this is an alternative view from members of the socialist alliance who aren't going to be jumping on the british nationalist bandwagon when it comes to the euro referendum........we won't save the pound

in brief first, then the entire motion:
"To call for a "yes" vote would be an endorsement of the specific mechanics of this particular single European currency, with the unelected European Central Bank running it on neo-liberal criteria.

To call for a "No" vote would imply that the Socialist Alliance prefers the pound to the Euro, since this will be the concrete question around which the referendum is called. Clearly we do not have a preference between two types of capitalist currency. Worse, calling for a "No" vote would associate the Socialist Alliance with the dominant forces in the "No" camp" - the reactionary nationalists and "Little Englanders", from the Tories to the fascists.

We call on workers to spoil their ballot papers in the referendum, writing "Workers' Europe" or "Socialist Europe" across those papers.This campaign will seek to mobilise workers to fight for a Socialist United States of Europe and against the effects of capitalist globalisation. In or out of the Euro, the bosses will attack services, benefits, wages and conditions."

sounds like a lot of sense to me,........

Motion on the euro for Socialist Alliance special conference

The Socialist Alliance reaffirms our position as stated in our
manifesto, "People before Profit":
"We stand for workers' and socialist unity across Europe. For a
democratic and federal Europe based on solidarity and co-operation.
Against the Europe of the bosses, the unelected European Central
Bank, and the creation of 'Fortress Europe' as a bastion of racism
and exploitation. Against British nationalism and the re-raising of
barriers between nations in Europe. No to the monetarist criteria for
European Monetary Union - we neither advocate the euro nor defend the
pound".
We call on workers to spoil their ballot papers in the referendum,
writing "Workers' Europe" or "Socialist Europe" across those papers.
This campaign will seek to mobilise workers to fight for a Socialist
United States of Europe and against the effects of capitalist
globalisation. In or out of the Euro, the bosses will attack
services, benefits, wages and conditions.
To call for a "yes" vote would be an endorsement of the specific
mechanics of this particular single European currency, with the
unelected European Central Bank running it on neo-liberal criteria.
We do not wish to side with that section of the British bourgeoisie
which prioritises links with Europe against that section which
prioritises links with the USA.
To call for a "No" vote would imply that the Socialist Alliance
prefers the pound to the Euro, since this will be the concrete
question around which the referendum is called. Clearly we do not
have a preference between two types of capitalist currency.
Worse, calling for a "No" vote would associate the Socialist Alliance
with the dominant forces in the "No" camp" - the reactionary
nationalists and "Little Englanders", from the Tories to the fascists.

Initial signatories (all in personal capacity) include:

Toby Abse Lewisham SA, Gavin Brown Tower Hamlets SA, Tina Becker Haringey SA, George Binette Hackney SA, Christine Blower Hammersmith SA (former president NUT), Janine Booth Hackney SA, Pauline Bradley Haringey SA, John Bridge Camden SA, Alison Brown Sheffield SA, John Cooke South Manchester SA, Tim Cooper Nottingham SA, Lawrie Coombes Teesside SA, James Cunningham Birmingham SA, Mervyn Davies Colchester SA, Ian Donovan Southwark SA, Heather Downs Medway SA, Kat Fletcher Haringey SA (NUS women's officer), Ray Gaston Leeds SA, Sandra Griffiths Tower Hamlets SA, Alison Higgins Sheffield SA
Mark Hoskisson SA Trade Union Officer, Chris Jones Merseyside SA, Stuart King Lambeth SA, Jean Kysow Lewisham SA, Nick Long Lewisham SA, Anne McShane Hackney SA, Sam Metcalf Nottingham SA
Dave Parks Exeter SA, Geoff Palmer Haringey SA, Kirsty Paton Greenwich SA, Phil Pope Southampton SA
Pete Radcliff Nottingham SA, Lee Rock Waltham Forest SA, Marcus Ström SA Nominating Officer, Darrell Stroud Lewisham SA, Martin Thomas SA executive, Danny Thompson Bedfordshire SA

To add your signature to this motion,, or email
mailto: wewontsavethepound@yahoo.com. To request a speaker for your Socialist
Alliance, email or phone one of the numbers below:
Jill, 07985 256 490 - Marcus, 07958 574 305 - Mark, 07730 220 962.

........more details in a background article also at  http://www.workersliberty.org.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=121
where you are also encouraged to add your comments

Odd that IMC contributors seem so obsessed with an organisation you claim is 'declining' and 'irrelevant'.

I've read hundreds of postings on here slagging the SWP. Yet a trawl of their publications reveals only the occasional reference to IMC as 'worth a look'.

Sorry to say this, but it does kind of reminds me of the 'relationship' between stalkers and celebrities!

For once, if the SWP are going to argue for a No vote they are engaging with political reality as opposed to the ultra leftists and anarchists who think a few hundred or a few thousand people writing slogans on their ballots will have any effect at all. The reality is that our chief opponent as anticapitalists, radicals etc is the leading edge of the capitalist project - the globalising forces that ultimately aim for complete freedom of capital to move,exploit and colonise every corner of the globe. To put a spanner in the works of this project - of which the EU Capitalist Superstate is a key stepping stone - has got to be the aim of any serious opponent of the ruling elites. The Irish showed the way - their rejection of other key parts of the EU agenda gave the leadership of the project a serious jolt. Of course a No vote will not be enough, but to abdicate control of the No campaign to the right, when the vast majority are either in favour of a No vote or undecided is abdication of duty by those who see themselves as radicals, progressives or revolutionaries. Who is also in favour of No is only important in so far as they should be outflanked and have their influence minimised.
A NO VOTE IS NOT ENOUGH, BUT A YES VOTE OR ABSTENTIONISM ARE ACTIVE SUPPORT OF THE NEO LIBERAL PROJECT. (If you doubt the absolute fear and hatred of the neoliberal elite for all opponents of the Euro see the article by the foul mouthed yob of a Blair apologist, Aaronovich, in the Independent today.) Don't look at "which organisations support what" - look at ideas and the real balance of power.Nobody has a monopoly on truth.

If you think capitalism should be abolished, then voting for a particular currency is of course hypocritical. Either by not voting at all or by spoiling your ballot, then you are showing your particular contempt for both. POUND OR EURO? STUFF 'EM!

Yeah, right, "real" anti capitalist - so posturing is more "anti capitalist" than actually upsetting their project? Question - Do abstentionists, ON PRINCIPLE, really believe that their is no objective difference between a government of socialists and Greens and the BNP? Or between liberals and Stalinists? I hope they never have to experience the difference! But, why bother with annoying objective reality when you can live in insurrectionary cloud cuckoo land!

I agree with NME: we're in serious danger of letting a major corporate globalising measure get through just because we're scared shitless of being tarred with the same brush as the fascist fools currently leading resistance to it.
Although the EU has been a vaguely moderating influence on occasions, particularly when we were suffering under headless Thatcher, the euro is being forced on us by corporate interests and is a further step away from cultural variety and towards a corporate dictatorship.

SWP: A party of Oxford lapsed christians leading a crew of urban peasants. Sorry to be so blunt, but politics in Britain, where ideology is so undeveloped and vague, must be largely based on intuition, and THE SWP DOESNT FEEL RIGHT...(look at their politburo, then look at their membership). I guess most of us have personal friends in it, and we may even have gone to meetings, but be honest, didnt you feel that you were being scruntinised for who you were in social heirarchy rather than being treated as a potential member with a valid contibution to make ? Instead, they check your references, in time honoured Cocktails Club manner, and of course, in Britain, it doesnt take anyone long to find out 'who's who' if they really want to. AND THEY WANT TO !
Thank you, SWP, for showing me what true class prejudice and snobbery is really all about. I dont care ! My father was a member of the Resistance [yes, the real one!], and we know far more about socialism than ever some lapsed christian from Oxford or done-down Labourite local govt operator.