This article counterposes a class analysis to the more conventional Weberian
frameworks that have been used to interpret past and current attempts at working
class internationalism. It uses the U.S.-Canadian case to show that working class
nationalism has not universally displaced cross-border class solidarity and that,
even when it has, that displacement process is better understood as a dimension of
class conflict than as a geo-cultural phenomenon. The article shows that different
fractions of the working class have greater propensities toward internationalism
than others. The article is a caveat on the spirit of enthusiasm that reformists
have shown for the recent secessions of Canadian unions from the AFL-CIO.
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