Socialists hope to overcome national divisions that endanger world peace and security by stressing that ordinary people of different countries have more in common with each other than with their leaders. Socialist parties worldwide are committed to international solidarity rather than responsibility to a particular nation.

Ways to foster internationalism include international, democratic control of at least the commanding heights of the international economy, and resources such as the water ways and seabeds while giving local communities control over their own economies. Promotion of world federalism is another socialist goal: a global federation of cooperative commonwealths.

Socialists recognize that nationalism is a powerful force in today’s world. Nationalism can have progressive features, when it opposes imperialism or the nuclear domination of the superpowers. But while Socialists recognize the rights of self-determination and the rights of national minorities, we believe that nationalism itself must be transcended.

Socialists oppose international war, for reasons of solidarity and internationalism outlined above. Some socialists are absolute pacifists, dedicated to living a life of non-violence in all circumstances. The majority of socialists, however, concede that violence may be necessary under circumstances in which lives would ultimately be saved. Debs spoke for those socialists when he said, “I am opposed to all war but one…the worldwide war of Social revolution. For this reason (and for reasons concerning civil liberties) socialists have been in the forefront of opposition to the draft.

The increasing totality of modern warfare that leads us to the prospect of the destruction of civilization through nuclear war – Recognizing the pointlessness of this path for humanity, and the fact that there is no defense against nuclear war, the SP calls for unilateral nuclear disarmament and conversion of the war making economy to peaceful alternatives.