UKIP: What it is and how to fight it
The United Kingdom Independence Party is a national conservative party in the UK, which has 1 MP, 12.6% of the 2015 general election vote share, and a sizable amount of MEPs and local councilors.[1] As you may have noticed, the title of this essay is very similar to a 1930–2 pamphlet by Leon Trotsky, titled: “Fascism: What it is and how to Fight it”.[2] Yes, I am saying that UKIP are a fascist party, or, at least, neo-fascist, nationalist, and populist. Even their ex-leader, the infamous Nigel Farage, has a neo-Nazi past [3] and hides his racism behind an atomically thin veil of anti-immigration. So, why has UKIP gained so much ground in the last few years, what does the rise of its type of politics mean, and how can we fight it?
Firstly, let’s clarify a few things. UKIP is very nationalistic and anti-immigration, as well as being ultra conservative, authoritarian, militaristic, very right wing, and pro-monarchy.[4] It represents bigotry and racism to many groups of people, including East Europeans and Syrian refugees. So, how could a party this disgusting gain so much support across the UK?
Well, the rise of UKIP is not an isolated incident, similar parties, such as the AFD in Germany, ND in Sweden, or FN in France, have gained ground on a nationalistic, authoritarian approach.[5] The key to its success is to portray itself as anti-establishment and, paradoxically, pro-worker and pro- “the little guy”. UKIP, just to be clear, are extremely pro-establishment, as they would increase centralization, privatization, state power, and lower taxes for the richest in society. [6] However, as they are a populist anti-establishment party, there must be a significant public appetite for antiestablishmentarianism, which shows the lack of confidence in traditional government structures.
The rise of Trump, UKIP, and other nationalistic parties across the politically “western” world are all signs of a shift, a crisis, in capitalistic politics. As the internet and other highly advanced technology is rapidly bringing the “3rd world” out of poverty, and increasing the potential for a post-scarcity society, which is most obvious in the “1st world”. As capitalism squeezes wages, for technological and other reasons, including the declining rate of profit, workers become ever more restless. Inevitable spending cuts, privatization, health deterioration, climate change, duel epidemics of obesity and starvation, never ending war, all symptoms of late capitalism. We see rising anger from people and increasing demands for more socially liberal policies, such as LGBTQ+ rights. Capitalist government must become more authoritarian to survive, that is what is comes down to; and with this increasing authoritarianism comes increasing dissent.
The far right, populist, nationalist parties, however, have seized the initiative, not the left. The traditional “left” are afraid of being anti-establishment, this is part of the problem. The right is openly being very supposedly anti-establishment, and is jumping on even a few socialist ideas to attack conservative governments. A slightly deeper explanation of this is the soft left’s alliance with the establishment “liberal”. The white liberal doctrine of non-violence kills the effectiveness of any contemporary leftist movement. There is such a massive distrust in government at the movement, we must seize the opportunity! The right aren’t afraid to unofficially affiliate themselves with and encourage race violence, and encourage neo-Nazi groups to grow. If the real party based left wants to actually change things, it must challenge its own pacifism, openly or not.[7]
But this is about more than just parties. True resistance and true change is only achieved in the streets and on the barricades. The change in approach must come from the social body of the left, not just the political parties, which aren’t necessarily needed at all. We must stop believing that establishment encouraged pacifism is viable in a world where the government has a monopoly on violence; it is utterly absurd to think that you can softly persuade a fascist, neo-fascist, or ultra nationalist. We have to break out of this white liberal complex and start to instigate radical change.
Trump’s inauguration is the perfect place to start resisting neo-fascism. However, to answer to original question posed by this essay, fighting UKIP and other reactionary parties, we must also take this stance of direct action to bring about change. We, as leftists, must educate people so to inform them that the real socialist left is anti-establishment, and willing to fight damn harder than populists to make that view a reality. In regards to directly resisting parties and movements like UKIP, well, I shan’t detail methods here, but you can’t just convince the party to shut down, or will offices closed, or talk UKIP signs out of it…
Smash nationalist, populist, far right reactionism by any means necessary.[8] Together, as the militant left, we can effectively combat fascism in its modern form; we will win only if we battle it in the streets.
Sources:
[1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2015/results
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_Independence_Party
[5] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36130006
[6] http://www.ukip.org/ukip_manifesto_summary
[7] http://alfie-howis.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/a-note-on-trump-and-disrupt-j20.html
[8] http://www.blackpast.org/1964-malcolm-x-s-speech-founding-rally-organization-afro-american-unity
