Far-right challenge and the left-democratic response in Europe

First published at CPI(ML) Liberation.

In April and May 2024, as the Indian people mounted a strong fightback against Hindutva/corporate rule of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), the political battle between the far-right and democratic forces entered a new phase in Europe.

In the elections to the European parliament held between June 6-9, far-Right parties made massive gains. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) in Germany, the National Rally (RN) in France and the ruling “Brothers of Italy” were standout performers. In France, the French President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist grouping received only 14.6% of the votes, finishing nearly 17 points behind Marine Le Pen's RN. In response, Macron dissolved the National Assembly and called for snap polls.

The first round of elections to the National Assembly held on June 30 placed the fascist RN as the emerging pole, as it won 38 of the 76 declared seats (the remaining 501 of the 577 seats went for the second round). The Left, fighting unitedly under the banner of the New Popular Front (NFP), finished second and the ruling centrist alliance Ensemble was pushed down to the third position.

Showing great alertness, tactical flexibility and political maturity, the NFP arrived at an electoral understanding with Ensemble to avoid any split in the anti-fascist vote in the second round. As a result, the NFP emerged as the biggest bloc with 188 seats followed by the centrist Ensemble alliance with 161 seats while the fascist RN got stuck in the third position with 142 seats. The fascist advance was temporarily stalled but with 125 seats the RN emerged as the single largest party in the National Assembly.

Elections were due in Britain as part of the usual 4-year cycle. The elections brought the Labour Party back to power after a prolonged Conservative Party rule that lasted for fourteen years. But a closer look will suggest that like France, neighbouring Britain is also dogged by the challenge of far-right resurgence. Although the Labour Party’s tally of seats went past 400 in a house of 650, in terms of votes, the Labour Party polled less votes this time than in the last two elections in 2017 and 2019.

A major reason is a massive drop in Conservative vote share and almost a matching rise in the vote share of the far-Right Reform party. Reform won five seats in the House of Commons, with a 14.3% share of the vote and its leader Nigel Farage, who had promised to send all immigrants back across the English Channel from their last point of departure, entered Parliament.

Crucially, under the current leadership of Keir Starmer, the Labour Party itself has taken a pronounced rightward turn, not just in economic policy but more crucially by competing with the Conservatives in adopting anti-migrant rhetoric, by expressing support for Israel’s war on Gaza and by refusing to back the global call for a permanent ceasefire.

Many leftwing erstwhile Labour voters voted for independent Left and pro-Palestine candidates and Green Party candidates in many places. In contrast, the NFP in France upheld the left agenda in terms of both economic and social policies as well as an internationalist foreign policy, especially in the context of Israel’s war on Gaza and Palestine.

Thus, while the far-right has made important inroads — both electoral and ideological — it has also been challenged by a resurgent Left within mainstream parties/alliances as well as outside them as independent democratic voices. These developments carry important messages for the Indian left, due to the structural similarities between right-wing parties in Europe and India, and because of the necessity of global Left-democratic solidarities in thwarting fascism’s global designs.

Immigration, neo-liberalism and right-wing populism in Europe

The question of immigration, more than any other issue, unites the far-right parties in Europe. Much like the Hindu nationalists in India, these parties stoke the fear of small numbers among the majority non-immigrant white population, and draw upon racist sentiments that date back to the heyday of colonialism to create an atmosphere of xenophobia and racism.

Rampant Islamophobia, and a clear identification with Western imperialism and Zionism, are other key ideological strands that far-right parties tend to share. They are resolutely together in defending Israel; ready to dismiss any criticism of Zionism as antisemitism. These parties consistently portrayed pro-Palestine NFP leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon as antisemitic, much like what the right-wing elements in Britain did to Jeremy Corbyn in the lead up to the 2019 general election.

The rise of the far-right in Europe is in tune with increasing authoritarian and non-democratic trends throughout the world. And the right has been building toward this moment over the past 15 years: right-wing parties have been steadily gaining influence in Europe since the AfD started in 2013, and Marine Le Pen of France took over leadership of the National Rally (formerly National Front) in 2011.

For decades after World War II, though right-wing parties existed they were quite fringe and were deeply associated with fascism and Nazism. Over the past decade, as the memories of the world war became more remote and Europe has faced multiple overlapping crises including the increasing rates of immigration, the economic crisis of 2008-09, and the Covid-19 pandemic, right-wing parties have steadily increased their presence. They have cleverly used these crises to normalize themselves and strengthen their hold over their societies.

The adoption of neo-liberal policies by centrist parties under the garb of a post-ideological politics in the 1990s played a major role in enabling the rise of the far-right. Let’s take the example of Germany. Areas with higher unemployment and lower education inhabited primarily by non-immigrant white communities have emerged as core support bases for the far-right. Increasing inequality and lack of trust in the government, coupled with the systematic delegitimization of left-wing critical discourse on neoliberalism, have obscured the reasons behind peoples’ miseries. Anti-establishment sentiments against the centrist forces have led to growing electoral support for the far-right.

In France, the National Rally has adopted a populist rhetoric on the economy to convert the discontent against Macron’s neoliberal policies into votes for themselves. Rhetorically, sometimes they sound even leftist, but in real terms they oppose indiscriminate globalization only so far as French corporates need protection. The RN promises to end the job crisis, not by strengthening the public sector but by throwing immigrants out of work and out of the country. Macron’s polices have led to job cuts, decrease in public sending, and reduction in social security especially pensions. In the midst of state-created artificial scarcity, and the resultant sharp competition for resources, the RN claims to protect the right of the ethnic French to the national resources over the rights of immigrants.

Macron not only adopted neoliberal polices but also used authoritarian measures such as banning protests, using state violence against dissenters and using constitutional tricks to push ahead with unpopular policies. At the same time, Macron and his allies went to great lengths to demonize the left. Thus, in multiple ways the centrists have enabled the shift towards the far-right.

While the centrist parties lean on the left and expect the left to do their best to hold off the far-right, they seem unwilling to let the left govern, or to even share power with the left. Even now, Macron is doing his level best to thwart the NFP leader Mélenchon from becoming the Prime Minister despite the fact that he is the acknowledged leader of the largest parliamentary block.

Emerging possibilities and challenges

The developments in Europe are of great significance to India. Indian fascism’s lineage intersects with that of the far-right in Europe. The early Hindu supremacists drew ideological inspiration from Italian fascism and German Nazism. Fast forward to the 21st century: a manufactured sense of “historical wound” inflicted on Hindus by Muslims, and a fear of loss of social and political power of the upper castes to the Dalit Bahujan Adivasi peoples are driving Hindu nationalism forward.

Despite its historical and geographical distinctiveness, Indian fascists and the European right-wing have a lot in common: majoritarian mindset, xenophobia, hatred, Islamophobia, authoritarian governance, and a violent and exclusionary cultural nationalism. Different degrees of cooperation with big corporations, and enmity with ideologies espousing socio-economic equality — especially leftist ideologies — also unite the Indian and European right.

These intersections are well-understood by the fascist forces. They have left no stone unturned to side with each other. The burgeoning friendship between Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni and the Indian Prime Minister is a case in point. Since Meloni’s visit to India in 2023, the bilateral relationship has been elevated to the level of strategic partnership in business and defense.

The Indo-Italian friendship is part of a global pattern of far-right/fascist cooperation based on business and defense at the cost of working-class interests. The Indo-Israeli friendship, for example, is evidently for the benefit of Indian corporations such as Adani, Ambani, Mahindra and Tata, who are set to profit from India’s economic tie-ups within the West Asia Quad consisting of America, Israel, India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This friendship puts the working classes at a great disadvantage, since the Indian government has offered Israel cheap labor in exchange for Israel’s participation in defense and economic partnerships.

Right-wing allies all over the world now consider Israel as the frontier zone of conflict between their majoritarian, authoritarian, and corporate models of nation-building on the one hand and pro-people anti-imperialist democratic currents on the other. They have all united in defending Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Under these circumstances, the fight against fascism in India cannot be won on the national plane alone. Indian fascism’s European, American and Zionist friends need to be exposed and fought, both in India and abroad. The myth of the Indian Prime Minister being a world leader needs to be destroyed. Indian democratic sections must find friends in other societies that are battling against right-wing politics. Fortunately, the current developments in Europe are likely to enable new solidarities between left-democratic ideologies.

The NFP’s rise to prominence in France not only as a core constituent of the democratic section but as its leader is a great sign. As are the victories of independent left candidates in Britain. These victories are incomplete, given a hugely compromised Labour Party’s rise to power in Britain, and the NFP shortfall of around 100 seats from the outright majority mark. Yet these victories indicate that ideologically powerful left-democratic forces can push back the right and also help reorient democracy towards justice, equality and pluralism. These victories tell us that grassroots mobilization and mass movements, and above all uncompromising leftist resistance, can win.