The Riots in britain only serve the ruling class

The imperialist circles are trying to shift the whole
burden of the crisis onto the shoulders of the working
people. That is why they need fascism. – Georgi Dimitrov

The lumpenised fascist mobs who have attacked the mosque in Southport earlier this week are a product of bourgeois ideology. That is where all racist sentiment comes from because it is an absolutely central part of both what the British ruling class believe themselves and what they find useful to encourage within the working class.

The relentless propaganda against Muslims in Britain was not invented by the likes of Mr Yaxley-Lennon (known by his stage name of “Tommy Robinson”) or Nick Griffin before him. Anti Muslim rhetoric became part of the official language of the British state over 20 years ago and the garbage spewed out by the fascists all has its origins in propaganda produced by the bourgeois press.

The demonisation of the figure of the Muslim is quite calculated. It was done to justify the naked imperialism of the George W Bush era invasions and because this was an attempt to bring back direct colonialism (without the neo) they had to demonise the population targetted as being “uncivilised”. The official propaganda of the time was still loudly proclaiming its “Anti racist” credentials so they had to avoid just simply saying this was about Arabs or Africans or any other group whose countries were being targeted for invasion and destruction.

What was done, therefore, was the creation of the figure of the Muslim as the ultimate outsider. This was useful to the ruling class as it had a dual usage. It enabled the ruling class to conduct a racist propaganda campaign behind the cover of it being “about religion not race” as “Muslim” became a substitute term for all non white groups who the ruling class wanted to demonise at any given time.

Coming back to our current situation the fascist mobs roving around and attacking mosques have been encouraged by more than 20 years of this kind of propaganda. They are being further egged on now by the political establishment who wish to do three things.

1) Split up the anti imperialist movement that has grown out of the Palestinian solidarity demonstrations.

2) Frighten the Muslim working class and punish them for their strong support for the Palestinian cause by turning the fascists loose on them.

3) Rally support behind Starmer as he unveils a new set of repressive laws.

We must keep in mind what the consistent line take by the British government had been for many years. They specifically encourage racism then claim they are the only ones who can control it. This is what they are attempting to do now. They let the lumpens run around, start fights and intimidate people then will say “we need greater surveillance powers”. The other aspect of this will be an attempt by the Trotskyites and revisionists in Britain to use the official “Anti racist” organisations to rally support for the labour party. We can expect these charlatans to proclaim loudly that we must “stand up to racism” and in doing so they will platform labour MPs who have been loudly supporting imperialist wars for decades and in favour of arming fascists in Ukraine. Official “Anti fascism” in Britain has long been just another means of pushing workers back towards the labour party and so it remains.

The actions of the fascist mobs must be opposed but we cannot adequately do so if we are not taking a proper understanding of what is happening to the working class. Yaxley-Lennon and his lumpen mobs are just the most crude domestic manifestation of the racism that is generated as part of all bourgeois ideology in all imperialist countries. Without a proper understanding of what actually generated racism we cannot hope to oppose it. Yaxley-Lennon is a hired goon of the ruling class but in terms of horrors inflicted upon the oppressed peoples of the world he’s got nothing on the labour party.

Stalin observed a century ago that social democracy was the moderate wing of fascism and so it remains. To combat the open fascists we must be honest with the working class with regard to the rule of the labour party.

The Labour party has always been a racist party and remains so precisely because it is an imperialist one. It has always sought to keep the working class divided along religious and racial lines. To claim that endorsing this party can in any way be “Anti racist” is a lie. Starmer is slightly more subtle than the fascists but you do not need to look too far for what he really stands for, supporting fascism in Ukraine and genocide in occupied Palestine.

The only way to defeat fascism is for a militant programme to be pursued that will be relentless in opposing British imperialism and the fight for workers needs domestically as well. These two elements are inseparable and must be pursued with equal determination.