Part of the Union? What Should Socialists Argue in the EU Referendum?
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- Published on Monday, 20 June 2016 21:45
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A Socialist Project e-bulletin .... No. 1272 .... June 21, 2016
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Part of the Union?
What Should Socialists Argue in the EU Referendum?
Can socialists take a principled position in relation to the UK's European Union membership referendum on 23 June, or should we wish ‘a plague on both your houses’? Christina Delistathi puts the case to ‘leave’, Charlie Hore for a ‘remain’ vote, and Rob Owen for a ‘radical abstention’.
Left Exit -- Not Just a Vote
Christina Delistathi
The referendum to stay in or leave the EU is ripping the Tories apart, but has also opened up an intense debate on the Left with many people arguing to vote to stay. They fear that the leave vote is mobilising racists, that the end of free movement will make it harder for migrant workers from... poorer EU countries to move freely through Europe, and that an exit will signal an assault on our rights currently protected by EU legislation.
Yet both the ‘leave’ and ‘stay’ sides involve racist and nationalist arguments. UKIP's role in the leave campaign is obvious, but the ‘stay’ side includes Cameron and Theresa May with her despicable plan to cherry pick ‘deserving’ refugees. Unless the radical Left articulates a clear anti-capitalist campaign with demands that unite migrants and non-migrants, there is a real danger that anti-racists will be tied behind Cameron's chauvinist rhetoric or Corbyn's calls for a reformed EU -- a strategy which was tried by Syriza in Greece and failed so spectacularly.
Many also argue that the free movement of labour among EU states, which has allowed people to build a better life in another country, fosters internationalism. The free movement of labour shouldn't blind us to the fact that it applies only, and unevenly, to EU citizens. Whichever way the vote goes, the EU remains a fortress of ever-tightening border controls against refugees and migrants fleeing war and poverty. Fortress Europe is responsible for the thousands who drown in the Mediterranean or face razor fences and walls. Internationalism is not strengthened by accepting the right of free movement only for one group of workers. We need to remind ourselves that the only way to beat xenophobia is to defend the rights of all, migrant and non-migrants alike, and to consider the working class, our class, in unity across all borders.
