Is the far-right really getting more powerful?

[Wonton Carter]

Or are we just noticing them more?

On a similar topic, is the far-left getting weaker, or are we just thinking that?

[exeexe]

What is the criteria for this question?
Are you talking about numbers of people?
Or number of people in physical shape?
Or number of guns?
Or having saved up a lot of capital which could prevent a general strike from succeeding?

[Red Economist]

In the UK, the election results of the far-right have increased over the past few elections. I'm using UKIP and the BNP as illustrative, as they are the most instantly recognisable far-right parties in the UK (though it's debatable whether UKIP is 'far-right' because we normally associate that with Fascism, it's more like a UK anti-Europe Neo-liberals).

2010:
United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP): 919,471 (3.1% of votes cast)
British National Party (BNP): 564,321 (1.9%)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_general_election,_2010

2005:
UKIP: 605,973 (2.2%)
BNP: 192,745 (0.7%)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_general_election,_2005

2001:
UKIP: 390,563 (1.5%)
BNP: 47,129 (0.2%)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_general_election,_2001

1997:
UKIP: 105,722 (0.3%)
BNP; 35,832 (0.1%)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_general_election,_1997

In electoral terms, the far-left is just too fragmented and marginalised to really bother writing it up, but their best showing was in 2001 (though still poor by anyone's standards with Scottish Socialist, Socialist Alliance and Socialist Labour getting a combined 187,357 votes- I have no idea how 'far-left' these parties are though).

[FSL]

The far-right is getting stronger because it's needed. As almost every country is going though some sort of crisis they need to cut wages, reduce rights and so on. With unemployment this high, there is an over abundance of poor people ready to work for pennies, so it's easier to attack those living on wellfare or immigrants and say they're nothing more than a burden.

Generally, as capitalism matures and more wealth is concentrated in fewer people, it's only reasonable that capitalist politics will get more reactionary.
Even the simultaneous wars in Libya, Syria, the Central African Republic, Ukraine are the result of capitalist powers trying to redistribute the markets.

Far right gaining isn't something happening randomly. It might be by chance if it starts losing ground for a while. But as long as capitalism is demanding it, far-right politics will become more and more mainstream.

[erupt]

First, I'd like to say that election statistics aren't a very good way of gauging followers of either "far" side of the spectrum; some on the far-right don't vote in these elections, and most on the far-left refuse to participate, as well.

I'd check party membership numbers and social organization stats/numbers (as well as elections, etc.) and cross-reference them to get a little better idea of who stands where.

As far as polarized politics ("far-right" and "far-left") goes, they seem to both be growing.

However, I wouldn't have claimed the Left had anything positive to look forward to if the fast-food worker's $15 minimum wage movement didn't become international. For us Leftists, that sign of vitality and solidarity is something to celebrate and cherish since it's been quite some time that anything similar existed, even if it doesn't appear as important as one may think.

The growth of the far-right side of the spectrum, however, is nothing to be happy about. It appears to be growing at a much higher rate than anything on the left side of the spectrum. Boko Haram's increased activity in Nigeria and the bordering nations, drug cartels and landowners both pushing their weight around in Mexico, "self-defense units" being established in Ukraine over both capital and geopolitics (among plenty of other things), etc.

The far-right, in it's many forms, is getting larger. The far-left can appropriate some of these people who are swelling the numbers of the far-right, but it must be done before they are indoctrinated. If this can happen, the far-left will grow at an even greater rate.

In other words, the Left needs to concentrate on educating the masses as well as those already educated through some other social institution.

I can't see how the national and international worker's movements can stay at this low tide for this long.

[reedwolf]

Sadly many people still believe in individualism and nationalism, which are really a bottleneck for leftist governments and many far-rightist abuse this belief. Some post-communist states are becoming more nationalisitic... given their past it's no surprise - people do not want to make the same mistakes again and the capitalist and rightist propaganda does not help either. And in these countries the left is just inconsistent at best. In Hungary , for example, most of the eldery used to vote for MSZP, the biggest leftist party in Hungary, which was around even in the "socialist" times (of course as a Communist party in a One-party system). Later on younger people started voting for Rightist parties, which was a minority for a while, then after atrocious mistakes from the Government led to the rise of Fidesz, a "Conservative" party. Currently people don't seem to realise that most of the country's advancements are funded from EU sources, but they are still hating on the EU for apparently no reason - only the current government provokes the people against it.

[Max]

Here in the US, radical conservative organizations, such as the tea party, are growing. The US is becoming more conservative because many people think that Obama is a communist. Anyone who knows anything about communism knows that he is not, but the far right oligarchs are spreading lies about communism.

[RedHal]

India just elected Right Wing Hindu Nationalist, Narendra Modi and the BJP to lead the country. The BJP are the political wing of the paramilitary organisation of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). RSS is openly fascist who looks to Mussolini and Hitler for inspiration. Modi was chief minister of Gujaret during anti muslim massacres. Nick Griffin and the BNP are puppies compared to Modi and the BJP.

[Dagoth Ur]

The people are getting angry everywhere. Unfortunately for us the fall of the USSR was a massive psychological blow that the international left still hasn't recovered from (and this extends to you anti-soviet leftists regardless of your position which is why you aren't popular either). Coupled with unmitigated pro-capitalist propaganda for almost thirty years now there really isn't any avenue for worker's rage that seems viable other than far-right positions.

Shit all the major bourgeoisie parties have been moving steadily right since the fall of the USSR. Reagan would be a moderate democrat these days. Thatcher a Labourite. It's a little bit insane the world we live in compared to even the 80's.

Thankfully[?] for us this is a great big car crash waiting to happen. Kiev fascists are a good example of things to come as the right resurges. Communists are going to be validated by our enemies very soon I feel like.

[Dagoth Ur]

delete

[Left Voice]

If the polls for the upcoming European elections are accurate, the far right would appear to be growing rapidly.

The UK Independence Party in the UK are expected to get 25% of the vote in the UK for the upcoming European elections, and also displacing the Liberal Democrats as the third biggest political party in the UK.

This should rightly concern us, though there's a whole host of explanations for this. They have successfully managed to sap support away from their rivals, with the BNP bleeding members to Ukip, as have the right wing of the Conservative Party. There has been a concerning growth of minor far right parties in the UK (such as Britain First, which alarmingly has 330,000 followers on Facebook), but most of these groups encourage their members to vote Ukip. It seems that the far right is largely organising themselves around Ukip.

More worryingly, it is becoming increasingly socially acceptable to vote for Ukip in the UK. They have successfully managed to portray themselves as an anti-establishment party, not one of the Westminster lot, resulting in a lot of support from people disillusioned with politics. At the same time, they have capitalised on the hatred for immigrants, benefit claimants and generally the weakest in society that the major parties (the conservatives and Labour) have themselves fanned up. Both major political parties have placed the immigration card in an attempt to shore up the Middle Englander vote, and this has backfired rapidly as these same people are perceiving Ukip as more credible on these (invented) issues.

We are right to be concerned.

[Wonton Carter]

Oh goody.

[Left Voice]

Check out the amount of followers. This is a minor far right party in the UK, nowhere near as established as Ukip and the BNP.

https://www.facebook.com/britainfirstgb?fref=ts

Good luck finding a far left group with even a tenth of the amount of followers. It is genuinely scary that 330,000 people apparently subscribe to the hateful bile that these racists spout.

[exeexe]

So the far right is getting stronger because Nigel Farage gets a lot of votes? No. Nigel Farage is just popular because he criticize the EU:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdoMssKv38o&feature=related
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1rfNlJMsFw&feature=related

And i would suspect its the same with other far right movements in other countries.. (except in countries like Greece and such as)

[Dagoth Ur]

Right Sector, Golden Dawn, Jobbik, Le Pen, etc are all doing far better than before. UKIP doesn't even really count as far-right, more like right-wing liberal. Oh and what about that riot of Polish ultranationalists last independence day? The far right is definitely on the the scene in a way it hasn't been since before WW2.

[MarcusJuniusBrutus]

The super rich are getting even super richer, increasing their power and influence over governance. It is definitely getting worse. :(

[Left Voice]

UKIP doesn't even really count as far-right, more like right-wing liberal.
That may be true to an extent, but they are also serving as a party that the far right and fascists in the UK are uniting around. Pretty much every far right party in the UK is encouraging their members to vote for UKIP - Britain First are supporting UKIP despite also fielding their own candidates, to the extent that that members are serving as voluntary bodyguards for UKIP events.

And of course, there are plenty of genuine fascists and racists within UKIP itself, regardless of how much Nigel Farage is trying to promote the party as merely right-wing populist.

[Left Voice]

Rise of the far right confirmed.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/may/26/ukip-european-elections-political-earthquake

[Црвена]

Definitely in Europe. The fascists are taking over the European Parliament. I'm scared!

[Terror]

I think it would be more or less true to say that fascism has had a renaissance in Europe. It's noticeable that they've gotten more confident since the rise of Golden Dawn in Greece, and even more so after the latest developments in Ukraine. Coupled with the electoral successes of far-right and fascist parties all over Europe, this has contributed to the normalization of ethnic nationalism in mainstream politics, which of course is quite worrying. Fascist parties are more and more often presented as "a party amongst others" by the media, even though they want to abolish the liberal-democratic system as soon as they get the chance.

[ProletariatPower]

These last EU election results have not been looking good at all, and what's worse, here in the UK people have idiotically turned to UKIP as a result of the economic situation I suppose. It's even worse in France though, with Nationalists taking power.

[Rottenfruit]

the far right is gaining because people are pissed off at centrism and the left has been a miserable failure in the last decades so that leaves the far right the only one left to pick from.

[Rottenfruit]

If the polls for the upcoming European elections are accurate, the far right would appear to be growing rapidly.

The UK Independence Party in the UK are expected to get 25% of the vote in the UK for the upcoming European elections, and also displacing the Liberal Democrats as the third biggest political party in the UK.

This should rightly concern us, though there's a whole host of explanations for this. They have successfully managed to sap support away from their rivals, with the BNP bleeding members to Ukip, as have the right wing of the Conservative Party. There has been a concerning growth of minor far right parties in the UK (such as Britain First, which alarmingly has 330,000 followers on Facebook), but most of these groups encourage their members to vote Ukip. It seems that the far right is largely organising themselves around Ukip.

More worryingly, it is becoming increasingly socially acceptable to vote for Ukip in the UK. They have successfully managed to portray themselves as an anti-establishment party, not one of the Westminster lot, resulting in a lot of support from people disillusioned with politics. At the same time, they have capitalised on the hatred for immigrants, benefit claimants and generally the weakest in society that the major parties (the conservatives and Labour) have themselves fanned up. Both major political parties have placed the immigration card in an attempt to shore up the Middle Englander vote, and this has backfired rapidly as these same people are perceiving Ukip as more credible on these (invented) issues.

We are right to be concerned.
oh ukip did better then that, they won :glare:

[Left Voice]

At 28%, they only did 3% better than estimates. They did indeed win though, which is reason enough to worry.

[RedRev]

Also, it seems that tendencies such as National Bolshevism are getting somewhat more popular

[Rafiq]

The masses turn to fascism because it is the logical conclusion of the ideology enforced by the state apparatus, once this loses cosmetic legitimacy, the underlying ideological presumptions of bourgeois ideology are still conveyed and accepted, organically stepping into a mutation like fascism. Essentially, it is a complicated backup plan for capital - or the existing order of things to survive.

The magnitude of their support is directly correlated with the failure of the Communists to establish legitimacy, in other words to present an ideological universe that has a place in current circumstances, and though this may be a distinctly severe problem today, it is a problem that has existed since the failure of the October revolution. It is much easier for the masses to turn to reaction, because the same ruling ideology which veils itself under the guise of progressive liberalism, at the same time establishes the nature of its own enemy (fascism) in a way that renders this villain a real, and viable choice.

[Sinister Intents]

In my area there is a large conservative populace, with very few leftists and very few liberals. In my area everything is pretty much stagnant and I don't know of other areas. So, there really is no difference here I don't think, other areas I'm not sure of at all :unsure:

[Comrade Jacob]

Yes but so is the far-left...I hope.

[Comrade Jacob]

the far right is gaining because people are pissed off at centrism and the left has been a miserable failure in the last decades so that leaves the far right the only one left to pick from.

They are not old enough to remember the 1st half of the 20th century only the 2nd. Shame.