The world is characterised right now by instability and uncertainty at every level.
The Middle East is wracked by chaos and catastrophe, as Trump’s war on Iran unravels and spreads across the region. Panic is gripping global markets, as oil and gas prices soar – fanning the flames of inflation, and threatening to tip the world economy into a new slump.
Back home, meanwhile, Starmer’s government is living on borrowed time, with disgruntled voters abandoning Labour in droves, towards Reform UK to the right and the Green Party to the left.
Them and us
All of this turmoil and pandemonium feeds into a growing sense of malaise and frustration; into a profound questioning and rejection of the status quo.
Ordinary folk everywhere are increasingly connecting the dots. Everyone can see that there exists – at the head of society – a cabal of degenerate elites, responsible for conflict, austerity, and abuse.
The warmongers pulverising Iran or carrying out a genocide in Gaza are part of the same ‘Epstein class’ – of plutocrats, princes, and politicians – that are revealed to have organised the world’s most powerful grooming gang.
The entire establishment is in on this. From the monarchy and the media, to the police and Parliament: every pillar upon which the capitalists’ power and privileges rest is being further discredited by the day.
And to top it all off: when they are not committing war crimes or depraved sexual offences, these ladies and gentlemen are attacking our living standards through cuts to jobs, wages, and services; slashing benefits for the elderly and disabled to pay for bombs and bloodshed.
We cannot reform a system that produces this.
It must be overthrown. https://t.co/0fUM7Mm0Dn
— Fiona Lali (@fiona_lali) March 10, 2026
Never before has capitalism’s class divide been so clear. While they get richer, we get poorer. It is us – the 99 percent; the exploited and oppressed – against them: the bankers, bosses, and billionaires.
Divisive distraction
Unfortunately, with the exception of the communists, nobody on the left is presenting matters in such clear class terms.
As a result, as society decays and frays, anger against the establishment and their system is often expressed in a distorted manner. Rather than blaming the billionaires for ‘broken Britain’, some point the finger at boats of asylum seekers.
Reactionary demagogues like Nigel Farage and Tommy Robinson actively whip up this hatred towards migrants and refugees. The leaders of Reform UK – a motley crew of racists, reprobates, and Tory rejects – cynically link concerns about crimes to the question of immigration, for example.
These charlatans are echoed and amplified by a capitalist press that spews out divisive propaganda on behalf of the ruling class. Not a day goes by without a headline on the frontpages of these rags trying to stir up rage against migrants, Muslims, and minorities.
But Farage, Robinson, and the right-wing media are far from the only ones guilty of stirring up ‘culture wars’. Unable to solve the burning issues facing working people – over housing, pay, public services, and more – Starmer’s Labour have also resorted to migrant bashing as a convenient distraction; as their preferred scapegoat for society’s ills.
Labour home secretaries such as Yvette Cooper and Shabana Mahmood have continued where their Tory predecessors – such as Priti Patel and Suella Braverman – left off: bragging about their government’s deportation numbers and ramping up the ‘hostile environment’; competing to outflank Reform to the right on the question of migration.
At the same time, in an effort to prevent a haemorrhage of voters to his left, Starmer has also denounced Farage and Reform as “racist”, “toxic”, and “divisive”. The hypocrisy and cynicism of the Labour leaders knows no bounds!
Together Alliance
All of this provides the backdrop to the upcoming national demonstration on 28 March in London, organised by the ‘Together Alliance’.
Voir cette publication sur Instagram
Many workers and youth are understandably concerned and worried: about the rise of Reform; about the hundreds of thousands of Tommy Robinson supporters who turned out for his ‘Unite the Kingdom’ march last September; by the violent far-right riots in the summer of 2024, or the sight of Britain First and other fascist groups on our streets more recently; and by the hostile flag-waving protests that have taken place outside asylum-seeker hotels over the last year.
The demo on 28 March is the left’s main response, thus far, to all of this reaction and racism.
‘Together’ describes itself as “an alliance of hundreds of civil society organisations united against the far right”. Its supporters include a loose array of celebrities, charities, and campaigns; liberals, lords, and Labour MPs; all alongside various religious groups, community networks, and trade unions.
In short, everyone is invited, as long as you oppose the vaguely-defined ‘far right’.
Voir cette publication sur Instagram
Hollow politics
It is unclear how big this mobilisation will be. But even less clear is the politics that attendees will be offered – if any – on the day.
In an effort to build the biggest, most diverse coalition possible, the organisers have notably reduced the political content of this demo to next-to-nothing. Or rather, in place of any actual political demands or programme, protestors are asked to “march for love, unity, and hope”.
Voir cette publication sur Instagram
Such moralistic appeals and lowest-common-denominator politics are intended to boost the numbers turning out on 28 March. But the success of this hollow approach is far from guaranteed.
Last June, for example, the left and the trade unions – as part of the People’s Assembly – attempted to organise a mass demonstration under the banner of ‘no more austerity 2.0’.
In the end, however, due to the tepid demands put forward, these efforts fell flat. Disappointingly, the magnitude of the march could be measured in the thousands, not tens or hundreds of thousands.
‘Broad church’
More recently, and tragically, meanwhile, was the poor turnout seen for the counter-demo to Robinson and his supporters last autumn – with the nationalistic right outnumbering the left by a ratio of at least 10-to-1.
The blame for this lies entirely with the ‘left’ leaders who organised the official counter-protest. This includes the trade unions and ‘Stand Up To Racism’ (SUTR), a front campaign founded and headed by the supposedly ‘Marxist’ Socialist Workers Party.
The unions and SUTR have a symbiotic relationship with one another. The former support the latter as a tokenistic gesture; in order to pay lip service to the idea of struggling against racism. In return, having the backing of the trade unions helps to provide SUTR with an air of authority (not to mention lucrative affiliation fees); with the ability to paint itself as the main anti-racist organisation in Britain.
In order to maintain a ‘broad church’, meanwhile, including various liberal and middle-class elements, both the trade unions and SUTR actively depoliticise the fight against racism.
This means draining the movement of any working-class content or bold political demands, so as not to scare away moderate types like religious leaders, business owners, and Starmer supporters.
At the counter-demo to Robinson and co., for example, the main slogan on SUTR’s placards was ‘refugees welcome’. For the 28 March, meanwhile, we are supposed to mobilise for ‘love’ and ‘hope’ – in short, for nice things rather than bad things.
This may all seem very palatable. But it amounts to little more than moralistic virtue-signalling. And moreover, it says nothing of why racism and reaction are on the rise – or how we actually fight this menace; this scourge on society.
Pessimistic conclusions
The problem with these ‘lefts’ and their approach is twofold.
On the one hand, they misdiagnose the problem. They see symptoms such as the large support for Farage’s Reform, the presence of Union Jacks and St George flags on the streets, and the numbers mobilised by Tommy Robinson. And from this, they draw the conclusion that Britain is sliding towards ‘fascism’.
Voir cette publication sur Instagram
Yet this pessimistic assessment is empirical and superficial; one-sided and reductionist.
Such a view only sees the swing to the right, and neglects the equal and opposite process taking place to the left: the radicalisation amongst a growing layer of workers and youth – as confirmed by the surge towards Zack Polanski’s Greens, and their victory in the Gorton & Denton by-election.
Hyperbole and hysteria
The demand of the 28 March demo to mobilise “against the far right” is linked to this. Who does this vague label of the ‘far right’ refer to here? To Robinson’s crowd and groups like Britain First? What about anyone who supports Farage and Reform?
Given the tendency towards hyperbole and hysteria amongst ‘lefts’ like SUTR, it is more than likely that the latter is who the protest’s organisers have in mind.
But this fails to understand what the rise of Reform really represents; why certain sections of society are considering voting for Farage’s party: not simply because of xenophobia and bigotry, but because of a hatred towards the establishment; because of a sense of neglect and betrayal by mainstream politicians.
Voir cette publication sur Instagram
This is not to trivialise the threat of Reform, nor of the fascist scum that seek to terrorise migrants and ethnic minority communities. Farage and his chums have made clear their anti-working class agenda. And far-right thugs – where they rear their ugly heads – pose a very real threat.
But we must have a sense of proportion. The balance of class forces is overwhelming in favour of workers and youth. The number of genuine fascists is tiny relative to the size of the left and the labour movement.
Liberalism and pacifism
This leads to the second major flaw of the ‘left’: their methods for fighting the right, in all its forms. Not only do they incorrectly identify the disease, but they also proscribe the wrong cure.
Fascist knuckledraggers could easily be sent packing, if physically confronted by the power of the organised working class.
Voir cette publication sur Instagram
Wherever real fascist and far-right hooligans have appeared in force, however, groups like SUTR have responded by backtracking into meek, mild liberalism and pacifism.
During the 2024 far-right pogroms, for example, local Muslim and Asian youth organised themselves to confront those intent on rampaging through their communities.
Instead of encouraging these militant mobilisations, however, and calling on the labour movement to bolster them, SUTR organisers – along with local religious leaders – pleaded for ‘peace and calm’; and even more scandalously, for residents to place their trust in the police.
Similarly, in order to keep Labour councillors on side, SUTR has often banned speakers from denouncing Starmer and his ministers at anti-rascist rallies. And mention of Israel and Palestine has also been censored at such demos, so as not to alienate Zionist SUTR supporters.
Farage’s demagogy, meanwhile, could be neutralised and countered. But this requires a clear class answer from the left – not liberal appeals for ‘love’ and ‘hope’; nor wishy-washy, confused, cross-class coalitions and popular fronts.
This means militantly fighting for a bold socialist programme that targets the real enemy: not the asylum-seekers arriving in small boats, but the super-rich who travel around the world in private jets and luxury yachts.
Polanski and the Greens
The growing support for the Greens shows that there is an appetite for such a programme.
Polanski and his party are at their strongest, in this respect, when railing against the billionaires and landlords; when blaming the imperialists for fuelling migration with their ‘forever wars’.
And this is no doubt the kind of politics that has led to tens of thousands joining the Greens in recent months, with many getting actively involved by canvassing for the party and attending mass meetings.
Unfortunately, however, when push comes to shove, the Green leaders all too often slip back into the same moralistic platitudes and rhetoric as the rest of the left.
Voir cette publication sur Instagram
In Gorton & Denton, for example, Green candidate Hannah Spencer frequently called upon voters to choose ‘hope’ over ‘hate’. And Polanski has echoed this woolly language in his appeals for activists to join the demo on 28 March.
This may have been enough to beat Reform in a by-election. And it will no doubt bring out voters who want to keep Farage from inheriting the keys to 10 Downing Street.
But the aim should be not simply to stop Reform electorally, but to completely eradicate Farage’s party; to cut away the ground upon which these reactionaries stand.
And that can only be achieved by offering a real socialist alternative that can tackle society’s problems at their root – ripping up the capitalist system that breeds misery, poverty, and war.
Fight racism – fight capitalism!
This is what we, the Revolutionary Communist Party, will be calling for on 28 March, as part of a hundreds-strong communist bloc.
Voir cette publication sur Instagram
Unlike the demo’s organisers, we will be actively injecting politics – revolutionary politics – into this protest.
Unlike the leaders of the trade unions, Greens, and SUTR, we will offer a class-based programme and class-struggle methods for fighting racism, Reform, and the far right – and a clear perspective that can show the way forward.
And unlike these reformists, we place no trust in the liberal establishment and its institutions. Instead, we have every confidence in the working class and its ability to transform – and run – society.
Our placards will blame the billionaires, not the boats. Our slogans will be aimed against not just Farage, but at Starmer, Mahmood, and all the racists, liars, and warmongers in Westminster. And our banners will call on workers and youth to fight racism by fighting capitalism; to combat the establishment’s culture war with class war.
Above all, we will be appealing for those marching to get organised as communists; to arm themselves with Marxist ideas, which alone can make sense of the crises and chaos of capitalism; to join the RCP in the revolutionary struggle to end exploitation and oppression, once and for all.
Trade union leader lets Labour off the hook
As a lifelong trade unionist, I want to know why the leader of Britain’s trade union movement, Paul Nowak, is giving Labour a free pass.
As the general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, Nowak is quite prepared to get involved in politics. He frequently attacks Reform and Farage on social media. Twelve out of his last twenty Instagram posts dealing with political issues have been attacks on Reform.
Voir cette publication sur Instagram
Some of these are about what Reform will do in government… three years from now. However, he lets the current government – the one actually carrying out attacks on workers and oppressed groups – off the hook.
When Nowak does talk about what is happening now – such as the cuts to the fire service, or strikes against university cuts – he doesn’t mention Labour. He speaks about how ‘years of austerity’ have decimated the fire service, but nothing about Labour refusing to reverse the cuts.
He started a recent article in the Sunday Mirror by bringing up the Mandelson-Epstein scandal. Instead of tackling the corrupt machinations in the Labour Party, he went on to criticise Reform for receiving the largest individual party donation. Not a peep about Labour, a so-called workers’ party, receiving donations from big business!
Nowak was instrumental last November in the deal between the TUC and Labour to water down the Employment Rights Act. He agreed to Labour breaking its promise on protection from unfair dismissal on day one. He then became the biggest defender of this betrayal.
One of his posts promotes the Together Alliance and its march on 28 March. Nowak calls for ‘unity’, including working-class unity to tackle the cost-of-living crisis. However, his kind of ‘unity’ includes the very government which is overseeing the capitalist crisis, and is stoking the flames of racism and division.
This kind of ‘unity’ goes by another name: class collaboration.
Mike Hogan, Liverpool
Unison encourages members to campaign for Labour
Unison – the UK’s largest trade union – has released a campaigning guide for the 2026 local elections, which is centred around tackling the threat of Reform.
They point out the obvious: that Reform is no friend to workers, and their policies threaten workers’ rights. They also point to the cuts and austerity in Reform-run councils.
They say Reform has “attracted the support of people fed up with all political parties”. This is correct: many people sick of the establishment, who feel betrayed by the traditional political parties, are turning to Reform.
But what is Unison’s strategy to cut across this?
They say you can talk to friends and family, encourage voting, and so on. But here’s the point they make that struck me: their guide says that Unison members should not just vote – but campaign for the Labour Party!
This is a joke. After acknowledging that Reform has gained momentum from people’s hatred of the establishment – Unison wants to send their members to campaign for… the establishment!
The authors seem to acknowledge the absurdity of this position: “For those who’ve not done this before, this might seem like a daunting step, particularly when some [!] of Labour’s policies are unpopular”. But don’t worry, “a warm welcome and lots of support will be provided”.
Voir cette publication sur Instagram
If the trade unions adopt this approach, they will alienate millions of working class people – not just Reform voters.
What could be more offputting than being told you should campaign for politicians that have gutted the NHS and education through austerity, ramped up state repression, and spent our taxes on aiding genocide and imperialist wars?
This completely blunts the trade unions as a weapon to fight against racism, austerity, and the establishment.
Georgina Ryan, Mile End
Zack Polanski sends mixed messages in Cardiff
Four RCP members attended a recent Q&A with Zack Polanski at Cardiff University. Whilst queuing to get in, we struck up a conversation with someone who had been out campaigning with Polanski that day.
He described feeling pushed into political activity by the war in Iran, the sewage in the water, and the pot holes plaguing the streets. He wasn’t sure of any Green policies, but the door knocking brief was simply to present the Green party as a vehicle for platitudes like “hope” and “change”.
The room was packed with 500 mainly-young people. The event was delayed by thirty minutes, but Polanski spent the next thirty on long personal anecdotes, interspersed with soundbites about the genocide in Gaza, or tuition fees.
Polanski would correctly point out that most politicians are corrupt: bought and paid for by private interests. However, he’d then say the way to tackle this is through “love”, “peace”, and “compassion” – even for those we disagree with.
On the topic of how to fight Reform, Polanski – who had earlier that day attended the launch of the Together Alliance in Wales – said we need a “progressive alliance” to tackle “the politics of hate and division”.
The lack of politics on offer dampened the atmosphere. As one attendee told us: “I was quite surprised with how little was actually said. He didn’t really explain why all of these bad things are happening.”
Voir cette publication sur Instagram
The Q&A portion failed to buck the trend, as just five dull and highly-sanitised questions were permitted.
The last response was the most disappointing for attendees. When asked what he thought about Plaid Cymru winning in Caerphilly, and their prospects in the upcoming Senedd elections, the Green leader said he thinks Plaid Cymru will win the Welsh Assembly… but it’s still important to vote Green to stop Reform.
It wasn’t surprising to see young people heading for the exit during the intermission. Those that we spoke with were frustrated by the lack of any real substance – and rightly so.
Liam Wiltshire, Cardiff University
