Trump’s Victory: Hitler’s Shadow. A Clear and Present Danger: Time to Act
The film of the 1930s is running in slow motion. Across Europe, and now in the United States with the Trump victory, far right, racist politics are winning significant levels of popular support from across the economic spectrum – with support from affluent whites being crucial to Trump’s victory. Millions are now supporting right wing populist ideas with close parallels to the ideology that brought us the catastrophe of the 1930s.
Here is the scale of the far-right surge:
France’s National Front (leader: Marine Le Pen) calls for a ‘Frexit’ referendum, a crackdown on Muslims, and reduced benefits and health care for immigrants. Won 27% of the vote in regional elections in December 2015.
The Party for Freedom in the Netherlands (leader: Geert Wilders) calls for the closing of all Islamic schools, recording the ethnicity of all citizens, and withdrawal from the EU. Holds 15 seats in the Dutch Parliament.
Greece’s Golden Dawn (leader: Nikos Michaloliakos) is opposed to the EU, warns of the ‘Islamisation of Greece’, and organises anti-migrant marches near refugee camps. Holds 18 seats in the Greek Parliament, making it the third largest party.
Hungary’s Jobbik (leader: Gabor Vona) is opposed to free trade and immigration, wants an EU referendum, proposes criminalising gay sexuality, and argues there is an international Jewish conspiracy. Won 20% of the vote in 2014, making it the third largest party. Prime Minister Victor Orban, head of the National Conservative Fidesz party, has much in common with Jobbik, being anti-EU, anti-immigrant, and anti-liberal.
Austria’s Freedom Party (leader: Norbert Hofer) wants stronger borders, reduced benefits for immigrants, and job discrimination in favour of Austrians. Hofer narrowly missed winning the presidential election in April 2016 with 49.7% of the vote.
Poland’s Law and Justice (leader: Beata Szydlo) is anti-gay, anti-abortion, and says ‘we are unable to accept migrants because we do not have a place on the job market’. Won 38% of the vote in October 2015 elections, making it the largest party, with Szydlo becoming prime minister.
The Sweden Democrats (leader: Jimmie Akesson) favours heavy restrictions on immigration, a block on Turkey joining the EU, and a referendum on continuing EU membership. Won 13% of the vote in elections in 2014.
People’s Party – Our Slovakia (leader: Marian Kotleba) favours leaving the EU and argues that ‘even one immigrant is one too many’. Won 8% of the vote in March 2016 elections.
Alternative for Germany (leader: Frauke Petry) calls for a ban on the building of mosques, says ‘Islam does not belong in Germany’, and threatens to shoot anyone crossing the border illegally. Won up to 25% of the vote in regional elections in March 2016.
Then there is Britain’s Brexit vote, where 52% voted Leave, largely on the basis of vacuous ‘take back control’ rhetoric and much more serious and sinister anti-immigrant racism.
It is worth repeating here that the Leave/Remain electoral split appears to mirror the Trump/Clinton split. The more progressive sections of the working class – the Labour voters, the trade unionists, the Green voters, the minorities, the young – voted two-thirds to three-quarters Remain. Others responded to the dog-whistle racist message and gave Johnson, Gove, and Farage their narrow win. Ditto in the US. Not for nothing did Trump crow on election day that it was going to be ‘Brexit, plus, plus, plus’.
Do not be deceived by the fact that Trumpism – let us give this global phenomenon a name – does not wear all the trappings of classical Fascism. We have national flags, not swastikas. We have bullies in suits, not thugs in jackboots. We have electoral triumphs, but the union offices have not yet been ransacked.
But do not be deceived. The labour movement and the left were immeasurably stronger in the early 1930s than they are today. The great upsurge of 1917-1923 had created a militant mass movement of millions. This movement had to be physically smashed: that was why Hitler needed 400,000 paramilitaries.
No comparable movement exists today. Four decades of neoliberalism have inflicted terrible damage on the labour movement built during the 1950s and 1960s, and on the left-wing movements created in the last great upsurge of 1968-1975. You need a sledgehammer to destroy solid masonry, but not to destroy a much-weakened edifice. Trump needs no brownshirts: the state police will suffice.
Trump’s victory will give encouragement to the far right across Britain and Europe. A clear programme is emerging in what we must now regard as a global movement. It is authoritarian, illiberal, intolerant, contemptuous of democracy and of civil liberties. It is nationalist, aggressive, and belligerent in foreign policy. It is protectionist and isolationist in economics. It is divisive and vicious and punitive in its social attitudes. It is openly misogynist, anti-gay, and sneering towards the disabled and the disadvantaged. Above all, it is deeply racist, Islamophobic, and anti-migrant.
This, make no mistake, is creeping fascism. The world has entered a dark tunnel, and it leads to the abyss. The Polish-German revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg spoke a century ago of the grim choice humanity faced between socialism and barbarism. She was right: the barbarians triumphed and gave the world Auschwitz and Hiroshima.
This is a 1933 moment. It is incumbent upon us to stare reality in the face, to analyse events in all their portentous significance … and to act together to change the course of the future.
We must challenge the arguments of the far right head-on. Mainstream right-wing politicians like May simply peddle the same anti-immigrant racism. Their New Labour clones then tag along, echoing the same arguments, saying we need to be ‘tough’, calling for ‘restrictions’, helping to ramp up the big lie that immigrants are to blame for poverty. Even Jeremy Corbyn is reluctant to label the enemy at the gates for what it is: a monster of racism from the social depths.
The immediate task is defensive. We need a defensive shield that will unite the workers, the minorities, and the young people against the tide of racism, sexism, and reactionary filth that is now sweeping across the Western world. But we must link the struggle against racism that is now forced upon us with a vision of a radical alternative – against austerity, privatisation, and the greed of the rich; for a social transformation based on equality, democracy, peace, and sustainability; for a world transformed by the mass action of ordinary working people.
But first, we must unite our forces to begin the fightback against the right-wing tide. The stakes are perilously high.
Get active: join our public meeting on Saturday 12 November to discuss how to combat the rise of right-wing populism. Find out more.
4 comments
4 responses to “Trump’s Victory: Hitler’s Shadow. A Clear and Present Danger: Time to Act”
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It’s good that there’s a meeting to talk about all of this, and we urgently need to discuss relevant action and solidarity in the face of doom and gloom, but the analysis sketched here is too flimsy and not grounded in the concrete politics of the US election. Analysis of how the votes for Trump were aggregated is still at the level of flawed polling, and the current situation, however depressing, really isn’t a re-run of 1930s fascism. It might even be worse. Left Unity has the resources to offer better analysis than this, and this should be signalled as an authored opinion piece, rather than the view of Left Unity itself.
This is very disturbing. I was so depressed about this election, it affected my mood all day. This article shows how endemic it is. I am unable to join the meeting. But would be up for getting involved in other ways if possible.
I agree with everything except that you are failing to understand the structure of the EU. which I regard as a big business club. By supporting EU you are siding with the IMF and the Bank f England. If you will fail to see the working people’s message on the EU, the working class of this country will desert you in droves like they did the Democratic party in the US. Trump won because Hilary had too much baggage not because Trump had much to offer.
It could have been worse.
Hillary Clinton might have been elected President. Then we would
have had ‘No-Fly-Zones’ in Syria to protect US-UK-Saudi-Qatari-
Israeli-backed Islamist (ISIS & Al-Qaeda) Terrorists, helping them
to overthrow the secular, elected, Syrian government, leading to
nuclear war against Russia.
We still might get that, anyway, especially if Trump appoints
Neocon advisers and assistants. But, if Hillary had been elected,
nuclear war to protect Islamist terrorists would, certainly, have
been in the offing.
Why does everyone start complaining about it all, only now that Trump has been elected ?
Where were you all during the eight years of the ‘Peace-Prize-Obama’ regime, while a few of us were struggling to try to draw attention to the Obama/Clinton destruction of Libya, Syria, Ukraine, Haiti, Honduras, etc, and the threat of war against Russia?
Most of the ‘Left’ and ‘Peace Movement’ were making semi-covert alliances with offshoots of the NATO-backed Muslim Brotherhood, who have been among the main NATO-backed aggressors in Libya and Syria (with Al-Qaeda and ISIS). That is why we failed to oppose the US Neocon wars in Libya and Syria, as much as we should have done.
Even Jeremy Corbyn is still isolated. Still opposed by right-wing Labour MPs – but, even more seriously – most of his alleged ‘supporters’ are financed by the warmongering, pro-Trident, pro-“patriotic” British arms trade, GMB and ‘Unite’ Unions. For instance, Corbyn’s shadow war minister, Clive Lewis, is financed by the, pro-Trident, GMB & ‘Unite’ unions, whilst being a member Labour CND. He failed to vote against Trident renewal. ‘Unite’ is also affiliated to CND, despite being pro-Trident.
What chance have we got of adopting any sensible policies, while this sort of hypocritical nonsense prevails?
Regarding Donald Trump, Nigel Farage, et al. They win elections because we fail to oppose them with sensible economic policies that address the economic concerns of those who vote for them, in a workable and sustainable way.
We should defend immigrants and immigration. But we also need to stop ‘fighting for the right to work’ (for the capitalists or the state) and start demanding the right to a decent living for all, which should not be conditional on performing wage-slavery for capitalists or the state. (For more about this, see the work of Andre Gorz and Ivan Illich).
To finance such a society, we would need to stop ‘printing’ money as debt, and start ‘printing’ money as money, which could be put into circulation by, for instance, paying NHS wages, or ‘basic income’ for all.
We need to abolish as much wage slavery as possible, instead of creating unnecessary, Keynesian wage slavery, whilst ensuring that everyone has a decent living, whether employed, or not. Insofar as some manufacturing wage-slavery might still be necessary, we should, as far as possible, stop
‘off-shoring jobs’, and manufacture things locally for local consumption. (as Trump has suggested).
We should nationalise the pharmaceutical companies to stop them ripping off the NHS.
Last, but not least, we should abolish the military-industrial-complex-pork-barrel, which is ripping off the ‘public purse’ (as Trump has, also, suggested, at times, I think).
It is true that Trump is a right-wing populist, or, even, a fascist. Therefore his ideas are not sustainable. Hitler and Mussolini also had some, otherwise sound, economic ideas, that became unworkable , because they were subordinated to their fascism and their militarism.
If we cannot develop a good, left, alternative economic program, to the right-wing populism, and create a party that is capable of contesting elections, based on that program, we will have to watch while the right-wing populists and fascists win many more elections. The Labour Party are never going to come up with the goods!