ABSTRACT
Nationalism is not the reactionary product manufactured by petty bourgeois agitators; it is the instinct of self-preservation in nations, their healthy urge for self-determination. The national instinct of self-preservation latent in the socialist working class is a healthy nationalism. Only international socialism based upon a realistic approach to nationalism can liberate sick humanity in this capitalist era and cure society of its social and national conflicts. Nations existed before they were split into classes. Nations remain, while classes change. In the Middle Ages classes were different from what they are today. The nations underwent cultural modifications, but in essence they remained the same, like water changing into ice or steam, though retaining the same chemical elements. This instinct of self-preservation in nations cannot be destroyed.
