"Men of the People", but Which People? Unpacking the Social Bloc of Right-Wing Populism

While capitalists are relatively united in their struggle with other classes, they are also divided along different axes: small and medium vs big business; industrial vs finance capital; domestically embedded vs transnational companies. The competition between these different fractions of capital has intensified in recent years and, while critical political economists have mapped some of this intra-class conflict, there is still limited research and discussion on how that might have been translated into the arena of party politics. I argue that the ongoing rise of ‘right-wing populist parties’ across Europe has to be understood in this wider context. While the current research overwhelmingly approaches these parties in terms of either their discourse or their voting base, I make the case for a ‘material turn’ that shifts our gaze to the class forces and material interests they represent. I argue that these parties tend to represent insurgent social blocs led by fractions of capital who do not feel represented (any longer) by mainstream parties and are therefore aiming for control over state power. It is a struggle for hegemony within the capitalist class. I substantiate this line of argument with the exploratory case study of the Reform UK party in Britain, which appears to represent - at both descriptive and substantive levels - a social bloc based on the petty bourgeoisie and led by sections of finance capital and the fossil fuel industry.