This historic crisis of European capitalism expresses itself most graphically in the existential crisis of the European Union. Set up in order to overcome the natural limits of the bourgeois nation state, the “European Project” now has gone into reverse, with protectionist and nationalist tendencies gaining ground in every European country.

All of the driving factors which had hitherto pushed European integration forward have now turned into their opposite. The Single Market, free movement and the single currency, which in the past had brought great profits for the capitalists of Europe, have now become a gigantic fetter which threatens to drag all European nations into a seemingly never-ending crisis. All of the old divisions have re-emerged with renewed force.

In this context, the result of the recent referendum on EU-membership in the UK has sent shockwaves across Europe and the world. The decision to leave the EU, with of 52% of the vote, was a shattering blow to the stability and confidence of the EU and its institutions. Now, the prospect of the further referenda in other member states and even founding members has been raised.

This throws up a number of questions for Marxists, not just in terms of our perspectives for the class struggle in Europe, but also theoretical questions on the nature of the EU and the attitude of Marxists to the idea of European integration. It has never been more important to re-visit these questions from the standpoint of Marxist theory as it is with these ideas alone that we can orientate ourselves in the heavy political squalls to come.