Election platform of the “European Left”: Pious wishes and right-wing policies

In its founding manifesto of May 2004, the European Left made clear that it did not seek to oppose capitalism. Rather, it sought to encourage illusions in social reformism in order to head off the growth of class conflict.

In the manifesto, it celebrates the “original character of the European social model” as well as its political and cultural roots. The manifesto expressly dissociates itself from “the traditional path which in the 20th century brought great achievements but also great defeats and tragedies to the forces with a revolutionary inspiration.” Instead, the European Left strives for an “alternative radical, ecological and feminist left” to reform society.

The European Left platform for the current election does not oppose capitalism as a social system, but merely opposes capitalism in its “neoliberal, globalised” form. What has failed is “neoliberal globalisation, which serves to maximise the profits of the main players on the world-wide financial markets, and which evades any control or possibility of intervention by states.” As if there could be a capitalism without the maximisation of profit!