Contenu du sommaire : L'internationalisme en question

Jewish cosmopolitanism, one of the ingredients of German socialist internationalism at its height, was inspired by the figure of the wandering Jew. During the 19th century, the Haskalah (Jewish Enlightenment) and Judaic science developed differently in the two main seats of Judaism: into religious ideology in Central and Eastern Europe, where German was the lingua franca, and into nationalism in the yiddishkeit of the Tsarist Empire. In Germany, the urban culture (Bildung), to which the cosmopolitan Jews contributed, served as a target for the nationalist and anti-Semitic Germans who saw their roots as being in the land. Under the Weimar Republic, the quest for the post-national identity embodied by socialism was compounded by the rediscovery of a Jewish identity. Those Jews that were exiled to the United States under Nazi persecution dedicated themselves to the preservation of their German culture, creating a new symbiosis between Bildung and the Bill of Rights.

Two complementary figures of the militant in exile embody the concept of internationalism: the pilgrim and the missionary. The former was drawn towards the epicentre of international socialism, principally Germany at the time of the Second International, then to Russia after the Revolution, where he often came to play a leading role. The latter took European anarchism, socialism and trade-unionism with him to the New World. There, he encountered immigrant workers and together they formed the embryo of the emerging local labour movement. A study of these journeys highlights the importance of exile and migration in the diffusion of “proletarian” internationalism.

An organisation of exiles established shortly before the passing of the laws banning socialism in Germany, the Club lost part of its importance at the heart of the SPD once the party became legal again. A meeting place for young professionally mobile workers, the Club tried to benefit from the standing of the SPD in international socialism. Internationalism among the members of the Club was represented in two ways: shared activities with other foreign socialist groups present in Paris; and the attempt to join with other social-democrat German groups in exile, or to foster their creation.

The Labour and Socialist International (LSI) was reformed in 1 923, and the proportion of its constituent parties that were in exile increased steadily during the inter-war period. The criteria for representation were reconsidered several times, mainly through the impetus of the English Labour Party. This led to a drastic reduction in the number of votes in congresses for exiled organisations. During the same period, the International Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU) was initially in favour of supporting clandestine organisations in “countries without democracy”, where those trade-unions that were affiliated to the International Trade Secretariats (ITS) benefited from room to manœuvre, whilst the ITS sought a reorganisation of IFTU. Later, the IFTU began to focus on the future and gave more attention to organisations in exile. The LSI and IFTU were both active within international organisations such as the League of Nations and the International Labour Organisation. At the time of the rise of fascism and Nazism and the Spanish Civil War, they concentrated primarily on aiding refugees and campaigning amongst reluctant national governments for an international right of asylum. A difficult relationship with the communists was another element by which the impact of institutional internationalism may be measured.

As particularly cosmopolitan places, harbours, and the dockers who work within them, provide a good example for a study of the difficulties of implementing international strategies amongst workers. Added to the competition between the harbours, there is also the competition between the workers themselves, especially between regular and casual labourers. This explains the introduction of closed shops and the regularisation of employment, which hardened to the distinction between different categories of labour. From the end of the 19th century, this system was the basis of the resistance led by the International Transport Federation (ITF) to international policies of employers. An uneasy coexistence, and occasional disputes amongst the federations, some of which looked towards Moscow, was eventually resolved in the common struggle against fascism. Even when it was politically aggressive — cf. the organised boycotts — the internationalism of the dockers' trade unions remained one step behind that of the employers, as the late foundation of the European Transport Federation (whose recent resistance against European deregulation was nevertheless successful) illustrates.

Introduced in a colonial context, the trade-unions of French West Africa first emerged as a result of exchanges between migrants, particularly seamen, influenced by the CGT. Their development was, however, for a long time constrained by the local absence of the right of association. The history of the AOF labour movement is characterised by some long strikes (in the field of railway transport particularly), marked by racial tensions but also by co-operation between Europeans and Africans. After the Second World War, the African tradeunions become extensions of the main French trade-unions before attempting to find their autonomy. This highlights the paradox of internationalism in a colonial context. A double rupture, firstly with the French working class, which was denounced by the CGT, and then with the international federations, accompanied the creation in 1957 of the UGTAN (General Union of the African Workers). This was a transnational organisation that went on to fight against the ruling parties of the newly independent single-party states.

The internationalism of the German New Left — the internationalism of a generation — was based principally on solidarity activities that began at the time of the Algerian war. These became more virulent during the anti-imperialist struggles against the war in Vietnam, using forms of intervention that were borrowed from American activists. Based on a third world ideology, this solidarity was not always the result of a sound comprehension of the local situation, and this may explain some mistakes and misunderstandings. Neither did it focus on Eastern Europe. As regards the current anti-globalization movement, a renewed internationalism should be founded on the traditions of the First International. It should base its activities on a thorough knowledge of what is at stake, on both sides.

Do the movements protesting against neo-liberal globalization constitute a revival of the traditional labour movement? Anxious to rid themselves of this very heritage, the alter-globalists crossed a boundary when they gave up the anti-globalization struggle in order to promote an alter-capitalism based on a return to Keynesianism and the Welfare State. Violent street fights have now given place to tightly organised festive demonstrations. This process is linked to the emergence of a “collective intellectual” whose expertise is acknowledged by its supposed enemies, who now sometimes themselves sponsor “anti-globalization” meetings. Based on citizen mobilisation, this movement is increasingly atomised, though willing to enlarge its base. It has ceased to make references to social class. It also venerates some Latin American Leaders and this gives it a flavour of traditional third world ideology, including some aspects of the cult of personality.

The originality of Maximilien Rubel, editor of the works of Karl Marx for the famous Pleiade series, rests on the fact that he was not satisfied merely with translating those texts that had already been published. Instead, he also drew on a significant quantity of unpublished material from the archives, in order to illustrate a system of thought not restricted by partisan (or even party political) interpretations. He never claimed to offer to the reader the complete works of Marx, as did the MEGA programs. Only four out of six volumes planned by Maximilien Rubel were published.