Europhobia on the rise

The Europhobic Right is on the advance again. At this very moment, Tory blowhards are gassing away in the Commons about the EU superstate, UK sovereignty, the Euro crisis, and how much they hate Johnny Foreigner. This is but the start of what the super-reactionary Express calls, unselfconsciously and quite possibly as a deliberate insult to Muslims, its “Crusade“. The Europhobes are a motley mix of Little Englanders and US agents, or less inaccurately petit-bourgeois English nationalists and bourgeois Atlanticists. Such is the febrile atmosphere of reactionary English nationalism carefully stoked and propagated by the current and previous regimes, the petit-bourgeois and reactionary print media, and of course the BNP and UKIP (nicely described by Jeremy Hardy as “Fascism Lite”), that ‘Eurosceptics’ have the confidence to call for outright EU withdrawal. Quite possibly, in a few years, they’ll have their way.

Political pundits are forever saying that the Tories are “split over Europe”, but that disguises the reality, which is that the Tory Party reflects UK Capital by being divided between Atlanticist and European interests. Usually this is hidden behind the rhetoric of patriotism and sovereignty, but the recent Liam Fox scandal brought the Atlanticist faction momentarily into the spotlight through his membership of the Atlantic Bridge , a body which describes itself as a:

“Group which coordinates the sharing of policy ideas and personal networks between conservatives in the UK and the US”

It could more accurately be described as an alliance of Finance Capital across the Pond, with the Thatcherite Atlanticist Tories making common cause with the US Tea Party [1]. There have been previous spats between Europeans and Atlanticists which have occasionally brought the factions blinking into an unwanted light, one of the most notable in the Thatcher reign being the “Westland affair” [2] which become a very public US v EU struggle. That was in the days when manufacturing Capital had some leverage with the Tories, but now the party is dominated by Finance Capital [3] its political axis has moved sharply towards the US and away from the EU. For all that the Tories bang the nationalist drum about sovereignty and the “overweening” power of Eurocrats, they’re really following the money. Tories are traditionally pragmatists who know which side their bread’s buttered on and who’s doing the buttering, and there’s no question these days that it’s Washington providing the spread. From a national viewpoint it might seem to make more economic sense to stay with an EU which, for all its travails, is a growing economic and political power with a currency set to derail the dollar as a reserve currency [4] and not weighed down with the multi-billion costs of a parasitic massive military-industrial complex and of waging imperialist wars producing relatively little return (not enough buck to be worth the bang). However, from a factional viewpoint, there’s little doubt that Finance Capital is dominant in the UK economy, and that’s inextricably linked to US interests. The nation might benefit from the EU, but factions in Capital make their money across the Pond.

Still, WTF does it matter if the UK is a declining peripheral nation in an Atlantic ‘alliance’ or a European superstate? It’ll make a difference to the bourgeoisie in the opposing factions, but the working class has a ‘choice’ between:

a) a corporate authoritarian racist EU superstate in hock to European corporations

b) a corporate authoritarian racist UK state (in reality, a 51st US state) in hock to US corporations

Hobson’s Choice, right enough, so why get up tight about it? Because it signals the inexorable rise of virulent English nationalism which may lead to fascism. EU withdrawal would lead to:

• greater authoritarianism
• intensified racism
• sharper intra-UK conflicts leading to hostility, possibly violent, towards Scotland and Wales
• subordination to the USA [5], such that the UK becomes part of a dollar zone and resumes its role as US military outpost
• steep economic decline, with sterling nose-diving against major currencies

Undoubtedly the Scots would be aghast at UK withdrawal, and would rush to independence to become a State within the EU [6], particularly with the UK regime increasingly acting as an English State. Scotland is already a ways to the Left of England, with Tories wiped out North of the Border, and has far more in common with European social democracy than US/UK neo-liberalism. Serious noises about EU withdrawal would be the final goad towards independence. That will undoubtedly lead to conflict, stoking English nationalism, and you can just see the Sun and Daily Mail calling for action to secure ‘UK assets’. The Welsh might have less room to manoeuvre, but they also wouldn’t want to be part of an isolationist English regime and would at the very least be pushing for full economic and political autonomy.

Without Scotland and the EU, there would be no brakes on English reaction, and England would rapidly move to a form of fascism portrayed in the films V for Vendetta and Children of Men. England is already virulently racist and violently authoritarian and becoming more so, under official sanction, by the week, so without the checks of EU legislation and Scottish social democracy, and with a rapidly declining economy driving sharp social tensions (the recent riots will be a tea party in comparison to what would follow) the creep towards fascism would become a headlong rush.

There is a respectable strain of opinion on the Left for EU withdrawal, so as to build a progressive and socialist, or at least social democratic, nation free of an EU in hock to multinationals. Whilst in theory this is an option, in practice, with a Tory majority solidified in England after Scots independence and zilch political consciousness in the English working class, there are two chances of a socialist England: fat and slim (and Slim just left town). EU withdrawal would result in an isolated and xenophobic England, deeply racist and reactionary, in which worker’s interests would be ruthlessly stomped on by the State. Those on the Left (Bob Crow and Tony Benn come immediately to mind) who support EU withdrawal are living in a state of denial, and their attempts to distance themselves from Right-wing Europhobes are futile.

Still, this is all just wibbling. In practical terms, all these games are played out by factions way above our heads and completely unaccountable and uninfluenceable by ordinary people. We might get a referendum, but if Europhobia has reached such a pitch that that takes place then the result will be a foregone conclusion. If that ever does happen, then this writer for one will be for the off to a Celtic civilisation before the borders are sealed. I’m no fan of the EU superstate, but I’ll take a civilised European country over a fascist England every day of the week.

References

[1] Liam Fox’s Atlantic Bridge linked top Tories and Tea Party activists. Guardian, 15/10/11

[2] Wikipedia: Westland affair. Accessed 22/10/11

[3] Revealed: 50% of Tory funds come from City. Guardian 8/2/11. City’s influence over Conservatives laid bare by research into donations. Guardian 30/9/11

[4] And has gone up significantly against Sterling. According to the Interactive Currency Table, the Euro is currently worth 87p, and five years ago was worth 67p. That’s an appreciation of over 30%, and that with the Euro in crisis.

[5] Those Right ‘idealists’ who dream of a UK independent of power blocs are naive fantasists

[6] The SNP’s stated objective is “an independent Scotland within Europe”. See, for instance, the press release “SNP to relaunch Independence in Europe campaign” on the SNP website.

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