On June 5, 1975, the first national referendum in the country's history was held in the United Kingdom. The issue of the country's membership in the "Common Market", which has been one of the most acute problems and a source of tension in the internal political life of England for about 20 years, was put up for discussion. And although the UK was already part of the "Common Market" or European Economic Community (EEC) at that time, and the results of the referendum did not change this state, the very fact of its holding, the participation in its preparation and implementation of all the influential forces of English society, attempts to use it as a precedent for national population surveys in the future, The revival of the campaign for Britain's exit from the "Common Market" in mid-1977 makes the analysis of the political struggle, the results and significance of this referendum relevant.
The historiography of the issue under study is still very small. Publications in English scientific journals are represented by a number of articles 1 . Their main motive is to try to prove the legal invalidity, constitutional danger and political groundlessness of the referendum2 . Thus, E. Wright, sharing these provisions, considers the holding of a referendum to be a manifestation of an erroneous trend in political practice. 3 There are no works in Soviet literature specifically devoted to the referendum yet.
This event has a very complex and long prehistory. After the Second World War, especially in the context of the third stage of the general crisis of capitalism, the objective tendency towards the internationalization of economic life and capital characteristic of the monopoly stage of capitalism intensified. The most important factor contributing to integration in Western Europe was the political situation that developed after World War II: the defeat of fascism, the victory of socialism in a number of countries in Central and South-Eastern Europe, and the collapse of the c ...
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