(WDIE reply to reader's query, continued from
issues Nos. 130 and 133,
August 9 and 14)
In the first two parts of the reply to the reader who was
raising the issue as to what stand to take on the European Union, we gave our
position in a nutshell, as well as very briefly underlining our analysis of the
direction the EU is heading.
The reader states that it has always been my belief that
a united Europe is the key to radical socialism becoming the main political
force throughout the continent.
We would first of all like to stress that we stand firmly
for the unity of the peoples of Europe, as we stand for the unity of the
peoples of the whole world. The peoples everywhere have the aspiration for a
new world free from the exploitation of persons by persons. Our Party, as a
contingent of the international Marxist-Leninist communist movement in Britain,
regards it as its proletarian internationalist duty to organise for socialist
revolution in this country, and to support and build unity with all those
forces engaged in the same struggle throughout the world.
At the same time, we hold that the basis of accomplishing
the unity of everyone in the realisation of their deepest aspiration is the
development and flourishing of each and every people and nation. This is an
important conception that the 20th century has given rise to as the imperialist
monopolies have sought to eliminate the right of nations to self-determination
and negate the right of peoples to develop their cultures, languages, and so
forth. The breaking down of national barriers by monopoly capitalism under the
signboard of "globalisation", a "People's Europe",
"interdependence", or any other such pretext, in fact stands as an
obstruction to the development of the Internationale as the human race. This is
because through such means the big powers have sought to impose their dictate,
their own values, on the broad masses of the people on the world scale, whereas
to uphold the right of a people to exercise its sovereignty is to take a stand
against imperialist domination and contribute to the emancipation of the
working class and all of humanity on a world scale.
It is not possible to achieve a "united Europe", a
Europe of the people, socialism throughout the continent, through working for
or through the Europe of the monopolies. Each working class must settle scores
with its own bourgeoisie in a nation-building project, in unity with the
working class of other countries. Only through such a path is such an entity as
a Union of Socialist States of Europe a possibility.
The actual situation at this time at the beginning of the
21st century is that the reactionary bourgeoisie tries to suggest that the
notion of national self-determination or national sovereignty is a thing of the
past or is of limited application. The Europe of the monopolies, as well as
Anglo-American imperialism, is now based on the values which are enshrined in
the "Charter of Paris for a New Europe", signed towards the close of
1990. It represents 19th century liberal conceptions and values which the
international financial oligarchy is trying to impose on the whole world. It
takes the form of the demand that every country must have a free market
economy, a multiparty system and "human rights" based on private
property. It is a declaration that any country which does not follow the Paris
Charter will become an international pariah. It is not a declaration which is
or could have been made by sovereign peoples and nation states, and can only be
imposed on them by the power of the monopolies. It is being presented as
something new and modern, but it stands against what is new and modern. It is
causing and deepening the profound crisis throughout the EU and wherever these
big powers try to impose these same values. It has to be opposed by the peoples
affirming their right to determine their own path of economic, political and
social development.
(to be concluded)
