Rechtstendenzen in der Arbeiterschaft und die Notwendigkeit der sozialen Transformation

The article discusses two explanations for the rise of right-wing (xenophobic and nationalist) allegiances of workers in various European countries and the USA and considers the consequences of those explanations for urgently needed social transformations. The first explanation refers to the “imperial mode of living” at the expense of the global South in which the working classes are also entangled, and which is expressed in the rejection of refugees and migrants. The second explanation refers to the symbolic and political “marginalisation of the working class” particularly since the 1970s. According to this argument, workers support the nationalist right in order to bring to bear their interests that have been blocked out of the public sphere. In the light of these arguments, the article explores the question whether there might be a chance to forge new alliances that are able to promote the urgently needed social transformation in the direction of a more egalitarian and open society – far from nationalism and xenophobia – and even to address the pressing issues of global social exploitation and ecological devastation.