20.12.2001
Europe marches
Working class mobilization greets EU leaders
Two different types of European integration were promoted in Brussels between December 13 and 15. On the one hand, European Union leaders announced moves that could open the way to an EU constitution. On the other, we saw protests organised by the European trade union and anti-capitalist movements.
The December 13 demonstration, called by the European TUC, was certainly inspiring. Called around the slogan à¢â¬ËEurope is usà¢â¬â¢, it attracted well over 100,000 trade unionists from across the continent. Massive delegations attended from France and Belgium itself, smaller ones from Germany, Portugal, Greece and Poland, a candidate member of the EU. The German delegation was not as large as expected, given Germanyà¢â¬â¢s proximity to Belgium. However, the British contingent was embarrassingly small. The size of the Unison delegation - the largest trade union in Europe - was reportedly 10.
The march moved off in carnival atmosphere, despite the bitterly cold weather. Firecrackers and flares were regularly let off and pop music in several different languages added to the general hubbub. The Belgium police were practically invisible, so the demonstration lacked the sort of tension and edginess witnessed on the trade union mobilisation during the anti-capitalist protests in Genoa.
Politically the demonstration was overwhelmingly à¢â¬Ëpro-Europeanà¢â¬â¢. Narrow nationalism was a marginal political force. Belgian trade unionists had green (the colour of their union) euro signs painted on their cheeks. One demonstrator carried an EU flag with a red (instead of blue) background.
The political programme of this à¢â¬ËEuromarchà¢â¬â¢ consists of a list of trade union demands. Despite its narrowness, it was, however, more coherent than the anti-capitalist demonstration on the following day, December 14. Here, the presence of over 20,000 was impressive and was significantly more than the organisers anticipated. There were contingents from just about the entire European left, along with various assorted NGOs.
Globalise Resistance, the Committee for a Workers Internationalà¢â¬â¢s International Socialist Resistance and Workers Powers à¢â¬Ëindependentà¢â¬â¢ youth group, Revolution, were all present. The Stop the War Coalition also featured prominently on December 14, the Socialist Alliance banner having been present the previous day. The radical French grouping, Attac, had a contingent of several hundred that seemingly outnumbered Lutte Ouvrià¨re and LCR put together. As usual the anarchists marched at the rear, the black bloc hanging back to make its presence felt later - after the march had finished, perhaps.
The demonstrators had come together to coincide with the gathering of the European leaders to discuss the further expansion and integration of the EU. The unification of Europe under the hegemony of capital is proceeding at an increasingly rapid pace. January 1 2002 will see the launch of a single currency, the euro, for 13 of the EUà¢â¬â¢s 15 member states (Denmark and Britain are not participating). Potentially, 2002 will also see the significant enlargement of the union. December is the deadline set for the completion of negotiations with 10 candidate countries, mostly former eastern bloc countries. It is planned they will join fully in 2004.
The declaration produced at the end of their meetings laid the basis for the opening of a convention in March 2002 that will be made up of representatives of all institutions and member states that comprise the EU. This convention of worthies will discuss reform to facilitate the planned enlargement. This will set the agenda for the next intergovernmental conference in 2004.
The influx of new member states has raised the spectre of administrative chaos within an already heavily bureaucratised EU. The powers of the EU are currently embodied in the Treaty of Rome itself and the three treaties signed since. A structural rationalisation is, from the point of view of Europeà¢â¬â¢s ruling classes, urgently needed.
Fully uniting Europe is a hard task for the bourgeoisie. A contradiction exists between capital as a global system - transcending national boundaries - and its base, the nation-state. Capitalism is not a virile force in the flush of its youth. Today it stands as a decrepit and decaying social system. The key question, however, is what form the opposition to its plans assumes.
So far, the working class of Europe has not come forward with an independent programme for uniting Europe in our interest. Thus, on the one hand we have the moves towards greater European unity under the hegemony of bourgeoisie. At the same time, we have seen a countervailing political tendency - parochial nationalism. This has already taken concrete form in the shape of the recent rejection of the Nice treaty by votes in Ireland and Denmark against the euro. There is a danger that this backwardness could be exacerbated by capitalà¢â¬â¢s continuing integration of the EU from above, with all the anti-democratic measures that go along with it.
The progressive solution is a working class agenda for European unity. The gathering of our forces in such numbers was an excellent thing, but it also highlighted the glaring programmatic inadequacies of both the left and the trade union movement in Europe.
The chant heard most often on both demonstrations accurately sums up the approach of important sections of the left to the political tasks posed by the coming together of Europe - à¢â¬ÅOne solution: revolutionà¢â¬Â. But without a programme for today the chant can be nothing more than a militant-sounding platitude. Frequently we will hear the call on the left for the anti-capitalist movements and the working class to à¢â¬Ëmergeà¢â¬â¢. But this is not regarded as a programmatic question and presented merely as a matter of each group turning up at the otherà¢â¬â¢s demonstrations.
Both movements need to be won to a programme of extreme democracy that unites Europe under the leadership of our class, not theirs.
James Mallory