In Ukraine there is now a war on imperialism with the thought of an independent, sovereign national state. Left-liberal intellectuals attacking the national state unconsciously act in the interests of Vladimir Putin – the top imperialist of our time.
Prof. Magdalena Wednesday late published an entry in which she de facto accused the national state of being liable for Russia's invasion of Ukraine and, by the way, planet wars. Let us mention a longer passage of her entry:
“National states have created specified a cruelly woven ideological veil (patriotism!!, homeland!!, nationalism!!, honor!!) from which even if it is seen that people are dying, women are raped, that the fire, death and destruction, what is it in the face of patriotic haughtiness, which besides obscures the gigantic interests of corporations specialising in creating and escalating conflicts, due to the fact that trafficking in arms is simply a very delicate matter, and the planet without wars is simply a corporate illusion... who will yet lay the dam down?”
With these shallow thoughts, it seems a pity to devote time. This is another example of a dormitory speaking on subjects that he has no thought about. Another example of ideological smoke, which leads to the conclusion that everything, including giving Russia its own territory, is better than patriotic darkland, right-wing patriotism, and nationalistic demons. Yet, this entry is worth taking a look at, due to the fact that there is another message in between the words. It is simply a manifestation of a wider trend that is somewhere on the outskirts of public debate.
However, supporters of this direction not only work against Polish interests, but besides unwittingly support the imagination of Vladimir Putin's planet – a large imperialist who cannot accept the existence of a sovereign Ukrainian state. prof. Wednesday's entry is an excellent exemplification, but it's not just about her. For months now, we have been seeing a sharp communicative of progressive environments that can be summarized in the slogan "or Brussels or Moscow", or we will submit to European integration, or Russia will invade us.
Imperialism vs. Nationalism
We can meet regularly with the thesis on the anachronism of dividing the right-left in today's world. Indeed, although both terms hold much of their power to this day, they are clearly no longer adequate to measure the political situation. How do we analyse the activities of the European Union or the war in Ukraine with these categories? What does the right-wing diadee tell us about globalisation, climate policy, the US-China conflict or demographic problems? In the 19th century, this division seemed to be mostly sufficient, inactive in the 20th century it kept much of its freshness, but it is now essential to supplement it with at least a fewer additional factors. 1 is the conflict between the thought of imperialism and nationalism or the thought of building a transnational/a-national empire and a sovereign national state. It is this diada that allows us to better realize the current changes in the European Union, and it besides allows us to look at the Russian-Ukrainian war from a fresh perspective.
But before we get to her, let's specify concepts. As a national state we realize here the conventional state body organizing politics in the 20th century. It is simply a political entity with a “host nation” binder. How we specify the notion of a nation, I put it aside, due to the fact that at the minute it is simply a secondary thing (the proposal I presented erstwhile in the text Nation as an integral community). The very essence is the fact that the thought of Homeland and state apparatus is coming and the community sees them as ‘its own’ and is ready to defend them. The national state, which should be mentioned, is besides set at permanent, permanent limits. specified a country can, of course, wage wars with another countries, but seldom they have a full dimension, conflicts concern very real, circumstantial cases – disputed territory, national minority, influences, capital, natural materials etc.
Meanwhile, the Empire is not simply a "big state", but an organism operating within a different political logic. First of all, it houses many, in theory, equivalent peoples, by which no of the nations is the host. The Empire either favors 1 of the nations at the expense of others oppressed, or gradually degrades them all to the level of ethno. Fair and even. Secondly, the empire is driven by a quasi-mystic mission to civilize neighbouring barbarians, to carry its universalistic truth, which in turn leads to the empire having no permanent boundaries and constantly striving for growth. An empire that touches stagnation begins to die. Therefore, empires never build permanent boundaries – in fear of decay they must constantly strive for growth. For the national state this imperative is incomprehensible, the national state can spend hundreds of years within the same limits, due to the fact that it is not dominated by the imagination of an ideological crusade, but by caring for the interests of its own community. The national state is “ground-down” in the sense that it cares about a concrete – real community, not an thought project.
It was patriotism that saved Ukraine
Armed with this perspective, we see that the war in Ukraine is actually a manifestation of the conflict of 2 ideas – the Ukrainian national state and the Putinian empire. The attitude we have towards Ukraine itself and the actions of president Zelenski's squad is actually irrelevant. Just due to the fact that 2 national states follow the same political logic does not mean that they will work together. We saw this on the example of Warsaw's conflict with Kiev in the end of the regulation of the Law and Justice. However, the fact that sovereign states can be competitors to each another is simply a confirmation of Dmowski's thesis about the global arena seen as a field of continuous conflict in which better adapted nations evolve, and worse adapted people fall out of the historical race and degenerate. The conflict is simply an essential part of politics, and it is not our occupation to effort to destruct the thought of the dispute itself, which is simply to impose a civilized framework on it.
But let's get back to the subject. On the 1 hand, Russian imperialism and Ukrainian patriotism clashes with Ukraine. Vladimir Putin is possibly the top imperialist of our time and has been scrupulously striving for years to subjugate neighboring states. His words about the tragedy that the USSR was for the planet – inactive stay in power in the sense that they inactive find the course of its reasoning. The USSR was the last large manifestation of Russian imperialism (armed in an Augustine communist ideology, but nevertheless), and after its dissolution Moscow's influence gradually declined.
Moreover, Ukraine survived the invasion of February 2022 only thanks to the national awakening that we have observed in fresh years. It was this patriotic feeling, born among the Ukrainians, that allowed the attack of a definitely stronger army to be repulsed and that Western aid could have been delivered anywhere.
What we observed in our east neighbour was, after all, a denial of the liberal pattern that prevailed in the West. An example of anarchistism and selfishness. And so, Ukraine is inactive a country with many problems at the head of corruption, but this does not negate the heroic defence of the homeland in the performance of the Ukrainian nation.
In Putin's orchestra
Prof. Magdalena Wednesday writes what she writes, not out of her innate naivety, just due to the fact that she wants a certain effect. It wants, like many another left-libu pets, to exploit the war in Ukraine to weaken the Polish national state.The choice which prof. Wednesday presents to us is de facto the following – either to divided in the EU sea and to say goodbye to Polish sovereignty, or further wars, rapes, fire and death. However, it is simply a false choice whose sole intent is to intimidate Polish society. Even if Ukraine listened to the Polish philosopher and gave up the effort to build a national sovereign state and gave Putin part of its territory, this does not mean ending Russian claims.
The fact that they draw another conclusion from this thesis (the empire is to be EU alternatively than Russian) is already of secondary importance, matters the fact that the national substance is being destroyed. Anyone who fights the patriotic impulses of Europeans today, therefore, not only turns out to be a daunting morale of Ukrainians a useful idiot of the Kremlin, but besides a bad advisor to Europe itself, for which accelerated integration carried out in the corpses of national states will prove to be a tragedy.
The European Union, like Russia, is an imperial creation, or at least has clear ambitions to become specified a political body. Today, however, against the assurances of the liberal mainstream, the choice we are facing is not "either the EU or Russia", but "either national states or imperialism."
