Editing Brexit

'''Brexit''' was the withdrawal of the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland|United Kingdom]] from the [[European Union]] (EU) in January 2020 following the referendum result of leave in June 2016. Although in the short term it has reduced the material conditions of the British [[Proletariat|working class]], in the long term it is a [[Progressivism|progressive]] change having weakened global [[imperialism]] and hastened the reunification of [[Ireland]].<ref>{{Web citation|author=9th Congress of the [[CPGB-ML]]|newspaper=[[The Communists]]|title=Brexit continues to be a thorn in the side of imperialism|date=2021-11-25|url=https://thecommunists.org/2021/11/25/news/statement-brexit-continues-thorn-imperialism/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220529122404/https://thecommunists.org/2021/11/25/news/statement-brexit-continues-thorn-imperialism/|archive-date=2022-05-29|retrieved=2022-11-29}}</ref> The remain campaign was led by at the time [[Conservative and Unionist Party|Conservative Party]] leader [[David Cameron]] and [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] leader [[Jeremy Corbyn]], whilst the leave campaign was led by [[reactionary]] forces on the grounds of bigotry in relation to [[immigration]] and [[racism]]. The [[Bourgeoisie|bourgeois]] was not united on the issue of Brexit and squabbled among themselves over whether they would gain more from conducting imperialism from within the EU or outside of it.<ref>{{Web citation|author=John Rees|newspaper=Counterfire|title=Marxism and the Brexit crisis|date=2019-02-05|url=https://www.counterfire.org/article/marxism-and-the-brexit-crisis/}}</ref>

== Background ==
In 1951 the six founding nations of the EU came together to form the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), a predecessor organisation to the EU, with Britain at first distancing itself from the project with its traditional Euroscepticism.<ref>{{Citation|author=O'Rourke, Kevin H|year=2019|title=A short history of Brexit: from brentry to backstop|title-url=https://annas-archive.org/md5/010f133d7e3610ec5d5051dfe960937c|chapter=Chapter One: The Origins of Supranational Europe}}</ref> The founders deemed the ECSC a success and expanded the project in 1957 to create the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) which would later to be grouped together as the European Communities (EC).<ref>{{Citation|author=O'Rourke, Kevin H|year=2019|title=A short history of Brexit: from brentry to backstop|title-url=https://annas-archive.org/md5/010f133d7e3610ec5d5051dfe960937c|chapter=Chapter Two: The Path To Rome}}</ref>

The UK attempted to join the EC in 1963 and 1967, but these applications were vetoed by the [[French Republic|French]] President, [[Charles de Gaulle]], who feared losing influence in the organisation to Britain and its puppet master the [[United States of America|US]]. In 1970, the UK successfully applied for EC membership. Membership of the then EEC was discussed in the [[House of Commons]] on October 1971 leading to a decisive vote in favour of membership by 356 to 244. On 1 January 1973 the UK joined [[Kingdom of Denmark|Denmark]] and Ireland in becoming the first none founding members of the organisation, without a referendum.<ref>{{Citation|author=O'Rourke, Kevin H|year=2019|title=A short history of Brexit: from brentry to backstop|title-url=https://annas-archive.org/md5/010f133d7e3610ec5d5051dfe960937c|chapter=Chapter Four: Brentry}}</ref>

== Referendum of 2016 ==
[[File:United Kingdom EU referendum 2016 area results 2-tone.svg.png|thumb|Brexit vote results by UK council. Leave = Blue Remain = Yellow]]
On 23 June 2016 the referendum on whether Britain would remain in the EU was held and returned a result of leave by 51.9% to 48.1%. 62% of the residents of [[Scotland]] voted remain along with 55.8% of [[Northern Ireland|Occupied Ireland]], 59.9% of [[London]] and 96% of [[Gibraltar]] but the rest of the major regions of [[England]] as well as [[Wales]] voted to leave.<ref>{{Citation|author=O'Rourke, Kevin H|year=2019|title=A short history of Brexit: from brentry to backstop|title-url=https://annas-archive.org/md5/010f133d7e3610ec5d5051dfe960937c|chapter=Chapter Eight: Brexit}}</ref>

== References ==
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-'''Brexit''' was the withdrawal of the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland|United Kingdom]] from the [[European Union]] (EU) in January 2020 following the referendum result of leave in June 2016. Although in the short term it has reduced the material conditions of the British [[Proletariat|working class]], in the long term it is a [[Progressivism|progressive]] change having weakened global [[imperialism]] and hastened the reunification of [[Ireland]].<ref>{{Web citation|author=9th Congress of the [[CPGB-ML]]|newspaper=[[The Communists]]|title=Brexit continues to be a thorn in the side of imperialism|date=2021-11-25|url=https://thecommunists.org/2021/11/25/news/statement-brexit-continues-thorn-imperialism/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220529122404/https://thecommunists.org/2021/11/25/news/statement-brexit-continues-thorn-imperialism/|archive-date=2022-05-29|retrieved=2022-11-29}}</ref> The remain campaign was led by at the time [[Conservative and Unionist Party|Conservative Party]] leader [[David Cameron]] and [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] leader [[Jeremy Corbyn]], whilst the leave campaign was led by [[reactionary]] forces on the grounds of bigotry in relation to [[immigration]] and [[racism]]. The [[bourgeoisie]] was not united on the issue of Brexit and squabbled among themselves over whether they would gain more from conducting imperialism from within the EU or outside of it.<ref>{{Web citation|author=John Rees|newspaper=Counterfire|title=Marxism and the Brexit crisis|date=2019-02-05|url=https://www.counterfire.org/article/marxism-and-the-brexit-crisis/}}</ref>
+'''Brexit''' was the withdrawal of the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland|United Kingdom]] from the [[European Union]] (EU) in January 2020 following the referendum result of leave in June 2016. Although in the short term it has reduced the material conditions of the British [[Proletariat|working class]], in the long term it is a [[Progressivism|progressive]] change having weakened global [[imperialism]] and hastened the reunification of [[Ireland]].<ref>{{Web citation|author=9th Congress of the [[CPGB-ML]]|newspaper=[[The Communists]]|title=Brexit continues to be a thorn in the side of imperialism|date=2021-11-25|url=https://thecommunists.org/2021/11/25/news/statement-brexit-continues-thorn-imperialism/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220529122404/https://thecommunists.org/2021/11/25/news/statement-brexit-continues-thorn-imperialism/|archive-date=2022-05-29|retrieved=2022-11-29}}</ref> The remain campaign was led by at the time [[Conservative and Unionist Party|Conservative Party]] leader [[David Cameron]] and [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] leader [[Jeremy Corbyn]], whilst the leave campaign was led by [[reactionary]] forces on the grounds of bigotry in relation to [[immigration]] and [[racism]]. The [[Bourgeoisie|bourgeois]] was not united on the issue of Brexit and squabbled among themselves over whether they would gain more from conducting imperialism from within the EU or outside of it.<ref>{{Web citation|author=John Rees|newspaper=Counterfire|title=Marxism and the Brexit crisis|date=2019-02-05|url=https://www.counterfire.org/article/marxism-and-the-brexit-crisis/}}</ref>
 == Background ==
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 == References ==
-<references />
-[[Category:History of the UK]]