National Liberation

Also known as “national emancipation”. The just struggle and movement of the colonies and semi-colonies and all oppressed nations against foreign oppression and domination, against colonialism, imperialism and hegemonism, and for national independence and national freedom since modern times. National liberation is an important component of the emancipation of the proletariat and the emancipation of mankind.

In modern times, national exploitation and oppression have always existed, and along with them, the struggle for national independence and national liberation has always been ongoing. Under the system of exploitation, the ruling classes of the oppressed nations suppressed, plundered, exploited, devastated and discriminated against the oppressed nations in economic, political, military and cultural aspects. In the epoch of imperialism, the whole world was divided into oppressing and oppressed nations, and national exploitation and national oppression went beyond the scope of a single country and turned into an international phenomenon, into the exploitation and oppression of colonial and semi-colonial peoples by imperialism, and imperialism became the common enemy of the proletariat in the capitalist countries and the oppressed and exploited nations of colonial and semi-colonial countries. With the increasing national oppression, national exploitation and national inequality, national liberation movements and national liberation wars broke out, chiefly manifested in the liberation movements of the peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America against colonialism, imperialism and hegemonism. Of course, it also includes the national liberation struggles of some oppressed peoples of Europe against national oppression and for a unified country and national independence in modern times. The liberation movements of Asian, African and Latin American nations have gone through a considerable period of time, demonstrating the strong determination of the peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America to fight for national independence and liberation. Marx paid great attention to the study of the liberation of backward nations, and discussed it in detail in On the Jewish Question and The Holy Family. He held that the development of backward nations boils down to the question of how to achieve emancipation, and the fundamental question is political emancipation. In the imperialist period, the national bourgeoisie and the modern proletariat appeared in the colonial and semi-colonial countries, and from then on, the liberation movement of the oppressed nations and the revolutionary movement of the proletariat became two major historical currents. Marx was also aware of this current and held that the independence and liberation of the backward nations depended on the victory of the proletariat against the bourgeoisie within the bourgeois countries, and even the victory of the latter struggle was decisive for the former independence and liberation movement. Thus, the victory of the proletariat over the bourgeoisie is at the same time a signal of the victory of all oppressed nations. By means of the victory of the proletariat within the bourgeois state, the national liberation movement of the oppressed nations is promoted, thus achieving national independence and national liberation. This, to a certain extent, determined the ending of the world revolution. The victory of the October Revolution in Russia greatly encouraged and supported the liberation movement of the oppressed nations in the colonial and semi-colonial countries and promoted the birth of proletarian parties in the backward countries, which henceforth led to the emergence of national democratic revolutions of two natures in the national liberation movements all over the world, i.e., the national democratic revolution led by the proletariat and the national democratic revolution led by the bourgeoisie. The great victory of the Chinese people’s revolution further encouraged the determination and confidence of the vast number of oppressed nations in their liberation struggle. In this movement for national liberation, many countries and regions in Asia, Africa and Latin America have been freed from imperialist and colonialist domination and oppression and have gained national independence and national liberation.

National liberation is the same historical process as social emancipation and the emancipation of mankind, and is an important component of the emancipation of the proletariat and the emancipation of mankind. Mao Zedong pointed out that only by achieving national liberation will it be possible for the proletariat and other working people to achieve their own emancipation. National liberation requires certain conditions, and national liberation must be combined with the questions of the development of the productive forces and the emancipation of mankind. First of all, the development of the productive forces of society to a certain level is necessary, which is a fundamental law. Next, it is necessary to achieve national independence through national democratic revolution. Engels pointed out that to ensure international peace, all avoidable national friction must first be done away with, each people must be independent and master in their own house. With the advance of commerce, agriculture, industry and thereby of the social position of power enjoyed by the bourgeoisie, national feeling rose everywhere and partitioned and oppressed nations demanded unity and independence. Further, it is necessary to implement the union of the international proletariat and the oppressed nations, and ultimately abolish the system of exploitation and the classes. The proletariat must first of all acquire political supremacy, must rise to be the leading class of the nation. National differences and antagonism between peoples are daily more and more vanishing, owing to the development of the bourgeoisie, to freedom of commerce, to the world market, to uniformity in the mode of production and in the conditions of life corresponding thereto. The supremacy of the proletariat will cause them to vanish still faster. United action, of the leading civilized countries at least, is one of the first conditions for the emancipation of the proletariat. In proportion as the exploitation of one individual by another will also be put an end to, the exploitation of one nation by another will also be put an end to. In proportion as the antagonism between classes within the nation vanishes, the hostility of one nation to another will come to an end.

Marxism holds that a people that oppresses others cannot emancipate itself, because a nation that enslaves another forges its own chains. The power it needs to oppress others is ultimately always turned against itself. Opposition to great power chauvinism and bourgeois nationalism is a fundamental principle of Marxism. At present, the vast number of developing countries are still fighting against hegemonism and power politics in order to safeguard their national sovereignty and national interests.