George Kerevan: The left must now act in solidarity against the rise of the populist right

True, there have been counter-examples with serious anti-austerity movements attracting support in Greece and Spain, not to mention the electoral success of the SNP and the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the UK Labour Party. But it is hard not to conclude that, to date, the worst crisis of the Western capitalist economic model since the 1930s has radicalised and emboldened the far right rather than the left. Why? And what does this portend?

Of course, there have been powerful social protest movements unleashed by the banking crisis. But none have had staying power or managed to generate a serious alternative vision to the prevailing free market, debt-fuelled growth orthodoxy that created the financial meltdown in the first place. For instance, the Occupy movement sprang to life in New York in late 2011 (as a protest against Wall Street) and within 12 months had been copied in 82 countries. But lacking a ready alternative to international finance capitalism, it quickly fizzled out.

A more serious threat to the existing European establishment came with the election of the anti-austerity Syriza government in Greece in January of this year. Suddenly it appeared the popular worm had turned against the crude fiscal straitjacket being imposed on most of continental Europe by the German Bundesbank. Yet within months, the right-wing of Syriza led by Alexis Tsipras had bowed to the diktats of Frankfurt. Syriza split but its anti-austerity wing was annihilated in the subsequent Greek general election. The mass of the Greek population have subsided into apathy – barely half bothered to vote in September.

A similar retreat has occurred in France. In 2012, the French Socialist Party won the presidential election, with François Hollande defeating Nicolas Sarkozy on an unabashed anti-austerity programme. But after a few months of empty rhetoric, Hollande got down to the serious business of slashing public spending and “reforming” French labour laws to make the economy “more competitive” – the classic neo-liberal prescription.

French capitalism was once the economic equal of Germany. But in the past decade German economic growth has outstripped that of France. This is not the result of poor French productivity, which remains roughly equivalent to Germany’s, and far higher than in the UK. Rather, the French have chosen traditionally to use their economic efficiency to fund more extensive social and health benefits for all. This model conflicts with the need of French capitalism to cut wage costs to boost profitability, which remains significantly below the Eurozone average. However, Hollande’s tack to the right has demoralised the left and facilitated the rise of the National Front.

The Front is a classic instance of right-wing populism. In other words, it affects to oppose the catastrophic outcomes of capitalism – yet does so by blaming the cause not on an unjust economic system but on various scapegoats, such as immigrants, Muslims and foreigners. Populists draw on support from those domestic groups most vulnerable to (and therefore the most frightened by) economic crisis. But populist demagogues offer no real solutions because ultimately they always side with the economic establishment.

THE French National Front advocates quitting the European Union and re-introducing the Franc as currency, in order to protect local workers and manufacturers from an influx of cheap foreign goods, particularly from neighbouring Spain and Germany. The Front also wants to lower the age of retirement in France to 60, to reduce unemployment. Above all, it relentlessly blames Muslim immigrants for France’s ills and wants an end to the Schengen Agreement and reinstate border checks.

In many ways, the outcome of yesterday’s regional elections in France are immaterial to the rise of the National Font, which has been leading in the polls for some time, ahead of Sarkozy’s UMP with the Socialists a poor third. To the extent that the UMP and Socialists cooperate successfully to thwart the National Front gaining control of particular regions, the more Marine Le Pen can present herself as the only non-establishment candidate in the upcoming 2017 presidential election. François Hollande is already toast, even if his polls ratings have improved since the Paris shootings. To his left, matters are worse: the Front Gauche led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon has split over giving support to the state of emergency introduced by Hollande.

The lesson here is that politics abhors a vacuum. Unfortunately, the international left has offered nothing to fill it. The economic crisis has reduced living standards and increased unemployment everywhere. Even in the US and UK, where the ruling financial circles printed money on a vast scale (aka Quantitative Easing) to keep their economies afloat, most folk feel in their bones that the capitalist Titanic is holed below the waterline. If the US central bank raises interest rates this week, as the markets expect, the UK will have to follow suit. Expect growth to slow in the next few years, exposing the underlying fragility of the post-Credit Crunch economy. This will be a happy hunting ground for the populists.

What to do? One lesson from the above is that individual anti-austerity movements have been allowed to rise and fall with a fatal lack of international solidarity. So it is vital that the new anti-austerity coalition government in Portugal is supported. Again, rather than confuse all Americans with the odious Donald Trump, European trades unionists should be making common cause with their US counterparts to oppose the investor-state dispute causes in the TTIP trade negotiations, which are a threat to jobs on both sides of the Atlantic. I might add that the Corbyn leadership group in the Labour Party will gain nothing from attacking the anti-austerity SNP Government in Scotland – such nonsense only aids the Tories.

Next, it is important that a global anti-austerity movement combats the siren calls of populist demagogy by using the new openings for mass communication afforded by social media. The Scottish independence referendum was a textbook example of how grassroots mobilisation and education using social media can defeat the establishment press and right-wing ideas. This is more than a debate about using Facebook, of course. It is about how to open up resistance to new movements and social forces. In this, the traditional left has been lacking in imagination, especially in France.

Thirdly, it is vital that the international left produces a critique and working alternative to the current EU and Eurozone arrangements. It is correct to campaign to stay in the EU, as the alternative only plays into the hands of the populists and far right. But the left and the trades unions need their own model of how to reform EU and Eurozone institutions. Why can’t the STUC set the ball rolling by calling a European Convention to debate the need for a People’s Europe?