The ongoing implosion of British Imperialism
For the
last two months, a dark cloud has loomed over the entirety of european
imperial capital, more so over Britain than elsewhere. The looming
threat of Brexit. Ever since the referendum to
leave the EU ended with a decisive vote in favour of leaving, the
political leadership of the UK has scrambled to find its way out of the
mess they themselves have created.
The Brexit
referendum, much like the Scottish independence referendum before it,
comes at a time when the British economy has been in decline. Already
fragile from prolonged deindustrialization, it was hit particularly hard
from the global financial crisis which hit the world in 2008. The BBC
reports that the period between 2008 and 2011 saw a record rise in
unemployment within the UK, reaching over two and a half million
unemployed in the end of 2011. The British bourgeoisie dealt with the
crisis through a policy of austerity, as a consequence of which an
unprecedented attack was mounted on Britain's welfare state
institutions, all so that the big banks and capitalists could be kept
buoyant. The result, is that now Britain is now having to witness
hundreds of its poor dying of thirst and starvation. (https://www.independent.co.
The
sustained attack on the institution of the welfare state and continuous
support for a parasitical class of capitalists, who generate profits
and not jobs, have resulted in the working class and youth being pushed
to the brink, and it is but obvious that they would respond in a radical
way. However, we are still faced with a global crisis of revolutionary
leadership, and Britain is no stranger to this. Various bourgeois
alternatives have tried to manipulate and take advantage of the
discontent of the masses and steer things in their favor. Therefore, the
answer to capitalism's problems were sought to be given by resorting to
nationalism. The Scottish referendum was pushed by a right wing
bourgeois party, the SNP, the Brexit too was favoured by a right wing bourgeois party, the Conservatives.
Yet
on the other hand, the youth and working class continued to fight back.
The political scene in Britain changed after the crisis, with large
students moblizations and working class actions taking place in the
aftermath of the financial crisis. In 2010 London was the scene of mass
mobilizations and occupations by students protesting cuts to spending in
education. Even though they were not successful in their aims, the
mobilization radicalized the youth. It continues to be a strong current
that has not yet subsided despite the efforts of the bourgeoisie to
contain and diffuse it.
Among the more
precarious petty bourgeois layer of the population, and a section of the
working class who are vulnerable to the economic uncertainties in
modern Britain, a far right alternative emerged in popularity. It was
more convenient to blame the immigrant rather than the bosses for the
crisis ridden situation they faced. Unfortunately, the bulk of the left,
still under the sway of pro-capitalist social democrats under the
banner of the Labour party, failed to provide any adequate solutions.
Ultimately, Britain has found itself pulled left right and centre by
reactionary and progressive forces, all fuelled by seething discontent
caused by the crisis of capitalism. Britain, which in any case had been a
declining imperial power since the end of its empire over India, now
sees the twilight of its existence, it is up to the working class to
decide whether the nation will sink into poverty and backwardness,
becoming a subordinate nation within the capitalist order, (like its
former great power predecessors, Portugal and Spain) along with all the
pain and suffering that comes with such a decay, or is able to revive
itself by casting away the capitalist order that is sucking the vitality
from the nation like a parasite over a host.
The Referendum
When
the Conservative party came to power over the promise of conducting a
referendum to stay or leave in the EU, it was largely as a reaction to
the dual problems of discontent and the rise of the far right, on whose
support the Tories relied.
No one expected the outcome of the Brexit
referendum to come with a yes, not the least the British bourgeosie.
Yet, for anyone who knew of the social context in which it occured, it
would not come off as a surprise. The vote was a culmination of a series
of socio-economic developments within Britain beginning from the
Thatcher period, through the Blairite leadership and ending with David
Cameron's Prime Ministership. The trajectory is one of dismantling of
the welfare state, deindustrialization, and the continued penetration of
neo-liberal policies which enriched the few at the expense of the many,
and simultaneously, the decline of the treacherous social democratic
left, in particular the pro-liberal, establishment labour leadership.
The trade union movement in britain, which was one of the strongest in
Europe, led and organized by militant workers, achieved the welfare
state after sustained and continued struggle over decades. The end of
the first world war saw a rise in revolutionary movements all over the
world, and the world bourgeoisie would respond to it, either by
attempting to crush the movement, or to contain it. The welfare state
was an effort to contain and defer revolution. It was also, a massive
victory for the working class. The welfare state ensured a healthy,
educated and more productive workforce, that need not work in precarious
conditions and live in abject poverty. The British bourgeoisie of
course, only tolerated it for the time being. The welfare state itself
would not be a permanent solution for the British working class and
poor, and indeed it could never have been so. The only permanent
solution for the ills of capitalism is a socialist society. The
trajectory of the dock worker's struggle and the struggles of the mine
workers, shows the fundamental weakness in the leadership of the British
working class, when faced with the committed reaction under Thatcher,
the workers lost, though at great political cost to the capitalists.
The
decades that followed saw not just a revival of power of the
capitalists, but also a weakening of the power of the working class,
both nationally within the Uk and internationally with the rise of
reaction and the fall of the Soviet Union, unleashing a period of
capitalist restoration in Eurasia. The period saw the culmination of the
degeneration of the Labour Party, already built on the flawed bankrupt
foundations of Social Democracy, turned completely and openly to the
service of British imperial capital. In many ways Blair's Prime
Ministership represents a culmination of the reaction unleashed from the
Thatcher era. Practicing imperialist war abroad, and neo-liberalism at
home. The vulnerability of British capitalism only increased during this
period, and all the conditions which led to our present conundrum trace
back to this period.
Before the
referendum, Britain saw a period of far right resurgence, which in some
cases resulted in violent attacks on immigrant minorities. At the other
end, was a period of massive mobilization of students and youth, and the
working class in the service sector, to defend the welfare state
against the attacks of the capitalists. Both forces were mobilizing to a
degree that was unprecedented in recent British history and to an
extent it was reflected in the referendum vote itself. The North of
England, home to the once thriving industries of Britain, now bankrupted
and left more vulnerable than ever, felt threatened by the new
realities of British capitalism.
On the
other hand, a new cadre of working class, who had joined the ranks of
the burgeoning service sector felt equally threatened by resurgence of
the right and incensed by continued austerity and attacks on the welfare
state institutions, particularly the NHS. Many of the new workforce has
been migrant workforce from Asia and Africa, adding a new dimension to
the class struggle in Britain.
The
referendum opened up class divisions within the UK, as well as regional
and racial divisions and has created political polarization which will
not soon be bridged.
How we deal with this
The
question of which form of imperialism is more preferable is not
something revolutionary socialists concern themselves with. Our core
concern is only to end capitalism and replace it with a socialist order,
under the dictatorship of the proletariat.
The questions posed by the various pro-capitalist factions within Britain, revolve around 'how to manage' Brexit
causing the least damage to the economy possible. What no one, not even
Corbyn on the left, is saying, is that British capitalism is broken,
and Brexit is simply the beginning of its
inevitable implosion. Since the end of Britain's empire in India,
British imperialism has been in precipitous and irreversible decline,
consistently losing ground.
As it declines
the British bourrgeoisie is transfering the burden of its failures on
to the shoulders of the working class. The class has fought back, but
the fight has not progressed yet to demands of nationalizing the banks,
or even the railways. The divisions of the class, and the successes of
the right in diverting class hatred to racial hatred, show the crisis of
leadership.
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