Capitalism is feeding the far right in East and West Europe

From Hungary to France, Europe’s far right is growing, driven by austerity, anti-communism, and support from liberal elites

Image via the Zetkin Forum

By Ana Vračar, People's Dispatch

“If capitalism doesn’t resolve the crisis, people might remember socialism,” reflected Gyula Thürmer of the Hungarian Workers’ Party during a discussion on the far right in Europe. He was speaking at the Fascism Back in Europe? conference, organized by the Zetkin Forum in Berlin from June 20-22. His comment encapsulated one of the lingering themes of the conference: how the economic crisis, corporate domination, and historical revisionism are fueling the rise of authoritarian and far-right forces across both Eastern and Western Europe.

In addition to Thürmer, speakers at the conference such as Vladimir Bortun, Jelena Đureinović, and Florian Nowicki traced how decades of austerity, deindustrialization, and the dominance of international capital have devastated working-class communities in Eastern Europe, creating fertile ground for nationalist, authoritarian politics.

These dynamics are compounded by pervasive anti-communism, encouraged at the EU level and implemented zealously by national liberal and conservative parties. From the glorification of the WWII-era fascist-aligned četnik groups in Serbia to bans on communist symbols in the Baltic states, the region has witnessed an extensive rewriting of history. This revisionism not only distorts the past but also attempts to delegitimize socialism as a viable alternative to capitalism in crisis, the conference agreed.

This alignment between liberal and right-wing forces – witnessed many other times – has allowed centrist parties to increasingly adopt authoritarian policies themselves. As Bortun noted in his intervention on Romania, all major parties, regardless of ideological branding, now represent exclusively corporate interests, with the main distinction being whether those interests are foreign or domestic. In Poland, Nowicki warned, liberal factions have gone even further, endorsing clearly fascistic security policies.

The far right’s Gramscian project in Europe

Yet, as participants pointed out, the shrinking distinction between liberals and the far right is not unique to the East. In another panel, speakers from Spain, Italy, France, and Germany highlighted similar developments in the West. Susann Witt-Stahl reflected on Germany’s own revisionism of fascism, while French researcher Marlène Rosato described how liberals, including President Emmanuel Macron, have steadily undermined democratic processes and repressed the left. This culminated in last year’s refusal to allow the progressive New Popular Front to form a government, despite its parliamentary victory. The outcome of this trend has been twofold: Macron’s own support has eroded, while the far-right National Rally has absorbed the disillusionment of some sectors, notably small business owners and employers.

Mònica Clua-Losada offered a broader regional diagnosis, arguing that the right across Europe is engaged in an essentially a Gramscian project strategy: reshaping the cultural and political landscape through think tanks and networks like the Atlas Network, bringing together far right political options and elites. She underscored how neoliberal ideology and social conservatism are increasingly fused, as seen also, in the migration patterns of Venezuela’s upper and middle classes, who are now increasingly choosing Spain over the US and importing their class interests and values. In response, Clua-Losada stressed that renewed grassroots organizing rooted in the material conditions of working people is the only viable response.

A concrete example of such organizing came from Salvatore Prinzi of Potere al Popolo, who analyzed the trajectory of Giorgia Meloni’s government in Italy. While Prinzi argued that Meloni’s administration might not match all criteria to be termed fascist, it nevertheless continues the neoliberal and authoritarian governance model of its predecessors: suppressing labor rights, criminalizing migrants, and, importantly, protecting elite interests. The difference now, he noted, is that Potere al Popolo is actively organizing in working-class communities, including among migrants in Naples, achieving not only material wins like salary increments, but, more importantly, rekindling collective agency.

The presence of migrant workers in these struggles has helped reenergize social movements disillusioned by decades of austerity and defeat. Prinzi suggested that, through similar efforts, Italy and Europe could eventually build the foundation for a true mass workers’ party capable of mounting a systemic challenge to the existing order.

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