[PEN-L:28322] End to European Coal and Steel Community

[Chris Burford <cburford@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Yesterday a ceremony marked the end of the European Coal and Steel
Community. This no doubt acknowledged the triumph of the ideas of its
founders, including the non-Leninist socialist Jean Monnet and the French
Christian democrat Robert Schuman.  It is an example of a progressive
reform within the capitalist system, that has made war between the former
European empires of France and Germany impossible, and has gone on to the
European Common Market, the European Community, and the  Eurozone, which
now challenges the dollar for hegemony of the world economy.

This remarkable success within a short space of human history, has been of
benefit to the working people of Europe, and of the world, not withstanding
the imperialist nature of the new EU. Perhaps it was also a by-product of
the strength of the communist movement in western Europe and the need for
capitalism to show a more peaceful and progressive face. It is a triumph of
the vision of people like Jean Monnet that markets should be regulated and
answerable to the democratic will of the people, and that negotiation and
cooperation between capitalist enterprises under this degree of social
foresight is progressive.

Chris Burford

London