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Because western states emerged as nation-states, westerners tend to use the words "nation" and "state" interchangeably. This is wrong.
Excerpts from Stalin's Marxism and the National Question:
1. "A nation is primarily a community, a definite community of people."
Excerpts from Stalin's Marxism and the National Question:
1. "A nation is primarily a community, a definite community of people."
2. "... a nation is not a racial or tribal, but a historically constituted community of people."
"... a nation is not a casual or ephemeral conglomeration, but a stable community of people."
"...a common language is one of the characteristic features of a nation."
"... a nation is not a casual or ephemeral conglomeration, but a stable community of people."
"...a common language is one of the characteristic features of a nation."
3. "This, of course, does not mean that different nations always and everywhere speak different languages, or that all who speak one language necessarily constitute one nation. A common language for every nation, but not necessarily different languages for different nations!"
4. "... a common territory is one of the characteristic features of a nation."
"... a common economic life, economic cohesion, is one of the characteristic features of a nation."
"... a common economic life, economic cohesion, is one of the characteristic features of a nation."
5. "national character" is not a thing that is fixed once and for all, but is modified by changes in the conditions of life; but since it exists at every given moment, it leaves its impress on the physiognomy of the nation."
6. Here's a tldr: "A nation is a historically constituted, stable community of people, formed on the basis of a common language, territory, economic life, and psychological make-up manifested in a common culture."
7. "It must be emphasized that none of the above characteristics taken separately is sufficient to define a nation. More than that, it is sufficient for a single one of these characteristics to be lacking and the nation ceases to be a nation."
8. "It is possible to conceive of people possessing a common "national character" who, nevertheless, cannot be said to constitute a single nation if they are economically disunited, inhabit different territories, speak different languages, and so forth."
9. "It is possible to conceive of people with a common territory and economic life who nevertheless would not constitute a single nation because they have no common language and no common "national character." Such, for instance, are the Germans and Letts in the Baltic region."
10. "Finally, the Norwegians and the Danes speak one language, but they do not constitute a single nation owing to the absence of the other characteristics. It is only when all these characteristics are present together that we have a nation."
11. As communists, we should be particular with how we describe things and be as accurate as possible. If we erroneously assume that "nation" is just an alternative word for "country," we begin describing things incorrectly and we become prone to misrepresenting things.
12. Stalin doesn't get into issues like Settler Colonialism in the US in this writing, as it was beyond the scope of what he was trying to discuss, but it's still a good book to read to better understand the concept of nations from a Marxist perspective: https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1913/03.htm
