Explores the idea of the nation among internationalist thinkers, suggesting that major figures associated with international labor organizations never underestimated the attraction of nationalism. Each chapter begins with a discussion of main issues that framed the international labor movement's concern with the nation in different periods, then analyzes the ideas of major thinkers who stand for the main trends at each point. Coverage includes the International Working Men's Association of the mid-19th century, the apogee of the Second International between 1895 and the onset of WWI, the Third International, the Comintern--1919-43, and the influence of Stalin and Lenin. Paper edition (unseen), $17.95. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Nationalism and internationalism have always been powerful forces in the labour movements of the world. From the First to the Fourth International, from the International Labour Organization to the many international federations of trade unions, historians have studied both of these great forces for more than a hundred years. Interest in working-class nationalism and internationalism has also increased since the growth of global labour history, on the one hand, and the study of nationalism as a historically constructed phenomenon on the other. This volume is a part of this great upsurge in interest in working-class nationalism and internationalism. It brings together the work of postgraduate and postdoctoral scholars who have approached these two themes in their research. Covering subjects as diverse as the political instruction of Soviet sailors, the early and forgotten years of Chinese socialism, and debates within the socialist movement about Labour Zionism, this book represents an important contribution to labour, social and global history and helps us to understand the roads down which labour movements around the world have travelled to get where they are today.

In Like Cattle and Horses Steve Smith connects the rise of Chinese nationalism to the growth of a Chinese working class. Moving from the late nineteenth century, when foreign companies first set up factories on Chinese soil, to 1927, when the labor movement created by the Chinese Communist Party was crushed by Chiang Kai-shek, Smith uses a host of documents—journalistic accounts of strikes, memoirs by former activists, police records—to argue that a nationalist movement fueled by the effects of foreign imperialism had a far greater hold on working-class identity than did class consciousness. While the massive wave of labor protest in the 1920s was principally an expression of militant nationalism rather than of class consciousness, Smith argues, elements of a precarious class identity were in turn forged by the very discourse of nationalism. By linking work-related demands to the defense of the nation, anti-imperialist nationalism legitimized participation in strikes and sensitized workers to the fact that they were worthy of better treatment as Chinese citizens. Smith shows how the workers’ refusal to be treated “like cattle and horses” (a phrase frequently used by workers to describe their condition) came from a new but powerfully felt sense of dignity. In short, nationalism enabled workers to interpret the anger they felt at their unjust treatment in the workplace in political terms and to create a link between their position as workers and their position as members of an oppressed nation. By focusing on the role of the working class, Like Cattle and Horses is one of very few studies that examines nationalism “from below,” acknowledging the powerful agency of nonelite forces in promoting national identity. Like Cattle and Horses will interest historians of labor, modern China, and nationalism, as well as those engaged in the study of revolutions and revolt.

This text looks at the inter-relationships between labour, nationalist movements and ethnicity during the Age of Imperialism. Two of the most debated contemporary issues focus on the decline of labour, particularly socialist ideologies, and the rise of nationalism. It is sometimes assumed that the demise of one led to the triumph of the other. It is also thought that labour as an internationalist movement underestimated and misunderstood the power of nationalism. This text links these historical phenomena and sets the debate in more accurate historical context.