Is fiscal deficits grow and the recession bites deeper into the countries of western Europe, compounded by high German interest rates and deflationary policies imposed by the Maastricht process, unemployment snowballs. Countries like Britain, Italy and Spain are faced with huge deficits and catastrophic cuts in public spending (the richer, more efficient economies, dominated by Germany have fared a little better).
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The full brunt of market forces, Divausalon, ranonalisation. deregulation, and new management techniques, is being. felt by the working class.
But the situation is not all gloomy. Even the British media have reported the waves of unrest and worker mobilisations sweeping continental Europe.
French youth have mobilised in militant and often violent demonstrations in every major city, forcing a humiliating climb- down by the Balladur government over its cheap labour policy. Mass struggles have shown the fighting strength of the working class in many other European countries.
theory+practice 9 • A fighting programme for socialists • page two Italian elections, failed to present any credible alternative.
This failure of the left to take its chances in Italy allowed the victory of right-wing populism in the form of Berlusconi, and, even more dangerous, the substantial strengthening of the main party of Italian Fascism, which was a component of his right wing alliance. Eyes right n every country of Europe racism and nationalism are Jon the increase. Harassment is an every day part of life for Black people.
Governments - including sections of the former Stalinist bureaucracy - have attempted to use racism and nationalism both for their own electoral advantage and to head off the far-right.
In Germany restrictions on asylum rights were supported by all the major parties, including the SPD. 'Liberal' Sweden has tightened up on asylum rights. In France four immigrants were killed by the police within the first week of the Balladur goverment coming to office.
In Britain we have seen the mass detention and deportations of Jamaicans last Christmas, the opening of Campsfield and other detention centres to jail asylum seekers, and the refusal of the government to allow large numbers of Bosnian refugees into Britain.
Expulsions of Romany communities have taken place throughout East Europe. In former Yugoslavia we have witnessed concentration camps and massacres on a scale unprecedented since the second world war.
Alongside official attacks on immigrant communities there has been a sharp increase in physical attacks, including murders. Firebombings of immigrant houses and hostels or of synagogues have occurred in Germany.
In Britain racist murders have taken place in several cities. Even in countries such as Spain - with little recent history of racist vio lence - there have been murders of Romanies and immigrants.
Increased official racist measures have not meant a decline in support for the far-right - with the partial exception of France. Pandering to the far-right has, on the whole, led to a stepping up of their activities. In Russia the ultra-nationalist Zhirinovsky won 25 percent of the vote. In Serbia, whilst Seselj and other fascists saw a slight decline in their electoral fortunes, extreme Serbian nationalism remains the dominant current.
And now in Italy we have seen the election victory of the populist Berlusconi, bringing fascists into the government.
Whilst this situation gives cause for concern we should not be led into drawing unnecessarily pessimistic conclusion. Fascism is not about to sweep across Europe.
Even in Italy, Berlusconi's election victory opened up new conflicts with his far-right electoral partners, the federalist Northern Leagues and the (now dissolved) fascist MSI.
The fascist vote - largely a product of the social and political crisis and decay of Italian capitalism -far outweighs the MST's actual membership.
Moreover, the Italian workers' movement remains far from decisively defeated.
Of course even one fascist is too many, and there are now gangs of fascist thugs in every European country. Clearly they need to be combatted. But, for the moment, they remain relatively small, even in Germany, where the historic tendency of fragmentation on the far left appears matched by fragmentation of the ultra-right.
Nor is electoral support for the far-right necessarily a clear vote for fascism: on the whole it is a vote for extreme nationalist solutions. In Russia, whilst Zhirinovsky may be a fascist (and that is by no means clear) the vast majority of his voters are not.
Two significant obstacles stand in the way of fascist movements coming to power in the foreseeable future. Firstly, not a single important section of the bourgeoisie (including in Italy) or the would be bourgeoisie of Eastern Europe (including Milosevic) favours such a solution. Secondly, the workers' movement throughout Europe, though on the defensive, has not suffered crushing defeats. However continued economic crisis, coupled with the inability of the traditional working class parties to combat the bosses' offensive or resolve the crisis, in the interests of the working class will create conditions in which far-right, including fascist, parties can grow.
For the moment, however, the biggest threat to Black people throughout Europe will be the tightening of anti-immigration laws and the actions of racist state institutions, particularly the police. Sharp divisions The continuing pressures of the market system have forced a new polarisation across Europe, with the emergence of new militancy. from sections of the working class, but also strengthening new reactionary forces on the hard right.
A pattern appears to emerge, suggesting that the European tions on entry to Fortress Europe workers' movement as a whole, though it has suffered damaging the right, has retained a fighting the imposition of draconian anti-union laws - making even the reGerman unions look liberal in vance of anything yet to hit other Also significant in this regard is tion of many of the British indusstark warning to the workers of sponse to the post-Maastricht ofA dividod bourgooibourgeoisies have at'democratic' facade - a European Parliament with powers to override national parliamentary authority - to conceal the concentration of bureaucratic control over economic and social policy (Maastricht) and the illThese moves have triggered dipean bourgeoisie, and some no crisis greater than the ongoing Party, tom as it is by British capitary and political links with the phrase, the last refuge of the term strategic alterative but to ally the weakened British capitalEU, any tactical ploy of posing as hardline rejectionists could only ate into an ignominious fudge furwith its supporters as well as its