Workers have no father or motherland

Making Europe secure for the corporations and big banks. The European Union is another layer of power over people. Its main purpose is to serve the needs of corporations and financial institutions and is therefore an obstacle to the emancipation of the working class. The majority of the laws that people are now subjected to come from the EU rather than the individual states. The EU does not need to respect local conditions and instead imposes their own vision for Europe based on the needs of capital. The vast majority of regulations have been to enhance the power of capital over the people. The EU has created fortress Europe, endeavouring to close its borders to the rest of the world, as well as trying to be one of the many self-appointed world’s policemen. That is what the E.U. is all about.

Given the way the problems created for us by the European Union, you might think the answer is to withdraw from the EU. However, the idea that the working class would be better off outside the EU, ruled by their own State, is a dangerous illusion. It is especially dangerous because of the fact that this is the position of the far right parties who are not remotely interested in resisting state power. Instead, their aim would be to install an even more authoritarian regime with even more repression. The retreat behind national borders, a move driven by the xenophobic ideology, will have serious consequences for the spirit of co-operation and solidarity between the working class of Europe. Ordinary people have a history of supporting each other regardless of national origin. This tradition will be undermined as people put what appears to be their self-interest over mutual aid. It may not lead to actual war, but it has already led to a mentality of competition and conflict that will only further undermine the effectiveness that comes from a united European working class. A divided working class will benefit those who have caused the problems we are facing in the first place, such as austerity and repressive measures. Many who support withdrawal from the EU seem to think that we can return to some kind of Golden Age of prosperity. However, this is another illusion; this Golden Age never existed. They forget that their own nation has never been their friend; it has always been the instrument of imposing the interests of a small minority on the majority. All states operate by taking power from the people to give to the capitalist class. It doesn’t matter if the State is a few miles or thousands of miles away; it will still be out of our control, operating in the interests of the ruling class. The political theatre of the EU referendum offers nothing to working people: all we can do is fight for our own material interests against bosses and governments of all nationalities.

A vote for either stay or leave is a vote for capitalism, that really is all there is to it. Capitalism is global. The power of multinational corporations and banks, the major cause of the problems facing us, will not disappear if a country withdraws from the EU. The global processes which are at work, the movement of production and money across borders, motivated by the search for profits will continue. International institutions such as the IMF and World Bank will still have the power to impose austerity and policies that are against the interests of local populations. Human needs will take second place; it doesn’t matter whether the country is within or outside the EU.

The Socialist Party reject both the options presented to us in this referendum: staying in the EU or withdrawal. The EU, like all states big or small, is based on the giving up of power to a minority who use this power in the interests of the corporate and financial elite. The EU represents the unity of this tiny elite against the European working class. We propose both an alternative method of organising society that extends to the whole planet – world socialism.

What is your life really all about? When it’s the alarm clock shocks you out of your bed.  Then you spend hours commuting to and from work where you face drudgery and daily humiliation. You endure the boss, the noise of machines, the glare of computer monitors and you submit to your employer’s need for you to be profitable. When your body gets ruined, when your back and joints ache, your stomach grumbles from stress, you try to remember that your body is not a machine in which it is possible to replace a faulty part by a new one. Our work slowly destroy us. This is the existence of wage-slave. This is the reality that you hide from yourself. The Socialist Party believes that things can change. Let us not place trust in those who claim to speak in our name so that our exploitation is perpetuated. Let’s not surrender our strength to them, because we know by experience that they will sell us to the highest bidder. Only sheep march behind party leaders. Your power is dormant but nevertheless you are the active force that can change the world. Wage slaves of the world why sacrifice themselves to protect the capitalists’ interests. Reform of the EU or exit from the EU is no solution, but only a change of management. To stand up for ourselves, we must organise.