From Nations and Nationalism (Ernest Gellner) p124
It may be worth giving a short, no doubt incomplete, list of false theories of nationalism:
1. It is natural and self-evident and self generating. If absent, this must be due to forceful repression.
2 It is an artificial consequence of ideas which did not need ever to be formulated, and appeared by a regrettable accident. Political life even in industrial societies could do without it.
3 The Wrong Address Theory favoured by Marxism: just as extreme Shi’ite Muslims hold that Archangel Gabriel made a mistake, delivering the Message to Mohamed when it was intended for Ali, so Marxists basically like to think that the spirit of history or human consciousness made a terrible boob. The awakening message was intended for classes, but by some terrible postal error was delivered to nations. It is now necessary for revolutionary activists to persuade the wrongful recipient to hand over the message, and the zeal it engenders, to the rightful and intended recipient. The unwillingness of both the rightful and the usurping recipient to fall in with this requirement causes the activist great irritation.
4 Dark Gods: Nationalism is the re-emergence of the atavistic forces of blood or territory. This is the view shared often by both lovers and haters of nationalism. The former think of these dark forces as life- enhancing, the latter as barbarous. In fact, man of the age of nationalism is neither nicer nor nastier than men of other ages. There is some slight evidence that he may be nicer. His crimes are equalled by those of other ages. They are more conspicuous only because, precisely, they have become more shocking, and because they are executed with more powerful technological means.
Not one of these theories is remotely tenable.
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