In moving Motion 77 at the TUC in an unsuccessful attempt to commit our movement to demand a referendum on UK membership of the EU, RMT General Secretary Bob Crow memorably rebutted charges of nationalism, of wanting to "keep the Queen's Head on a ten pound note".
He said, "I don't care if it's the Queen's Head or the Queen's Arse on a ten pound note."
It certainly caricatures the anti-EU position of the RMT (which is in line with that of, for example, the Communist Party of Britain) as nationalist, as a UNITE speaker almost did.
Nor is it a satisfactory counter argument to say that opposition to the EU would line us up with the Tory right (and worse). Billy Hayes acknowledged as much in expressing the General Council's opposition to the motion.
I'm not personally persuaded that now is the moment to press for withdrawal from the European Union, but the TUC's long standing position of being starry eyed about "Social Europe" looks increasingly unjustified as the years go by.
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