Side it politicaly vital for the est cupitalist power, the United to rebuild its future competin Europe and Jupun agrinst the of communisnt, and in doing rengthen the capitalist system as This was the era of the tall plan, by which the United tes pumped vast resources into the bling Western European ссопоWith the recovery of European talism in the carly stages of the #boom , longer term solutions to be found. No European capalone was strong enough to play aficant role in the defence of imperialist system.
This & why the United States orted the creation not only of ary defence pacts like the North Sic Treaty Organisation (NATO)
the South East Avia Treaty Station (SEATO), but also the sopcan Economic Community LEEC) ot Common Market.
In was by this system of military lical and economic alliances that lua on a world scale sought uin communism Thus the on Market was not just the se of the European capitalist s to increased inter imperialist tion and the onslaugat of can capital, but a necessary ement to the US in hening the imperialist system ************* 1*************** merged victorious from the Second World War had important repercussFor a time the imminent polial break-up of the Britisl Empire, ich began in carnest in 1948 with an independence, was papered The attitude that the British e cliss fook wis that so jong is Empire existed, Europe itself was L ol decisive importince, and, anyay, why finance the reconstruction of your potential Eurogean rivals ?
Britain had escaped the worst aages of physical destruction and caranon durme une wat. So deste its probiems, British capitalism appeated strong But this temporiry supersority of British capital in relation to its European allies and the defcated Axis powers in the imediate ast-war period was based on an areliic, declining industrial structure which would eventually be exposed as grossly uncompetitive.
***************** **************** Ai soon is Europcan and Japanose capital rebuilt and became competitise. The underlying wesknesses of British capital came to the lore. The 20 January 1975 Pace 6 "Get Britain Our campaign-the chauvinist body whose supporters include both Enoch Powell and the Communist Party.
Labour, in Wilson's words, were to put the "white heat of the technolo gical revolution' through Britisk industry. This coincided with the "turn" towards the EEC.
The British ruling class needed the Common Market not simply as a larger market for its produce. Britist capital itselt could only survive as part of the general integration and interpenctration of European capital against the American multinationals.
For a time the post-war boom had submerged the relative strengchs of European and American capitals. In hat was essentially a sellers markel competition was never very pronounced. Now, in the early 1960's it began to re-emerge.
In this situation British cupilal realised that the appearance of "European" fems capable of reaching the size of the American corporations. through the interpenctration of capital in the Common Market countries, would ultimately squeeze Britain out of an independent place in the world market. two giants of the European photographic industry, Gevaert of Belgiuma and Agfa of Western Germany. or the steel combine made up between Hoogovens ljmuiden of Holland, Dortmund Horder Hutten Union and Hoesch of West Germany, were examples of the European integration of capital without any particular nation predominating.
There was no possibility of undersized British industry being able to cut out an independent hield of activiThe fact that the British ruling class Ly in the United States or the so-called "Thind World', which were both dominated by the giant American corporations. Britain was thus forced to The Tory architects of Britain's entry in 1972 apply the old maxim - I you can t beat them. join them"
This was made absolutely clear in a pamphle, publisted by the bosses anion. the Confederation of Britst Industry, prior to Britan's entry:
"Hany large firms have, reached -the point et whish further national restructuring is impossible because of the present scale of the enterprise in relation to the market...Jf Western Europe is lo compete effectively in world markets, rostructuring on u sufficient and European basis is essential. Only in this way can it create LS OTHE DUITE EB SESEE-EEsary to meet world competition. (Britsin into Europe, pp 13-14), ***************** Why does the Fourth International oppose the EEC ?Surely the Common Market is a progressive development because it helps The merger of the break down national boundaries ?
Although the role of capitalism in the creation of an increasingly internationa. economie system was once progressive in a historical sense, in a world division of labour which enormously creased the productive potential nf the world's resources, thus laying the matertal foundations of socialism, this does not make the Common Market itself a progressive developmen?. revolutionary marxists in Gelermining their attitude to the Common Market le the roi the EEC plays in the clees tireggle.
is a national stale or ar international body with supra-national pretensions like Lhe FEC; is neutral in Ine class ****************:
that it produced a world market. and The sturtine point of No political institution, wether il sury pickets strugele. Jast as the British state puts its weighe penind the capitalest ciss wether through hand-outs to big tesiness or the ja ling of the Shrewso the EEC is an instramnent of the capitalist class. It is prt and parcel of the tendency luwands the imposition of a 'strong state on a Europcan scase I not only strengthens imperial ism as a whole hul, by encouaging the Iree tow of capital and Dexihdiy of cheap labour, it simu tabeo us.) strengthens the capitalist class of each member country in relation to its own working class The Treaty of Rome by which the EEC was foanded allows for the ust of the arnies of the memper scates against the working class in any ane country: it serves as a cover up for the concentration of power in the hands of the capitalst class behine the cacks of the Eurogean working class. Alave ail, alongside NATO the EEC constitutes the European component in a system of global allances by which the imperialist powers atlempt to protect themsclve
against the spread of world revolution.
Plus is why the Fourth International opposes the Comnion Market. Even though the EEC lacks the necessary state power to satisfactorily im implement the tasks set it by the European ruling class, anything which weakens it tilts the relation of class forces in favour of the working class on both an internatical and national level, It is for this reason that be calling for a vote against British membership in the forthcoming ref***************** How will your opposition differ from that of the Labour left and the Communist Party? ***************** Although in common with the Labour left and the Communist Party we call for a vote against British membership, our reasons for doing so are very different. We oppose the FEC as an embryonic attempt by the European ruling class to centralise its attacks on the working class and impose a capitalist solution to the present cconomic and social crisis.
Unlike the chauvinists of the Labour left and the CP, who look at the EEC in terms of its effects on the British people", the IMG does not believe that the British working class is beller off heing exploited by its "own capitalists as opposed to for sign European capitalists. These arguments only suggest that the working class has more in common with its domestic oppressors than with the oppressed classes of the other Common Market countries. The ruling class will attempt to exploit this in its fight for a strong state solation to the crisis in order to drive a wedge between the British working class and its potential European allies.
In any campaigo against the EEC in which we are involved in common activity with the Labour left and CP we will struggle rainst al such nationalist and chauvinist positions, and for opposition not just to British membership but to the EtC asan institution.
Rather than allow such a campaign to be defeated on the very basis of its chauvinism, as was the case with the in the eurly 1950g, we must extend oppostion to British membership into a genuine struggle to coate intercutSonal faks with the tropean workers movement, k-ing the basis Schmidt of Germany (left) and Giscard d'Estaing of France.
Jor the future United Socialist States of Enrope.
The present chauvinism of the Labour left allows the right wing of the Labour Party to pose as the real internationalists. however, that it is only through the joint activity of the European working class that a European federation of workers' states will be built. The strengthening of an international capitalist institution like the EEC can only set back such a development.
***************** Why not launch a campaign for a United Socialist States of Europe in opposition to the campaign of the Labour left and the CP against membership of the EEC ? the International Marxist Group will $***************:
Some socialists see the Common Market as simply an institution of European capital in its competition with American Imperialisnt. argue that since we don't take sides in inter-imperialist rivalry, we should abstain in any referendum.
This position is wrong in two crucial respects. Firstly, as we have explained above, the EEC is not simply a weapon of European capitalists against their American counterparts, it is above all an institution of imperialism on a world scale.
The most important objection, however, is that to fight for a United Socialist States of Europe in the abstract leaves any campaign gainst the Common Market in the hands of the chauvinists. The job of revolutionaries is to intervene lo transform the actual struggle against British membership into a light against the EEC itself, and in this way lay the basis for a real campaign for a United Soc ialist States of Europe.
****************:
What about Enoch Powell and the /ational Front Won't they benefit from a campaign against British membership of the EEC?
***************** Of course the EEC provides an excellent opportunity for Powell and the National Frunt to make up for the defeats they suffered at the hands of anti-fascist forces last summer. Tney will seck to develop their impLantation in the working class on the sace fertile groundswell of national chauvinism which they have been attempting to exploit in the case of IreThe fact that the extreme right has campaign agains! German rearmament much to gain from a campaign against British meibership of the EEC is no reason for revolutionaries to abstant on the issue. Quite the reverse! There is al the more reason lo fight which they can feed. Revolutionaries must carry the anti-fascist campaiga into the Common Muriet debate, and fight as before to deny them a platform It is our task to prevent Powell and the fascist scum from building We must be clear, platform as the trade anion burcauCommon Market Nothing could better suit the purposes of the extrome right than to be able to hide their anti-working class politics behind a veil of anti-monopolist rhetoric in a peoples front with members of the Labour movement.
for a united front of workers organisations against the EBC, and for the the campaign - particularly Powell and the National Front They ket issue to fuel his anti-working class campaign he working in every area to form local committees of trade unionists, Lahour Party members and all soc talist organisations against the EEC.
to be made binding on the Labour pscudo-internationalist solutions of made to build internalional links ing class and develop solidarity with alternative to the Common Market.
Local commitrees should also EEC, and link the struggle againsi and develop Inks with the Soviet Union and the other bureaucratised with COMECON (the "Soviet bloc trading organisation) as an alternative to che crisis-ridden imperialist pect.
the extreme right and transtorm the anti-EEC campaign into a real seragainst tte chauvimst positions trom ing months.
Cent discussion. the Labour right wingtheir support by speaking on the same crats and Labour MPs opposed to the Quixote In opposition to this we must fight exclusion of all capitalist forces from January! not be trasted.
Enoch Powell-aims to use Common Mar***************** How do we fight the ***************** What does all this mean in practice? It means that militants should These bodies should build local gonferences, organise in the factories, and campaign for the policy of the special Labour Party conference on the EEC The central political axis of the anti-EBC campaign must he to conterpose an international working class solution of the capitalist crisis to the ist bureaucracy.
the ruling class. Attempts shonid be with the rest of the Europcan workstruggles aguinst particular multi-natjonal firms. A Congress of European Labour should be culled to decide an fight for an emergency TUC Congress Lo be convened on the question of the British membership of the BEC with the fight to ger Britain our of NATO workers states. The call of the Tribuse Group of the Labour Parly (Thbase, 24 January) for increased trace Parted the EDC plan.
world should be laken up in this res The fight to exclude all forces of capilate movement will be a contrai task of socialist milltants in the comMany lessons for the current debate in the Labour Party over th Common Market can be learned from the debates which took place in the 1950s over German re-armament. JAMES DUCK WORTH looks at that period and the implications for the presOriginality has never been one of the virtues of the Labour left. Faced with the crucial question of the Common Market, Benn and Foot and their Tribunite cohorts have based their opposition on the same old combination of pelty nationalism and chauvinistic clap-trap.
As the debate over EEC membership hots up, the last of the Little Englanders will find them selves driven into a corner for their lack of internationalism by none other than the pro-marketeers of For all Henn's talk about loss of national sorcreignty the right understands much better that continued membership of the Common Market is u matter of life and death for British capitalism - and indeed for the ailing institutions of parlia mentary democracy which Henn champions itke a latter day Don As Roy Hattersley, the right-wine Minister of State at the Foreign Office, put it recently: "To turn our back on the EEC, and pursue a Vio torian chimera, might turn out to be the right to have the lowest growth tate in Western Europe and the freedom to have a Gross Dumestic Prouuct which averages per head of pop aboat half that of the Federal German Republic" (Financial Times,?
There's nothing new in this strange line-up, in which the left seeks to outdo the right by the amsunt of red, white and blue that it waves. During the big debates on German rearmament in 1954, the left and the Communist Party opp osed it purely on the chauvinistic grounds that Germany had twice waged war against Britain and could The whole coverage of Tribune, paper of the Labour left, was pres ented in these terens, and great play was made of the justifiable fears of France, occupied three times in eighty year by the German army. "In 1945, screamed the drum beating "Tribune' of 22 January 1954, "Frenchmen, alongside British, Americans and Russians, stood in the ruins of Berlin. They swore that never again would the Germans be allowed to menace Europe.
Just as it is doing today with the Common Market, the Labour lett failed to see that German rearmam ent was a fundamental cloer question. Behind the policy of American cold-war warrior John Foster Dulles, backed by Tory Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden, lay the imperialists" need to rearm the German capitalists against the porential threat of revolution posed by the very exis tence of the Soviet Union-despite its sufincating domination hy the StalinThus. in 1954, under cover of the so-called Huropean Defence Community (EDC) - forerunner of NATO Dulles and Eden were quite willing to give the right-wing Chanceller of West Gernany, Dr Adenauer (who had four ex-Nazis in his cafuner and made no secret of his desire to re-unite Germary by any means necessary), an army of half a million nico.
NAZI WEHRMACHT Despite the fact that the German TLC denounced Adenater's propos ols as inevituhly meaning " the restoration to personal power and authority of the old officers and N.C.Os of the Nazi Wehrmacht- and were to vote against then. by 391 to 4 in October 1954 - the Labour right suppBy the middle of 1954, under the leadership of Herbert Morrison, they has begun a remarkable campoten to win support for Gerian rearmament.
No less than 34 secret regional conferences using 17 different speakers were held. A special pampilet, la Defence of Europe, was issued Tribune's reply, It Need Not Happen, was written by Aneurin Bevan, Barbara Castle, Richard Crossman, Tom Driberg, Jan Mikardo - and Harold Wilson.
Despite this galaxy of left social democratic talent, the Tribute campaign, backed to the hilt by the Communist Party's paper, the Daily Worker, failed to crawl out of the gutters of charinism and even racism. Tribane peinted a cartoon which showed Dulles presenting a machine gun to a porilla dressed in German uniform. INTERNATIONALIST This lack of a clars undersranding, an internationalist understand ing, meant the Labour left could pose nu real alternative to German rearmament. Only the Trotskyist Socialis: Ourlook (proscribed by the Lahour leadership in 1954) had a socialist position: no arms for the German capitalists, arms for the Gernan workers.
As a result Morrison was able to TO make hay out of the Labour left's chausinism. At a private Labour Party Conference in July 1954, he branded his opponents as the antiGerman school of thought". ly the September Conference of the Labour Party the left.- defeated as much by its own chauvinism as the campaign of the right - Jost the vote when the Woodworkees Uman delegation scabbed on union policy and voted for rearmament.
LESSONS FOR TODAY The debacle of the Labour Left and the Communist Party over German rearmament carries vital lessons for the fight against the Commen Marker today. The BEC must be opposed on a ciass busit: it is designed not simply to strengthen European capicalism in relation lo LL.S. capital, but to play a fital role for worid imperialism as a whole by creating an integrated European capital in which each individual ruling chess will simultaneousiy be strengthened in relation to its own working class Thus the cellapse of the Common Market would considerably weaken world imperialism, and it is on this basis alone that socialists campaign for Brilain's withdrawai.
So long as the Labour lefts and the Communist Party lead the workers movement up the dead end alley of defending national sovereignty and parliamentary rule the fight against the Common Market will be an inglotious failure And not only that: by raising the whinwinds of nationalism and chauvinism inside the working class the Labour lefts and CP will bring down the rool over their own heads - for it is Powell and the extreme right who will benefit eventually trom such rouetionary curents.
Red Weakiy 30JBnuery 1975 Page
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Why didn't Britain join in 1954 at the time of the signing of the Treaty of Rome ?
What led the British ruling-class to change its mind ?
ON T he EEC hots : Kennedy / socialist pos-