A Union of Capital

Good piece on the New Left Project.

Should the left advocate withdrawal from the EU? Is there no room for a truly leftist form of European federalism?

To be honest I find the question of the UK withdrawing from the EU a bit tiresome. It isn’t going to happen, and advocating it simply takes the political conversation in the wrong direction. I’d like to see it happen, certainly, though largely because of the complete chaos into which the international capitalist system would be plunged by a British withdrawal. The trouble with campaigning for withdrawal is that you end up in the same camp as scum like UKIP. For me this is all about class, and I don’t see Britain as some sort of oppressed nation where classes can legitimately unite for national liberation. So what’s important is that people keep hammering away at the issues: the way in which the EU undermines democracy, is used as an instrument to attack workers’ rights and living standards, and the way that it undermines internationalism by making real cooperation – ours, not theirs – much more difficult. Withdrawal I would view opportunistically, which is to say, if the opportunity arises and it does not do so as a result of a rising tide of xenophobia, go for it. I’m fighting a class war, though as I’m 56 next week I’d prefer a job with the general staff, if you don’t mind! Whatever brings us closer to socialism I’ll go with. I can’t see any ‘leftist’ – gods, what a bloody awful word! - form of federalism under current circumstances, no.

(via Instapaper)