Socialism worldwide needs American patriotism. By: Tim Russo

9/9/2021

Socialism worldwide needs American patriotism. By: Tim Russo

Read Now

As a Cleveland Browns fan, love hate relationships come second nature. Pain of indescribable severity is rarely, but certainly, broken by great joy, and the joyous moments while few, redeem it all. Just as in every family, most of us have a few relatives we have to love (a father, mother, sibling), yet truly despise, where the few happy moments make the far more numerous painful ones disappear, a compromise necessary just to carry onward with life. Love is that way; very demanding of forgiveness, in pursuit of redemption. Love of country is no less demanding, no less reliant on forgiveness. No one’s country is perfect.

Makes me wonder if Jackson Hinkle is a Browns fan, or had a similarly detestable relative, or maybe he’s just American, where love of country can only truly exist in the face of great anger and shame. This week, Hinkle made the rather vanilla declaration “I’m a Marxist Leninist. I’m an anti-imperialist. I’m an American patriot”, before being arrested engaging in nonviolent civil disobedience on the steps of the US Capitol Building to advocate rent forgiveness in the midst of an ongoing pandemic. Down came the condemnations from the prancing posing permanently pointless “left”, who can abide neither American patriotism nor nonviolence.

During Occupy Wall Street (another nonviolent patriotic movement utterly ignored by today’s left), Hinkle’s sort of open patriotism was de rigeur - Occupy was festooned with red white and blue (as was the First International in 1864), even anarchists carried American flags with their own symbols put onto it. Talk of hatred and violence within Occupy was where the FBI set up shop to destroy Occupy, surrounding such dead ender self-loathers with six figure budgets, dozens of agents, NSA wiretaps by the terabyte, and endless patience to wait until violent hate helpfully morphed into violent act, only made possible with FBI money. This trap, where redemption and love are mocked and derided in favor of impotent rage pointing in no discernable direction, is what is known as a “honey pot”, collecting flies who stick to it then end up in federal prison, instead of threatening capital in the imperial core.

Aside from tricking the left into playing the FBI’s game, capital has long been well aware that neutering the American left is always best done by the left itself assuming the posture most guaranteed to isolate it from the American working class - violence and a self-loathing hatred of your own country. Who wants to be around self-loathing haters? Who are violent? No grandmother pushing a baby in a stroller is ever going to support anything like that, ever. Without that grandma, you have no movement, no mass line, no cultural hegemonic change, no revolution, nothing. You only have a petulance the FBI thanks you for providing. Mao would know this, Lenin, Che, Fidel, all of them. More importantly, so would the long line of radical American leftists of whom today’s ultra leftoids know precisely nothing.

Not a single “leftist” condemning Hinkle’s patriotism knows who August Willich was, or Mathilde Anneke, or Franz Sigel, or Carl Schurz, or Włodzimierz Krzyżanowski, or Peter H. Clark, or Paul Robeson. They might (barely) know who Lucille Ball was in order to hate her because she was on American TV, but certainly not that Lucy was a member of the Communist Party. One of American imperialism’s greatest triumphs worldwide has been this complete erasure of American socialism’s leaders, thinkers, writers, artists, organizers, agitators, even freers of slaves. So thorough is this erasure, today’s American “leftist” is nothing more than an aesthetic, not even American at all, a putter on of fancy dress manufactured abroad, only celebrating, meme-ing, glorifying, studying, elevating and following people who aren’t American. This fills capitalists with delight.

Our contributor Yanis Iqbal in his piece condemning Hinkle’s patriotism concludes that “the American identity is completely hollow.” Well, if your understanding of American identity is the same as Joe McCarthy’s or Donald Trump’s, sure. That’s a very hollow America. The gaping hole in global socialism is where patriotic American socialists have been erased. Cancelled, if you will, by “leftists,” who purposefully ignore all that does not fit a caricature planted in their minds by capital. Not coincidentally, this void in global socialism, or “hollow”, is right where capital wants it; in the imperial core. If there is no patriotic American left, there will be no global revolution against capital in its imperial core. We patriotic American socialists have a special responsibility to fill that gaping hole, with love of our country positioned against capital’s exploitation of it. (Yes, Yanis, the American working class has been exploited, too. If you’d like to see what “hollow” actually looks like, I’ll walk you around Cleveland to show you what capital hollowed out my entire life.)

The good news is we have a towering mountain of radical leftism in American history none of us knew was even there until we dug through the history that American capital made certain we were never taught. Here at Midwestern Marx, we endeavor to fill that hole. Patriotically. Go Browns.

Author

Tim Russo is author of Ghosts of Plum Run, an ongoing historical fiction series about the charge of the First Minnesota at Gettysburg. Tim's career as an attorney and international relations professional took him to two years living in the former soviet republics, work in Eastern Europe, the West Bank & Gaza, and with the British Labour Party. Tim has had a role in nearly every election cycle in Ohio since 1988, including Bernie Sanders in 2016 and 2020. Tim ran for local office in Cleveland twice, earned his 1993 JD from Case Western Reserve University, and a 2017 masters in international relations from Cleveland State University where he earned his undergraduate degree in political science in 1989. Currently interested in the intersection between Gramscian cultural hegemony and Gandhian nonviolence, Tim is a lifelong Clevelander.

Archives

September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020

28 Comments

Mia

9/9/2021 08:04:49 pm

My guy more like you’re the one stuck in a honey pot of patriotism for the imperial core you obviously know that should be targeted and abolished but fine continue speaking of this “love” you seem to know all about. Also what’s “we”? When referring to this country as the left’s country? Your idea goes against decolonization and the land back movement-which btw is even what those leftists you call out are fighting under and for. That’s the one out of actual love and fighting for unity including that grandma pushing the baby stroller. That hatred and anger you put on the leftists just quote tweeting a guy’s oxymoron like post...yeah buddy know the difference. That false sense of unity, sanctity under or in favor of the name of Amerika-that’s a scam, a lie, one that only benefits certain people (your so-called radical American leftists), that’s the name of the country that has wreaked trauma and exploitation literally around the world, MY home country and the same with those “leftists” you call out. How can I not, how can people not react the way they did to that dude’s post? And btw Mao, Lenin, Che, and Fidel...yeah they were very obviously vehement in their support for abolishing the imperial core, to never stand back for liberalism, a compromise-that nationalism you speak of that they refer to, yeah they meant in their respective countries. Because yeah nationalism isn’t inherently bad but reactionary one is, just as is American patriotism-it’s just contradictory. And yeah no country is perfect, it’s not only the US that needs to be called out for imperialism and neocolonialism. You’re right that there is the need for class solidarity-I’m all the way for that just not under -American patriotism because wtf would I do that for a state that has only caused so much anguish and genocide? Sure there are the good things that has happened, good things do come up with community, some even to be celebrated definitely -but that doesn’t negate the terrible things of American patriotism and basically America-the point of going for the imperial core isn’t even about redemption-it’s the absolute abolishment of this fascist carceral state on stolen land. Also saying that present day’s left is only about aesthetics, though not completely wrong or unwarranted, is mostly unfair, and generalizing. What would you know? There is still the leftist, to be more respectfully specific, the communist and anti-imperialist movements and orgs that exist in the Global South OUTSIDE your American patriotism that has done more for the left more than your idea of radicalism could ever do. Yours don’t even compare to history’s list of revolution and especially of the Haiti revolution which would be very against American/Western patriotism. You’re just giving this false idea of “community” under Americanness too much credit. And the left being “not American” like that IS the point. Don’t get me wrong I see where you’re coming from really but Socialism worldwide just doesn’t need American patriotism.

Tim Russo link

9/10/2021 06:56:37 am

Thanks for commenting...we disagree!

zitkato

9/10/2021 07:05:06 am

Yea you disagree because your a white with internalized racism and see the indigenous struggle as unimportant. Disgusting

Boiardi

9/10/2021 07:19:37 am

Holy shit, how utterly dismissive can you be.

How dare you call yourself a Marxist.

Todd R. Doherty

9/12/2021 08:12:11 pm

Thanks, Tim!

9/20/2021 04:46:35 pm

did i ask? Whoever is that “we”...how dare y’all call yourselves Marxists. Maybe it’s actually Todd over here who is the very thing they’re criticizing with that whole aesthetic thing. Done patting yourselves at the back whities? Confront y’alls whiteness first how about that?

Todd

9/20/2021 06:43:38 pm

Mia,

I reserve my contempt for the ruling capitalist class, not the people. My dis-informed neighbors are not the ones keeping us down, but the elites sure are.

Prez

9/10/2021 08:53:19 am

Dude what version of any of the theories you say influence you are you reading cause they sure as hell aren't the original translation. If you want to say you like football, just say that but you don't have to stand for the anthem and support genocide because of it. Oh and Occupy straight up failed. Nothing came out of besides Obama and all we got from him was done-struck hospitals and increased oil drilling. What's next, are you gonna be saying that Lenin was a honeypot because he hated the Russian Empire?

9/10/2021 09:40:54 am

your series of straw men may be what you wish was written here, but they were not. now google August Willich.

Bob

9/11/2021 07:22:17 pm

This is embarrassing on virtually every level.

Talmudic Trankie

9/10/2021 10:11:28 am

Very cool to know you think of the working class like they're toddlers who can't handle learning the fact that the US is a settler colonial state that is fundamentally unsalvageable and instead need to have their patriotism passified in order to convince them to get on board with socialism.

No thank you, officer.

Joseph Bierlein

9/10/2021 01:35:07 pm

I realized after reading this that Tim Russo neglected to give the reader their definition of patriotism. I believe that they're trying to argue for the general acceptance of a particular definition and cultural understanding of patriotism: the general care and compassion for all of one's national people. In their mind, socialists must be patriotic because they fight for humanity's best interest.
Russo’s argument presupposes a general acceptance of patriotism as a consistent cultural artifact. For Russo, patriotism means something particular, and its meaning must translate across the peculiar places that individuals hold in society. For them, socialists must adopt patriotism because of this meaning. This analysis requires a non-dialectical understanding of American culture and human psychology.
There is no consistent American identity across the United States. Culture and Identity are first formed through the mediating factors involved in the work required to survive in society. These conditions differ drastically between social classes, locations, ethnic groups, and so on. What is most important in the formation of one's understanding of the world is their particular place in it. An understanding of patriotism is subject to an individual’s culture, and their place in its social relations.
There is a consistent American culture. The macro cultural elements of American society (its government, infrastructure, media institutions, economy) require certain values and norms because they produce behaviors that are functional to the US system. Greed, fierce individualism, social chauvinism, and other despicable behaviors are just a few of the values that we might associate with these behaviors. That is to say, consumerism demands consumers, stock exchanges require market participants, and wars require soldiers. The individuals who are subject to these systems develop ways of thinking and acting that accomplish the system’s tasks. In contrast to this perspective, the author takes a one sided approach to the question of American exploitation. They agree with the fact that American workers are subject to exploitation, but they reject the fact that they also exploit. It is fine to acknowledge that US soldiers are simultaneously instruments of imperialism abroad and subjects of capitalist exploitation at home. It is also fine to acknowledge that American consumerism rests upon a global system of unequal exchange.
American imperialism requires advocates for its endeavors. Its participants attempt to rationalize these behaviors by defining them as patriotic. To these individuals, patriotism means shaping the world to the standards of the United States. Patriotism becomes synonymous with bombing campaigns, sanctions, unequal exchange, and so on. Patriotism becomes neoliberalism.
The contradiction between the program of the political left and the political right denotes a contradiction between the psychology of their bases. The author fails, entirely, to deal with this contradiction. The program of the left attempts to deviate from culturally expected behaviors. They advocate for an end to imperialist war, exploitation, and poverty. When individuals deviate from the cultural expectation of capitalist-imperialist society they are no longer considered patriotic by the dominant culture in the United States. Deviations from the cultural expectation produce anger, fear, loathing, and loathing. This is the basis of mass reaction.
Evidently there is a large portion of the left that does not feel compelled to buy into this definition of patriotism, and the author may do well to consider why that is. Additionally, the author attempts to produce a consistent American identity based in the tradition of American socialism. Marxism-Leninism has never been the basis of American culture. I ask the author, who, exactly, are you attempting to reach with your message? Their request for the grandmas of America suggests that they favor the path of volunteerism. Their rejection of illegal means suggests a rejection of Leninism. I question, also, why they use much of their article to applaud movements like Occupy Wall Street when their failures demand the fiercest criticism.

9/10/2021 01:48:53 pm

"Their rejection of illegal means suggests a rejection of Leninism. I question, also, why they use much of their article to applaud movements like Occupy Wall Street" - ummmm.....maybe you need to read more about OWS, which was entirely based on nonviolent civil disobedience, i.e., illegal direct action. your entire argument is you arguing with your own definition of what you wish I may have written. try again comrade!

9/10/2021 01:58:22 pm

The one thing you got right about the American left is that they are un-American. This is a matter of fact, considering that they reject the behaviors required by the American system. These systems form the basis of culture and the basis of American psychology. When you become a Marxist you reject American culture, meaning that you also reject the culturally acceptable definition of patriotism. Why do you feel compelled to hold onto the term when the usage is entirely contradictory? Are you familiar with the historical-cultural field of psychology?

9/10/2021 02:05:10 pm

I'd also like to know what you believe the American identity to be, exactly? You didn't really elaborate on this in your article. You merely said that it isn't "hollow", which I certainly agree with.

9/10/2021 02:15:47 pm

I know Robeson and Ball. They're not the basis for American culture. That is to say, they are not the guides for the macro-cultural elements and artifacts that shape behavior. You seem a bit confused about my argument.

9/10/2021 02:22:10 pm

Maybe you can clarify while we're having this dialogue. What does my statement of rejecting American culture have to do with familiarity of these individuals? I understand that they're American or became American in their lifetime, but what does this have to do with rejecting culture?

9/10/2021 02:26:29 pm

"LOL Robeson was the first African American to be named consensus All American at end in football, twice. That's before he became a communist. Lucille Ball became the most powerful woman in the history of television, AFTER being nearly blacklisted by HUAC. I think you're the confused one."

No, indeed you are confused about my position. Allow me to clarify. Culture is not what someone does in this life, nor is it the measures of achievement you have put forth. It is specifically the guiding forces that influence and shape behavior. The macro-cultural elements that shape behavior in the US are corporations, legal institutions, infrastructure, the government, the military, and so on. Robeson's significance had little to do with how people behaved in everyday life. More significant would be institutions that produce and reproduce racism, poverty, and so on. You might consider reading the theory of macro-cultural psychology, which is the extension of Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsky's historical-cultural psychology for more clarification on this particular definition of culture.

9/10/2021 02:38:44 pm

Also, I think I must have got your definition of patriotism close to right, yes? Considering that the dominant cultural variation of patriotism is incredibly reactionary, your understanding must be one that is more amenable to the socialist cause. This, however, does not change how most Americans view the term. Nor does it change the term's historically defined meaning, which is elucidated by Michael Parenti' book: Superpatriotism.

9/10/2021 02:40:36 pm

Ah I see you don't appreciate the dialectical understanding of psychology as developed by Vygotsky. I understand your confusion then.

Your arguments have been fairly flimsy and lacking in understanding of my perspective. I suppose that's expected from the polemical and uncritical nature of your article.

Joseph Cole Bierlein

9/10/2021 02:43:14 pm

Hint: Macro-cultural psychology extensively quotes Marx, Engels, and other socialist theorists. You would do well to broaden your perspective of culture, particularly considering your interest in Gramsci.

9/10/2021 02:04:31 pm

9/10/2021 02:12:48 pm

"When you become a Marxist you reject American culture" so as my article suggests, you haven't the first clue who August Willich was, or Mathilde Anneke, Krzyzanowski, Clark, Robeson, maybe even Lucille Ball. knew it.

9/10/2021 02:21:23 pm

"I know Robeson and Ball. They're not the basis for American culture" LOL Robeson was the first African American to be named consensus All American at end in football, twice. That's before he became a communist. Lucille Ball became the most powerful woman in the history of television, AFTER being nearly blacklisted by HUAC. I think you're the confused one.

9/10/2021 02:36:41 pm

"You might consider reading the theory of macro-cultural psychology," blah blah blah. You might consider reading Marx and Engels correspondence on the American Civil War. (spoiler - Marx loved America) Then, you might consider learning about the 48er communists in the Union Army who freed slaves with their bare hands and their blood.

Nomad

9/11/2021 07:57:06 pm

Just come out as white supremacists already. Yall acting like a psyop at this point. Read any NON WHITE Marxist to expand on your analysis or prove everyone right that you're a class reductionist who only wants to improve the current power relations to make sure it works for your class. This is a very unserious position and it's revealing an unhelathy psyche of whiteness that isnt being addressed through your analysis of Marxism.

9/12/2021 01:26:28 pm

you speak a great deal of the concept of "white" and its variants which do not appear in the article. rather unserious of you.

Lenin

9/12/2021 06:30:50 pm

Shut up, Kautsky.