Marching against this Europe in Cologne An imminent referendum, and the political issues presented by it, poses a challenge to the left in general and to the Socialist Alliance in particular. There needs to be a campaign against the Euro which is anti-nationalistic and in defence of working class interests. And the prospects for such a campaign are very good. Obviously it will not be on the scale of that mounted by the Tory right, with the tabloids behind them, but serious campaign is entirely possible.
Such a left campaign should seek to include all those who oppose the Euro from a non-nationalist working class perspective. This would be the bulk of the far left, including the Socialist Alliance (assuming it decides to call for a no vote) and also the Socialist Party if it was prepared to work with others. The SSP in Scotland have already voted to oppose the Euro on a non-nationalistic basis.
The Green party and other sections of the environmental movement are opposed to
= * 1m: i Pay members. The CPB, if its recent pamphlet No to i: Ear ta. je taken as its position, also takes a non-nationalistic position, although the pamphlet is uncritical of the various existing nationalistic campaigns for a No vote. Many in the anti-capitalist movement, and campaigners against the third world debt, are as opposed to the Euro as they are the WTO or the IMF.
At the same time it should not include those who oppose the Euro from a nationalist position. This includes the far-right, the Tory right and any of those in the labour movement who support any form of nationalist, save the pound, type of campaign: for example the cross party Democracy Movement which campaigns to save the pound and includes cranky English nationalists like the Metric Martyrs. Also the Campaign Against Euro-Federalism, which has right-wing Tories on its platforms, and fights to save the pound. We cannot unite with these forces in a principled campaign based on the interests of the working class.
Since the TUC congress was addressed by Jacques Delors in 1988, who told them that they had a lot to gain from the 'social Europe' he was constructing, the TUC has been strongly pro-EU and strongly pro-Euro. They have campaigned vigorously for entry (and they don't often campaign vigorously) and were successful in shifting opinion in the unions in a pro-Euro direction.
They refused to fight the bosses in Britain and hoped for some crumbs from the table of the EU, even though the pickings have been meagre. The TUC was underpinned by the European Trade Union Congress (ETUC) which had a similar, though more critical, line.
This has begun to change, however, and the big opportunity to build a left campaign against the Euro today is in the unions. The most spectacular change has been the defeat in Amicus of Sir Ken Jackson who was not only Tony Blair's favourite trade unionist, but the most pro-Euro of the trade union leaders - with John Monks as the closest contender. He has been replaced by Derrick Simpson, who is sceptical on the Euro. Simpson has discovered that Jackson had been using union funds (up to £100,000 a year it seems) to finance Britain in Europe, the mainstream Yes campaign for the Euro, and is not that happy about it. Britain in Europe is in trouble.
It goes deeper than that, however. Of the big trade unions only the GMB, or more precisely John Edmunds, is a part of Britain in Europe, and can be seen as a totally reliable ally of new labour on the issue. That might change, however, when his members sort out the connection between membership of the Euro and his anti-privatisation campaign.
The TGWU flaps in the wind to prevailing pressures and is not reliable to Blair if a strong no campaign develops. Bill Morris is currently arguing for a postponement of a referendum until Labour's third term, as a means of avoiding the issue. Then there the other new trade union leaders, who are breaking the social partnership mould. Bob Crow of the RMT has recently written to the Times attacking the Growth and Stability Pact and saying that it not only leads to unemployment but would
make this country 'a rate-capped county council run from Brussels'. Billy Hayes of the CWU, Mick Rix of Aslef, Andy Gilchrist of the FBU and Mark Serwotka of the PCS, don't look like candiadtes for a yes vote.
Unison, as a public sector union (also the biggest union in Britain) is officially opposed to the Euro and is already campaigning (at least to some extent) amongst its members on this basis. A recent pamphlet circulated to its members advocating a no vote in the event of a referendum makes the following points:
'UK membership of the Euro zone will also strengthen the hand of those, such as Blair and Berlusconi, who favour a Europe of deregulated, flexible markets. It will weaken, and eventually destroy, the social Europe which helps to protect and improve the living and working standards of all employees and their famillies.... "The UK's public services are not only under threat from PFI and PPPs. They are also threatened by membership of the Euro. The strict budgetary limits imposed by the Growth and Stability Pact means that if the UK joined the Euro we would be forced t cut public spending by f10 billion. The independent think tank, the National Institute for Economic and Social Research, is even more pessimistic and believes that the cuts could be as much as £22 billion'
This opens the situation up quite dramatically in the unions. These opportunities, of course, have to be realised. And a lot of pressure will be put on such trade union leaders at the time of a referendum. But the NO votes are there to be won. There are already some small initiatives in the unions campaigning against the Euro, in particular Trade Unions Against the Single Currency. This campaigning needs to be stepped up and the arguments got across. The opportunity is there and the Socialist Alliance needs to rise to the occasion.