Patriotic socialism

13-starred Statesian flag with a hammer and sickle

Haz (of Infrared) speaking in front of an Abraham Lincoln cutout at Center for Political Innovation general assembly in 2022.

Patriotic socialism (abbreviated Patsoc) is an opportunist and revisionist movement, born in the United States, that advocates for patriotism within the imperial core. It is distinct from patriotism within anti-imperialist, colonized, and socialist countries. Patriotic socialism has grown to become its own strand of "socialist" theory, especially within the Communist movement in the United States. However, this trend is wholly different from "patriotism as applied to socialism". The confusion is often exploited by followers of this ideology so as to associate themselves with more progressive (and successful) patriotic movements, such as are seen in the Palestinian struggle or in Mao's People's Republic China.

The name patriotic socialism was originally coined by its followers, thus marking a clear difference with socialist patriotism or other similar terms, but they started moving away from it when it became too adversarial to use it.

The people who are commonly associated as current leaders of patriotic socialism include Haz, Caleb Maupin, and Jackson Hinkle.

Origin

Patriotic socialism originated from the American exceptionalism of Jay Lovestone, the leader of a rightist faction in the CPUSA during the 1920s. He believed that capitalism was so strong in the United States that a revolution would be impossible and encouraged passively waiting for capitalism to decline.

After the Comintern purged Lovestone, Earl Browder took control of the party. During the 1930s, he called for a united front with the bourgeoisie and claimed that "Communism is 20th-century Americanism." In 1944, he dissolved the CPUSA, but the French Communist Party intervened to reestablish the party the next year. The 1957 party convention argued for a gradual and peaceful transition to socialism and encouraged the CPUSA to support progressive Democrat campaigns. It also rejected self-determination for the Black Belt.

Positions

Patriotic socialism is a rapidly evolving ideology, and consequently may change its appearance quickly and often as needed, and often lacks any sort of commonly-agreed upon theory or principles that go beyond a few basics.

For instance, the patriotic socialist collective Infrared published a manifesto presenting MAGAcommunism in September 2022 as their official ideology, which led to many patriotic socialists calling themselves "MAGA communists" in response. It should be noted that the Center for Political Innovation dissolved a month prior the publishing of this essay due to allegations of abuse brought up by members against Caleb Maupin. Before the MAGA Communism episode, Infrared briefly attempted to promote the "Mechatankie" name, though it didn't take and was quickly abandoned.

In 2024, the patriotic socialist American Communist Party was established by Noah Khrachvik, Carlos Garrido and Edward Smith of Midwestern Marx, Haz, Jackson Hinkle, Kyle Pettis, Rev Laskaris, Christopher Helali, Henry Ahmad and Grayson Preutz. Following the founding of their own party, patriotic socialists in the USA started calling themselves American Communists in response, claiming that they had never used the term "patriotic socialist". However, Haz has been recorded on stream in several instances using the term patriotic socialism as a term for his movement, including in a stream reuploaded on Youtube in May 2022.

Other general positions can similarly be identified. Patriotic socialists advocate for an alliance with, and indeed commonly tail the interests and ideological tendency of, the petty bourgeoisie (whom they conflate with the proletariat). They further tend to promote Dugin and LaRouche to their followers and align with them; two anti-communist, quasi-fascist and mystic writers. They also align with right-wing populist protest movements, such as the Tea Party movement, or the 2022 Trucker protests.

Several patriotic socialists were very vocal about the 2022 Cuban constitutional referendum that abolished the monopoly of the nuclear family and recognized many other forms of family. They decried it as "degeneracy" and considered Cuba to no longer be socialist. This indicates a large share of chauvinist and reactionary opinions in the movement that are not being addressed.

They wholly reject decolonization in the United States, holding instead that if workers are liberated, it would include Native and minority workers too.

Praxis

Patriotic socialism, even after several years of existence, is a movement that remains almost entirely online, focusing on the of social media to create virality and thus visibility.

Patriotic socialists initially had yet to form a political party, instead promoting the CPUSA 2036 slogan: an attempt at infiltrating the Communist Party of the USA and winning the 2036 presidential election through it.

On 21 July 2024, Haz, along with several other figures such as Jackson Hinkle and Noah, Edward and Carlos from Midwestern Marx would release a declaration for the creation of a supposed new political party, the American Communist Party. The statement notably ended with the implication that several CPUSA clubs had signed off on the statement, but most of those clubs publicly denied any involvement with the ACP via Twitter.

Patriotic socialists tend to attack the left—including the projects and efforts of communists and Marxist-Leninists, particularly when it is internet-based, but almost never the right. In fact, they often agree with conservatives and boost their message.

Marxist views on patriotism and nationalism

Mao only supported patriotism for anti-imperialist or colonized countries. An example of this tactic is China's United Front against Japanese imperialism. Mao condemned patriotism for imperialist fascist countries like Germany and Japan:

Can a Communist, who is an internationalist, at the same time be a patriot? We hold that he not only can be but must be. The specific content of patriotism is determined by historical conditions. There is the "patriotism" of the Japanese aggressors and of Hitler, and there is our patriotism. Communists must resolutely oppose the "patriotism" of the Japanese aggressors and of Hitler. The Communists of Japan and Germany are defeatists with regard to the wars being waged by their countries. To bring about the defeat of the Japanese aggressors and of Hitler by every possible means is in the interests of the Japanese and the German people, and the more complete the defeat the better. This is what the Japanese and German Communists should be doing and what they are doing. For the wars launched by the Japanese aggressors and Hitler are harming their own people as well as the people of the world. China's case is different, because she is the victim of aggression. Chinese Communists must therefore combine patriotism with internationalism.

— Mao Zedong, The Role of the Communist Party of China in the National War, October 1938

Lenin also opposed patriotism and nationalism for oppressor nations and called for self-determination for oppressed nations:

Consequently, the interests of the Great-Russian proletariat require that the masses be systematically educated to champion—most resolutely, consistently, boldly and in a revolutionary manner—complete equality and the right to self-determination for all the nations oppressed by the Great Russians.

— Vladimir Lenin, On the National Pride of the Great Russians, 1914

Stalin stated that nationalism is not inherently good or bad and that Marxists should only support national movements that weaken imperialism and not those that strengthen it:

This does not mean, of course, that the proletariat must support every national movement, everywhere and always, in every individual concrete case. It means that support must be given to such national movements as tend to weaken, to overthrow imperialism, and not to strengthen and preserve it. Cases occur when the national movements in certain oppressed countries came into conflict with the interests of the development of the proletarian movement. In such cases support is, of course, entirely out of the question. The question of the rights of nations is not an isolated, self-sufficient question; it is a part of the general problem of the proletarian revolution, subordinate to the whole, and must be considered from the point of view of the whole. In the forties of the last century Marx supported the national movement of the Poles and Hungarians and was opposed to the national movement of the Czechs and the South Slavs. Why? Because the Czechs and the South Slavs were then "reactionary peoples," "Russian outposts" in Europe, outposts of absolutism; whereas the Poles and the Hungarians were "revolutionary peoples," fighting against absolutism.

— Joseph Stalin, The Foundations of Leninism: The National Question, 1924

See also

• National Bolshevism
• National Socialism
• Welfare Chauvinism
• Strasserism
• Fascism