So, the position of the “Left” Brexiters, as presented by Comrade Douglass, has the defect that not only is it opportunist and tailist, because it determines its position, at best, on the basis of following “Left” public opinion, and the current level of consciousness of workers, and at worst, determines its position by simply placing a minus sign wherever, the bourgeoisie places a plus sign, but, it is, also, wrong in its assumptions about what is the level of consciousness, and voting intentions of workers. As so often in the past, in fact, the workers are in advance of the petty-bourgeois, “Left” nationalists, like Comrade Douglass.
Indeed, such have things changed, as indicated by all of the current opinion polls, that not only are the large majority of workers in advance of Comrade Douglass, but so, too is an increasing proportion of that petty-bourgeoisie, and others that were conned into voting for Brexit by the likes of the spivs such as Farage and Johnson. According to You.Gov, only 33% of voters think leaving was the right decision, including 18% of those that voted Leave! Amongst 18-24 year olds that is even more glaring, as 75% of them, many of whom were deprived of a vote in 2016, think that Brexit was the wrong decision. In addition only 11% of voters think Brexit has been a success. So, if we follow Comrade Douglass's crude opportunism and tailism as the guiding principle, he should really be falling into line with that working-class public opinion, and now be arguing for joining the EU.
And, part of the reason that Comrade Douglas, and along with him, the other petty-bourgeois nationalists, and Little Englanders of the Communist Party et al, give is also the opportunist argument that, Labour needs to continue its support for Brexit, so as not to lose votes to Reform. But, that is itself based on a fallacy. Most Reform voters never were Labour voters, as I have set out in the past.
The Brexit vote won, because, as a single issue, it enabled the petty-bourgeoisie to use its only main asset, its numbers, to turn out and vote for it. All of those petty-bourgeois, many of whom usually don't even vote, or who have always been the layers attracted to the NF, BNP, UKIP and so on, as well as those that form the core of the Tory vote, and membership, were mobilised, in sufficient numbers to push it through, with the aid of a small proportion of backward workers, and lumpen elements, the same coalition that enabled Boris Johnson to win, in 2019.
As I set out last year, the only difference in July 2024, was that in 2019, Farage stood candidates down in seats where Tories were likely to win, and in 2024, he didn't, and so split the Tory vote. Labour's vote went down compared to 2019, and its vote share remained the same. In the local elections in 2025, Reform has risen, and Labour sunk, not because Labour voters have swung to Reform, but because Reform has simply replaced the Tories, as the Tory vote has collapsed, whilst Labour has lost votes, not to Reform, but to the Liberals, Greens, Plaid, SNP, and other independent Left candidates. In the case of these latter, it does not matter that they have, in general, performed as abysmally as usual, but that they have taken votes from Labour. More significantly, however, the votes taken from Labour by Liberals, Greens, SNP, Plaid, not only caused Labour to lose seats (sometimes to Reform), but led to the increase in seats of these other parties. That means that just as the Tories have been decimated because they have been replaced by Reform, so, now, Labour, unless it changes course, will be replaced by the Liberals, Greens, SNP, and Plaid.
A look not just at opinion polls, but at the exit polls done in May this year, shows that only 46% of those that voted Labour in 2024 – itself an abysmally low number to begin with – now intend to do so. But, contrary to the view of Comrade Douglass, its not because they intend to vote Reform instead. Only 6% of those that voted Labour in 2024, intend to vote for Reform, hardly better than the 2% who said they would vote for the Tories instead. By contrast, 12% said they would vote Liberal, 9% Green.
If Labour continues on the agenda of Blue Labour, and of the petty-bourgeois nationalists, of the Communist Party, and those like Comrade Douglass, it will be destroyed. The Communist Part and Comrade Douglass and others may not be at all dismayed if that happens. But, in the absence of any socialist alternative to it, the consequence could only be a further lurch to the Right. Marxists have to oppose the current reactionary nationalism of Blue Labour, as much as we oppose the reactionary nationalism of Farage and Reform, and, indeed, of the likes of the Communist Party and Comrade Douglass, but, not on the basis of the kind of opportunist and lesser-evilist approach of simply forming some kind of popular front against them.
A return to the EU is a precondition for any advance of workers in Britain. But, that does not mean that we should simply ignore the current capitalist nature of the EU itself, in the same way that the opportunists and parliamentary cretins called for a vote for Harris against Trump. We seek membership of the EU, because it is the first step on the road to uniting British workers with their EU comrades, for an EU wide struggle for a Workers Europe, and the creation of a Socialist United States of Europe.
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