Prominent left-wing figures are touring the country arguing against the government's chaotic Brexit plans. Trade union leader Manuel Cortes explains why.
The wheels are definitely coming off the Tory Brexit chariot.
Panic-stricken Cabinet Brexiters have blocked May’s weekly parade of no-deal Armageddon warnings.
Here’s the thing: the public have already turned against Brexit. And the minority in favour a no-deal solution is shrinking. Not even Theresa May or most of her Cabinet, or the overwhelming majority of those sitting in both Houses of Parliament – never mind the public – want it.
Yet, our PM’s Brexit jailers bar her from imposing her will. Kamikaze Brexit looms large because of May’s political ineptitude and her lack of courage. That’s why The Left Against Brexit tour of our country could not have come at a better time.
In a series of what are turning out to be mass rallies, we are reasserting the left case against Brexit.
We don’t have a single illusion in the European Union as a socialist utopia – it’s far from it.
But there is no paradise of milk and honey awaiting us the other side of the EU departure gate either.
Should Britain leave the EU club on March 30, 2019 it will still continue to be a capitalist country within a neoliberal world. Dealing with that reality will soon bring those still convinced of their Lexit hallucinogenic trip to socialism, crashing and burning to the ground.
After Brexit, only party in town will then be thrown by the unholy trinity of Nigel Farage, Steve Bannon and Michael Gove.
They will be popping the champagne corks, welcoming their quest to recalibrate Britain as deregulated tax haven on European shores, as it draws a step closer.
The Lexit trip is more than just a fool’s errand, It’s a betrayal of our working class.
As our economy suffers a deep Brexit shock, it will be ordinary people who will once again foot the bill with austerity policies deeper than anything we have yet seen.
No doubt, Liam Fox will at some point return euphoric from securing a trade deal with Donald Trump which opens up our NHS for root and branch privatisation.
And the nasty rhetoric against migrants which was at the heart of the referendum will not abate.
Britain after Brexit will become a more racist more divided nation. Lexit paradise lost in a neo-liberal dystopia.
But it doesn’t need to be this way. Brexit is a project of the right. Its deep xenophobia is a case in point. That’s why as socialists and internationalists we are coming together, as the left and shouting, “Not in our name,” to Brexit.
We were part of the 48%. And we get that class struggle means what it says. Which is why we are struggling against this Tory, anti-working class Brexit. We have no truck with the racism of Farage and Bannon. Brexit is designed for the sole benefit of the rich – there is nothing in it for working people.
Jeremy Corbyn gave the EU 7.5 out of 10 during the referendum – a bit generous me thinks – but he did recognise the EU as a safer haven for workers with better better protection of their human and union rights than anything deregulating Brexit has in store for us. What Tory Brexit confronts us with now, gets a clear minus 10 from me.
In or out of the EU, we will remain a capitalist country within a neoliberal world.
Let’s face it, we took part in a bourgeois referendum not a revolution. And its result has empowered the most reactionary segment of our capitalist class who see Brexit as an opportunity to further smash organised labour and the civilising values of what’s left of our welfare state.
Socialists shouldn’t take sides in arguments between our ruling elites. But because the outcome of this fight affects the fate of ordinary people, we must have our own demands. Just like the battle between feudalism and capitalism or between bourgeois democracy and absolutism, it would be disastrous if socialists didn’t have a view. We simply can’t be bystanders or, worse still, accomplices to an Etonian faction trying to impose its will on our people.
If we don’t now engage in class struggle to stop Brexit, victory belongs with Farage, Bannon and Gove.
It will mean further deregulation, even greater tax cuts for the rich, attacks on our welfare state, opening up our NHS to root and branch privatisation and a very nasty, hostile environment for migrants.
No socialist phoenix will rise from Brexit ashes. That’s why Brexit appeasement is not an option. Instead, we must argue passionately for a Peoples’ Europe.
The 2017 Corbyn Manifesto For The Many lit a fire under the hopes of ordinary people across our continent. Like us, they too are clamouring for change.
European socialist and social democratic parties now look to us for inspiration – it’s really not the time to abandon the EU ship. Let’s have a popular vote on the deal and maintain our joint international struggle with our continental sisters and brothers to build a Europe For The Many!
Manuel Cortes is General Secretary of the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association.
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