{"id":10389,"date":"2004-08-24T14:23:24","date_gmt":"2004-08-24T14:23:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/?p=10389"},"modified":"2021-02-28T13:25:27","modified_gmt":"2021-02-28T13:25:27","slug":"another-europe-is-possible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/2004\/08\/24\/another-europe-is-possible\/","title":{"rendered":"Another Europe Is Possible"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>The Left and the Euro-elections Allan Armstrong assesses the state of the left in Europe after the Euro elections<\/h2>\n<h3>A euro-sceptic <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym>?<\/h3>\n<p>The <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym> has in the past described its attitude towards Europe as <q>pro-Europe; anti-<acronym title=\"European Union\">EU<\/acronym><\/q>. In the run up towards the Euro-elections, held on June 10th, Alan McCombes subtly shifted the emphasis stating, <q>We are taking what some might call a eurosceptic stance<\/q>(<cite><acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Voice\">SSV<\/acronym> 176<\/cite>). And certainly, nowhere else in this report of the <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym>\u2019s Euro-manifesto launch was there any mention that we stood on a joint Euro-election platform with other socialist parties and groupings in the <acronym title=\"European Union\">EU<\/acronym>. Our scepticism seemed to cover, not only the <acronym title=\"European Union\">EU<\/acronym> itself, its careerist\u00a0<acronym title=\"Member of European Parliament\">MEP<\/acronym>s and big business backers, but the whole of the Left, including our allies in the <acronym title=\"European Anti-Capitalist Left\">EACL<\/acronym>! Although the <acronym title=\"European Anti-Capitalist Left\">EACL<\/acronym> Manifesto is displayed on the <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym> website, it went unannounced in the Party press. Now the <acronym title=\"Republican Communist Network\">RCN<\/acronym> has consistently pushed for an \u2018internationalism from below\u2019 stance in the <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym>, particularly in relation to fellow socialists and socialist republicans in England, Wales and Ireland. We have often received verbal assurances from the leadership, and won occasional written policy concessions, but have found it harder to penetrate the wall of indifference when it comes to practical proposals for greater unity throughout these islands.<\/p>\n<p>Despite our continued support for the <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym> as an independent organisation and our championing of it as the best model available for other socialists, such moves are still seen as a possible threat by the leadership to their \u2018Scottish road\u2019. Yet, on paper anyhow, the <acronym title=\"International Socialist Movement\">ISM<\/acronym>, the majority platform in the <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym> leadership, also claims to <q>stress the international nature of our struggle<\/q> and sees <q>the highest point of internationalism as the building of a workers\u2019 international<\/q> (Aims of the <acronym title=\"International Socialist Movement\">ISM<\/acronym> in <cite>Frontline<\/cite>).<\/p>\n<p>However, this year\u2019s <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym> Conference, held in Edinburgh on March 27th and 28th, gave us the opportunity to put the \u2018internationalism from below\u2019 stance into a new, perhaps less threatening context, with the opportunity provided by the Euro elections on June 10th.<\/p>\n<p>We put forward a motion which called for a joint platform {to} include:-<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li>a) Opposition to the permanent war drive.<\/li>\n<li>b) The expansion, not the erosion of human and civil rights internationally.<\/li>\n<li>c) Support for asylum seekers and migrant workers and opposition to \u2018Fortress Europe\u2019.<\/li>\n<li>d) Opposition to privatisation, labour flexibility and austerity drives.<\/li>\n<li>e) Opposition to trade union\/employer\/state partnership deals.<\/li>\n<li>f) Support for a more democratic and accountable Europe.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>This motion was not opposed or even mildly criticised by the leadership or any other platform for that matter! It was passed with nobody voting against. The Conference gave our leadership a mandate to seek a common platform with our allies in the <acronym title=\"European Anti-Capitalist Left\">EACL<\/acronym>. A common manifesto, which incorporated these demands, was indeed achieved on 29th April, at a meeting of the <acronym title=\"European Anti-Capitalist Left\">EACL<\/acronym> held in Brussels. There are points in this much broader manifesto which could be questioned (such as the belief that capitalists can renounce war), yet, despite some weaknesses, the final manifesto was broadly consistent with <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym> Conference policies &#8211; therefore, so far, so good.<\/p>\n<p>Yet this joint manifesto wasn\u2019t acknowledged in any subsequent <cite>Scottish Socialist Voice<\/cite>, or even the <cite>May\/June Members\u2019 Bulletin<\/cite> devoted to the Euro-elections, despite its promising headline, \u2018Another Europe is possible\u2019. The prospect of launching a genuinely internationalist election campaign, with visiting prominent speakers from our fraternal organisations in the <acronym title=\"European Anti-Capitalist Left\">EACL<\/acronym>, was not considered. What is even more remarkable is that the very nationalist <acronym title=\"British National Party\">BNP<\/acronym> did bring the well-known French fascist, National Front leader, Jean Le Pen, to address meetings in England and Wales in April for their election campaign. It\u2019s a sad day when British nationalists show more \u2018internationalism\u2019 than Scottish (English or Welsh) socialists!<\/p>\n<p>Therefore, with our leadership consciously placing the <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym> in the euro-sceptic camp, it is not surprising that we found our message somewhat swamped. The voters were spoilt for choice amongst the eurosceptics. The <acronym title=\"United Kingdom Independence Party\">UKIP<\/acronym> fought with the Tories for the British chauvinist vote, characterised by <em>The Times<\/em> letter writer, \u2018Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells\u2019; and with the <acronym title=\"British National Party\">BNP<\/acronym> for the xenophobic, Union Jack T-shirt wearing, lager swilling, British tourist abroad vote. Now Alan certainly wanted the <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym> to distance ourselves from such \u201cUnion Jackwaving, Rule Britannia singing Great British supremacists\u201d (<acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Voice\">SSV<\/acronym> 176); but just how successful can you be, whilst simultaneously claiming to be part of what is a Right dominated euro-sceptic camp?<\/p>\n<p><acronym title=\"United Kingdom Independence Party\">UKIP<\/acronym> received more votes in Scotland than the <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym>, despite it coming across as overwhelmingly English, white, male and middle class! Whilst, in the short run, <acronym title=\"United Kingdom Independence Party\">UKIP<\/acronym> probably thwarted <acronym title=\"British National Party\">BNP<\/acronym> electoral growth (hindered both by its fascist politics and \u2018British\u2019 label in Scotland), the prominent media coverage given to <acronym title=\"United Kingdom Independence Party\">UKIP<\/acronym> and its policy of withdrawal from the <acronym title=\"European Union\">EU<\/acronym> enabled it to overcome its own electoral disadvantages. In a Euro election it helps if you have something distinctive to say about Europe &#8211; in contrast to <acronym title=\"United Kingdom Independence Party\">UKIP<\/acronym> the <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym>\u2019s European message was decidedly muffled.<\/p>\n<p>Now, of course, the <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym> did far better than <acronym title=\"United Kingdom Independence Party\">UKIP<\/acronym> in the Scottish Parliamentary elections last year, when we did have something distinctive to say about Scotland (as well as the war in Iraq). <acronym title=\"United Kingdom Independence Party\">UKIP<\/acronym> itself is unlikely to present a permanent political barrier for the <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym>. It is a top-down creation, with few real roots, and many of its members see themselves as a pressure group on the Tories, rather than as a long term party. This would mean adopting a raft of other potentially divisive policies, causing a split, benefiting the Tories and the <acronym title=\"British National Party\">BNP<\/acronym>.<\/p>\n<h3>Scottish euro-scepticism<\/h3>\n<p>However, the backwash from the rising tide of euro-sceptism isn\u2019t just confined to those who wave the Union Jack. Saltire wavers, particularly in the <acronym title=\"Scottish National Party\">SNP<\/acronym>, are feeling its impact too. For many years the <acronym title=\"Scottish National Party\">SNP<\/acronym> was pro-Europe. In the late 1970s Jim Sillars and Alex Neil, from the old <acronym title=\"Scottish National Party\">SNP<\/acronym> Left, persuaded the party to ditch its then anti-<acronym title=\"European Economic Community\">EEC<\/acronym> stance and to adopt a policy of \u2018Independence in Europe\u2019. This was meant both to simultaneously neutralise Labour\u2019s \u2018separatist\u2019 label for the party and to place the <acronym title=\"Scottish National Party\">SNP<\/acronym> clearly in the camp of European social democracy. This was at a time when there was a more distinctive European social economic model, compared to the rising Thatcher\/Reagan neo-liberal juggernaut. The Left wing \u201879 Group, also attempted to re-orientate the <acronym title=\"Scottish National Party\">SNP<\/acronym> away from its base in former Tory areas, particularly in the north east, to Labour areas, particularly in the Central Belt. This meant less emphasis on farmers, fishing boat owners and small manufacturers and more on the needs of workers and their families.<\/p>\n<p>The <acronym title=\"Scottish National Party\">SNP<\/acronym> has clearly failed to make this switch, and with the growth of the <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym>, especially in the west Central Belt, is even less likely to. As a consequence, the <acronym title=\"Scottish National Party\">SNP<\/acronym> has been forced back to its one-time Tory support of small businessmen &#8211; particularly in the fishing industry which has been gutted by the <acronym title=\"European Union\">EU<\/acronym> Common Fisheries Policy. As a consequence, anti-<acronym title=\"European Union\">EU<\/acronym> sentiment is once more on the rise in the <acronym title=\"Scottish National Party\">SNP<\/acronym> too. This is reinforced by political competition from the Tories (and even <acronym title=\"United Kingdom Independence Party\">UKIP<\/acronym>) as they bid to regain this Scottish small business vote. So, despite Alan\u2019s blind-spot, Euroscepticism, doesn\u2019t just come dressed in the British red, white and blue; it can come in Scottish blue and white colours too.<\/p>\n<p>It is within the Scottish nationalist wing of Euro-scepticism that the <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym> is trying to raise its own banner. The pre-Euro election issue of the <cite><acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Voice\">SSV<\/acronym> (178)<\/cite>, gave the most prominent place, not to our opposition to the war, but to \u2018A community that still believes in cod\u2019. Now there is certainly nothing wrong with having an article which highlights the devastating impact of government policy on a particular area \u2013 20 years after the Great Strike, the plight of former mining communities springs to mind. Yet, some of the emphases in the article seem a little strange &#8211; the boat owner\u2019s need for a handy <q>\u00a33.5 million<\/q>&#8211; the cost of <q>a white fish vessel<\/q>; or <q>he used to employ thirty people; he\u2019s down to eight<\/q>. It\u2019s difficult to imagine that Keith Baldassara meets people with these kind of problems in his council surgeries in Pollok!<\/p>\n<p>Yes, it is a strength of <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym> policy that it covers areas not previously considered by socialists, showing we are serious about mounting a national challenge. But would a little more emphasis on employees, rather than employers, not be appropriate? Is the real political significance of the pre-election prominence given to this issue not more to do with establishing the <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym>\u2019s euro-sceptic credentials?<\/p>\n<h3>Retreats in the <acronym title=\"European Anti-Capitalist Left\">EACL<\/acronym> in the face of rising liberal imperialism<\/h3>\n<p>However, it must be admitted that it wasn\u2019t only the <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym> which put the common <acronym title=\"European Anti-Capitalist Left\">EACL<\/acronym> manifesto on the back burner. It would appear that all the major signatories retreated into running essentially national campaigns, with internationalism left at the level of rhetoric. This weakness showed itself even over the issue which should have been the <acronym title=\"European Anti-Capitalist Left\">EACL<\/acronym>\u2019s strength &#8211; opposition to the war in Iraq.<\/p>\n<p>Everybody remembers the magnificent millions-strong international anti-war demonstrations held on February 15th 2003 (2\/15). Yet, there was a decided paucity of international initiatives in 2004. The <acronym title=\"European Anti-Capitalist Left\">EACL<\/acronym> could have called for coordinated demonstrations against the continued occupation and proposed \u2018handover of power\u2019 on the weekend before the June 10th Euro-election. Certainly these wouldn\u2019t have been as big as the pre-war marches, but they could have captured the imagination of many who had been involved. Instead there was a myriad of small, locally organised demonstrations held over several days at the end of June.<\/p>\n<p><acronym title=\"European Anti-Capitalist Left\">EACL<\/acronym> speakers at any European-wide coordinated rallies could also have highlighted the international list of <acronym title=\"Member of European Parliament\">MEP<\/acronym> candidates being put forward by the various sponsoring organisations. Inviting speakers from other countries could have underlined this point. The supporters of the anti-war movement could have been offered the attractive prospect of a solid block of consistently anti-war <acronym title=\"Member of European Parliament\">MEP<\/acronym>s. Furthermore, since socialists are in competition with the Greens for the radical youth vote, speeches and leaflets could have pointed out the Greens\u2019 somewhat less than glorious \u2018antiwar\u2019 record where they have held office, particularly in Germany. If each national component of the <acronym title=\"European Anti-Capitalist Left\">EACL<\/acronym> only contests its own particular Green adversary, then it is harder to highlight their shallow internationalism.<\/p>\n<p>So the <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP&#8217;s<\/acronym> retreat into a more narrowly nationalist euro-sceptic stance can be seen as part of an overall retreat by the Left in Europe since the heady days of 2\/15. There can be little doubt that, despite its failure to prevent the war in Iraq, the international Left has put a decided dent in the Bush\/ Blair neo-conservative imperial offensive. However, the long established imperial order has more than one string to its bow. Bush\u2019s gung-ho, go-it-alone, <q>you\u2019re either with us or against us<\/q> imperialism isn\u2019t the only option. Imperialism can also adopt a liberal multilateral face, with a \u2018humanitarian\u2019 <acronym title=\"United Nations\">UN<\/acronym> fronting the interests of the big players.<\/p>\n<p>The spectacular ousting of Bush\u2019s ally in Spain, Aznar\u2019s Popular Party-led coalition, by the anti-war, centre <acronym title=\"Socialist Workers Party\">PSOE<\/acronym>, in the Spanish parliamentary elections held on March 14th, could spell the end of the neo-conservative \u2018Coalition of the Willing\u2019. <acronym title=\"Socialist Workers Party\">PSOE<\/acronym> leader, Zapatero, has honoured his promise to remove Spanish troops from Iraq, but has not ruled out the possibility of their returning as part of a <acronym title=\"United Nations\">UN<\/acronym> controlled taskforce. Indeed Zapatero has considerably increased the Spanish forces in Afghanistan, whilst also sending civil guards to Haiti after the overthrow of Aristide.<\/p>\n<p>On June 10th Berlusconi\u2019s Forza Italia vote trailed behind the centre anti-war Olive Branch coalition in Italy, possibly putting the skids under this particularly corrupt media big businessman and politician. His close friend Tony Blair (holiday villa supplied) stumbles from crisis to crisis, unable to shake off New Labour\u2019s unpopular pro-war stance.<\/p>\n<p>Kennedy\u2019s Liberal-Democrats have picked up votes from the \u2018soft\u2019 wing of the anti-war movement. The Liberal Democrats expressed no concern over the misery brought about by <acronym title=\"United Nations\">UN<\/acronym> sanctions in Iraq before the war and were quick to give support to \u2018our boys\u2019 once the war started. And of course, <acronym title=\"United States\">US<\/acronym> Democrat, Kerry\u2019s Presidential challenge to Bush is gaining strength \u2013 fuelled by the growing resentment in the <acronym title=\"United States of America\">USA<\/acronym> at being duped by the Republican neo-cons, highlighted by Michael Moore\u2019s <cite>Fahrenheit 9\/11<\/cite>. Kerry, who voted for the Iraq war, however, would use the multilateral links he advocates to step-up the antiterrorist offensive and would continue to support Sharon\u2019s Israel!<\/p>\n<p>Therefore imperial designs aren\u2019t merely confined to the rapacious neo-con company executives backing Bush such as those of the omnipresent Halliburton Corporation. George Soros, multi-billionaire currency speculator, advocates an imperialism \u2018with a human face\u2019 in his latest book, <cite>The Bubble of American Supremacy &#8211; Correcting the Misuse of American Power<\/cite>. Precisely because of the huge impact of the anti-war movement, there has been growing support for the liberal imperialist strategy offered by various think-tanks. These compete with their neo-con counterparts for the ear of both politicians and company executives. The global corporations are showing growing signs of regroupment around the liberal alternative to neutralise the impact of the anti-war and anti-globalisation movements.<\/p>\n<h3>The negative role of the old official Communist tradition<\/h3>\n<p>Perhaps the most significant indicator of this new liberal imperialist pressure on the Left in Europe was the decision made by the Italian <acronym title=\"Rifondazione Communista\">RC<\/acronym> not to join the <acronym title=\"European Anti-Capitalist Left\">EACL<\/acronym> for the Euro-election campaign. <acronym title=\"Rifondazione Communista\">RC<\/acronym> was originally founded as a splinter from the old <acronym title=\"Italian Communist Party\">CPI<\/acronym>, mainly as a result of the <acronym title=\"Italian Communist Party\">CPI<\/acronym>\u2019s disastrous support for the Blairite Olive Tree Coalition government which attacked workers in the 1990s. The pre-1989 <acronym title=\"Italian Communist Party\">CPI<\/acronym> was heavily compromised too. Along with the old Spanish <acronym title=\"Communist Party\">CP<\/acronym>, its leadership was prominent in repositioning the Party in the camp of social democracy under the banner of Eurocommunism.<\/p>\n<p>However, the forces of communism in Italy extended much further than the reformist Eurocommunist leadership. In Italy official Communism has a tradition which included armed partisan units during the Second World War. It was heavily influenced by the large revolutionary groups which grew outside its ranks in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Indeed many of their members were later drawn into the <acronym title=\"Italian Communist Party\">CPI<\/acronym>\u2019s ranks. Thus, having formally broken from the official Communist tradition, <acronym title=\"Rifondazione Communista\">RC<\/acronym> recently moved to the Left, pushed by the anti-war and anti-globalisation movements. Many were pleasantly surprised when <acronym title=\"Rifondazione Communista\">RC<\/acronym> adopted a new direction at its 5th Congress held in April 2002. The agreed perspectives, <em>Opening and Innovation &#8211; Changing ourselves to transform society<\/em> began with a stirring call.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>It may just be that the world is now moving towards a situation in which a new beginning can be made in the revolutionary process, for a conscious commitment to the highest task imaginable for politics: the overcoming of the existing order, of capitalist society itself.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>But then again, with the regroupment of imperialists under a liberal banner, it may just not be that the world is immediately moving towards such new beginnings. Therefore, earlier this year, the <acronym title=\"Rifondazione Communista\">RC<\/acronym> leadership, without any consultation with the members, suddenly announced its support for a rapprochment with the forces of the Olive Tree Coalition, with the intent of removing Berlusconi\u2019s neo-conservative Forza Italia-led government coalition in the 2006 parliamentary elections. Furthermore, the leadership declared its willingness to provide ministers in a government led by the centre-left! This government would most likely be led by Romano Prodi, President of the European Commission.<\/p>\n<p>The <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym> should note where the pressure for this dramatic U-turn came from in <acronym title=\"Rifondazione Communista\">RC<\/acronym>. <acronym title=\"Rifondazione Communista\">RC<\/acronym> had retained the support of some of the old <acronym title=\"Italian Communist Party\">CPI<\/acronym> led trade unions and their leaders. These unions remained largely unreformed with leaders retaining extensive privileges. Their leaders are a major conservative force in the <acronym title=\"Rifondazione Communista\">RC<\/acronym>. At the first faltering signs of the anti-war offensive, they quickly reasserted their influence, effectively reversing the gains of <acronym title=\"Rifondazione Communista\">RC<\/acronym>\u2019s 1992 Conference and side-lining the new younger anti-war, anti-globalisation activists. Therefore we in the <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym> should see that breaking the trade union link with New Labour is not enough. The unions themselves need democratised and put under rank and file control; whilst their leaders should earn the average wage of the members they represent, if they are to join the <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym>.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps not surprisingly then, with prospect of \u2018ministerial opportunities\u2019 in the air, the <acronym title=\"Rifondazione Communista\">RC<\/acronym> leadership didn\u2019t sign the <acronym title=\"European Anti-Capitalist Left\">EACL<\/acronym> manifesto (despite having attended earlier Conferences). It opted instead to form a new <acronym title=\"Party of the European Left\">PEL<\/acronym>, mainly around <acronym title=\"Member of European Parliament\">MEP<\/acronym>s from the existing Euro-parliamentary bloc, the European United Left (<acronym title=\"European United Left - Nordic Green Left\">GUE\/NGL<\/acronym>). This consists for the most part of representatives from the old official Communist Parties.<\/p>\n<p><acronym title=\"Party of the European Left\">PEL<\/acronym> also includes the <acronym title=\"Spanish Communist Party\">CPE<\/acronym>-dominated alliance, <acronym title=\"Izquierda Unida - the United Left\">IU<\/acronym>. Some of its Platforms have attended <acronym title=\"European Anti-Capitalist Left\">EACL<\/acronym> Conferences. However, these represent minorities. Unlike the <acronym title=\"Italian Communist Party\">CPI<\/acronym>, the old <acronym title=\"Spanish Communist Party\">CPE<\/acronym> long bore the scars of its defeat in the Spanish Civil War. Whilst it certainly played an important part in the subsequent anti-Franco resistance, this was along with others, who could justifiably claim just as prominent a role, not least the armed forces of <acronym title=\"Basque Homeland and Freedom\">ETA<\/acronym> in Euskadi (the Basque Country). The leadership of the old <acronym title=\"Spanish Communist Party\">CPE<\/acronym> and newer <acronym title=\"Izquierda Unida - the United Left\">IU<\/acronym> often competed\/s with the Right to be seen as the most avid supporter of \u2018one Spain indivisible\u2019. When the Madrid bombings occurred on March 11th, <acronym title=\"Izquierda Unida - the United Left\">IU<\/acronym> leader, Llamazares, supported Aznar\u2019s attempt to blame <acronym title=\"Basque Homeland and Freedom\">ETA<\/acronym>! Furthermore, like the <acronym title=\"Italian Communist Party\">CPI<\/acronym>, the <acronym title=\"Izquierda Unida - the United Left\">IU<\/acronym> leadership had in the past given its support to anti-working class policies; only this time of the Gonzales-led <acronym title=\"Socialist Workers Party\">PSOE<\/acronym> government in the 1980s.<\/p>\n<p>More influential still in <acronym title=\"Party of the European Left\">PEL<\/acronym> is the French Communist Party, with its own history of joining the antiworking class Mitterand-led Socialist Party government in the 1980\u2019s. <acronym title=\"Party of the European Left\">PEL<\/acronym> also includes the German <acronym title=\"Party of Democratic Socialism\">PDS<\/acronym>, the made-over heir to the German Communist Party which ruled East Germany until 1989!<\/p>\n<p>Quite clearly, the majority of the component parts of <acronym title=\"Party of the European Left\">PEL<\/acronym> see their current role as giving critical support to liberal imperialist politicians (hoping to push any newly elected centre-Left governments further Left with the presence of their own ministers!). This is how they intend to take up the fight against the neo-conservative imperialists. <acronym title=\"Party of the European Left\">PEL<\/acronym> has taken no distinctive position on the Euro-bosses\u2019 proposed European Constitution for the <acronym title=\"European Union\">EU<\/acronym>. This leaves the door open for \u2018critical support\u2019 and joint work with its architects, particularly Romano Prodi! When <acronym title=\"Izquierda Unida - the United Left\">IU<\/acronym> invoked the slogan \u2018Another Europe is possible\u2019 for its Euro-election campaign its possible connotations were decidedly ambiguous.<\/p>\n<h3>The contradictions within the <acronym title=\"European Anti-Capitalist Left\">EACL<\/acronym> and the need for a positive \u2018internationalism from below\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>However, if <acronym title=\"Party of the European Left\">PEL<\/acronym> is stumbling towards a policy of \u2018critical support\u2019 for the proposed <acronym title=\"European Union\">EU<\/acronym> Constitution then the <acronym title=\"European Anti-Capitalist Left\">EACL<\/acronym> needs to go beyond its strident \u2018No to the new European Constitution\u2019 if it wishes to escape the embrace of the euro-sceptic Right. The dangers are shown up most clearly in Denmark, where <acronym title=\"European Anti-Capitalist Left\">EACL<\/acronym> affiliate, the Red-Green Alliance, failed to put up an independent candidate in the Euro-election, but joined the Popular Movement Against the <acronym title=\"European Union\">EU<\/acronym>, Folkebevgaelson, with same demand as the xenophobic right populist, Danish Peoples Party &#8211; \u2018withdrawal from the <acronym title=\"European Union\">EU<\/acronym>\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Ironically, the <acronym title=\"Red-Green Alliance\">RGA<\/acronym>\u2019s standing <acronym title=\"Member of European Parliament\">MEP<\/acronym> remained a member of the former official Communist Party bloc, <acronym title=\"European United Left - Nordic Green Left\">GUE\/NGL<\/acronym>, in the Euro-parliament. In the guise of the new <acronym title=\"Party of the European Left\">PEL<\/acronym>, this now appears to be moving towards a greater acceptance of the <acronym title=\"European Union\">EU<\/acronym>. Meantime Denmark\u2019s other euro-sceptic alliance, the June Movement, Junibevaegelsen, previously led by the former Communist, left social democratic Socialist Peoples Party, has moved in the other direction. In the previous European Parliament, Junibevaegelsen\u2019s <acronym title=\"Member of European Parliament\">MEP<\/acronym>, sat with <acronym title=\"United Kingdom Independence Party\">UKIP<\/acronym> in the parliamentary <acronym title=\"Group for a Europe of Democracies and Diversities\">EED<\/acronym>! But in the Euro-election they adopted the softer \u2018Yes to Europe, No to the <acronym title=\"European Union\">EU<\/acronym> state\u2019 stance and are moving towards support for a reformed <acronym title=\"European Union\">EU<\/acronym>, more green and peaceful, but nevertheless with a strong military arm for \u2018peacekeeping\u2019 and \u2018humanitarian\u2019 interventions!<\/p>\n<p>The contradictory pressures on the Left can be seen quite clearly &#8211; towards accommodation with the pro-<acronym title=\"European Union\">EU<\/acronym> social democratic Left, or with the populist camp of opposition and withdrawal. The <acronym title=\"European Anti-Capitalist Left\">EACL<\/acronym> needs to sharpen up its criticism of imperialism in both its contemporary forms \u2013 neo-conservative and liberal. This means adopting a critical attitude towards all those involved in the retreat towards the liberal imperialist camp, whether they be former Communists, left social democrats or Greens. However, the <acronym title=\"European Anti-Capitalist Left\">EACL<\/acronym>, including the <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym>, also has to be aware of the dangers of populism, particularly, but not solely, in the smaller nations of the <acronym title=\"European Union\">EU<\/acronym>. We must ensure that opposition to the designs of the Euro-bosses doesn\u2019t lead us into the embrace of the anti-European Right populists.<\/p>\n<p>The top-down, bureaucratically imposed, Bosses\u2019 Europe offered in the proposed new\u00a0<acronym title=\"European Union\">EU<\/acronym> Constitution has succeeded in pushing many voters into deep apathy, and others into the arms of racist and chauvinist nationalism. In contrast, the Liberal Democrats&#8217; internationalism is designed to make things easier for the middle class vacationers in Tuscany or the Dordogne &#8211; hence their support for the euro. This isn\u2019t the concern of the majority of workers. The Greens invoke their own woolly notion of internationalism \u2013 the \u2018global village\u2019. Yet most workers are acutely aware of the marked differences between the \u2018desirable\u2019 and \u2018less desirable\u2019 parts of every single city, town and even many villages we live in.<\/p>\n<p>Our internationalism has to be real, grounded in the experience of a working class, increasingly employed directly or indirectly by global corporations, transported by private transport companies, housed in private estates, shopping in corporate retail parks and taking part in corporate-dominated leisure activities. Therefore, as well as attempting to build <acronym title=\"European Union\">EU<\/acronym>-wide campaigns and demonstrations in defence of workers\u2019 immediate interests in the face of the continued employers\u2019 offensive; as well as opposing the permanent imperialist war drive under whatever guise, the <acronym title=\"European Anti-Capitalist Left\">EACL<\/acronym> needs to project its alternative vision for Europe. As a minimum, this means calling for a European Constituent Assembly linked to other democratic, economic, social, environmental and cultural demands. We can then have a tactical debate over whether to vote \u2018No\u2019 or mount an abstentionist campaign in any country holding a referendum on the proposed constitution.<\/p>\n<p>We shouldn\u2019t be euro-sceptic, we should be genuinely pro-Europe. However, we don\u2019t accept the bosses\u2019 <acronym title=\"European Union\">EU<\/acronym>. We believe another Europe is possible. That Europe is socialist. The <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym> needs to play a more active part in ensuring this dream becomes a reality. We need to pursue an active strategy of \u2018internationalism from below\u2019. Yes, this means we will need to take on all those advocates of bureaucratic internationalism, even within the <acronym title=\"European Anti-Capitalist Left\">EACL<\/acronym> and amongst the British socialist sects. However, a go-it-alone, separatist strategy will only store up problems for the future. Any serious moves to enhance workers control of society in Scotland will be met with strong opposition from the British, <acronym title=\"European Union\">EU<\/acronym> and <acronym title=\"United States\">US<\/acronym> ruling class. We need all the allies we can get in the here and now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Left and the Euro-elections Allan Armstrong assesses the state of the left in Europe after the Euro elections A euro-sceptic SSP? The SSP has in the past described its attitude towards Europe as pro-Europe; anti-EU. In the run up towards the Euro-elections, held on June 10th, Alan McCombes subtly shifted the emphasis stating, We&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,4793],"tags":[230],"class_list":["post-10389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-emancipation-liberation","category-issue-08","tag-author-allan-armstrong"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"views":4081,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10389"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17951,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10389\/revisions\/17951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}