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	International Communist Workers Party
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Fanon did not see class struggle as the dominant fact determining how society works and changes. He saw colonialism as the domination of one nation over another, Algeria against France, not as the brutal rule of capitalism over the masses of the regions it had conquered. He saw the uprising against colonial rule as a national movement of “the people,” not the working class.
Fanon tried to distinguish between nationalism and “national consciousness.” Nationalism, he said, “aroused the masses against the oppressor but disintegrates in the aftermath of independence,” as the national bourgeoisie takes over and becomes the new oppressors. He described “national consciousness” as a set of political ideas, supposed to be developed in stages, that goes beyond mere nationalism. In his contradictory descriptions of it, Fanon tried to rescue something good about nationalism from the oppression that it had maintained in Africa.

Stages of “National Consciousness”
The earliest stage of “national consciousness,” said Fanon, was the aim to kill or drive out every European. As the anti-colonial war progressed, some European settlers supported the war, and some blacks and Arabs oppose it, so “national consciousness” could get beyond a “racial and racist dimension.” Next tribalism and regionalism were supposed to be overcome, and nationalism must be replaced by a “social and economic consciousness,” about whose content Fanon is very vague. According to Fanon, any kind of internationalism requires “national consciousness,” which he claims to be the “highest form of culture.” (All quotations from Fanon, Wretched of the Earth, R. Philcox, trans., New York, 2004)
There is an amazing unreality about this whole scheme. Fanon pretends that “national consciousness” only unifies, overcoming tribalism and regionalism. But this is not true. Any kind of nationalism also divides the masses. Developing “national consciousness” means giving over-riding importance to particular features of a group of people who have a common history or language, features that supposedly distinguish them from other groups. Both now and in Fanon’s time, however, the masses of these groups are oppressed by the same capitalist system. The masses of Mali and Bolivia, Pakistan and France, or of any other countries, not only have a common enemy, but they are more similar than different in their capabilities for fighting back and supporting each other.
Nationalism does not promote internationalism. Instead it raises barriers between workers of different countries and races. It also aims to unite the masses with their rulers. This is why bosses love nationalism. In each country they cook up some supposedly unique and flattering characteristics of their nation that they give speeches about and teach kids in school.

Working Class Consciousness and Internationalism
Fanon saw “national consciousness” as something that a nationalist political movement needed to struggle for, not something spontaneous. Communists understand that we need to fight for working-class consciousness. The fact that workers have the same interests the world over does not mean that they always understand this. It is up to us to use our press and political actions to bring out the nature of global capitalism and the struggles of the masses against the system in every country. This is why ICWP exposes state murder, racism and oppression and the masses’ fight back against these things. ICWP has organized and taken part in many protests of racist police murders in the US. We have protested the government murders of 43 students in Guerrero, Mexico and the deaths of 1100 Bangladeshi garment workers, killed by the bosses’ greed. We have publicized, in a pamphlet and Red Flag, the heroic struggle of striking miners shot down by police in South Africa. Our leaflet supporting workers protesting the World Cup was distributed in Brazil. These efforts will continue and expand.
Mobilizing the masses for communism means combining struggles that take place in many countries, learning from and coordinating with workers everywhere. Constructing communism includes doing away with the bosses’ national boundaries and working closely to see that workers’ needs are fully met everywhere, even if their local production is not yet enough.
“National liberation” movements were tried, decades ago. It is obvious now that the struggles and sacrifices of millions who took part in them accomplished nothing for the masses. We have learned our lesson: working-class internationalism is vital for the communist future of the working class.

Next column: Fanon’s love-hate relationship with capitalism

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