The alliance of the exploitative troika is immersed in uncertainty. There is a third way, an alternative to those who believe in the European Union and those who are skeptical of it.
January 14th will be a date remembered by PM Theresa May, who has already suffered a scandalous parliamentary defeat in the vote of the Brexit deal she had agreed on with the European Union: 432 votes against and 202 in favour.
Although it was an predictable defeat, May desperately tried to turn it around. She argued that a new referendum would break the trust in democracy: that a renegotiation with the EU would be impossible and that calling general elections would only cause more problems.
On his side, Jeremy Corbyn defended the no-vote of the Labour Party and demanded early elections: “the citizens need to recover the control of the situation, new elections will allow them to choose new representatives, a new government and mandate to renegotiate the deal with the EU”.
The overwhelming rejection of the Parliament deepens the crisis in the United Kingdom and he European Union, showing the imperialist decay and a future filled with questions, because Brexit will take place in March 29, called the D-day.
Chapter II: the motion of no confidence
The results left the prime minister fatally wounded and faced with the motion of no confidence presented by Corbyn. Nevertheless, in this occasion the votes helped her: 325 votes in her favour against 306. It’s not a big difference, but she clings on to it to not resign. She overcame the motion because her ultraconservative associates helped her and the opposition (Labour, Liberals, Scottish and Welsh nationalists and the only Green Party representative) want to avoid elections with an unknown result.
The crisis occurs because there’s an already rejected plan and there isn’t an alternative one supported by the great majorities. In the meantime, May leads a weak Tory government of the living dead, and EU demands for a definition become an echo in the void.
A stormy sea, without a beacon nor a lighthouse
After the vote, everyone maintains their positions in public, though possible counteroffers circulate behind the scenes.
May holds on to the limits of her proposal that she calls “red lines”: “control of borders, laws and money; no to the single market and customs union, independence of the UK to sign its own trade deals, no to the extension of the negotiation deadline, no to a second referendum and no to the demand to the British government of ruling out beforehand the possibility of an exit without a deal”. She also negotiates alternatives with different sectors, even with sceptics of the EU inside her own party. She has committed to present a new roadmap next Monday, but no one knows what it’s about.
Corbyn isn’t dialoguing with May, but a part of his representatives are. The leader of the opposition declared: “With the real possibility of a Brexit without a deal, the Prime Minister is willing to maintain fake conversations to let time pass, so she can blackmail the representatives into supporting her phony deal in a second voting, and then threaten the country with the chaos that a hurried Brexit would bring”.
On its side, the EU is conscious that the unity amongst its members is in danger after two years of negotiations with London. The president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, and the president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, have warned about the urgency for the UK to present its plan B, even suggesting the cancellation of Brexit: “if the deal is impossible and no one wants to exit without a deal, who will have the courage of saying which is the only possible solution?”.
There are different approaches in the different countries to what to do, influenced by the economic and political bonds they have with Great Britain. The truth is that the EU is in a deep sea, without a beacon nor a lighthouse. Whatever the final result, the imperialist bloc continues to display its limitations and inconsistencies.
A change of course
Large sections of the working class and the people voted in favour of Brexit, sick of the budget cuts and abuses of the EU. The indispensable exit from the EU must not imply that the cost will be paid by those from below, who have already paid too much inside the bloc. It is absurd to pay reparations or accept impositions for having democratically decided to leave the EU. Not one shillingfor the EU! It’s the troika that is in debt with the working people.
On the other hand, May has exposed her failure and can’t continue in government. She must leave now! Corbyn says that May should step down and there should be an open call to general elections, something that we cannot rule out yet.
However, the crisis, the necessity of a debate and a general decision on which path to take exceeds the voting of a new leader. We must advance to a social, political and economic reorganization where the people debate and decide everything.
Some of the main points to define should be: nationalization of the banks and foreign trade, workers´ control of production and commerce to satisfy popular needs, guarantee of complete democratic freedom and internationalist unity with the workers and people of the world, and in the first place, of Europe.
For the immediate and international tasks, we need a fundamental player: the European working class, mobilized to impose its conditions for the great majorities.
The imperialist bloc is ruled by the troika, conformed by the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. It was created to favour the great powers, the banks and financial entities, to exploit the working class and oppress the people with brutal austerity plans, the end of the welfare state and the loss of social conquests.
We propose a free Federation of European Republics, governed by the workers and the people, with democratic regimes and socialist economies. This position differentiates us from those who believe in the European Union and those who are sceptical of it. Their tactical differences are limited to how to apply efficient measures to sustain capitalism, oppress workers, youth, retirees, immigrants and women.
Unfortunately, the anger of the people against Brussels´ policies are not being capitalised by sectors of the left or centre-left, who abandoned the fight against the EU, the clearest example bing Syriza´s betrayal in Greece. These betryals clear the way for right-wing organizations with reactionary programs. In the end, we need to build anticapitalist, revolutionary and socialist political alternatives.
Manel Lecha
2 https://mst.org.ar/2017/04/03/crisis-en-imperio-britanico-union-europea/