Nationalism versus democracy: Legacies of marxism (original) (raw)
1992, International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society
Nationalist wars in post-Communist Yugoslavia republics are more than they seem to be at first glance. Rather than analyzing nationalism as a wholly autonomous force in the conflicts, it must be considered within the context of the decades-long battle of communists to achieve state power before and during World War II, and then to hold onto power thereafter. Communists strategically used nationalism to achieve their goals and to battle against the power of their "traditional nationalist" opponents. In this paper I will briefly consider the tension and alliance between Marxist and nationalist claims historically in Europe before turning to the 20th century case posed by Yugoslavia and its post-Communist republics. 1. TWO LINES OF CONFLICT We can identify 2 basic types of societal conflicts in modern European history: social conflicts between the haves and the have nots, and national conflicts between different national and/or ethnic groups. The ideological reflections of these two types are socialism or communism reflecting the vertical division of society and advocating the case of the poor against those who are higher in the social hierarchy, and nationalism, based on some feeling of common belongingness. This feeling of national belongingness is usually connected with the historical claims on territory and a common political history of battles against some "others" who are conquerors and suppressors of one's own nation. In Eastern Europe where the history of spatial movement of the states, migrations and wars is an
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Croatian Nationalism and the Breakup of Yugoslavia
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