Brexit Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

The Right Left for Europe

The UK's Brexit referendum made clear that many leftists believe that reviving progressive politics requires exiting an incorrigibly neoliberal EU. But anyone who thinks the EU's disintegration will help achieve goals like greater social protection and solidarity with refugees is badly mistaken.

ATHENS – The United Kingdom’s referendum on whether to leave the European Union created odd bedfellows – and some odder adversaries. As Tory turned mercilessly against Tory, the schism in the Conservative establishment received much attention. But a parallel (thankfully more civilized) split afflicted my side: the left.

Having campaigned against “Leave” for several months in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland, it was inevitable that I faced criticism from left-wing supporters of “Brexit,” or “Lexit” as it came to be known.

Lexiteers reject the call issued by DiEM25 (the radical Democracy in Europe Movement, launched in Berlin in February) for a pan-European movement to change the EU from within. They believe that reviving progressive politics requires exiting an incorrigibly neoliberal EU. The left needed the resulting debate.

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