From Nahda to Naksa: Some Marxist Perspectives on the Arab National Question

Abstract

This article examines the trajectory of Arab nationalism through a Marxist lens, analyzing its historical emergence, political ascendancy, and eventual decline. It posits the Palestinian question as central to the development of Arab nationalist consciousness and anti-imperialist struggle, arguing that the fragmentation of a unified Arab stance reflects broader geopolitical defeats and the consolidation of dependent capitalist relations. The article provides a historical overview of Arab nationalism’s evolution from the intellectual Nahda movement into state ideologies like Nasserism. It then presents a Marxist double critique: first, of the actually existing Arab nationalist projects, focusing on their internal class character; and second, of the mainstream Arab communist parties’ positions toward the question of Arab nationalism and attempts at unity. Ultimately, the article revives the Marxist argument that a reconstituted Arab unity, led by a “national-popular alliance” of workers, peasants, and progressive intelligentsia, remains a crucial strategic prerequisite for liberation from imperialism and Zionism in the contemporary era.