Scottish delegates were pleased to attend the European Forum of left, green and progressive parties and organisations in Budapest earlier this month.
Representing two separate organisations which enjoy positive relationships with each other - Democratic Left Scotland and Socialists for Independence – participants from Dumfries, Edinburgh and Glasgow shared conversations with friends and comrades from across the continent: Norwegian and Austrian communists, Hungarian social democrats, young Greens from the Baltic countries, and left-wingers who campaign for the independence of Catalonia and of the Basque Country.
The main business of the forum developed through a series of sessions which generated a shared declaration of policies and ambitions. This statement uses the shared language of European categories which mainstream politics in England seems now increasingly detached from, but which still informs the discussions and initiatives which progressive activists in Scotland continue to sustain and need to develop further.
As with any large and multi-session event, the quality and relevance of the speeches and sessions varied greatly. A small number of inputs felt wearingly predictable: did we really need a ten-minute speech in the main hall simply to suggest that housing is an important issue which progressive political activists should address? Others were tiresomely sectarian: old slogans might provide some comfort to some comrades (old and young), but clinging to the wreckage is no way to rebuild the ship.
For the most part, though, discussion was stimulating and thoughtful, including in the session directly addressing Scottish issues, where David Green (Socialists for Independence) spoke alongside Mercedes Vidal (Co-coordinator of Esquerra Unida i Alternativa) and Ander Larunbe, (EH Bildu International Department).
During a series of sessions on the urgent theme of countering the far-right, Attila Mesterházy, who is President of the Hungarian Socialists and Democrats, shared some difficult truths. He suggested that it is possible to consider the various efforts made to counter the right-wing extremists and populists into three broad categories: attempting to establish a cordon sanitaire (no engagement, keep them at arm’s length); confrontation and direct opposition (including through street demonstrations); and efforts to undercut their support through incorporating some of their concerns in different ways into mainstream or intentionally progressive politics (as with many social democratic governments, including Starmer’s, and also in the electoral campaigns of the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance in Germany). Our problem, stated Atilla, is that is not yet clear which of these approaches, or which combination, will be effective.
Some delegates to the event shared accounts of campaigning and interventions which point the way to some optimism, even in times which often feel relentlessly challenging. One example: trade unionist Vanya Grigorova ran as a mayoral candidate for Sofia in 2023, backed by a coalition of left-wing parties including the Bulgarian Socialist Party, and made effective use of social media, short films and cultural activities. Against all expectations, and in a city whose voters have been routinely categorised as ‘conservative’ and right-leaning over the recent years, she came a very close second, and certainly shifted popular conceptions of what political options are available to voters in the Bulgarian capital.
Reflections by Mike Makin-Waite, published 20 November 2024