Ligue communiste révolutionaire will present a joint list of candidates in future European elections. The defeat of the right
The return to power of the Social Democrats is above all the result of crises and defeats of the right. After over a decade in power, voters finally turned against Helmut Kohl and Margaret
Their anti-social policies had a major influence on the process of European integration. They provided the political support to a major offensive by the capitalist class (which is still in course).
DA CASCUNO SECONDO LE PROPRIE CAPACITA
Today, the climate is shifting. In
Britain, France and Italy, large conservative parties are in deeper crisis than at any time since the war. Germany's CDU-
CSU looks increasingly unstable
Докі
In other words, the Social Democrats represent more than a change of label, disguising the same neo-liberal policies. Times have changed, and these new governments have a different relationship to society than their conservative
Having said this, the golden age of
Italy's Refounded Communists are still a major player in the country's social movements. Over 100,000 people joined the party's demonstration in Rome on 17 October, calling on the government to improve social policies.
Social Democrats is definitely older They no longer control the social movements, and they no longer have the confidence of the working class and young people. They gain in popularity when they are in opposition. But where they
Europe's social democratic governments Sleeping with the enemy
Social Democratic parties now dominate the governments of all European Union states, except Spain and Ireland. In several countries, they depend on the support of green, communist or ex-communist parties. In other areas too, the radical left is advancing. François Vercammen These are the first political manifestations of the growing ideological and social resistance we have seen in recent years. Neo-liberalism is blocked, discredited, and unable to satisfy the social needs of the population. The bourgeoisie recognises this, and is re-discussing its strategic options for the coming period. Some Social Democratic leaders, like Leonel Jospin in France and Oskar Lafontaine in Germany stand out from the "new labour" crowd because of their (relative) audacity.
More importantly, this new atmos2 International Viewpoint #305 November 1998 phere is giving lift to a new, truly alternative kind of politics. Left thinking is possible again. The radical left advances...
At the recent congress of Britain's Labour Party, Tony Blair was unable to prevent a membership ballot from electing four prominent left-wingers to the party's National Executive Com-
As Scotland prepares for elections to its new assembly, a variety of political and labour movement currents have come together in the Scottish Socialist Party. This new, pluralist force already has a certain social weight, and good electoral prospects. Its major component is the "desectarianised" Scottish wing of the former Militant organisation.
Trotskyists have also been in the news in Italy, where the Bandiera Rossa group were central in party leader Fausto Bertinotti's defence of the Refounded Communists against a group of deputies who supported the centre-left government's social cutbacks.
In France, Lutte ouvrière and the are in power, like Sweden and Greece, the voters are quick to punish them. Precarious relations
The balance of forces is extremely unfavourable for the European working classes. The return to power of the centre-left is an improvement, but a very modest one. With limits.
This has not stopped large, sometimes immense outpourings of popular support and enthusiasm, as Social Democrats return to power in one country after another. This enthusiasm is clearly out of proportion with the real changes in policy that we can seriously expect from the new governments. Presumably, the people in the streets on election night are expressing a "voluntaristic" illusions in these new governments, as a consequence of their own very limited social activity as workers, women and youth.
France is an exception: the upturn in class struggle since the 1995 public sector strike has created much more confidence and combatitivity there, as the recent high school strikes have shown.
At the same time, however, a small but significant section of society shares few or none of these illusions. Hence the widespread signs of a social remobilisation, and the increasing electoral support for parties to the left of social democracy in many countries. There is a clear increase in basic political consciousness among working people.
The situation is still fragile. For the
social democrats and for the "left of the left." Activists in the social movements want to push forward, suspecting rightly that these new governments will be more responsive to social pressure. For their part, the new rulers are trying to stabilise their position by reintegrating the trade union bureaucracy into a more organised form of class collaboration. Limits
But political activity "from below" is still weakened by the fear of isolation, or pessımism about the possibilities of victory. This has not prevented massive demonstrations in France, Belgium, Italy, Finland and even Switzerland, over issues where there has been some hope of progress. But, for the most part, these mobilisations have been one-off, short on perspectives. They have had little or no cumulative effect on the level of organisation of social movements.
The masses, and the militant minority, are still overwhelmed by the argument that the centre-left represents the "lesser of two evils." As a result, the radical left alternative is only slowly reemerging.
People are not just discouraged by mass unemployment, generalised precarity and insecurity. In many countries there is a danger that the right will return to power, in a new, aggressive form.
Italy already has a "Bonapartist," semi-extraparliamentary right, led by the media baron Berlusconi, the separatist Bossi and the ex-fascist Fini.
In Belgium and Germany there has been an increase in fascist violence, and a growing presence of ultra-right groups.
France is suffering from both phenomena. The threat on the horizon is the election of a right-wing coalition including the far-right National Front. The social democrats' excuses
This threat from the right not only enables the social democratic governments to keep the social movement in line. It also provides a convenient alibi for themselves adopting increasingly right wing positions on questions like policing and immigration.
Whatever the conditions in specific countries, the European Union is now solidly social democrat. The three most
COMITATO POLITICO N important countries, France, Germany and Britain, all have centre-left governments. The French and German governments include Green ministers. France's government also has Communist members. In all three countries, the bourgeois parties are in opposition and, increasingly, in crisis.
Social Democratic and Labour parties now dominate all the executive bodies of the European Union, from the Council of Ministers to the European Commission and even the Central Bank (headed by Wim Duisenberg of the Dutch Labour Party (PvdA).
They have no excuse not to implement the "social Europe" policies they have always promised. Now that we have made sacrifices for the new single currency, where are the policies to end mass unemployment? The omnipresence of the Social Democrats makes a homogeneous, simultaneous and aggressive policy possible.
Possible, but improbable.
Only about 10% of EU trade is with the rest of the world. Now that it even has its own currency, this autonomous, rich and powerful bloc of countries could easily implement an autonomous policy, a "social model," or resist the "Americanisation" of society EU member states need no longer make competitive tax cuts to attract investment. Calm and deliberate measures to control capital flows, harmonise taxation and reduce stock market speculation can be taken.
Possible, but improbable.
This is an exceptional political and institutional conjuncture. The social movement should seize the moment, and build the widest possible coalitions. Bringing together those of us who oppose the EU, and those who are in favour of the EU, but opposed to the disastrous effects of current EU policies. Difficulties on the horizon
It is clear that the EU will not be able to maintain its current policies unchanged. In 1998 most countries squeezed under the limits of the Maastricht Treaty, thanks to favourable economic conditions. In 1999, the uncertain economic climate will make it hard for many countries to make do with a budget contents europe
2 Europe's social democratic governments
• François Vercammen
6
Germany: the Social
Democrats are back
• Theis Gleiss
8
Britain: Labour Party conference - or farce?
• Neil Murray
10
The Basque conflict after the
ETA ceasefire: a special report by José "Troglo" Castaños americas
18 Canada: Québec's left regroupment
• Bernard Rioux
19 Mexico marks 1968 massacre
• Peter Gellert special teature.
Ithe radicalisation of South
LKorea
20 Workers in an ever-leaner world
23 Currents on the Korean left
25 Elections: openings to the left
• Lee Oh-wol & Terry Lawless asia -
26 China: Flood management
• Zhang Kai
27 Pakistan: Islamic law
• Arif Azad
28 Sri Lanka: The left and the war
• NSSP
29 India: Anti-nuclear women
• interview with Soma Marik
31 Australian options
• Ken Davis reconomics
32 The global storm
• Maxime Durand regular features
30 Books
36
Conferences: Seoul anti-IMF conference dou 34. 106 81 Anva, t). 3300675. Editor and director: Yannis Felekis, Eressou 34, 106 81 Athens, Greece.
Tutoypopoç: Ioavyng Kotoatos & Zio, Mapivou
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e-mail < International_Viewpoint@compuserve.com> Rest of world USS 70 тойл, mn2. 9719048. Editor and director: Yannis Felekis, Eressou 34, 106 81 Athens, Greece. Printed by loannis Kotsatos & Cia, Marinou Antipa 4, 163 46 llioupoli, Greece. Distributed by
aub er se SIDG, • minaceta, elettori di sinistra non e di destra è odiano più, o odiano
7 di- meno, an- quanto acpotosa- cadde nel '94,
Telet- allora con-
• sini- viene chiespece, dersi sE le tempt non
, ‹colla siano maturi minor per quella
In Grosse Koalttion che in di st- Germania sembrava лі- Livio Maitan prossima 44L ma pot + or deficit of less than one percent - the strict limit set for those who join the Euro zone on 1 January 1998
The question is, will the social-democratic leadership of the EU insist on applying, blindly, the monetarist policies of recent years? Or will they dare to break out of the neoliberal straight jacket? To dare transgress the rulebook of the European Central Bank? Will they capitulate, in the name of stability and defence of the Euro, or will they risk an "institutional crisis in search of reforms?
Will they stick to unpopular policies, and risk being replaced by the right? Will they pursue policies that boost support for the far right? What will they do if Europe's army of unemployed increases from 20 to 25 million? Or 30 million?
These are questions not only for governments. So far, the European Trade Union Congress (ETUC) has supported the policies of the European Commission, arguing that the stability of the Euro is the most important thing. ETUC could be forced to reclaim its autonomy. The left in the labour movement has already come together in initiatives like the EuroMarches against unemployment. But there is a need for much closer, sustained collaboration, involving wider sections of the trade union left.
In each country, and at the pan-European level, it is time to prepare the campaigns that will force the Social Democrats to make the reforms we want.
International Viewpoint
OUTEU deve andare insieme. BFEUFINOTERD eTSE. Pero non so se per l'la-, lar lia questo momento sia gia arTiDato». «Conosco bene
Рет parte sua, Vittorio • il trotzkista Fod con gli Maitan ma non "altri" ha sem- P pre dialogato. accetto che tutto La sua ammi- dipenda da lui» razione per il conservatore Indro Montanelli è nota, ma Foa è anche l'uomo ete, ne' trO* 9) invita Find
Europeanisation
We need to build a consciously European, active social movement. This will be one of the most important questions facing any left regroupment project.
After all, political life in Europe will be increasingly conditioned by the growing activity of the proto-state that governs the European Union. For the first time,
EU affairs will become part of day-to- day life, rather than an abstract and distant atterthought.
The radical left has been stimulated by a number of social mobilisations.
Initiatives like the European Marches against Unemployment provide a regular forum for joint activity. There are also the regular "counter-summits," organised to challenge each leaders' summit of the
EU or the G7.
At a very small scale, there is already a European "civil society," articulated by
Non-Governmental Organisations, social movements, and co-ordination groups of all kinds. Progressive members of the
European Parliament (not really a parliament, but that's another story) have played a positive support role.
Western Europe's (ex-)Communist parties are better organised. They met in
Berlin in June and Rome in September.
Among other things, they are working on a common plan for next year's European elections. So far, however, they have been unable to draft a common text...
No Communist party in Europe can ignore the debate which has split Italy's Refounded Communists. When the party
Г decided that "critical support" for the centre-left government meant that they should vote against social cutbacks, even if this deprived the government of a majority in parliament, a large minority of the party left in disgust, and mostly joined the social democrats. In the process of the debate and split, party leader Fausto Bertinotti (a man from the old Communist school) forged an even closer alliance with the Trotskyists of Bandiera Rossa.
According to Bertinotti, "across Europe, from Sweden to Germany, France, Spain and Portugal, there is an alternative, communist left. A combative left [the term used by the PRC to distinguish itself from the reformist left]. The social democrats who are now in government will have to take notice of this left."
Indeed, the social democrats may even consider electoral agreements with parties to their left. After all, with the neoliberal right significantly discredited by its record in power, old-fashioned "grand coalitions" of social democrats and the centre-right are difficult to imagine.
For those on the left of social democracy, this is new terrain, and the subject of intense debate, clarification and, often, division. Italy's Refounded Communists have split twice since their foundation (from another split) in 1991. France's Communists are internally divided, and the leadership is floundering. Programatic adaptation
In Sweden, the (ex-Communist) Left Party polarised on left-right lines immediately after its recent electoral gains. The country's social democratic government maintains neo-liberal policies, and is pushing for Swedish participation in European Monetary Union.
The leader of Germany's PDS didn't even wait until after the elections. He announced a "programmatic adaptation" in the middle of the election campaign! Everyone interpreted this as a move to half price for all new readers!
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The revolutionary left is unprepared for this tactical problem. Of course, everyone knows that such-and-such a "centre-left" government will not break with capitalism, that it will only make slight modifications to neoliberal policies.
But we can also see that causing, directly or indirectly, the return to power of the right-wing parties, would be catastrophic in the eyes of working class voters, and many of the militants who animate the social movements. We need a more subtle analysis, long term and intelligent tactics, and demands which are both "realist" and radical. Our discourse must be in phase with popular sentiment. Political pedagogy 1s an essential concern, if the anti-capitalist left is to place itself at the centre of debate.
This is a complex business. The formation of a broad left government sounds like a good thing. But what composition will it have? In some countries, when parliament votes to approve a newly-formed government, it also approves the budget. Even more complicated. What kind of deal should lett partners demand? Should the government's initial policy declaration be modified? Or will other concessions suffice? How far does "tolerance-without-direct-support" go?
What do we do when the political record of the government becomes so bad that it exhausts its credit among the working people and youth who voted for it? What to do when the fall of the left government becomes the "lesser of two evils" in the eyes of the electorate? If we decide to withdraw our support, what conditions should we look for in choosing the moment? And, as Italy's Refounded Communists have seen, how do we defeat the forces of inertia, the conservative elements which will have developed during the period of cohabitation with the social democrats? Say good-bye to the members of parliament, the material resources, and the access to media? Anti-capitalist recomposition
We cannot ignore this problem, or say that "the whole thing is just a politigame!" The immediate demands of wage-earners, women and young people are at stake. The politically conscious sectors of the social movements are already debating these questions.
This is not just a question of parliamentary politics. It is also a question of what links we make between the revolutionary left and other radical political currents in and around the (ex)communist parties, the Greens and the social democrats. These new alliances are also provoking all kinds of realignments inside the social democratic parties. Which has an effect on the numerous social democratic activists in the social
Most anarcho-syndicalist currents prefer to ignore the whole problem. So do some Trotskyist currents. They are wrong. This is a key question for revolutionaries. Look at history. Whenever the impact of a social movement grows substantially, it seeks a politico-institutional expression: in parliament, even in government. No mass trade union can do without a political link of some kind. Some trade unions even create political parties, like Labour in Britain, and the Workers Party in Brazil.
This is a fundamental aspect of the whole anti-capitalist recomposition. Until it passes the "baptism" of electoral participation, and achieves a significant number of votes and deputies, the revolutionary left will remain an "action group". Political, in a general sense. But only "useful" within the social struggle.
Real success brings with it a series of political choices, and these imply com-
Our goal is the recomposition of "the left of the left." The emergence of a new, broad and pluralist political force. An anti-capitalist, feminist and internationalist party, with mass impact. The success of such a project can be measured in two ways: the capacity to link up with the militant currents which emerge from the conflict between the social movements and social democratic governments, and its capacity to become a politico-institutional reference-point. * *Francois Vercammen is a member of the United Secretariat of the Fourth International, and a leader of Belgium's Socialist Workers Party (SAP-POS).
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