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Reading guide Marxism and the European Union

Marxist Theory · 2026-05-13

Core Argument

This reading guide argues that the European Union is not a progressive or neutral institution but a specifically capitalist project — an attempt by European capital to overcome the limits of the nation-state through supranational integration. The central claim is that the EU has now exhausted its progressive historical role. The very mechanisms that once served European capital — the Single Market, free movement, the single currency — have become fetters on accumulation, driving the continent into a prolonged crisis. The 2016 Brexit referendum is presented not as an isolated event but as the most dramatic symptom of a generalised reversal of the integration process, with protectionist and nationalist tendencies gaining ground across all member states. The guide insists that Marxists must oppose both the EU as a capitalist institution and the nationalist response to its crisis, counterposing instead the demand for a Socialist United States of Europe.

Theoretical Grounding

The analysis draws on several interconnected Marxist traditions. The foundational theoretical reference is Lenin's Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, which provides the framework for understanding the EU as an expression of monopoly capitalism and finance capital's drive to transcend national boundaries. The guide also relies heavily on Marx's and Engels's treatment of free trade, particularly Marx's 1848 speech which establishes the independent class position: the working class must reject both free trade and protectionism as bourgeois alternatives, supporting free trade only insofar as it accelerates the development of capitalist contradictions and thereby hastens revolution.

The most important theoretical thread is the slogan of a "Socialist United States of Europe," traced from Lenin's 1915 article — where he declares that "a United States of Europe, under capitalism, is either impossible or reactionary" — through Trotsky's The Programme of Peace and his 1923 Pravda article, to Ted Grant's 1944 draft document. This lineage establishes that the democratic unification of Europe can only be achieved through proletarian revolution, and that the demand for a United States of Europe must be inseparably linked to the demand for a workers' government.

The guide also implicitly draws on the Marxist theory of the state, treating the EU as a political institution that manages the contradictions of European capitalism rather than transcending them. The concept of the "national question" is central: the guide follows the Marxist tradition that national self-determination is a democratic demand that can only be fully realised under socialism, and that capitalist integration necessarily subordinates smaller nations to the dominant imperialist powers.

Conjunctural Relevance

The guide was published in July 2016, immediately after the UK's Brexit referendum, which it treats as a "shattering blow to the stability and confidence of the EU and its institutions." The analysis situates Brexit within the broader European debt crisis that began in 2009, arguing that this crisis marks "a decisive turning point in the history of European capitalism." The guide identifies three interconnected dimensions of the conjuncture: the economic crisis of the eurozone, the migrant crisis (described as "Fortress Europe under siege"), and the political crisis of EU institutions.

The guide's conjunctural analysis is notable for its predictive confidence. It argues that the contradictions that once drove integration have now reversed: the Single Market and single currency, which previously generated profits for European capital, have become "a gigantic fetter" dragging all European nations into permanent crisis. It raises the prospect of further referenda in other member states, including founding members. The guide also identifies the re-emergence of old divisions — national, economic, and geopolitical — that European integration was supposed to have overcome.

The specific data points are limited, as this is a reading guide rather than an empirical analysis, but the conjunctural framing is clear: the post-2009 period represents the terminal crisis of the EU as a capitalist project, and the working class must prepare for the political turbulence that will follow.

Where the Argument Continues

This reading guide is explicitly a gateway text, directing readers to a broader corpus. The argument continues in several directions:

  • The crisis in Europe series (Josh Holroyd, 2016): Three articles covering the European economy, the migrant crisis, and the future of European integration under capitalism. These provide the empirical substance that the guide only sketches.

  • Ted Grant's texts from the 1970s: Socialist Answer to the EEC and Capitalist Common Market – No! For a Socialist United States of Europe apply the Leninist-Trotskyist framework to the specific question of UK accession to the Common Market, establishing the tradition's position on the EU.

  • Alan Woods's 1997 text: A Socialist Alternative to the European Union traces the contradictions of the EU as it prepared for monetary union and correctly predicted its eventual breakdown.

  • The classical texts: Lenin's Imperialism, Marx's On the Question of Free Trade, and Trotsky's The Programme of Peace provide the theoretical foundations that the guide only summarises.

The argument is also continued in IDOM's ongoing coverage of European politics, particularly around subsequent crises (the Greek debt crisis, the rise of the far right, the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on the EU, and the Ukraine war's effect on European energy and security policy). The guide does not develop a detailed strategy for building the demand for a Socialist United States of Europe in the current period — this remains an open question for the tradition.

Connections

This text should be read alongside:

  • Lenin, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism: The theoretical framework for understanding the EU as an expression of finance capital and monopoly capitalism.

  • Lenin, "On the Slogan for a United States of Europe" (1915): The original formulation of the slogan and the argument that a United States of Europe under capitalism is "either impossible or reactionary."

  • Trotsky, The Programme of Peace and "Is the Time Ripe for the Slogan: 'The United States of Europe'?" (1923): The development of the slogan in the context of the revolutionary wave and the Soviet Union.

  • Ted Grant, The National Question [in Europe] (1944): The application of the slogan to the post-war settlement and the question of national self-determination.

  • Marx, "On the Question of Free Trade" (1848): The foundational text on the independent working-class position on free trade versus protectionism.

  • Alan Woods, A Socialist Alternative to the European Union (1997): The most recent major theoretical statement from the tradition on the EU before the 2009 crisis.

The guide also connects to the broader Marxist debate on European integration, particularly the positions of the International Marxist Tendency (now the RCI) against both the pro-EU left (which sees the EU as a progressive force) and the nationalist left (which counterposes national sovereignty to European integration).

Key Quotes

  1. "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."

  2. "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."

  3. "It is not possible to have an independent class position without [the slogan of a Socialist United States of Europe]."

  4. "A United States of Europe, under capitalism, is either impossible or reactionary." (Lenin, quoted approvingly)

  5. "One may declare oneself an enemy of the constitutional regime without declaring oneself a friend of the ancient regime." (Marx, quoted approvingly, establishing the logic of rejecting both EU and nationalist alternatives)

  6. "The democratic unification of Europe can only be achieved by revolutionary means, which would in turn 'transfer the power only to the proletariat'." (Trotsky, paraphrased)