The US Republicans, as well as the UK Conservative Party and Labour Party can no longer be considered social-democratic parties, as they have themselves been drawn into the mire of petty-bourgeois, nationalism, competing with the likes of Trump and Farage for the support of that particular section of the electorate. If social-democracy is to have any resurrection, it can only come from a growth of the currently weak forces of progressive social-democracy, as represented by the Corbyn Party in Britain, the Democratic Socialists in the US, and so on. But, for the reasons already set out, that progressive social-democracy, itself, can only be a transitional phase, which will have to move rapidly forward, before being replaced by Socialism.
A recent short article, even by a group of conservative social-democrats highlights this reality, but without recognising the inevitable consequence of their analysis and conclusion. In the article in Social Europe, they write,
“With only 5% of the world’s population and a growing economic backlog, faced with a world dominated by empires from Putin’s Russia to Trump’s United States and Xi Jinping’s China, Europe risks becoming a mere vassal of America...
Domestically, the second Von der Leyen Commission has decided to call into question the Green Deal, although it was the flagship project of her first term, as if climate change were not getting worse. It has also presented a disappointing multi-annual European budget, which does not provide for any real increase in spending and undermines cohesion policy in order to finance new priorities in research and defence. At the same time, the populist, Eurosceptic and Europhobic far right, aligned on Putin and Trump, has never been so powerful within both the Member States and the EU institutions.
It should now be clear that Trump is not, and never will be, an ally. Trump’s America is a major geopolitical, economic and cultural threat for Europe. However, becoming a mere American protectorate is not inevitable. Another path is possible, given the outrage sparked by the series of humiliations we are witnessing. The revival of a pro-European majority within the three institutions, and in particular in the European Parliament, would make it possible to change course, moving from vassalage to self-determination. It is up to the Parliament, which is responsible for overseeing the Commission and has the power to censure it, to demand a new direction in its work. To begin with, the European Parliament could block the reduction of European customs duties on American products, a measure that would certainly be approved by European voters. It should use this power, showing that Europe is capable of resisting blackmail.
As Mario Draghi has said, we will not become a geopolitical power by relying solely on improving our competitiveness and our internal market. We must become a true federal union, finally freed from the constraints of unanimity and endowed with competences in foreign and security policy.”
In other words, the EU must press forward to political union, and creation of an EU state. Progressive social democracy, can, and should support that goal, and, if its immediate plans are to be achieved, it will have to do so, but it is not enough. Even were Britain, for example, to see the reactionary, petty-bourgeois nationalist regime of Blue Labour thrown out, as the Blair-right, conservative social-democrats regroup along with the Liberals, and pro-Europe Conservatives, that would only replicate the situation existing, now, in France. A Britain back in the EU would certainly be a positive development, dealing, to an extent, with the need for growth, and, also, putting an additional £40 billion of tax revenues into the coffers, but it does not deal with all of those issues that existed prior to Brexit, and which, indeed, continue to plague the rest of the EU, as well as the global economy. It is why Marxists have always argued that we are not advocates of the existing EU per se, as a "lesser-evil", but recognise its progressive nature, on the path to international socialism.
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