A catastrophic genocide is being carried out against Palestinians. The Israeli state and its western allies, including Britain, have the blood of tens of thousands on their hands.
Across the planet, millions of workers and young people have demonstrated against the horror unfolding in Palestine. Some of the biggest mobilisations have been in Britain. Another national demo is set to take place in London this weekend, on 3 February.
Like in all mass movements, there’s a wide variety of political ideas and trends in the pro-Palestine campaign.
From the very beginning, we’ve been battling under the banner of working-class internationalism and fighting the imperialists here in Britain.
Communist ideas have been a small part of the movement. But their vigour has attracted a new layer of class fighters. This is important progress in the campaign to free Palestine, which is also the struggle for world socialist revolution.
Communists of the IMT in London mobilised for the demonstration in solidarity with Palestine outside of the Israeli Embassy in Britain.
The anger is palpable. The youth are leading the charge.
We say: Intifada til victory! Down with Netanyahu! Down with British imperialism! pic.twitter.com/1HR7p3JZIg
— The Communist ☭ (@revcommunists) October 9, 2023
Intifada ‘til victory!
In 60 universities and 100 towns and cities, communists have been agitating on demonstrations and street corners with the slogans: ‘Intifada ‘til Victory!’ and ‘From London to Gaza, we’ll have an Intifada!’
As comrade Max explained in a speech to a pro-Palestine rally in Leeds:
“[Our slogan] has been misrepresented as a call to violence and an endorsement of Hamas. This could not be further from the truth. Intifada means uprising. It is a call for the masses to shake off the shackles of oppression. The only end to this crisis is through the masses coming together to overthrow their oppressors, through an Intifada.
“But this cannot be an isolated affair. We call for a socialist federation of the whole Middle East. And it is our job to have our own British Intifada: a revolution to rid ourselves of these parasitic governments, whether Tory or Labour, that place the health of capital above the health of people.”
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Our article on Why the Communists call for ‘Intifada til Victory’ was one of the most read articles of 2023 on our website.
This article supported resolutions we put forward in trade union and student union branches. We demanded a mass campaign against the British government, which supports the Israeli regime.
Our comrades moved resolutions in branches of the RMT, BMA, UCU, Unison, NEU, Unite and PCS unions. It passed in six of them, including the largest branch of the UCU in the country.
Censorship and repression
In Leeds Beckett, UEA, Nottingham, Falmouth, Glasgow, Cardiff, Cambridge, Edinburgh, and UCL, meanwhile, communist students put the resolution to their student union and argued fiercely for it.
This dogged work was a slap in the face for those trying to censor us with political and personal attacks.
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Oxford University management allied with the bosses’ press to ban discussion of our resolution in the UCU branch. The Telegraph, the Daily Mail, The Independent, and The Guardian published slanderous attack pieces against our call for ‘intifada until victory’.
Several universities threatened our comrades with disciplinary action for their Palestine solidarity work. University authorities have banned our Marxist societies on three campuses. And in many places, campus security has ripped down our posters and stickers and curtailed our activity.
Communists have even been targeted by the police, who hauled in three London comrades and attempted to intimidate us in Edinburgh.
We’ve hit back around the country with screenings of a 1998 BBC documentary called Israel and the Arabs, which depicts the First Intifada in exactly the terms described by comrade Max in his speech. Even the BBC, a mouthpiece of the establishment, is an unwilling witness in defence of our slogan ‘intifada until victory’!
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Getting organised
Clear revolutionary politics makes for energetic organising. In Canterbury, Sheffield, Leeds, Norwich, Cardiff, Lancaster, Goldsmiths, UCL, Southampton, and Queen Mary it has been the communists organising rallies and marches.
In London, there have been at least 100 communists organised on all the national demonstrations, promoting our ideas through speeches and our paper. Across the country, dozens of communists have spoken at rallies, and thousands of papers have been sold.
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Communists have been organising Palestine discussion groups in secondary schools in Chelmsford, south London, and Halifax, among others. Workplace groups are also springing up on the initiative of communist workers.
The Newcastle communists have been part of the ‘Shut Down Rafael’ campaign, targeting industry that feeds the Israeli war machine. Our comrades are aiming their efforts at convincing and organising the workers inside the factory, who hold the decisive power over shutting down production.
Revolutionary Communist Party
Since the demonstrations began in October, around 200 new members have joined the communists in Britain. We’re fighting against ‘our own’ imperialist government, and for socialist revolution, through which we can secure a free Palestine.
We’re preparing a brand new weapon for this class war: the Revolutionary Communist Party, which is being founded in May. If you want to help us sharpen and fortify it, then join now and we’ll get to work.
