The dust has
just about settled on a bitter-sweet election night for progressives in
Scotland. On the one hand, we smugly watched the Blairite, austerity-light,
Scottish Labour party implode in a fireball of their own making. Beaten by an
anti-austerity message that inspired over a million Scots to send a message to
Westminster demanding change. Those who stayed up until the early hours,
popcorn out, were even treated to the result coming in live from South Thanet,
where Al Murray gleefully reacted to the news that the man beside him, Nigel
Farage, hadn’t managed to make it to the House of Commons either. However,
South Thanet was one of the marginal seats that the Tories needed to secure to
get a majority, and they did. The Conservatives thumped labour in a masterful
move on the chess board of British politics. David Cameron managed to keep
enough to the right to bandage up the bleed of voters to UKIP while painting an
apocalyptic vision of a Labour Government being controlled by Alex Salmond
behind the curtain, pulling all the levers of our economy until we had borrowed
and taxed ourselves to an early grave. The fact that that this worked so well
in England, and the remarkable shape of Scottish politics today, shows the
distance between these two countries is longer than the yellow brick road.
A Tory
majority government means a main course of austerity that we have only had a
small taster of so far, the renewal of trident and tax-breaks for
multi-nationals and millionaires. Although, the greatest challenge to our
society may yet come from the promised in/out EU referendum. Socialists are
split on the EU because of it’s neo-liberal ideological motives, however UKIP’s
racism is sure to dominate the media coverage, dividing Britain and fogging the
debate. This could be the real challenge of David Cameron’s final premiership, and
the left need to be at the forefront of the battle to save our society from itself.
Throughout
British history the same story has been told and retold in times of financial
difficulty. From the flow of migrants displaced by British colonialism - right
up to the Irish communities in the 50’s, the Ugandan Asian communities in the
70’s and the Eastern European communities today - we have been told to ‘tighten
our belts’ and pursue a program of endless austerity following the crashes and
recessions that capitalism brings. However, instead of making the bankers and
the political class pay for the mess they have caused, the right wing media and
politicians blame immigration for our country’s financial ruin. To scapegoat
immigrants, they play on xenophobia, but what sometime is forgotten is that
it’s not immigrants who dodge £100m in tax every year or double our gas and
electricity bills in 5 years. We all know that it’s the elite who are to blame
and saying otherwise is letting the real
culprits off the hook.
The reality
is that immigration isn’t only good for our country economically, it enriches
our culture. Socialists regard freedom of movement as a human right for
everyone to exercise, not just those in wealthy countries. Deciding to leave
your home to start a new life abroad is an incredibly brave decision, one that
many of our ancestors have made in emigrating to Canada or Australia. We’d do
well to greet immigrant here with the kindness and welcome that we would hope
for abroad. On top of this, a 2014 study by University College found that
Britain gains £20bn from European Migration. This is because the vast majority
of immigrants work hard and pay taxes. Any so-called ‘sponging benefits’ is a
failure of our welfare system, or our economy where wages are so low that there
is vast in-work poverty. Not to mention all of the retired Brits abroad, close
to 1 million in Spain alone, who are dependent on foreign healthcare systems
and pay little tax to cover it.
Despite all
this, the scapegoating of immigrants has lead us to the brink of leaving the
EU, despite UKIP’s failure to convert support into MPs. Anyone who remembers
the aggravated Farage-Clegg debates on LBC will note that even those in the
British mainstream to want to stay in the EU, argue on grounds of economic
prosperity through trade and business, not on the benefits of free movement. I
have never heard anyone from the labour party defend migration in the way that I
just have. Despite a massive section of their votes coming from immigrants, Ed
Milliband toyed with the idea of a referendum if more powers were lost to
Brussels. As if British nationalism and sovereignty are the most important
thing in this debate- it’s social cohesion to stop further division of the
working class.
So it’s
easy, don’t all Socialists just unite to smash the seeds of fascism that have
been planted in our society? Not necessarily, campaigning to stay in the EU means
campaigning for capitalism. The EU is founded on the belief that free trade and
deregulation to boost growth are needed, we know they are not. Trade deals like
TTIP or with Israel show us that the EU is interested in eroding democratic
state power and replacing it with unaccountable corporations, free to plunder
our countries for resources and leave when they dry up. The EU’s unelected
commission is not interested in workers rights or reducing inequality. The free
movement of people was driven by the need for cheap, mobile labour as a
commodity to be used by businesses, not increasing social diversity. Even
Turkey’s membership to the EU has been suspended because of the fear of 70
million Muslims being able to live in the Christian club, not because of their
economies.
Despite the
drawbacks, the EU has the potential to unite a continent. As Engels argued in ‘The
Principles of Communism’ (1847), it is impossible for the revolution to take
place in one country alone, we need to unite with the growing left across
Europe- Spain and Greece being prime examples today. The EU’s progress on
climate change shows the potential for a progressive European force, all we
need to do is harness that for our own gain. Although, a lack of democracy in
the EU is set up against opponents of neoliberalism. The Nick Clegg argument
that the EU is necessary for jobs also stands up, leaving would undoubtedly
send what is left of the UK’s manufacturing industry packing as without a launchpad
into the European single market, there is not enough demand and our neo-liberal
politicians are not going to replace those jobs in the way that a socialist
government would.
So the left
faces a dilemma, it would be hard to stomach campaigning to leave alongside
racists and right wingers for all the different reasons although it would be
equally as hard to endorse the EU and the neoliberalism that goes with it. The likelihood
of the UK keeping free movement outside the EU is nil. What’s far more likely
is that the referendum will prove to be the tipping point for a generally
pro-EU Scotland that sends us on our way to Independence, unable to accept the
mandate from a government we overwhelmingly rejected dragging us out of Europe.
But then what do we do?
By Hugh Cullen.