Des anti-Marketeers aux Brexiteers: la rhétorique eurosceptique des syndicats britanniques d’un référendum à l’autre

This article provides an overview of British trade unions’ activism against the United Kingdom staying first in the EEC and then in the European Union during the referendum campaigns held in 1975 and 2016. It assesses the evolution of the unions’ agenda and rhetoric from one referendum campaign to t...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Houcine Msaddek
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Centre de Recherche et d'Etudes en Civilisation Britannique 2017-05-01
Series:Revue Française de Civilisation Britannique
Subjects:
Online Access:http://journals.openedition.org/rfcb/1390
Description
Summary:This article provides an overview of British trade unions’ activism against the United Kingdom staying first in the EEC and then in the European Union during the referendum campaigns held in 1975 and 2016. It assesses the evolution of the unions’ agenda and rhetoric from one referendum campaign to the other. The argument put forward consists in regarding British trade unions’ commitment to tripartism as the main motivation for their anti-Marketeer stand in 1975, whereas their cautious commitment over Brexit has developed into a left-wing alliance with Jeremy Corbyn, the new leader of the Labour Party. Hence their common aim to take part in a left-led pan-European dynamic eager to fight against the neoliberal policies of the European Union.
ISSN:0248-9015
2429-4373