communist-party.org.uk Lexit EU EXTRa
unity!
Real power by
Tam moRRison
M
WoRKERs’ RIgHTs? Despite the hoo-ha before the referendum it is now clear that it is more likely that EU exit would simply maintain the status quo. not that this is of much comfort - the UK has one of the most poorly regulated labour markets in the oECD in terms of its laws that protect workers. Even so, melanie onn’s private member’s bill ‘Workers’ Rights (maintenance of EU standards)’ confronts a core issue on the first day of Parliament’s return from its summer recess on 7 september. This calls for rights to be ‘fully and properly’ underpinned, establishing them in UK legislation where this is not the case, although most is already part of UK law.
ass caMpaIgnIng in favour of scottish independence fell short of achieving a majority in the november 2014 referendum, but solid working class areas like glasgow, Dundee, and West Dunbartonshire voted for independence and it laid the basis for sweeping gains by the snp in the subsequent general Election and in the May 2016 scottish parliament elections, mostly at the expense of Labour. The debate in the mass media was unfortunately dominated by process. Communists and their allies argued that the proposed ‘independence’ of the snP would not give the scottish people economic and industrial democracy and that class divisions, not national divisions, determine power structures. most of scotland’s industrial base is controlled outside our borders. The debate now needs to be moved away from the constitutional to bring together class and nation, for national justice in scotland and Wales and class justice across britain. This requires a federal government to address the concentration of wealth and power in the south East of England and redistribute it to the nations and regions - a focus of class unity for progressive policies. national parliaments and regional assemblies require full democratic powers to develop social and public ownership economic democracy. at the same time local government must regain the democratic right to provide services direct and end the blight of out-sourcing and privatisation. all of this is much more feasible once we are outside the EU. in scotland it is now essential that all sections of the labour movement move away from neo-liberal and pro-Trident positions and reject collaboration with those who seek to impose austerity cuts. Labour’s left turn away from the agenda of the corporate elite can win back hundreds of thousands of former supporters lost in scotland as a result of previous right-wing policies. in Wales, too, there has been a shift away from support for Labour government. The perspective set out in the Communist Party’s programme, britain's Road to socialism, is that progressive federalism is the best basis on which to resolve the national question. it combines the need for the scottish and Welsh people to elect legislatures which have the powers and resources to intervene decisively in their countries' economies in the interests of the working people, with the retention of sufficient powers at british level to effect a radical redistribution of wealth within and across britain, thereby enhancing the working class unity built up across the three nations during more than a century of struggle against british statemonopoly capitalism. The need is to win the labour movement in scotland, Wales and England for this position and to champion the demand for progressive federalism. For ireland the Communist Party also reaffirms its view that the only lasting solution to the national question is a united independent ireland free of imperialist control and interference.
GRaham sTEvEnson is ThE CommUnisT PaRTy’s TRaDE Union oRGanisER
Tam moRRison is sCoTTish sECRETaRy oF ThE CommUnisT PaRTy
Left foot forward Trade union members are understandably concerned that workers should not pay the price of Brexit. In this Unity! special we argue that, once outside the stranglehold of the EU, there can be positive gains for civil liberties, rights at work, jobs and a growing economy capable of delivering quality public services.
workers here. The political outlook of Leave voters was equally mixed. oW sHoULD Britain's more than one-third of Labour and exit from the European snP and a majority of Plaid Cymru Union proceed? supporters opted to leave the EU, along on this as well as other fronts, the with a quarter of Greens and almost onelabour movement in britain faces third of LibDems. challenges that will shape the future of Just under half of voters described working people and their families for a either capitalism, globalisation or both as a generation. The starting point must be to recognise force for ill in society, the majority of them voted Leave. in fact, they comprised the character and legitimacy of the vote around one-third of anti-EU voters. on June 23 to leave the EU. as for the validity of the referendum, it was not a mass expression of before June 23 almost all campaigners working class racism. accepted that the result should be according to Lord ashcroft's poll of implemented whichever way it went. 12,369 voters, the most important issue Who would have dared suggest for half of all Leave supporters was UK otherwise? sovereignty. only one-third put control nothing strengthen UKiP's position in over immigration first, although both sovereignty and immigration as well as the Labour's heartlands more than refusing to economy were important to the majority enact the people's decision. not surprisingly, the snP is exploiting of anti-EU voters. the voting differences between England, however ill founded, expressing concern about the impact of immigration Wales and scotland to advance its mirage on local jobs, wages and public services is of independence under the Crown, the bank of England, the EU and naTo. The not a sure-fire indicator of racism. best response is to put forward the nevertheless, just under half of Leave positive case for working class unity, voters also had a negative view of progressive federalism and wealth multiculturalism, with only one quarter redistribution. seeing it as positive. Clearly much work it is also claimed that the result is invalid remains to be done to strengthen the links because it was achieved with lies. but lies between our different communities, and scares were used prolifically on both overcoming ignorance and prejudice. sides, including by Cameron, osborne, at the same time, one-third of black City bankers, the Cbi, the institute of and ethnic minority voters opposed EU membership, including a majority of sikhs Directors, the imF and naTo. The Communist Party and its Lexit and Jews. The Lexit Left Leave allies found that telling the truth about the referendum campaign involved many anti-democratic, pro-big business and indian, bangladeshi, Turkish and Greek
by
RobERT GRiFFiThs
H
racist EU was quite sufficient to counter the propaganda from reactionary quarters on both sides. The overriding need now is to rebuild left and labour movement unity against the Tory government and its austerity and privatisation policies. That must include proposing an alternative agenda for britain's exit from the EU, one which promotes working class and the people's interests. Therefore britain's Communists propose the following positions: H no to membership of the EU 'single market' and TTiP – regulate the movement of capital, commodities and labour in the interests of working people. H Renounce EU Court of Justice rulings protecting the super-exploitation of migrant workers – no more undercutting; equal terms and conditions for all. H Enact any progressive EU social and environmental policies into british law. H Continue funding vital programmes previously supported via the EU. H no more EU budget contributions – invest in public services and housing. H Regain full freedom to cut or abolish vaT. H Guarantee residence for EU citizens currently living in britain. H Uphold the human Rights act and the European Convention on human Rights. H Reverse the racist anti-immigration rules imposed on non-Europeans as part of the EU 'Fortress Europe' policy. H Withdraw from the EU Common Foreign and Defence Policy and its aggressive alliance with naTo.
a trade union agenda on Europe by
GRaham sTEvEnson
I
nsTEaD of turning in on ourselves, the labour and trade union movement now needs to consider what parliamentary committees are required to scrutinise sensitive treaty and complex trade negotiations, and how unions can be conjoined with parliamentarians to plan a massive expansion of trading in both goods and services. pRoDUcTIVITY anD TRaDE The gap between UK output per hour is worse than it has been for a quarter of a century, at 18 points below the average for the remaining six members of the G7. net capital stock per hour worked began dropping here from 3 per cent annual growth in 2009, going into the
negative in 2011 and it’s only just picked up. Whilst 36 non-EU countries have seen faster export growth than the UK has had in the single market. no-one knows how much of the EU import-export share under World Trade organisation rules belongs to the UK. after we lost our seat there in 2009, manufacturing took a big hit. but we do not have to reapply to join, being one of the original founding members, and can ask the several dozen countries that have a trade agreement with the EU to extend that to the UK. in many cases, this will not be difficult, some are Crown Territories, many, like south africa, have long-standing ties with britain. Ten powerful economic states including india, China, Japan australia and Canada have already committed informally to forming strong trade deals with the United Kingdom.
IT’s Bananas The two biggest producers of bananas on the globe are india and China, yet most banana imports to the European Union are from Latin america or West africa, due to the Cotonou agreement which expires in 2020. The former empires set up this deal with 78 developing states, most of which are unhappy about the deals on offer and increasingly look to the so-called ‘outreach 5’ major states - China, india, brazil, mexico and south africa. Could britain, under a Labour government with an anti-imperialist foreign policy and a message of fair trade with all, not now forge a new relationship with the globe? a big task for the current mere 40 trade negotiators britain has, compared with the European Union’s 600 strong department.
The Labour movement must develop its own economic strategy by John FosTER
I
The Morning Star is the world’s only English language socialist daily paper and it celebrates its 50th birthday this year. it was founded in 1930 as the Daily Worker to be the organ of the central committee of the Communist Party and in 1948 became a co-operative, the People’s Press Printing sociey. it is run by an elected management committee which currently has ten national trade unions in membership. The paper provides day to day coverage of the fight for workplace rights, equal rights and the struggle against austerity. Until his election as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was a weekly columnist. Leading figures in the labour and trade
union movement and progressives and peace activists write regularly in the paper. There is a vibrant arts page and the paper’s sports coverage, especially football (including womens’ football), boxing and racing is renowned. The paper’s online edition is proving very popular with busy trade union activists who want and need reliable and informed labour movement news. a top flight team from the famed Danish Robotnik design agency is working on a web redesign. The Morning Star is on sale at all Co-op stores, Rs mcColls and can be ordered at your local newsagent. Look out for it at major trade union events and local and national demonstrations.
Buy and read the Morning Star £1 weekdays, £1.20 weekends from your newsagent
www.morningstaronline.co.uk Communist Review Theoretical and discussion journal of the Communist Party number 80 • summer 2016 Distortions of the spanish civil War Ken Fuller state monopoly capitalism part 3 Gretchen binus, beate Landefeld and andreas Wehr space, time and dialectics martin Levy Discussion: Intermationalism Lars Ulrik Thomsen Islam as a religion Jimmy Jancovich
n an aRTIcLE published in august the former governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, castigated both sides in the referendum debate for exaggerating the economic consequences of leaving the EU: ‘in truth,’ he said, ‘the economic consequences are much more evenly balanced’. What he did not add is that for working people these consequences, good or bad, will depend on how britain leaves the EU. The challenge for the Labour movement is to ensure that the new freedoms are used to our benefit. Theresa may will do all she can to prevent this. on behalf of the City of London and big business she will seek to maintain all existing neo-liberal constraints through membership of the European single market. Just like the EU itself, the single market bans public ownership, state aid to industry, public control over procurement and direct labour through local government. it also requires full compliance with EU Court of Justice decisions which have hamstrung trade union freedom to take action against the super-exploitation of migrant workers. in addition, mrs may will seek
membership of the European Economic area and the EU Customs Union - further hamstringing progressive policy by subjecting us to CETa and, if ratified, TTiP. it is only outside the single market and the European Economic area that real opportunities for progressive economic transformation – strategies for public sector intervention that can rescue manufacturing, rebalance the economy and curb the baneful influence of City of London. This external financial control remains the biggest single threat to our economy. investment banks are now the dominant shareholders in every major company. by demanding maximum dividends at the expense of new investment they are strangling our productive economy. an example would be the Wood Group, the giant contractor dominating the north sea oil sector, currently trying to sack hundreds of its employees. Last month, in order to satisfy its big shareholders, it announced that it was increasing its dividend payment by 10 per cent despite its earnings falling by 20 per cent. in the same month bP actually borrowed money to maintain its dividend. This is happening everywhere. big shareholders benefit. Workers suffer. and our productive economy is crippled. That is why a pro-active economic
strategy is so urgently needed. its key elements are only possible outside the European single market. H Restoring public ownership of energy, transport and communications to ensure that profits go into restoring our country’s crippled infrastructure – not the pockets of bankers. H Creating a state investment bank that can use the current very low interest rates to buy controlling shares in strategic companies to combat ‘shareholder value’ rip-offs and to invest in technology and the workforce. H Using the tools of state-aid to industry and procurement to develop strategic industrial concentrations regionally, drawing on the R&D capacity of refunded Universities, and democratically run through local government H Using government statutory powers to enforce employer obligations to invest in training and to end exploitative zero hours contracts. a trained and stable workforce is the essential base for any productivity increase. all this is possible. but not within the single market or without active mobilisation by the trade union movement to secure it. John FosTER is ThE CommUnisT PaRTy’s inTERnaTionaL sECRETaRy
EU migration double standards by
haRsEv bains
a
s paRT of the general election campaign in october 1974, the Labour party promised a referendum to decide whether Britain should remain in the then European Economic community (EEc) or quit. in the 1975 referendum, 67 per cent of voters favoured staying in the EEC; the indian Workers’ association (Great britain) — iWa(Gb) — was among the 33 per cent opposing continuing membership. The Wilson government promised much in terms of works councils and an increase in workers’ participation in the affairs of industry. instead, what we had was increased bureaucracy, the destruction of manufacturing, the migration of finance to cheaper labour markets in Europe and a disconnected system of overpaid non-accountable European mEPs and bureaucrats. secret trade deals like the Transatlantic Trade and investment Partnership (TTiP) and that between the EU and india, are all aimed at the continued exploitation of developing countries still further.
in response, the iWa(Gb) has been stepping up its campaigning, alongside other left and progressive forces, against the neoliberal agenda of globalisation and associated austerity. David Cameron’s EU renegotiations in February this year, aimed at creating the conditions for a ‘Remain’ victory in the referendum campaign, were a contemptible demonstration of racism and xenophobia. The proposals for imposing a work qualification period of up to four years for in-work benefits for migrants from Europe resonated with migrant workers in britain as a very real threat. When the iWa(Gb) carefully examined the results of 43 years of EU membership, it became clear that there has been a growing contradiction between the promises of frequent renegotiations in the interests of working people and the actual delivery. The expected paradigm of a Europe with free movement for people permanently settled in britain, including those who have a non-EU passport, has been denied. People from india, for example, still require one schengen visa for Europe and a separate one for britain. Within the EU, asian communities have
experienced the worst of all worlds as result of britain’s alignment with the EU’s ‘Fortress Europe’ approach. The indian Workers’ association (Great britain) continues to lobby against the discriminatory, unethical immigration legislation applicable to non-EU residents that divides poor families and denies them the basic human right to live together in britain. Together with our allies in Lexit, we are not against the people of Europe or people in any other part of the world. We want to be friends and trading partners with all peoples of the world, whatever their race, religion or nationality. in his editorial in People’s Democracy 29 June, Prakash Karat, former general secretary of the Communist Party of india (marxist), said that ‘The struggle against racism and xenophobia of the far-right can only be countered by putting forward such a left programme and mobilising people around it. What has to be underlined is that the struggle for an alternative agenda can be advanced now that the EU shackles have been removed.’ haRsEv bains is GEnERaL sECRETaRy oF ThE inDian WoRKERs assoCiaTion (Gb)
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The Empire and Ukraine the Ukraine crisis in its context stop the War Coalition chair andrew murray analyses the role of Us and EU imperialism in this European conflict. £11.95 (+£1.50 p&p) 138 pages