Challenges for the struggle against austerity in Britain and Europe

This chapter analyses several challenges for the struggle against austerity, with an empirical focus on trends in Britain and Europe. It begins by sketching the descent from the historic class compromise of social democracy, highlighting the rise of inequality in the neoliberal period and illuminating the underlying tension between capitalism and democracy. It then turns to explore the roots of populist reaction, focussing on the venting of grievances and the projection of fears onto the so-called feral underclass, and emphasising the resurgent salience of xenophobia in the context of the Orwellian war on terror. It concludes by stressing both the difficulties with and the urgency of forging an emancipatory alternative to the tyranny and barbarism, indeed the defeat for humanity, caused by the victory of unfettered global capitalism.