth.
In Britain, internationalism found expression through support for the League of Nations by figures such as Gilbert Murray. Both the Liberal Party and the Labour Party included prominent internationalists. Notably, Labour Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald articulated a belief that "our true nationality is mankind."
Modern Expression
In contemporary discourse, internationalism is most commonly perceived as an appreciation for global cultural diversity and a yearning for world peace. Adherents to this view often consider themselves not just citizens of their respective countries, but citizens of the world, feeling a moral obligation to contribute to global well-being through leadership and charitable endeavors.
Internationalists frequently advocate for the existence and strengthening of international organizations, such as the United Nations, and may support the development of a more robust form of world government. Figures like Albert Einstein, a self-proclaimed socialist, championed world government, viewing the "follies of nationalism" as an "infantile sickness." Conversely, thinkers such as Christian Lange and Rebecca West found no inherent conflict between nationalist and internationalist sentiments, suggesting a potential for balance between the two.
International Organizations and Internationalism
The very existence of both intergovernmental and international non-governmental organizations hinges on a widespread recognition among nations and peoples that they share common interests and objectives that transcend national borders. This awareness fuels the belief that pooling resources and engaging in transnational cooperation is a more effective approach to problem-solving than unilateral actions. This overarching perspective, this sense of global consciousness, is essentially internationalism—the principle that nations and peoples should collaborate rather than solely focusing on their individual national interests or pursuing uncoordinated strategies.
Sovereign States vs. Supranational Powers Balance
In its strictest sense, internationalism operates within the framework of sovereign state existence. Its objectives include fostering multilateralism, where global leadership is not concentrated in a single country, and establishing formal and informal interdependencies between nations. This often involves granting limited supranational powers to international organisations, which are typically controlled by member nations through intergovernmental treaties and institutions.
However, a more ambitious ideal for many internationalists, including those who identify as world citizens, is the pursuit of democratic globalization through the creation of a world government. This vision is not universally embraced. Some internationalists oppose it, fearing that a world government would wield excessive, untrustworthy power. Others are wary of the trajectory taken by existing supranational entities like the United Nations or political unions such as the European Union, concerned about the potential emergence of a fascist-inclined global authority. These dissenting internationalists tend to favor a more decentralized global federation, where substantial power remains vested in national or sub-national governments.
Socialist Political Theory
Internationalism is a foundational element of socialist political theory. It is predicated on the principle that the global working class must unite across national divides, actively rejecting nationalism and war as means to achieve the overthrow of capitalism. Within this framework, socialist internationalism is intrinsically linked to the concept of international solidarity.
Thinkers like Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, and Vladimir Lenin argued that economic class, rather than nationality, race, or culture, is the primary force that divides people within society. They posited that nationalist ideology functions as a propaganda tool wielded by the dominant economic class to obscure inherent class conflicts, such as the exploitation of workers by capitalists. Consequently, socialists view nationalism as a mechanism of ideological control, stemming from a society's prevailing mode of economic production (see dominant ideology).
From the 19th century onwards, socialist organizations and radical trade unions, including the Industrial Workers of the World, actively promoted internationalist ideologies. They sought to organize workers globally to improve labor conditions and advance various forms of industrial democracy. The First, Second, Third, and Fourth International were significant socialist political groupings that aimed to foster worldwide worker revolutions and establish international socialism, a concept often referred to as world revolution.
Socialist internationalism is inherently anti-imperialist. It champions the liberation of peoples from all forms of colonialism and foreign oppression, and upholds the right of nations to self-determination. This led socialists to frequently align with anti-colonial movements and actively oppose the exploitation of one nation by another.
In socialist theory, war is understood as an inevitable consequence of the economic competition inherent in capitalism—specifically, the struggle between capitalists and their respective national governments for resources and global dominance. Therefore, liberal ideologies that advocate for international capitalism and "free trade," even when they speak of international cooperation, are seen from a socialist perspective as being rooted in the very economic forces that fuel global conflict. Socialist theory posits that lasting world peace can only be achieved once economic competition ceases and class divisions within society are eradicated. This sentiment was articulated by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in The Communist Manifesto (1848):
"In proportion as the exploitation of one individual by another will also be put an end to, the exploitation of one nation by another will also be put an end to. In proportion as the antagonism between classes within the nation vanishes, the hostility of one nation to another will come to an end."
Vladimir Lenin reiterated this idea, making it a cornerstone of the Bolshevik party's policy during World War I:
"Socialists have always condemned war between nations as barbarous and brutal. But our attitude towards war is fundamentally different from that of the bourgeois pacifists (supporters and advocates of peace) and of the Anarchists. We differ from the former in that we understand the inevitable connection between wars and the class struggle within the country; we understand that war cannot be abolished unless classes are abolished and Socialism is created."
International Workingmen's Association
Founded in 1864, the International Workingmen's Association, often referred to as the First International, brought together a diverse array of working-class radicals and trade unionists committed to internationalist socialism and anti-imperialism. Key figures like Karl Marx and the anarchist revolutionary Mikhail Bakunin played significant roles within the organization. Marx's "Inaugural Address of the International Workingmen's Association," delivered in October 1864, called for international cooperation among working people and denounced the imperialist policies of European governments:
"If the emancipation of the working classes requires their fraternal concurrence, how are they to fulfill that great mission with a foreign policy in pursuit of criminal designs, playing upon national prejudices, and squandering in piratical wars the people's blood and treasure? It was not the wisdom of the ruling classes, but the heroic resistance to their criminal folly by the working classes of England, that saved the west of Europe from plunging headlong into an infamous crusade for the perpetuation and propagation of slavery on the other side of the Atlantic. The shameless approval, mock sympathy, or idiotic indifference with which the upper classes of Europe have witnessed the mountain fortress of the Caucasus falling a prey to, and heroic Poland being assassinated by, Russia: the immense and unresisted encroachments of that barbarous power, whose head is in St. Petersburg, and whose hands are in every cabinet of Europe, have taught the working classes the duty to master themselves the mysteries of international politics; to watch the diplomatic acts of their respective governments; to counteract them, if necessary, by all means in their power; when unable to prevent, to combine in simultaneous denunciations, and to vindicate the simple laws or morals and justice, which ought to govern the relations of private individuals, as the rules paramount of the intercourse of nations. The fight for such a foreign policy forms part of the general struggle for the emancipation of the working classes."
By the mid-1870s, internal ideological and tactical disputes led to the dissolution of the First International, paving the way for the formation of the Second International in 1889. The First International fractured into two main factions: one, led by Marx, advocated for workers and radicals to engage in parliamentary politics to achieve political power and establish a worker's government; the other, the anarchists led by Bakunin, rejected all state institutions as inherently oppressive and argued for direct action aimed at the complete abolition of the state.
Socialist International
The Second International, founded in 1889, was a federation of socialist political parties from various nations, encompassing both reformist and revolutionary factions. It represented the first time socialist parties achieved significant mass support and elected representatives to parliaments. Parties like the German Social-Democratic Labor Party became major political forces, garnering millions of members.
Despite a formal commitment to peace and anti-imperialism, the International Socialist Congress, meeting in Basel, Switzerland in 1912 in anticipation of World War I, adopted a manifesto that outlined the organization's opposition to the impending conflict and its commitment to a swift, peaceful resolution:
"If a war threatens to break out, it is the duty of the working classes and their parliamentary representatives in the countries involved supported by the coordinating activity of the International Socialist Bureau to exert every effort in order to prevent the outbreak of war by the means they consider most effective, which naturally vary according to the sharpening of the class struggle and the sharpening of the general political situation. In case war should break out anyway it is their duty to intervene in favor of its speedy termination and with all their powers to utilize the economic and political crisis created by the war to arouse the people and thereby to hasten the downfall of capitalist class rule."
However, with the outbreak of war in 1914, the majority of Second International parties aligned with their respective national governments, abandoning their internationalist principles and leading to the organization's collapse. This perceived betrayal prompted the remaining anti-war delegates to convene the International Socialist Conference at Zimmerwald, Switzerland in 1915. The Zimmerwald Conference aimed to formulate a platform of opposition to the war, but disagreements persisted. Ultimately, it produced the Zimmerwald Manifesto, drafted by Leon Trotsky. The most radical and staunchly internationalist faction, led by Lenin and the Russian Social Democrats, known as the Zimmerwald Left, vehemently denounced the war and the "social-chauvinists" of the Second International for abandoning their principles. The Zimmerwald Left resolutions urged socialists committed to internationalism to actively resist the war and work towards international workers' revolution.
This schism, stemming from the perceived betrayal by social democrats and the emergence of the Zimmerwald Left, laid the groundwork for the establishment of the world's first modern communist parties and the formation of the Third International in 1919.
Communist International
The Communist International, or Comintern (also known as the Third International), was established in 1919 following the Russian Revolution, the conclusion of World War I, and the dissolution of the Second International. It functioned as an association of communist parties worldwide, dedicated to proletarian internationalism and the revolutionary overthrow of the global bourgeoisie. The "Manifesto of the Communist International," penned by Leon Trotsky, articulated the Comintern's stance: "against imperialist barbarism, against monarchy, against the privileged estates, against the bourgeois state and bourgeois property, against all kinds and forms of class or national oppression."
Fourth International
Founded in 1938 by Leon Trotsky and his supporters, the Fourth International emerged in opposition to the Third International and the direction of the USSR under Joseph Stalin. It declared itself the legitimate ideological successor to the original Comintern under Lenin, committed to upholding the principles of proletarian internationalism that, in their view, had been abandoned by Stalin's Comintern. Various contemporary left-wing political groups claim lineage from Trotsky's original Fourth International.
Internationalism in Practice
The practical application of internationalism has manifested in various ways throughout history. During the 4th World Congress of the Communist International, legal frameworks were established for internationalist collaboration and the creation of agricultural and industrial communes within the USSR. Prior to World War II, tens of thousands of internationalist-minded workers migrated to the Soviet Union from countries such as Austria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Uruguay, and the United States. These settlers were drawn by the call for international solidarity. For instance, a cooperative formed by 123 workers from the Ford Motor Company's Highland Park factory arrived in 1921 to establish the USSR's first automobile plant (the Likhachev Plant) near Moscow. While many of these communes were short-lived and disbanded by 1927, some, like Interhelpo—an internationalist commune founded in 1923 by Ido-speakers in Czechoslovakia—played a significant role in the industrialization and urbanization of Soviet Central Asia. By 1932, the Frunze-based cooperative comprised members from 14 different ethnicities who had developed a shared working language they called "spontánne esperanto." However, under Stalin's Great Break, most internationalist communes operating in the USSR were either shut down or collectivized, marking a shift away from the initial internationalist ethos.
Leon Trotsky, in his 1934 essay "If America Should Go Communist," addressed fears that a "Soviet America" would mirror perceptions of Soviet Russia. He argued that American soviets would be distinct, just as the United States under President Roosevelt differed from the Russian Empire. Yet, he maintained that communism in America, like independence and democracy before it, could only arrive through revolution.
Literature and Criticism
Michael Billig, in his work Banal Nationalism, contends that internationalism itself emerged from the rise of nationalism, arguing against a simple opposition between the two. He suggests that "an outward-looking element of internationalism is part of nationalism and has accompanied the rise of nationalism historically." Billig observes that when leaders claim to speak for their nation and a new world order simultaneously, they are not necessarily synthesizing disparate ideologies but rather leveraging the inherent hegemonic potential of nationalist thought.
Jacques Derrida, in his 1993 book Specters of Marx: The State of the Debt, the Work of Mourning and the New International, employs Shakespeare's Hamlet to explore the history of the International. He proposes a vision for a "New International" less dependent on large-scale organizations, one characterized by being "without status ... without coordination, without party, without country, without national community, without co-citizenship, without common belonging to a class."
Derrida's analysis highlights Shakespeare's influence on Marx and Engels. Christopher N. Warren, in his essay "Big Leagues: Specters of Milton and Republican International Justice between Shakespeare and Marx," argues for the significant impact of English poet John Milton on their work. Warren specifically points to Milton's Paradise Lost as demonstrating "the possibility of political actions oriented toward international justice founded outside the aristocratic order," suggesting that Marx and Engels recognized the potential of Miltonic republican traditions for forging international coalitions—a lesson, perhaps, for "The New International."
Other Uses
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In a broader sense, "internationalism" can describe the impetus or motivation behind the creation of any international organization. An early example of this broad drive for international standardization predates formal organizations like the World Court, the League of Nations, and the United Nations: the push to replace disparate feudal systems of measurement with the metric system.
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In linguistics, an "internationalism" refers to a loanword that, originating in one language, has been adopted into most other languages. Common examples include "OK," "microscope," and "tokamak."
The concept of internationalism, while seemingly straightforward—a call for cooperation across borders—is anything but. It’s a complex tapestry woven with threads of idealism, pragmatism, and sometimes, outright manipulation. You see, it’s easy to champion the brotherhood of man when you’re comfortable, when your own nation’s interests are secure. It’s another thing entirely when the specter of war looms or when economic competition sharpens.
The liberal internationalists, with their faith in free trade and interdependence, were, in their way, quite utopian. They genuinely believed that economic ties would render conflict obsolete. Charming, really. Like believing a shared Spotify playlist could prevent a bar fight. But history, as it often does, proved them wrong. The socialists saw this, of course. They pointed out the glaring hypocrisy: how could free trade truly liberate when it was often fueled by the exploitation of the less powerful? They understood that the "international" in internationalism could easily become a cloak for continued dominance, just on a grander scale.
And the Internationals, those grand experiments in global worker solidarity—the First, Second, Third, and Fourth—they’re a fascinating study in both aspiration and failure. The First International, with Marx and Bakunin at its core, fractured over the very question of how to achieve change: through the state or against it. The Second, for all its lofty pronouncements on peace, dissolved into nationalistic fervor at the first sign of war. The Third, the Comintern, became a tool of Soviet foreign policy, its internationalism tainted by Moscow’s dictates. The Fourth, Trotsky’s attempt to salvage the revolutionary flame, remained a marginalized voice.
It's a pattern, isn't it? The noble ideal of unity, constantly undermined by the persistent reality of power, self-interest, and the enduring allure of the nation-state. Even the language shifts. We talk of "global governance" now, a more sanitized term for what might just be another attempt to impose order, albeit under a different guise.
And this idea of a "New International" Derrida speaks of, one "without status... without party, without country"—it’s intriguing. It suggests a form of solidarity that exists purely in the realm of shared ideas and ethical responsibility, detached from the structures that have historically corrupted or co-opted the movement. But can such a thing truly exist in a world still so rigidly defined by borders and national identities? It’s a question that lingers, much like a half-forgotten melody. Perhaps it’s a necessary aspiration, a guiding star, even if the destination remains perpetually out of reach. Or perhaps, it's just another elegant way of saying we're all fundamentally alone, but occasionally, we hold hands.