Recently I rec'd an e-mail asking me if the word "international" should best be replaced by "transnational". I have tidied up the spelling a little (No it was not from Jock....)

I think the use of the word "transnational" is more coherent with this way of thinking, as the "trans" prefix refers to what cross through the unities, while "inter" is related to a conection among unities.

It made me think.

does the word "internationalist" do justice to the current reality of workers moving ever greater distances with ever greater frequency. Certainly Marx stated that the working class has no homeland, but he never argued against the use of the word "International".

But have we moved on since then? Many of us have parents from other countries, many of us have spent long periods of time in other countries, some of us are married to people from other countries etc. We have no attachment to geographical territories, we identify with workers the world over.

does the word "internationalist" stil convey a sort of national identity, kind of like, "We'll work with you but we are still different".

No doubt the comrades of the IBRP have broken with all national prejudice and ignorance, our identity is one of class, we have no country. Probably I am just quibbling about semantics, but as I say, it was a question I was asked and I report it here.