Denmark: racists strengthened by no vote
"Victory is ours!", chanted supporters of the Danish People’s Party on the evening of 28 September. They were celebrating after 53 per cent of the Danish electorate voted "No" in the referendum.
This result will further boost the rising fortunes of this populist, racist party. The Danish Peoples' party, led by Pia Kjærsgaard, rose from practically nowhere to almost 16 per cent in the opinion polls at the beginning of this year.
With openly racist propaganda the party has struck a chord with some of the Danish electorate. Their propaganda’s main thrust savages the "the establishment" for giving out money to "foreigners" and thereby causing cuts in social services.
Pia Kjærsgaard wants to be seen as speaking for the "little person" on the street against the EU, the euro, against globalisation. The rise in Denmark of Kjærsgaard's party has been accompanied by a marked weakening of social democracy. Denmark’s Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen and his social democratic government are in serious trouble. The traditional reformist party is now down to just 25 per cent in the polls.
Of course, not all the "no" voters were supporters of the right. They were expressing their frustration with the government and their anger at the continued attacks on social welfare. They turned the referendum into a political protest vote against the record of the Rasmussen government. They also associate the EU and the euro with further austerity measures.
However, unless the forces of the left are able to put up an effective alternative to the bankruptcy of social democracy then the right will be the main beneficiary.
Neither the left reformist Socialist Peoples Party (SF) nor the Unity list (Enhedslisten), which is a combination of centrists and left reformists, has been able put up such an alternative or organise an effective struggle against the bosses.
This failure has allowed the rightist and nationalist opposition to present itself as the most intransigent opponent of the government and to use the issue of European integration as a weapon with which to beat the government.
Both left-wing blocs took part in the "No" campaign. The Enhedslisten are trying to find left-sounding arguments for keeping capitalist Denmark out of the EMU. Instead of denouncing both sides - those who look forward to further integration in capitalist Europe, and those who want to keep Denmark out of EU politics - they fall into the trap of "lesser-evilism".
This gives the impression to working class voters that the EU or the euro, rather than capitalism itself, dictates the austerity drive. It also cedes ground to the right wing defenders of a capitalist "Little Denmark".
Enhedslisten, which includes supporters of the self-styled Trotskyist United Secretariat of the Fourth International claims that a no vote can lay the basis for "the building of international economic collaboration, which can shield the individual countries against speculation."
It sees the alternative to the EMU and the EU as "an alternative project, which is built upon the wishes of the populations . . . a collaboration in Europe, which is not based on uniformity, but on taking advantage of the strengths of the different populations."
There is not a word about socialism or the need to fight capitalism. If Enhedslisten is turned into a party, this can only generate further confusion inside the left and create a second left reformist party – slightly to the left of the Socialist Peoples' Party, but much smaller.
The socialist alternative - fought for in neighbouring Sweden by the LRCI's section, Arbetarmakt – was for an active campaign to spoil the ballot paper in the name of working class resistance to all measures directed against the living standards and rights of workers – regardless of whether this is done in the name of further capitalist integration in the EMU, or in defence of "self-determination" for Denmark.
