Book Reviews : The Arab Nation: Nationalism and Class Struggle, by Samir Amin. Zed Press Ltd., 1978. £2.50 (paperback), 116pp
| Published date | 01 October 1979 |
| Date | 01 October 1979 |
| DOI | 10.1177/004711787900600409 |
| Author | M.R. Brett-Crowther |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
715
BOOK
REVIEWS
The
Arab
Nation:
Nationalism
and
Class
Struggle,
by
Samir
Amin.
Zed
Press
Ltd.,
1978.
£2.50
(paperback),
116pp.
Amin
sets
out
in
his
foreword
the
six
theses
of
the
book,
which,
he
says,
’clash
with
opinions
current
among
Arab
Marxists.’
First,
the
pre-
colonial
Arab
world
was
not
feudal,
but
a
’constellation
of
social
forma-
tions
articulated
around
a
tributary
mode
of
production.’
Second,
Arab
unity
was
the
historical
product
of
a
class
of
merchant
warriors.
Third,
imperialism
appeals
to
big
landowners
and
comprador
bourgeoisie,
then
to
a
national
bourgeoisie.
Fourth,
the
petty
bourgeoisie
opposes
the
statist
bourgeoisie,
but
serves
thereby
to
strengthen
the
position
of
the
masters.
Fifth,
the
failure
of
communist
organization
in
the
Arab
world
is
caused
by
party
deference
to
the
Moscow
line.
Sixth,
Arab
unity,
which
is
that
of
’the
people’
against
imperialism
must
first
be
a
recognition
of
diversity.
It
may
be
wondered
how
many
‘Arab
Marxists’
there
are,
but
Amin’s
ideas
deserve
some
attention
because
they
are
not
concerned
so
much
with
religion
and
culture
as
with
the
advancement
of
his
ideology.
The
first
thesis
is
so
dogged
by
semantic
problems
that
it
cannot
support
much
argument.
The
second
ignores
the
fact
that
the
class
concerned
was
dominated
by
a
theocrat,
and
that
all
Islamic
life
rests
on
the
autocratic
assumptions
of
the
Prophet,
however
secularized
they
may
seem.
The
third
is
rather
like
a
finding
in
market
research
about
the
purchasing
power
of
the
single
young;
but
it
also
conveniently
ignores
the
great
benefits
won
by
national
groups
of
modernising
Muslims
in
the
last
century.
The
fourth
reflects
the
side
of
Marxism
which
accepts
paradox
when
it
sees
advantage
in
so
doing,
but
rejects
the
task
of
scrutinising
its
own
anomalies.
The
fifth
is
less
likely
than
that
Islam
in
the
Arab
world
has,
in
conjunction
with
nationalism,
caused
communist
organization
to
fail.
The
sixth
is
be-
lied
by
the
character
of
the
theocracy.
It
may
be
said that
the
conventional
Muslim
does
not
acknowledge
the
autocratic
quality
of
the
brotherhood
of
belief,
which
he
fondly
pro-
fesses
to
be
a
more
democratic
kind
of
government
than
that,
say,
of
Hindu
India.
Therefore,
the
’Arab
Marxist’
or
secularized
Muslim
is
un-
likely
to
be
more
perceptive.
Amin’s
book
is
so
often
questionable
that
one
may
suspect
that
it
was
intended
to
provoke
strict
critics
to
a
close,
even
a
heated
disputation.
Alas,
the
book
does
not
deserve
so
much
attention.
Amin
says,
for
instance,
that
no
ethnographical
criteria
can
be
applieu
to
the
Arab
world
(p.ll),
against
the
facts;
and
that
there
was
unity
in
diversity
until
1918,
but
that
the
diversity
was
’never
really
cultural
or
ethnic’
(p.15).
This
habitual
evasion
of
the
concrete
distinguishes
Amin’s
attempt
to
predict
outcomes
from
the
current
state
of
the
Muslim Near
East,
as
if
his
happy
delusion
in
the
secure
’science’
of
Marxism
were
factually
sustained.
Thus,
he
does
not
refer
to
the
Sadat
peace
initiative.
His
view
of
the
Palestinians
is
as
unrealistic
as
his
view
of
Zionism
and
Jewry;
and
he
naturally
regards
Israel
as
annexationist
and
’racist’,
cons-
paring
it
with
South
Africa.
In
a
world
so
historically
illiterate
as
ours,
it
is
always
easy
for
’a
systematic
view’
to
become
current,
especially
when
it
takes
strength
from
an
economic
view.
Amin
has
some
reputation
as
an
economic
historian.
It
is
hard
to
fault
the
broad
outline
of
his
theory
of
the
effects
of
long-distance
trade;
but
it
is
harder
to
find
grounds
for
thinking
him
comparable
in
scholar-
ship
to
any
economic
historian
outside
the
Marxist
segments
of
’the
Arab
world’.
As
usual
with
such
people,
Amin’s
’science’
is
largely
assertion
in
the
jargonical
forms
beloved
by
pretentious
correctors
of
the
world’s
way-
wardness.
Wheat
is
very
dubious
is
Amin’s
play
with
the
notion
of
tributary
modes
of
production.
This
permits
him
to
drop
much
of
the
Marxist
apparatus,
while
at
the
same
time
he
relies
on
it
to
justify
his
ideas
of
surplus,
mercantilism,
urbanism,
money
wealth,
civilization,
social
forma-
tion
etc;
which
he
then
turns
into
points
in
a
diatribe
on
development
theory.
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