The rats break from cover
International Viewpoint #259 September 1994
T confamed the presene of be tar HE recent European elections right as an enduring feature of the political landscape in most European Union countries. Legitimised by universal suffrage, the far right is rooted in the big cities, its material and membership resources greatly magnified by its presence in the institutions of the bourgeois state. Progressively consolidating its organisations, it has established networks at every level of society, a substitute for its lack of big social organisations. It can thus influence institutional political life and in some places organise certain social categories hardest hit by the crisis. It enjoys a solid programmatic basis allowing it to go beyond extremist denunciatory propaganda to tormulate "positive" propositions on jobs, social benefits, schools, health, housing, even ecology. Demagogy equating immigration and insecurity remains its most fertile ground, but it has developed a broa der discourse, allowing it to take its distance from the classical fascist heritage, "condemn" the excesses of Nazism, distinguish the "good" from the "bad" in the Hitler and Mussolini governments, and disown neonazi/skinhead violence. Its real programme (war, racial inequality, suppression of democratic liberties, liquidation of the workers' movement) remains concealed for now, although its cadres are discreetly educated in a purist fascist ideology. In sum, the far right has broken out of political and social isolation in imperialist Europe (Britain excepted). It has gone beyond the groupuscule stage to the creation of "modern" political formations which are potential parties of government, alone or in coalition. What will be the next stage? What is the gravity of the fascist menace today? Two errors should be avoided. The first is to define fascism by its ideological content. This is not very useful, given that many of the reactionary elements involved - racism, nationalism, patriotism, colonialism, militarism, sexism -are also part of the spiritual heritage of our imperialist bourgeoisies. 10
FAR RIGHT IN EUROPE The second error is to confuse the rise of fascism with the reinforcement of the repressive arsenal of the State. For the bourgeoisie, the fascist option involves different objectives and methods to any other form of authoritarian regime. All other projects have as their axis the (legal) reinforcement of the bourgeois State, avoiding the frontal battle to the death with the workers organisations and the destruction of all social liberties which fascism entails. Manifestly, conditions today favour the flowering of fascist mass movements, but do not put the installation of fascist regimes on the immediate agenda. The differences between now and the 1920s and 30s are as striking as the parallels. Hitler and Mussolini emerged from World War 1 as heads of armed private militias, and unceasingly proclaimed their fascist objectives and methods of struggle until victory. The "modern" groups behave differently. They emerged from obscurity by exploiting "the immigrant question", then turned towards a tactic of entry into the state institutions and a "united front" with the right of the traditional bourgeois parties around certain. common themes, implying a deepening of their democratic respectability They either do not wish, or have not succeeded, in transforming their electorate into a mass combat organisation. The search for a united front with the right means a lower fascist profile, and the risk of accepting co-responsibility for the crisis. The MSI, for example, cultivates its "Mussolinian" image for its rank and file, but is the least critical of Berlusconi of all the parties in the Italian parliament. All a question of tactics? Perhaps, but the transition from the parliamentary-institutional road to a policy of extra-parliamentary confrontations will require new objective and subjective conditions. The big European far right groups know that a further leap forward requires at least tacit agreement with those sectors of large capital which can open the door to participation in power. The favoured option of the ruling classes is not currently fascist. It is based on the liberalisation of world trade, the remodelling of the productive apparatus and a frantic search for gains in competitivity. This implies immense social changes, as well as the maintenance of the European Union. Hindered by world competition and a workers' movement which is "too strong", the bourgeosie must pursue its offensive against social gains; but at the same time, it seeks the active collaboration of its work force to optimise the labour process in the workplaces. What is sought is a progressive "Americanisation" of the workers' movement, rather than reliance on the fascists to change the relationship of forces through violent confrontation. The MSI presence in the Berlusconi government is considered exceptional by the European bourgeoisie, while both Berlusconi and Bossi have made public offers to collaborate with the PDS. The bourgeoisie has understood that this gigantic gradual counter-reform, alternating "social pacts" with far-ranging attacks, has reached its intrinsic limits. In short, it fears social explosion, especially given the fragility of the current political system. Thus, bourgeois politics is radicalising. This means, first and foremost, a reinforcement of the executive and repressive capacity of the State apparatus (laws, repression, control) on a national and EU basis, combined with an ideological offensive around favoured themes. A new type of politician emerges; ideologically very conservative, populist in methods of government, liberal in economic credo, and clearly more militant and energetic. Thatcher inaugurated this approach, Berlusconi followed and undoubtedly Pasqua seeks to emulate it in France. If this new muscular approach succeeds in several European countries, it would represent an important change in the political situation. The social and political relations accumulated since 1945 are beginning to tear apart. A broader space opens for the far right. Should they present themselves as the militant wing of a right-wing government, or bring all their weight into the State apparatus and accelerate their extra-parliamentary activity? All this is conjuncture. Whatever the fascist option, the struggle to combat it remains an urgent priority. François Vercammen ©