Huge mobilisations of workers across Europe, particularly the millions of workers in France who struck and demonstrated in December 1995 against the Juppé Plan and in defence of the welfare state - the biggest since 1968 - have highlighted the resistance to austerity.
Workers are increasingly challenging the consequences of the Maastricht process and fighting back as their governments drive against public spending and welfare provision in order to reduce deficits and public borrowing, as demanded by the Treaty.
But cuts in public spending and the tightening of fiscal policy are also deflating the economies of Europe, reinforcing and deepening the current recession and pushing up unemployment to the highest levels since before the last world war. This is a vicious circle, and can only result in the widening of the deficits because of the social costs of unemployment.
In the case of Britain, whose trade-cycle is desynchronised from the rest of Europe and where we have already experienced the Thatcherite counter-revolution, the more recent attacks have, for the time being, not been so new or dramatic, and the fightback has so far been much more limited. However the Tory pre-election "mini-boom" has been very delicate and is already overheating: hence the current demands on Gordon Brown for interest rate rises and increased taxation.
Throughout western Europe the attempts of various governments to meet the Maastricht convergence criteria, essential if EMU is to work, are themselves producing serious social and political instability. If Tony Blair's New Labour government is committed to fulfil the criteria to ensure Britain's entry of the ERM on schedule, more attacks on the British working class will soon follow on those already made by the Tories.
So massive has been the resistance that, despite their public commitment to EMU on schedule, EU political leaders may yet be obliged to delay the full implementation of EMU.
The workers of Germany, France and elsewhere have shown us how Euro-bosses can be stopped in their tracks. British workers must organise to follow their example.
Exclusive club The EU as it is presently constructed is and always has been an exclusive capitalist club. It is for all these reasons that Socialist Outlook is not just against the Maastricht Treaty and its convergence criteria, but against all the plans of the European governments to establish a European capitalist super-state, presently called the EU. Just as we reject the narrow national-
THE DECISIVE sectors of big business and their political representatives in Britain and the rest of Europe have already decided to go ahead with all the main objectives embodied in the Maastricht Treaty.
This means they will do everything in their power to implement European Monetary Union (EMU) on schedule. But there are still barriers to overcome.
Despite the impression given by the media, the main obstacle is not the technical hitches encountered by governments attempting to get under the limbo pole of the Maastricht convergence criteria, but the working class response across Europe to capitalist austerity measures.
This has led to many governments confronting a growing groundswell of opposition: some capitalists fear that social resistance and working class struggles could even bring down the whole house of cards.
....a
ism of the Euro-sceptic right-wing in British politics, we must dismiss the phony "internationalism" of the EU which masks the reactionary dream of a racist and imperialist "Fortress Europe"
Collaboration with the closer integration of the capitalists and bankers across competition and potential conflict with workers from other parts of the world - Europe would inevitably set the workers movement on a trajectory of sharpening notably in North America and Japan - and it would be built at the expense of the workers of the east and the south who will be driven further into poverty and The proposed super-state would be truly a Europe of the bosses, not of the peoples.
Today, the confusion in the working class about the Maastricht Treaty and the leaders and social democratic parties such as the Labour Party, is far less process of economic union, confusion promoted in particular by trade union pronounced. Increasing numbers of working people have taken up struggles against the consequences of a capitalist Europe as the reality of the continental drive towards austerity has become more evident.
In this situation we move toward the European Inter-Governmental Conference issue is not on the agenda, it is the underlying theme of the whole event, which (IGC) planned for Amsterdam in June. Although discussion of the single currency is intended to change the European constitution, endorse a new, wider-reaching Treaty ("Maastricht 2") and reinforce the move towards a common currency. The Euro-Marches which will converge on Amsterdam from all corners of the towards integration of a bosses' Europe. Up to now, of course, most of the EU will therefore raise the stakes in the political opposition to these moves struggles against unemployment and austerity have not been directed against the EU policy and institutions as such, but at the actions of particular national governments as they have implemented the Maastricht criteria. weapon in the hands of capital, reinforcing attacks on post-war national welfare The EU is being fashioned through the Maastricht process into a powerful state provision, and creating conditions to drive down real wages and living standards in order to prepare for competition on a globai scale. The historic rivalries, national interests and cultures of the European nation states and their ruling classes remain stumbling blocks today. Each capitalist The traditional Franco-German alliance which has led the rebuilding of Europe over conflicting national interests.
the existing 15 EU nations. But they are also finding it difficult to meet the in particular the French capitalists would prefer to organise a political union of requirements of the Maastricht criteria, because of the resistance of the French --A- working class.
For its part the German bourgeoisie, aware of its strategic position in the middle of the continent, and Trade still paying dearly for the unification with East Germany, unions is eager to look to the potential markets and cheap in the labour of the East to strengthen its position over its EU partners/rivals.
Ninetie Germany's aim is to create a 'Greater Europe, with A stronay for: all the countries of central and Eastern Europe under its policiate hegemony. But its current deep recession, and growing public sector deficit, worsened by the soaring costs of sustaining almost 5 million unemployed, is casting severe doubt over the future of the single currency.
The British establishment is still partly wedded to the 'special relationship' with the USA which ever since the
The proposed super-state would be truly a Europe of the bosses, not of the peoples.
¡Essential reading iTrade unions in ithe nineties ¡unions as Blair's New Labour takes over where 18 ¡A strategy for socialists in the ¡years of Thatcherism left off.
1E2 inc p&p from Socialist Outlook, PO Box 1109, London N4 2U1
post-war settlement has remained at the centre of its alliances.
The ruling class also remains deeply divided over European integration, and this was a crucia factor factor in the catastrophic defeat of the Tones in the General Election.
The Conservative Party, once one of the most stable in Europe, is now in virtual ruins, pointing towards a deep-going split. At RENAUL best the majorty of the party want Europe to be no more than a 'common market. But some sectors continue to vacillate, with the nationalist Euro-sceptic right-wing totally rejecting the ERM and its implications for political union (thus setting themselves at odds with the wishes of the multinational corporations which have historically looked to the Tories as their Parliamentary A political vacuum on the left In both Eastern and Western Europe there is a widespread sense of political malaise and a yearning for change. Despite the probably short-lived euphoria over the stunning victory of Tony Blair, New Labour offers workers no real alternative. On the contrary, they are presently perceived by bankers, by industrialists and by European governments as the best representatives of capital.
Similar political problems confront the workers throughout Europe: the main social democratic and ex-communist parties have offered little clear challenge to the drive towards EU economic and monetary union.
This bankruptcy of perspective on the left opens up a real danger. If the desire for change is not harnessed by a socialist alternative - an internationalist, revolutionary movement, then populist movements of the right will take advantage of the crisis. This could in the future be the extreme fascist right. There are increasing frustrations with the status-quo across Europe in the context of this growing political vacuum.
On the one hand the traditional reformist workers' parties, which have repeatedly failed to deliver reforms in office or to defend their working class supporters when in opposition, have been through years of crisis (although as Blair's victory has shown, they have clearly not died or disappeared). The failure of social democratic parties has reinforced and in turn rested upon the bankruptcy of the bureaucratic trade union leaderships, combined with the relative acquiescence over many years of the working class, which may be beginning to change.
On the other side we see a creeping crisis of bourgeois leadership and the morbid decay of late capitalist society, reflected in the growing gulf between the rich and the poor even in the capitalist heartlands, and the slow but steady disintegration of the social and material fabric of society. This latter process
This bankruptcy of perspective on the left opens up a real danger.
If the desire for change is not harnessed by a socialist alternative - an internationalist, revolutionary movement, then populist movements of the right will take advantage of the crisis.
This could in the future be the extreme fascist right.
underscores the corruption and fragmentation of traditional capitalist parties in Italy, France and other countries, especially Britain.
Unfortunately left alternatives are not the only choices on the menu: there is also right wing populism. In Western Europe today many of the once dominant parties, seen as corrupt and devoid of new ideas, unable to provide answers to pressing problems, are seeing their base of support being siowly eroded. Sections of the middle class and less class-conscious sections of the working class have looked to new populist leaders.
In Italy we have seen a period of government in which Silvio Berlusconi led a coalition including the neo-fascists). In France, the far-right National Front of Le Pen is gaining sway in important centres.
While strikes, demonstrations and youth agitation around democratic and environmental issues are the first signs of workers' resistance to the bourgeois offensive, the growth of ultra-right wing populists, nationalists and even open racists and anti-Semitic groups also reflect the crisis of bourgeois society. Today Europe's bourgeoisie prefers the Blair option, but later it could be quite prepared to exploit other alternatives in order to divert the growing anger and frustration of the masses towards scapegoats declared responsible for all their As the long wave of recession deepens there is a danger that big capital may make a conscious turn to authoritarian populist leaders and toward developing the repression of a 'strong state' to stabilise its rule. If the working class fails to confront such developments and fight back, then in the shadow of populist leaders, fascist gangs could come together, creating the basis for fascist-type parties with a mass following.
Populist and potentially bonapartist leaders like Berlusconi are a politica danger facing the workers' movement today; genuine fascist gangs like the BNP are building in their shadow.
For a socialist Europe of the peoples - East and West The Europe we want is not the Europe supported by its heads of state when they signed the Maastricht Treaty.
Theirs is a Europe that has opened the borders for the bankers, the speculators and bosses, but closed them for the workers, the immigrants and asylum-seekers, turning its fire inwards against social gains and democratic rights.
We oppose their Europe of the banks and the multinationals. We reject their Europe of police harassment, of computerised "black lists"; we are against the exclusive Europe of the Schengen Treaty, which slams the door on what they call the "invasions" from Eastern Europe and the South [third world]. We are not against the principle of a single currency or a European federation - it's capitalism we are opposed to, whether its base is a nation-state or an international alliance. We are against a Europe of fat-cats, profiteering, exploitation and sleaze.
That's why Socialist Outlook is in favour of British withdrawal from the EU. For the same reason we are in favour of other states also withdrawing from the EU, and refusing to comply with reactionary EC laws or with the economic directives embodied in the Maastricht Treaty.
We stand for a Europe based on equality and solidarity, that is democratic, ecologically sustainable, anti-imperialist and anti-racist. We favour a Europe of the free association of peoples, open to the East and in solidarity with the South. The United Socialist Europe we want is one which prioritises the needs of the working class against profit, promotes equality for women, fights racism and defends the environment. We want a real 'social Europe' - and that can only be a socialist Europe.
Theirs is a Europe that has opened the borders for the bankers, the speculators and bosses, but closed them for the workers, the immigrants and asylum-seekers, turning its fire inwards against social gains and democratic rights.
We are not against the principle of a single currency or a European federation - it's capitalism we are opposed to, whether its base is a nation-state or an international alliance.
Our alternative has nothing in common with the Euro-sceptic, capitalist dream of a Britain which is outside of the EU, but tied to a foreign policy hinged on the USA - a flea-bitten British lion clinging to a fading Atlantic Alliance. On the contrary, Socialist Outlook wants a socialist Britain to be part of a socialist Europe linking east and west.
But we cannot just present a maximum programme. Today in opposition to Maastricht we call for action across frontiers, common campaigns that can show the way forward to a Europe of the workers and young people, not one exploited by capitalists and riven by divisions and inequalities.
In that way we can restore meaning to internationalism. The European bosses ave discovered that they can work together on a European level - to attack the vorking class: the workers' movement must learn to think and act internationall if it is to fight back and win..
Europe-wide Campaigns and Internationalism Socialists must turn towards setting in motion broad international campaigns that are necessary to get broad masses of working people into political action. There is no lack of examples, many of which are already under way at a national or embryonic European level:
• Against racism, immigration laws and for the right to vote for immigrants. • For a 35-hour week with no cut in pay, looking toward a 30-hour week. • Against the Maastricht ceiling on public expenditure. For a programme to ebulld the social infrastructure; hospitals, schools, the welfare state and integrated public transport systems and policies in defence of the environment. • For the right to abortion, contraception and reproductive rights, bringing all European legislation into line with the most advanced gains. • For immediate abolition of the third-world debt and a halt to arms sales and support for dictatorships and corrupt regimes, in particular in the "back yard" of the European imperialist powers - Africa, the Middle East, and indonesia.
• For defence of political prisoners. We need a serious and thoroughgoing campaign for democratic and national rights for all the oppressed peoples in Europe. For the right of self-determination for all the dominated peoples, first of all for the Basque, Irish Corsican and Kurdish peoples.
This kind of programme must be translated into practical pan-European campaigns, based in the situation in each country, which challenge the implementation of national and EU policies and confront the institutions of the The European March for Jobs and Welfare Rights is a beacon of light in this respect. Such campaigns need to be built as broad united fronts, to include the widest possible spectrum of working class organisations while seeking to draw in the movements of the socially oppressed.
All this underlines the burning need for international organisation.
In the trade unions, socialists have to propose a Europe-wide alternative to the bosses' project. We are for workers' solidarity against the capitalist Kure trusts and multinationals, and call for building de direct links and joint struggles between workers across Europe and beyond.
We must expose all the links between the policies of the various European governments and the drive towards a European capitalist super-state.
black people fighting state racism.
We must build on the democratic sentiments of
Our alternative has nothing in common with the Euro-sceptic, capitalist dream of a Britain which is outside of the EU, but tied to a foreign policy hinged on the USA - a flea-bitten British lion clinging to a fading Atlantic Alliance.
in France, the Sans Papiers has become a mass movement of
the working class and show how the EU lacks any democratic legitimacy, and how in the future it will place social policy in the hands of an unelected European Reorganising the left in Europe:
As we have begun to see in the struggles that have already erupted, the independent mass action of the working class can confront and defeat the power of international capital and its governments.
Unfortunately most socialists and revolutionary organisations have emerged out of the past difficult decade weakened, and sometimes demoralised. The old Communist Parties of Europe, shattered by the collapse of Stalinism in the ex-Soviet Union, have fragmented and transformed themselves into social democratic parties or small left reformist parties like Communist Refoundation (RC) in Italy.
On the other hand the socialist (social democratic) parties which in the recent past have been in government in continental Europe have one by one discredited themselves by launching huge attacks on the workers.
In Spain, France and Greece, as in Britain after 1979, they have been weakened by this, but not destroyed. As Blair's election victory shows, despite their betrayals these parties can retain the allegiance of the majority of the working class where they have been traditionally strong, primarily because there are still no mass left wing alternative parties to offer a way forward. Filling this gap, and building across borders in capitalist Europe is still a difficult task. This can change - as the Euro-March for jobs has shown. The working class has the capacity to fight back, and in many countries is already fighting back.
This should give us confidence to rebuild and consolidate the socialist forces in Europe for the future.