******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. *****************************************************************
the left unity statement was released by its executive committee -- so it is official in that sense. the Neil Davidson piece is also good. On 26 June 2016 at 23:24, Jeff via Marxism <[email protected]> wrote: > ******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** > #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. > #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. > #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. > ***************************************************************** > > At 12:18 25-06-16 +1000, Stuart Munckton via Marxism wrote:> > >https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/62001 > > > > I was going to jot down my views on the meaning of the Brexit movement, but > having read the following (official?) article on the Left Unity website, I > see that most everything I would have said is already in print, so I > forward this text with great approval. > > Just on a personal note, however, I will acknowledge that, until it > happened, I had underestimated the danger of the Brexit campaign (but I'm > not in the UK, and in any case the role of the far-left in this debate was > practically irrelevant, "#Lexit" included). So I would have taken the easy > out and just urged voters not to support either of the two ruling-class > positions, identified as the "abstentionist" position in the following, and > washed my hands of the entire matter. Now I realize I should have been > willing to get my hands dirty, so when the issue of "Nexit" comes up (as > the notorious Islamophobe Geert Wilders is undertaking) I will strongly > oppose it for the right-wing initiative that it is, as the following piece > clearly argues in relation to the UK. > > - Jeff > > > http://leftunity.org/brexit-and-the-crisis-on-the-british-left/ > > Brexit and the Crisis on the British Left > > Neil Faulkner > > Taking a position on the EU Referendum was not easy. The in/out choice was > essentially an argument inside the political and corporate elite about what > was best for British capitalism. We do not wish to be ruled by either the > City of London or the European Central Bank. Both are run by bankers. Both > are hard-wired for financialisation, privatisation, and austerity. Both are > mechanisms for hoovering wealth upwards to the 1%. > > One could have made a strong argument for abstention. It would have run > like this. This is a dispute between two rival factions among our rulers > about how best to organise exploitation and the accumulation of capital. It > is an argument about how best to make profits. Either way, we get ripped > off and they get richer. Working people are deluded if they think that > either side represents them, or that either choice, in or out, benefits > them. > > In theory, this argument is sound. But, as Goethe said, theory is grey and > the tree of life is green. What is true in an abstract sense – that there > is nothing to choose between the City of London and European Central Bank – > is not true when you translate it into the concrete terms of a live > political debate. I will come back to this. Before doing so, I want to say > something about Lexit. > > While one could have made a strong argument for abstention – albeit an > abstract one – the same cannot be said for the argument for voting Leave. > It did not matter that the EU is a bankers’ club, that the EU is > undemocratic, and that the EU is imposing austerity and privatisation. All > true, and all irrelevant. Because exactly the same can be said for the > alternative: the City of London. > > A somewhat more sophisticated version went like this. The EU is the > mega-project of Europe’s political and corporate elite, including its > semi-detached British syndicate. Brexit will throw this project into > crisis. The crisis of their system will be our opportunity. We welcome the > crisis of European capitalism caused by the breakup of the EU. > > Similar arguments have been presented in the past. The German Communist > Party, under orders from Moscow, welcomed the crisis of the Weimar Republic > in the early 1930s, refused to form an alliance against fascism with the > German Social-Democratic Party (dubbed ‘social fascists’), and claimed that > a Hitler dictatorship would be a stepping-stone to socialist revolution. We > know the outcome. > > Let me spell out the basic underlying mistake here: it is to assume that > any crisis – and any outbreak of mass discontent – must somehow benefit the > Left. In fact, as Lenin explained, the ruling class can survive any crisis > if the workers let it, and, as Trotsky explained, there are two parties in > a crisis, the party of revolutionary hope (the socialists) and the party of > counter-revolutionary despair (the fascists). > > I cannot condemn comrades on the Left who got this wrong during the > Referendum campaign. They include many friends whose commitment, idealism, > and decency are beyond question. But they must now stare reality in the > face. So too must any abstainers who sought refuge in abstraction. > > If the monster of nationalism and racism incubating inside the Brexit camp > was less than wholly apparent during the campaign, it is undeniable now. > Yet I have seen revolutionaries whose opinions I used to respect claiming > that the EU Referendum result represents ‘a class vote’ and that, because > working-class communities voted heavily against the Remain camp, we are > witness to a popular revolt against austerity and inequality. > > This is breathtaking stupidity. It is to make a nonsense of any distinction > between ‘class in itself’ and ‘class for itself’: a vital distinction for > Marx, who knew the great difference there was between the mere fact of > class position – a matter of sociological description – and conscious mass > struggle by working people acting for themselves to change the world. > Indeed, in some sense, the whole of socialist activity is accounted for by > this distinction. > > For socialists to think that millions of working people voting for Johnson, > Gove, and Farage – who conducted the most racist election campaign in > recent British history – can somehow be interpreted as ‘a class vote’, or, > as the Lexit website claims, that the result constitutes ‘a left-wing > victory’ leaves me struggling for the words. > > In a crisis, the Centre cannot hold, and popular discontent can be captured > and channelled by the Right or by the Left. The Left has no hope if it > cannot even tell the difference. So let me spell it out. > > The Brexit campaign was an anti-EU, anti-Westminster, anti-Establishment > campaign – just as Hitler’s campaign was anti-Weimar in 1932. The Brexit > campaign drew upon great pools of bitterness among those at the bottom of > society, the victims of globalisation, neoliberalism, and austerity – just > as Hitler was supported by the unemployed, the unorganised workers, the > broken small businesses, the ‘little people’ who felt forgotten, ignored, > and abused. And the Brexit campaign fanned a great upsurge of > anti-immigrant racism – just as Hitler blamed the Jews. > > So the Brexit victory means a sharp lurch to the right. UKIP is surfing a > wave. The Tory Right will take the leadership. New Labour has its > slow-motion coup to get rid of Corbyn back on the rails (and those who > doubt the right-wing trajectory of British politics should note that the > line here is that Corbyn is disconnected from the Labour base because he is > soft on immigration). Across Europe, the Far Right is toasting Brexit and > demanding their own in/out referenda. The EU may well break up (pulled > apart, please note, not by ‘the party of revolutionary hope’, but by ‘the > party of counter-revolutionary despair’). > > We are living in dangerous times. Despite the juggernaut of corporate > power, the grotesque greed of the rich, and the mounting social crisis > afflicting working people and the poor, resistance is minimal and the Left > – blighted by autonomism, sectarianism, and, in some quarters, a blank > refusal to face reality – effectively irrelevant. > > Yet the Left must act. The global crisis is deep, intractable, and set to > get worse. The historical stakes have never been higher. The Left has to > build a fighting alternative based on mass struggle from below. A good > start might be the simple recognition that the Brexit vote represents a > right-wing tidal wave – a triumph of Trumpism – and that if we don’t get > our act together soon, the danger is that the Far Right, here and across > Europe, will harden into all-out Fascism. > > > Neil Faulkner is a revolutionary socialist, a Brick Lane Debates activist, > and the author of A Marxist History of the World: from neanderthals to > neoliberals. > > > > > _________________________________________________________ > Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm > Set your options at: > http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/stuartmunckton%40gmail.com > _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
