Socialist Resistance
Posted October 5, 2019
Membership of the European Union (EU) has given hundreds of millions of people some idea of what it’s like to live in a world without borders. Over a million British citizens have been able to live, work, study or retire all across Europe. About three million EU citizens live in Britain for exactly the same reasons.
Socialists absolutely support this freedom of movement. It is one of the key reasons why Socialist Resistance and many others on the left are determined to do everything we can to stop Brexit.
We know as well as anyone that the EU caused enormous misery to millions of Greek, Spanish, Portuguese and Irish workers when it decided to impoverish them to save the banks. That is why we are for a different sort of European unity.
The ecological calamity capitalism has caused cannot be resolved by any single country acting alone, It needs a global response. A socialist Europe could begin investing massively in the technologies needed to make the whole continent a zero-carbon economic area. It could begin a transfer of wealth and resources within and between states to make sure that everyone has what they need to live well. It could offer alternative economic and political models to societies that are being destroyed by imperialism and neo-liberalism.
A socialist Europe would put an end to the tragedy of migrants fleeing poverty, war and climate change dying in the Mediterranean or wasting their lives in camps. It would offer solidarity, welcome and practical support rather than racism, poverty and the insult of charity or foreign aid with strings attached.
The only good thing about the racist Tory, Ukip, Farage Brexit policy is that it has pulled millions of people into political activism to say that they reject English nationalist populism.
Socialists want to go further
Socialist Resistance is part of a network of ecosocialist, feminist, Marxist organisations called the Fourth International. We want a Jeremy Corbyn socialist Labour government in power to change Britain and to play its part in saving the planet. If England, Scotland and Wales remain in the European Union then Britain can help transform politics across the continent and across the world.
The capitalists have given us their version of European unity. It’s resulted in ecological disaster, mass poverty, Johnson and huge racist parties in Hungary, Italy, Poland and Germany. Now it’s time to start working for a different Europe – a united socialist Europe.
This article appeared on the Socialist Resistance website on September 17, 2019 here. Socialist Resistance is the British affiliate of the Fourth International.