Fear is, they say, wisdom in the face of danger. And in the final push countdown to the EU referendum, the British left should have good cause to be afraid. Poll after poll is now putting Leave in front, with a lead of up to ten points. Ukip’s political programme – until recently a pipe dream – is on the brink of becoming a reality, leaving the right wing of the Tory Party with the keys to Downing Street, unencumbered by pesky “red tape” (read: workers’ rights and environmental legislation) and with an explicit mandate to radically curtail immigration.
If Britain comes out on 23 June, a small portion of the left will cheer it on. Some are just on another planet, campaigning in a referendum that exists only in their own heads – in which Brexit will form part of a pushback against austerity. For others the calculation is that, yes, the right will benefit, and yes, migrants and workers will suffer – but it’s worth it in order to offer an abstract protest against the status quo and for some vague hope of destabilising David Cameron’s government. At best, this logic is wishful thinking. At worst, it is a cynical, almost accelerationist, attempt to leverage poverty and exploitation.
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