“No 2 EU” is not an adequate platform

Submitted by Anon on 13 March, 2009 - 8:14 Author: Colin Foster

“Trade Unionists Against the EU Constitution” is planning to run lists in the 4 June election for the European Parliament, and on 4 March won the support of the Executive of the rail union RMT for that.


• More: www.workersliberty.org/no2eu
Should socialists like AWL who believe that New Labour has stifled working-class political representation, and who argue for unions to back independent working-class challenges in elections, back this initiative?

Not on present lines. Politically, the lists do not even pretend to speak up for the working class against the capitalist class. They confine themselves to anti-EUism. Organisationally, they look like not a genuinely union-based enterprise, but a venture by the raddled old Communist Party of Britain and Morning Star, and groups which they influence, for which they have managed to win some backing from the RMT leadership.

Genuinely union-based? This is an initiative from the RMT, perhaps the most militant and politically active union in Britain...

It was not initiated by RMT. A circular letter to Trades Council secretaries from “Trade Unionists Against the EU Constitution” dated 24 February announced it as a cut-and-dried decision, complete with ballot-paper description, “No2EU, Yes to Democracy” and political platform. The RMT Executive did not back it until later (4 March).

Speaking up for the working class? The platform may not be perfect, but surely it takes up key issues like jobs, privatisation, the banks, the anti-union laws...

No. The platform opposes “EU directives that privatise our public services”, but says nothing about the made-in-Britain privatisation of rail and Royal Mail, or the made-in-Britain creeping privatisation of the NHS and schools.

It says nothing about jobs or the banks or any other economic issue, other than the bland phrase “defend and develop British manufacturing”! Nothing about the anti-union laws or housing. It opposes “EU militarism”, but not sending more British troops to Afghanistan.

It’s all just anti-EU stuff, not very different from what UKIP or BNP would say on the EU except that it doesn’t explicitly say “Britain out of the EU”, and with a “soul-saving” phrase about “no to racism and fascism”.

Solidarity and Workers' Liberty advocate workers' unity and social "levelling-up" across Europe as the answer to the EU, not an "anti-EU" stance. But you have to accept that RMT is anti-EU...

Even those union activists who are anti-EU mostly won’t want an election effort which is exclusively anti-EU, and has nothing to say about any social or political evil which is the fault of the British government and the British bosses rather than “Brussels”.

For all its faults, the "No2EU" slate represents workers breaking with New Labour, so should be supported...

The RMT leadership is evidently making little effort to involve RMT activists in the campaign. In financial terms, the £45,000 the RMT Exec voted to contribute from union funds will cover little of the cost of a Euro-election challenge, about £1 million even for the scrappiest “paper” campaign. The centre of gravity of this effort lies elsewhere.

RMT activists seeking to attend the meeting on 14 March to “proceed with” the "No2EU" project have had RMT HQ tell them they can't attend and even refuse to tell them where the meeting is!

What rank-and-file discussion we know of has been critical of the “No2EU” slate.

At the RMT London Transport Regional Council on Thursday 26 February, Janine Booth, Regional Council secretary, called for an electoral initiative based on class rather than narrowly anti-EU politics.

Jared Wood (Socialist Party) also found the narrow anti-EU focus not ideal, but supported the project as it stood because it was “workers breaking with Labour”. Unjum Mirza (SWP) thought that the project was too narrow as it stood. The discussion ended with Regional RMT Exec member Oliver New promising to argue on the Executive for broader working-class content to the electoral initiative.

Midlands Region RMT passed a motion on 9 March stating: “We believe that for such a slate to make a positive contribution to renewing working-class political representation, it must be based on class politics, not on narrow anti-EUism. We therefore call on the organisers of the ‘No2EU’ slate to reopen the question of the title and platform of the slate, and allow for a democratic discussion at rank and file level in the union on that question”.

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