Flag, Fetish and Illusory Community
Against The Current vol. 158
Ollman, Bertell
http://www.solidarity-us.org/node/3587
Date Written: 2012-05-01
Publisher: Against The Current
Year Published: 2012
Resource Type: Article
Cx Number: CX14294
Patriotism is usually understood as “love of country.” With the help of Marx’s theories of the state and of alienation, we explore what is meant by “love” and “country” in this definition. By viewing society as a contradictory relation between a social community, based on the cooperation required by the existing division of labor, and an illusory community dominated by the interests of the ruling economic class, it becomes apparent that the “country” which patriots love is not the country they actually live in.
