Proletarians of All Countries, Unite!

The great slogan and fundamental principle of internationalism put forth by Marx and Engels in The Communist Manifesto, reflects the fundamental interests and fervent aspirations of the proletariat in a concentrated manner.

Internationalism is a great idea of international union that must be practiced by the proletarians of all countries in order to maintain their common interests, oppose their common enemies and realize the common goal of socialism and communism. The slogan “Proletarians of all countries, unite!” put forth by Marx and Engels in The Communist Manifesto for the first time explained the basic idea of proletarian internationalism contained in it, and scientifically proved the historical necessity of proletarian internationalism and the importance of upholding international solidarity and made an incisive summary of the basic spirit of proletarian internationalism. They pointed out that machinery has evened out the positions of all workers and daily continues to do so more and more; in all these countries the workers now have the same interest, which is the overthrow of the class that oppresses them—the bourgeoisie. This levelling of living standards, this identification of the party interests of the workers of all nations is the result of machinery, and so machinery is an enormous historical advance. What follows from this is: Because the condition of the workers of all countries is the same, because their interests are the same, their enemies the same, they must also fight together, they must oppose the brotherhood of the bourgeoisie of all nations with a brotherhood of the workers of all nations. To this end, as The Communist Manifesto says, “the Communists point out and bring to the front the common interests of the entire proletariat, independently of all nationality”, and respect, support and assist each other in the struggle for emancipation, while upholding the principles of equality, sovereignty and independence and mutual respect of all nations.

Lenin continued to develop Marx and Engels’ idea of international union in the epoch of imperialism and proletarian revolution, emphasizing that: “Capital is an international force. To vanquish it, an international workers’ alliance, an international workers’ brotherhood, is needed. We are opposed to national enmity and discord, to national exclusiveness. We are internationalists.” By arguing for the slogan “Workers have no fatherland”, Lenin further pointed out that: (α) his economic position (wage-labor) is not national but international, (β) his class enemy is international, (γ) the conditions of his emancipation also, (δ) the international unity of the workers is more important than the national. Upholding proletarian internationalism requires the rejection of narrow nationalism and great power chauvinism.

Lenin also put forth a new strategic slogan based on the major changes in the international class struggle in the epoch of imperialism: “Proletarians and oppressed nations of all countries, unite!”, emphasizing that the international proletariat can only achieve revolutionary victory by uniting with the oppressed nations, who make up the majority of the world’s population, in a common struggle.

The Communist Party of China has always upheld the internationalist principle of Marxism. Mao Zedong said, “We must unite with the proletariat of all the capitalist countries, with the proletariat of Japan, Britain, the United States, Germany, Italy and all other capitalist countries, before it is possible to overthrow imperialism, to liberate our nation and people, and to liberate the other nations and peoples of the world. This is our internationalism, the internationalism with which we oppose both narrow nationalism and narrow patriotism.” The internationalist connotation of the slogan “Proletarians of all countries, unite!” has been theoretically enriched and developed.

The fundamental principle of the international communist movement expressed by the slogan “Proletarians of all countries, unite!” have long guided the proletarian parties of all countries to use the standpoint, viewpoint and method of Marxism, views and methods to understand and handle the relationships among nations, among countries and among proletarian parties, and have prompted them to unite closely in their common struggle for pushing forward the cause of socialism and communism.

See Proletarians and Oppressed Nations of All Countries, Unite! on p. 257.