From 'Noble Patriotism' to The 'Republic of Peoples': Eduard Bernstein and the 'National Question' In Social Democracy

In the early twentieth century, several strands of socialist thought emerged that sought to accommodate national identity within the ideology of the workers' movement. One such contribution — hitherto neglected — came from Eduard Bernstein, who bridged the nationalist–internationalist divide in Social Democracy with a cosmopolitan account of 'noble patriotism'. This article, which follows an earlier piece on Bernstein's evolving foreign policy views, explores his contrasting understandings of 'people', 'nation', and 'state'. It finds Bernstein's account of patriotism rooted in Fichtean and Lassallean thought, and outlines his vision of an international system freed from imperial great-power politics: the 'republic of peoples'.