Britain

A long weekend of nauseating flag-waving and royal pomp has ended in embarrassment for the establishment, with Boris Johnson now facing a vote of confidence amongst Tory MPs. Every pillar of British capitalism is being rocked by scandal and crisis.

Rail workers have voted overwhelmingly to strike over jobs and safety. The Tories, meanwhile, are gearing up for a showdown, with moves to escalate anti-union laws. The whole trade union movement must respond with militant, united struggle.

Despite all the damning evidence of his crimes and misdemeanours, Boris Johnson is refusing to go. 'Operation Save Big Dog', as Johnson himself christened his bid to save his political career, seems to have succeeded – for now. Neither the Gray report into illegal Downing Street parties, nor Tory backbenchers will force him to step down. Instead, workers and youth must mobilise to kick out the whole lot.

The latest forecasts from the Bank of England for the year ahead are for inflation to surge and the economy to contract: a dangerous double-whammy of ‘stagflation’. Workers must organise and fight back with militant action and socialist policies.

On 9 April, a group called Stand With Ukraine held a small demonstration in London. Despite receiving support from a number of trade unions, only a few hundred people took part. In true Orwellian fashion, this so-called anti-war solidarity demonstration was filled with hair-raising, warmongering rhetoric. Slogans included: “arm, arm, arm Ukraine!”, and participants were reportedly inviting NATO to “call Putin’s bluff”, i.e. to launch a full-blown military intervention and spark World War III.

Tory Chancellor Rishi Sunak has become embroiled in scandal over revelations that he and his family have utilised shady legal loopholes to dodge UK taxes. The establishment is living on a different planet. Their system must be overthrown.

With the British monarchy mired in crisis and scandal, calls for republicanism are growing across the Commonwealth. The struggle for genuine independence must be linked to the struggle against imperialism and capitalism – and for socialism.

Last week, P&O Ferries sacked hundreds of workers, replacing them with agency labour. With this savage attack, the bosses have declared war on the whole working class. The trade unions must respond with a call to arms – and prepare for battle.

This weekend, hundreds of Socialist Appeal supporters met for this year’s national conference – not only to celebrate the organisation’s 30th birthday, but to prepare for the revolutionary events that lie ahead in Britain and beyond.   

102 years ago, British workers struck in solidarity with the Russian Revolution. Conditions were ripe for revolution, though the opportunity was missed. Rob Sewell explains the revolutionary potential displayed by the working class in Britain, the errors of their leadership, and the lessons of these experiences for the class struggle today, at a time when war, crisis and chaos are similarly rampant. This article first appeared in issue 30 of In Defence of Marxism, the theoretical magazine of the International Marxist Tendency. Click here to subscribe and get the latest issue.

The British ruling class and its representatives are cynically using the conflict in Ukraine as an excuse to attack the labour movement and the left. We must build the forces of Marxism, and fight back against the flag-waving servants of capital.

As ever, the outbreak of war has led to all manner of hypocrisy and propaganda from the agents of imperialism. Marxists must cut through this fog, and point out the real class interests at play. To end the horrors of war, we must end capitalism.

Across the world, an epidemic of violence against women, femicide, and domestic abuse plagues society. This is yet another symptom of a sick system. Capitalism is the disease. To end sexism and oppression, we must fight for revolution.