Europe's Political Turmoil -- Part II

http://solidarity-us.org/atc/198/europes-political-turmoil-part-2/
Date Written:  2019-01-01
Publisher:  Against the Current
Year Published:  2019
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX23468

Could the rise of the far right across Europe actually lead to establishing fascist regimes? Overemphasis on this fear may divert attention from where it is needed.

Abstract: 
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Excerpt:

We have already seen examples of the havoc that the far right in power could wreak - against immigrants and refugees, against civil liberties, against vulnerable populations even within the limits of constitutional rule. But given Europe's history, the question inevitably arises: would the far right in power stay within constitutional limits? Could further advances for the far right ultimately lead once more to the establishment of fascist regimes in Europe?

Answering this question requires clarity about the nature of fascism, and an ability to distinguish between different European political contexts....

Events in Europe since the Brexit referendum suggest that capital in many countries is now wrestling with bigger internal contradictions than at any time since the Second World War. The big multinational companies and banks, whose supremacy was virtually uncontested on the right and center left for 70 years, can no longer count on having things their own way: clearly they lost the Brexit referendum.

More nationalistically inclined sections of capital can count on mass support from broad middle-class layers, and from sections of the working class for which nationalism and/or racism trump class interest - as German and Italian fascism could in their time. Theresa May’s travails as Britain’s prime minister show the increasing difficulty of resolving these contradictions by normal constitutional means.