Fascism Thrives On Despair – Class Solidarity Must Be Our Answer

Following a weekend of riots the response of the official anti-racist movement has now begun with a series of rallies being staged by the organisation ‘Stand Up To Racism’ across the country. In terms of attendance these rallies far outnumber those who took part in the riots but this alone will not be enough to tackle the reasons why the riots broke out in the first place. As stated in our previous article the official “anti racist” response will be wholly inadequate as it will seek to push people back towards the labour party, which is an imperialist, racist and pro-fascist party. Places like Rotherham, Liverpool, Bolton, Southend and many other working class areas have seen some of the worst disturbances and there are clearly many thousands of angry, lumpenised working class people who live lives of despair and alienation. They focus on the boogeymen served up to them by the bourgeois press when they lash out because whilst they are angry at their life circumstances they are still stuck in the maze that bourgeois propaganda has led them into. Stable and decently paid employment and access to essential services is something that huge areas of Britain now lack and this has been the case for many years. The argument that has relentlessly advanced by every bourgeois politician and media outlet since at least the crisis of 2008 is that “there is no money” due to the nature of the economic problems facing the country. The only form of employment that has seen any real growth in recent decades in Britain is low paid, casually contracted and it barely enables workers to make ends meet. A pervasive sense of nihilism and despair has been promoted by the ruling class for years now because they want working class people to passively accept the worsening of their lives. The union leaders have largely gone along with this assault which has been directed against the poorest sections of the working class. This idea that there are limited resources is a key part of the ruling class’s management of the class war because it enables them to pit different sections of the working class against each other. Public versus private sector, old versus young, region versus region and, of course, religion and race. The ruling class are very well aware of the fact that wealth is becoming ever more polarised and concentrated in the uppermost 1% and that this could be dangerous if the great majority of the British working class realised what is being done. The fascists are just the most visible manifestation of this tactic of obscuring class divisions at all costs. Those who complain that their areas have been left to rot are correct in their complaint but they are going after the wrong targets in the form of asylum seekers or workers of other skin colour or religious group.

To overcome this requires the building back of some level of class consciousness which has been eroded by decades of defeat, despair and propaganda. Rather then generic statements about “unity” that have been made by the wretched trade union leaders a programme to address the needs of the entire working class must be adopted. Only by showing workers, who have been drawn into supporting racist groups out of the very real anger and despair they feel, that it is class based organising that show the way forward for them can we hope to address these problems. Such a programme has been outlined by the CPGB-ML in a model motion that should be put to trade union branches. The urgent demands to address the needs of our class should be as follows:

1) The nationalisation of all utilities (without compensation) as well as of the monopoly producers, manufacturers and distributors of food so as to ensure a secure supply of all necessaries at affordable prices, free from the vacillations and disruptions of the world market.

2) The mass requisition and building of social housing and the introduction of a rent cap to address the housing crisis.

3) The complete renationalisation of every part of the NHS, including all its buildings and the pharmaceutical industry.

4) That Britain must leave Nato, bring all troops and military contractors home, and end all aspects of British involvement in aggressive wars abroad.

5) The lifting of the minimum wage to a level providing a decent family existence.

6) The enacting of legislation to ensure that pay and benefit rises keep pace with real inflation.

7) An end to currency devaluation through endless money printing.

8) An end to the self-defeating sanctions war against Russia, which is fuelling both the energy and the inflation crises.

9) An end to all subsidies to monopoly corporations and banks. Any business considered ‘too big to fail’ or ‘necessary to the national economy’ that cannot make an adequate profit out of ordinary operations should be nationalised without compensation and run according to a plan based on meeting the needs of the people.

These demands should be the basis for a nationwide campaign by the unions. Most workers across the country would agree with many if not all of them and it would be relatively easy to win the arguments about why such a programme is urgent. This programme would be opposed though by most of the union leaders, especially by those who are linked to the labour party. This is because these leaders have been incorporated into the structure of the British state via their unconditional support for the labour party. The leaders are not the audience for this though, the aim of making these demands in the unions, workplaces and communities is to popularise them amongst the working class. If workers were to embrace these demands it would cut off the support for the fascist forces because it would reveal that it is the ruling class who are responsible for the conditions of life of workers in this country not their fellow workers who may of be of a different religion or skin colour. It is essential that communists must work towards the popularisation of these demands as part of a militant programme of struggle. This will not be easy but it is essential. The fake “anti racist” campaigns which only attempt to go back to supporting the labour party will do nothing other than leave many working class areas open to the racist propaganda of the fascists. This can be stopped but only with the right progamme and willingness to fight for it.