The internationalists

Preamble · With capital's global domination over society the proletariat has become a global class. This is confirmed by the two fundamental characteristics of the term “proletariat”: a class in itself and a class for itself. As a class in itself - i.e. as the variable element of capital in the process of production and reproduction - the proletariat follows capitalism's international destiny.

Every transition from one stage to another of capitalist society is marked by a throng of intellectuals who are so taken by the “new advance” that they lose even a minimal ability to distinguish the real process from their own personal expectations. Thus it was with the passage from competitive to monopoly capitalism at the turn of the century.

Introduction · The following article is from the April issue of Battaglia Comunista, journal of the Italian affiliate of the International Bureau. It is an analysis of the role of Italian imperialism in Albania. (A country the Italian ruling class have historically seen as within their legitimate sphere of interest, having twice "intervened" there this century already.

Despite the intense rivalry between the USSR and the USA lasted so long because neither side had emerged fundamentally aggrieved from the Second World War. The USA had emerged as far and away the strongest military and economic power in the world. Untouched by the ravages of war the post-war boom was simply “business as usual” for the citizens of the “the arsenal of democracy”.

The belief that the collapse of the USSR also means the collapse of marxism has set off a wave of neo-liberal euphoria. Nowadays all economic change is presented as a sign that the law of the market prevails over monopoly, whether in state or private form. This belief is now so widespread that there isn't a question answered without the magic word “liberalisation”.