The hard-line far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) has emerged as the largest party in the Austrian general election, with 29% of the vote. It beat the ruling conservative right-wing People’s Party (ÖVP), which received 26%.
The Freedom party stood on an islamophobic, anti-immigrant programme.
This follows the growth of the far-right across Europe, in France,, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany and elsewhere.
The European socialist/communist movement needs to get its act together to answer the vile anti-immigration racism we see growing daily, and to present a real socialist/communist alternative to the present capitalist system with its austerity and wars.
I am not arguing for a new reformist party, with a Corbynite programme to manage capitalism. I am arguing for a united mass socialist/communist party which aims to make a fundamental break with capitalism.
Marxists must stop tailing the reformist left and build our own party.
In the absence of a strong socialist/communist voice, answering the racist blaming of the migrant, explaining who is really to blame for poverty, wars, the destruction of services etc, people will look for radical answers elsewhere. The far-right will grow.
Instead of building Marxist sects with little purchase within the working-class Marxists need to unite around a clear programme of ending the capitalist profit system and establishing a new society based on the expropriation of the capitalist class; with democratic common ownership of the world’s resources (beginning with Europe); and with democratic planning of production to meet the needs of all.
Secondary arguments about tactics, methods of work, or arguments about e.g. the class nature of the Soviet Union, and similar issues, can all be accommodated in a properly democratic party.
The important thing is to agree on the programme and to act together to persuade others of its necessity.
Divided we are weaker than we need to be. Our efforts are duplicated, dissipated and less effective. Less competition for members and more joint work to build our shared objective is needed.
We need a multi-million strong united, democratic socialist/communist party.
We are obviously a long, long way from that at the moment.
But those of us who see the need for such a party should start discussing and working together to bring it into existence.