The Inane Politics of Tony Cliff - Journal for the Study of Antisemitism

\\jciprod01\productn\J\JSA\3-2\JSA216.txt unknown Seq: 8 16-JAN-12 15:121608 JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF ANTISEMITISM[ VOL. 3:16011939, 1946c) more in his early than later writings, throughout these referenceshe does not grasp the meaning of consistent democracy on thenational question. For Lenin (1913c, 87), not Cliff, the conclusion of Marxis clear:The working class should be the last to make a fetish of the nationalquestion, since the development of capitalism does not necessarilyawaken all nations to independent life. But to brush aside the massnational movements once they have started, and to refuse to support whatis progressive in them means, in effect, pandering to nationalisticprejudices, that is, recognising “one’s own nation” as a model nation (or,we would add, one possessing the exclusive privilege of forming a state).Lenin (1913b) recognizes nations as a historically inevitable productand feature of capitalist society, and thus for him mass national movementsare historically legitimate. Furthermore, he applies a principle of consistentdemocracy to the national question: “There is one case in which the Marxistsare duty bound, if they do not want to betray democracy and the proletariat,to defend one special demand in the national question; that is, theright of nations to self-determination (clause 9 of the R.S.D.L.P. Programme),i.e., the right to political secession” (Lenin 1913a, 7-8).Lenin continues that the consistent democratic defense of the right ofall nations to self-determination is a negative task: beyond this “border-line[ . . . ] which is often very slight” lies positive work that effectivelystrengthens bourgeois nationalism (1913b, 28). In other words, the recognitionand defense of workers’ right to national self-determination does notimpede the task of exposing bourgeois nationalism or agitating againstsecession in favor of the international unity of workers in their class struggleagainst the bourgeoisie (Lenin 1913-1922). Against critics who (in linewith Rosa Luxembourg’s “The National Question and Autonomy” [1908-1909]) argue that such an approach is contradictory and concedes a maximumto nationalism, Lenin (1913c, 84) points out, “In reality, the recognitionof the right of all nations to self-determination implies the maximum ofdemocracy and the minimum of nationalism.” On 1948, then, as the U.S.-based revolutionary socialist Hal Draper (1948) clarifies, regardless of whatsocialists might have wished possible in the early years:A new state has been set up. A people have declared that they want tolive under their own government and determine their own nationaldestiny. They have taken a blank cheque made out to the Right of Self-Determination and have signed their name to it: Israel. And they havesought to cash it in.

\\jciprod01\productn\J\JSA\3-2\JSA216.txt unknown Seq: 9 16-JAN-12 15:122011] THE INANE POLITICS OF TONY CLIFF 1609To deny the legitimacy of the nation-state of Israel proper, under theguise of justice for the Palestinians—which effectively means taking awaythe right of one group of the working class and handing it over to anothergroup of the working class by way of redress—is to betray the most fundamentalquality of socialism: consistent democracy.*Camila Bassi (DPhil, University of Sheffield, 2003) teaches at Sheffield HallamUniversity with research interests in the relationship of minority culture to urbanpolitical economy, the competing historical narratives of the Palestinian-Israeliconflict, and, more generally, the return to and reinvigoration of Marx and Marxism.She is the author of several papers and book chapters, including the 2010paper “The Anti-Imperialism of Fools: A Cautionary Story of the RevolutionaryLeft Vanguard of England’s Post-9/11 Anti-War Movement” and the forthcomingbook chapter “Shanghai Goes West: Reflections on the City’s Gay PoliticalEconomy.” Bassi has been an active socialist for over sixteen years.REFERENCESBassi, Camila. 2010. “ ‘The Anti-Imperialism of Fools’: A Cautionary Story on theRevolutionary Socialist Vanguard of England’s Post-9/11 Anti-WarMovement,” ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies 9(2):113-137.Cliff, Tony. 1945. “The Middle East at the Crossroads,” Marxists Internet Archive,http://www.marxists.org/archive/cliff/works/1946/me/index.htm.———. 1946a. “Palestine Strike: Arabs and Jews Unite,” Marxists InternetArchive, http://www.marxists.org/archive/cliff/works/1946/05/strike.html.———. 1946b. “A New British Provocation in Palestine,” Marxists InternetArchive, http://www.marxists.org/archive/cliff/works/1946/07/provocation.htm.———. 1946c. “Terrorism in Palestine: Are the Terrorists Anti-Imperialist?,”Marxists Internet Archive, http://www.marxists.org/archive/cliff/works/1946/12/terrorists.html.———. 1947. “On the Irresponsible Handling of the Palestine Question,” MarxistsInternet Archive, http://www.marxists.org/archive/cliff/works/1947/xx/palestine.htm.———. 1982. “Roots of Israel’s Violence,” Marxists Internet Archive, http://www.marxists.org/archive/cliff/works/1982/04/isrviol.htm.———. 1967/1990. “The Struggle in the Middle East.” Marxists Internet Archive,http://www.marxists.org/archive/cliff/works/1990/10/struggleme.htm.———. 1998. “The Jews, Israel and the Holocaust,” Marxists Internet Archive,http://www.marxists.org/archive/cliff/works/1998/05/israel.htm.Draper, Hal. 1948. “How to Defend Israel: A Political Program for IsraeliSocialists,” Marxists Internet Archive, http://www.marxists.org/archive/draper/1948/07/israel.htm.