Growing contradiction between North American and north European capitalism

In France we see the relative success of a broad left of sorts accompanied by the entry into the assembly of far-right formations alongside a fracturing of the traditional right.

One sign of the breakdown of traditional alignments is the growth of anti-Nato, anti-EU movements that include — and in some cases are driven by — right-wing nationalist forces. There have been repeated mass demonstrations in Paris, Madrid, Prague and increasingly in German cities.

This new phenomenon expresses the growing contradiction between North American and north European capitalism, with the US keen to prevent the growth of an economic and political rival and willing to fracture political alignments (as well as pipelines) to achieve this.

Astounding is the extent to which all those in Britain most invested in the EU as the expression of common European interests are resistant to an understanding that part of the US strategy is to constrain a potential challenge to US global dominance.

In Europe little remains of traditional social democracy or its myths. In Greece whole multi-generational families exist on the meagre pensions that are the remains of Pasok’s promise.

In Spain a nominally socialist government is sustained by left-wing and Communist Party ministers who can do little beyond modify the most exploitative of labour market mechanisms.

In Portugal the Socialist Party maintained themselves in government with the toleration of the Communist Party and a scattering of other left-wing forces before dispensing with both the policies imposed by their dependence on these unlikely allies and the allies themselves.

In Britain Corbyn’s vast army is scattered and lacks organisation and focus.

In France the Socialist Party is little more than a rump, while the new alliance in which it is subsumed is still uncertain which direction to take.

This is not to denigrate any of the initiatives which these forces have adopted and which, at every stage and given the balance of forces, seemed sensible strategies.

Rather the question is — what should be the theoretical and practical basis of socialist advance in the next period?

In Italy, in circles where one might expect a reasoned discussion about the defeat of the electoral centre left and the almost complete marginalisation of the actual left, we find Il Manifesto arguing that “rediscovering and relaunching the ‘common good’ should become the symbol of an overall strategy, careful not to take the definitive shape of the long opposition to come, but already able to prefigure a different social model, an alternative to both the rightwingers and to a reformism driven by necessity.”

What is notable here is first the pessimism, with no sense that Italy’s fractious right-wing alliance is unlikely to be any more stable than any other Italian government, and secondly the lack of any sense that a radical break with capitalism or even EU orthodoxy is necessary or possible.

The missing element in this discussion is any meaningful attempt to grapple with the stranglehold the EU has over Italian economic decision-making or the fact that the right is a powerful challenge to the left in many working-class areas.

Preceding

Additional reading

+++

Published by Guestspeaker

A joint effort of several authors who do find that nobody can keep standing at the side and that “Everyone" must care about what is going on in today’s world. We are a bunch of people who do not mind that somebody has a totally different idea but is willing to share the ideas with others and to be Active and willing to let others understand how "today’s decisions will influence the future”. Therefore we would love to see many others to "Act today". View more posts