The Party for Freedom ( PVV ) is a relative new party in the Netherlands. Founded in 2006 it has only one member and that is Geert Wilders. The party has no members and no democratic structure. There are no congresses and all political decisions are made by Wilders alone. Some who worked for the PVV wanted a democratic structure, but Wilders removed these people from HIS party. Because that is the PVV, it is his party. Geert Wilders is the only leader and party member!
Front National is different in both structure and ideology. While Wilders and his PVV are mostly conservative and anti-Islam, Front National was also very anti-semitic. Jean Marrie Le Pen was convicted of racism and sentenced twice by the French courts. When he was younger, Le Pen joined an anticommunist gang who attacked members of the French Communist Party. He supported the killing commando's in Algeria and remains a die hard French nationalist!
After 1992, the European Union became the new enemy of Front National. Although the party used to be pro-capitalist in the days of the Cold War, Jean Marrie Le Pen turned from free market capitalism to protectionist capitalism. In the last 23 years the FN says it wants to protect French capitalists against cheap products. Also the party hates foreing immigrants who they claim ´´steal´´ French jobs. In reality it is the French ruling class who abandon the working class. The same class that Front National is very supportive of!
Geert Wilders is also a supporter of capitalism. But he hides this under right-wing populism. Wilders claims that he stands alone against the power of the ´´leftist´´ political elite and ´´leftist´´ media. By blaming the left-wing for the failures of capitalism, many Dutch felt he was their man. Since the Netherlands lacks a genuine workers party, the political left had no answers for Wilders. Most leftist parties in the Netherlands have turned massively to the right-wing and support now pro-capitalist politics. Also the social democrats and greens are the ones called elitist and this is true. Most social democrats and green politicians live on a luxurious salary of 106.000 euro a year, while many Dutch are struggling with rising rents, higher taxes and massive job loses.
Now the PVV and FN are working together. A Zionist party and a party that opposed Zionism and Jews in the past. Marine Le Pen might have changed the FN, but its legacy of a right-wing nationalist antisemitic party is not lost. The Danish People's Party remembers this and is not happy with the new friendship between Le Pen and Wilders. The Danish nationalists are also ideological friends of the PVV, but they choose to support Israel and they hate nationalists with a fascist antisemitic agenda. Front National and the Danish People's Party are not friends although both are right-wing nationalist!
Revolutionary socialists oppose both Wilders and Le Pen. The only reason they gain support is because the left-wing is not providing a socialist alternative. Leftists in Europe are either social democratic, moderate socialist or old style Stalinist. There are very few revolutionary socialist parties in Europe. This is why the left-wing does not have the alternatives, because most European leftists are limited to a ideology of more state and less market. Some call for a ´´social Europa´´, others like the Dutch; Socialist Party want more power for national governments. But almost no major left-wing party in Europa calls for a socialist revolution and a democratic planned economy. Only the few revolutionary socialist parties of the Committee for a Workers International voice this.
Marine Le Pen on a tour of the Dutch parliament
Geert Wilders is her tour guide!
