Vol. 79/No. 3      February 2, 2015

BY PAUL DAVIES
MANCHESTER, England — Gains in recent elections by the U.K. Independence Party are interpreted by liberals and many on the left here as an example of the growth of ultra-rightist or fascist parties across Europe, which they attribute to a growing reactionary mood among working people. “UKIP will take Britain’s working people back to the dark ages,” said GMB union General Secretary Paul Kenny in May.

The Times of London described UKIP voters as typically from “working-class backgrounds” and unlikely to read books “or to be curious about other cultures.”

In fact, UKIP leaders have shifted the party toward the center of bourgeois politics, presenting a populist message and capitalizing on widespread disaffection with the two main capitalist parties, Labour and the Conservatives.

Workers are looking to defend themselves against steadily declining living standards under the blows of bosses seeking to make working people pay for the crisis of their capitalist system.

“The government is pruning the system but we need deep-rooted change,” Shaheen Shah, a teacher from north Manchester, told the Militant. “People earn less than when I came here 10 years ago. More are homeless, more children are hungry.”

“No one represents working people,” said John Edwards, a construction worker from Manchester, in a phone interview. “All the parties favor the wealthy.”

UKIP candidate Mark Reckless won the Nov. 20 parliamentary by-election in the Rochester and Strood constituency, following a victory for Douglas Carswell in Clacton the month before. Both candidates are former Conservative Members of Parliament. They won support from many workers who had previously voted for the Labour Party, a social-democratic capitalist party historically based on the trade unions.

UKIP was formed as a split from the Conservative Party in 1993, centering its appeal on opposition to Britain’s membership in the European Union, claiming it led to a loss of workers’ jobs. The other main capitalist parties seek to defend the British bosses’ interests through participation in the EU.

Grinding offensive on working class
While the government reports unemployment is falling, the figures reflect the mushrooming of part-time and casual (temporary) jobs, many paying minimum wage. Real wages have declined for seven straight years. At least 600,000 workers labor under “zero hours” contracts, meaning they have no guaranteed hours of work.

Growing stagnation in production and hiring in the eurozone is putting added pressure on U.K. employers and the government, fueling their grinding offensive against the working class.

Under these conditions many workers are looking for something new. Some look to UKIP, which increasingly presents itself as a populist, pro-working-class alternative.

“The radical tradition, which has stood and spoken for the working class, has found a new home in UKIP,” Reckless declared after his election victory. UKIP leader Nigel Farage has described the party as a “people’s army” that rails against the “establishment.”

UKIP spokesman Patrick O’Flynn says a “blend of big business and big government … is not a path to prosperity for most working people.” He calls for getting out of an “undemocratic European superstate,” tapping into workers’ widespread hatred of government bureaucracy, and says he puts the needs of those in Britain first.

UKIP now presents itself as a moderate party with conservative traditions. Many left-wing groups ignore this shift, presenting UKIP as an extreme right-wing party, rather than one of several pro-capitalist parties seeking backing from the propertied rulers.

Reckless made opposition to cuts in government health care a key plank in his program. Party leader Farage, who formerly advocated privatizing health care, now says he backs access to free health care through the National Health Service.

UKIP leaders echo many Conservative and Labour politicians in calling for a raise in the minimum wage.

UKIP shifts on immigration
Farage blames low wages on immigration, saying Britain is “the cheap labor economy of the European Union.” Part of UKIP’s call for the U.K. to get out of the EU is based on ending open immigration from the continent.

But in November Farage changed the party’s position that getting out of the EU would open the door to deporting immigrants. He attacked Reckless for campaigning on the old stand.

The U.K. rulers have taken advantage of substantial immigration from eastern Europe in the past decade to press forward their assault on wages. Farage aims to bring UKIP’s position more in line with the majority course of the capitalist class.

“I’ve always thought we should allow people to stay permanently,” Reckless said after Farage’s attack, adding it’s “the right thing to do by them” and “for our party in terms of how we want to look to the country.”

Both Labour and the Tories advocate restrictions on immigrant workers. Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron announced a four-year ban on immigrant workers gaining access to public housing.

The anti-immigrant course of the main capitalist parties is echoed by trade union leaders. In December the GMB union organized a protest at the NEXT warehouse in South Elmsall, following the company’s decision to hire workers from Poland before advertising them in the U.K.

“I like what UKIP says about immigration — if everyone is going to have an equal opportunity to apply for jobs, the government has to reduce the loopholes that allow companies to bring in cheap foreign labor,” Kam Wai Chan, a Malaysian-born factory worker in Manchester, told the Militant. “The scale of immigration is straining access to housing, benefits, health and education.”

“There’s no way I’d ever vote for UKIP, Farage is using the immigration issue,” said Anne Lewis, a retired assistant optician. “Look at the Syrian refugees trying to get into Italy. Europe should be helping these people, not sending them back.”  
 
 
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