THE EU elections have shattered both the Labour and the Tory parties.
With a national turnout of 37%, Labour got 13.6 of the vote, the Tories 9.0%, the LibDems 21.4%, UKIP 3,4%, and the just-formed Brexit Party 33.5%.
The breakaway group Change UK got 3.7% of the vote and has now called it a day, and is seeking a berth with the LibDems.
The two parties, Labour and Tory, that have alternately ruled the UK since the end of the Second World War, were crushed, and a party that was formed just months ago took 33.5% of the vote.
This is in a situation where ‘Remainers’ were aching to get out and vote, to teach the ‘Leavers’ a lesson. They regarded the European elections as their own property that would allow them to vote for and set the scene for a second referendum.
In fact they got off lightly, since many workers decided not to take part in the election because they want to leave the EU, not support its elections.
The ‘Remainers’ lost the fight on the ground of their own choosing. In fact, they were routed and are now furious and looking for revenge.
One of their Labour people, Shadow Attorney General Shami Chakrabati, called on Sunday for unity with ‘moderate’ Tory MPs and to stop a no deal Brexit ‘by any means necessary’ – a call worthy of the late General Pinochet!
The Tories were given a warning by the Euro elections that, unless they fight for Brexit and are willing to leave on October 31 without a deal, they are finished as a party.
Tory leaders such as Johnson, Leadsom and Gove have already voted publicly for May’s ‘Withdrawal Deal’, and while Johnson has rediscovered his support for a ‘no deal Brexit’, they can hardly be relied on to fight in the people’s interests against the bosses and bankers that they have served all their lives.
Already, Chancellor Hammond has opposed any ‘no deal’ solution, and has announced that he would resign if leaders like Johnson decide to really adopt it.
What we can expect is that the struggle inside the Labour Party, to adopt an open position that there must be a second referendum, will reach the point of split, with Corbyn being replaced if he will not openly advocate and fight for it, with Watson and McDonnell taking over.
They will form a block with Hammond and his supporters to vote in the House of Commons for a second referendum and put the bourgeois democracy of the referendum to the sword.
The WRP and the News Line is opposed to any second referendum which would be the beginning of a huge attack on bourgeois democracy since, of course, there is no point in calling a second referendum if there is a chance of losing it.
It could only be carried through alongside a massive witch-hunt – that those who favour ‘Leaving’ are Russian or Chinese agents etc – the kind of campaign that would turn the UK into another Chile.
However, for the working class, the defeat of the Tory-Labour Remain axis at the European elections is a source of great inspiration. The working class must now mobilise to leave the EU on October 31.
This can only be done by workers organising in their trade unions for a general strike to bring down the Tories and bring in a workers government that will leave the EU at once, and then carry out a socialist policy to expropriate the bosses and bankers at home, and bring in a socialist planned economy.
The European elections also saw the defeat of Macron, the French president, who has been seeking to force the French workers to accept starvation wages and low pensions.
This means that a Brexit on October 31 or before, carried out by the working class taking general strike action to bring in a workers government, will be welcomed by workers all over Europe and lead to the revolutionary replacement of the EU by a Socialist United States of Europe.
Only the WRP and the Young Socialists are fighting for this policy and perspective. We urge all workers and youth to join today and to fight for the victory of the British and world socialist revolutions!
