The Shifting Character of Loyalty: The Dilemma of Exiles in Times of War

Abstract

The question of how should be manifested, or to whom one owes loyalty, is at the center of the conflict between governments and oppositions in the nation-state. In the age of nationalism, to the nation-state has become the strongest imperative for members of the community. Hence almost all contestants for power in the state, ruling governments and their opposition, regard support for their claims to domination as the clearest manifestation of national loyalty. The aspirants tend to discredit their rivals as nationally disloyal.' The contestants' attempts to portray support for their particular claims to power as an expression of national loyalty is primarily known in politics as the process of legitimation.2 This paper explores the predicament of political exiles when their native country is at war. By focusing on exile politics in times of war, I undertake to demonstrate the power and limits of national loyalty in the conflict between governments and oppositions in the nation-state. The discussion centers around exile groups that struggle to overthrow and replace their home countries' native regime. These groups can be distinguished from exile movements that struggle for self-determination against colonial rule and also from movements that resist their country's foreign occupier. The dilemma inherent in exile politics in times of war manifests the advantage of governments in exploiting sentiments while confronting their opposition; they force their opponents abroad to calculate carefully the consequences of their foreign alliances. The wide range of historical and contemporary examples are used as illustrations. Most of the references are drawn from well-known and well-documented events. They include the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks in exile during the Russo-Japanese conflict and World War I; Italian anti-Fascist exiles during Mussolini's war in Ethiopia; the German Social Democratic Party (SPD) in London and the German Communist Party (KPD) in Moscow during World War II; and the Russian exiles of the Vlasov Army.