Anti-Imperialist Action: The Mask of Democracy is Slipping in Denmark – BOYCOTT THE ELECTION
We hereby share an unofficial translation of a statement published by Røde Fane on the 24th of March.
Proletarians of all countries, unite!
The Mask of Democracy is Slipping in Denmark – BOYCOTT THE ELECTION
The capitalist ruling class in Denmark is in the midst of a deep crisis. It is fighting hard to secure a favorable position within the EU, which is attempting to establish itself as an increasingly independent imperialist bloc from the United States. Danish imperialism is a “minor imperialist power” within the EU and exists in the shadow of France and Germany. It must constantly exert itself extra hard to avoid being completely dominated.
In a rapidly rearming EU, this means that Danish imperialism needs to engage in massive rearmament and militarization. However, the Danish State’s current economy cannot sustain this militarization while simultaneously maintaining the Danish welfare systems. In order to implement the necessary cuts to welfare, it is necessary to pacify the working class’s resistance. This pacification rests on two pillars: control over the labor movement and the reactionarization of society. Here, the “centrist government” was absolutely necessary. Through the participation of the Liberal Party and the Moderates, it could secure the confidence of Danish capital and pursue a strongly liberal political line of military buildup, the erosion of democratic rights, and the dismantling of the welfare state, while at the same time ensuring, through the Social Democrats, the total pacification of the labor movement.
The problem is that this very anti-popular, reactionary policy—which is absolutely essential to Danish imperialism—has decimated the ruling parties’ popularity among voters to such an extent that it has now become impossible to form a government after the election. In an attempt to stem the loss of votes, the Liberal Party and the Social Democrats have declared the project of a “centrist government” over and have sought to return “to the wings.” With this, the possibility of forming a new “centrist government” after the election is incredibly slim. There are thus two realistic government formations left: a “blue” openly reactionary government, or a “red” covertly reactionary government. Here, the bourgeois parties in Denmark—from the Citizens’ Party all the way to the Red-Green Alliance—find themselves in a very unstable and precarious situation.
The prospects for forming a new, effective government are crumbling before their very eyes. A government with the necessary popular support, the confidence of capital, internal stability, and the maneuverability required to continue the enforcement of the all-encompassing attack against the people and the working class—the reactionarization and militarization of society—is disappearing with the “government of the center.” A “blue” government would have to carry out a more forceful reactionary transformation of society in order to withstand a more militant labor movement, and a “red” government’s reactionary policies would be fully exposed to the working class, and its credibility would crumble, and result in the beginning of the formation of a more militant labor movement independent of the parliamentary “red” parties.
No matter what government is formed, and no matter how many empty promises are made, the interests of the capitalist class are clear: military buildup and reactionary policies. There is no party in parliament that openly opposes the buildup. It was the same desire to rearm and prepare Denmark’s participation in new imperialist wars of plunder that led to the formation of the SVM government and the abolition of Great Prayer Day. The new government will certainly continue its attacks on the working class in the “defense of Fortress Europe.”
The imperialists are completely incapable of stabilizing their crisis, and every attempt they make only deepens and exacerbates the crisis. The “centrist government” was one such attempt at stabilization, and has only led to the dissolution of the “centrist government” as a viable tool, and thus the creation of an even deeper crisis. Every course of action available to imperialism leaves the system in a worse situation than before. The time has long since come for the working class to take action, organize itself into independent class organizations, and use the crisis of capitalism to raise the revolutionary struggle against it. This struggle begins by intensifying the militant class struggle and breaking with the illusion that salvation lies in the electoral promises of the “red” bourgeois reformist parties. The revolutionary movement must work to build a broad boycott movement to gradually weaken the legitimizing effect of parliamentary elections through a low voter turnout.
GIVE THE IMPERIALISTS NO BREATHING ROOM!
ORGANIZE NEW INDEPENDENT PROLETARIAN STRUGGLE ORGANIZATIONS!
BOYCOTT THE IMPERIALIST ELECTIONS!
