On Saturday 10 October, over three years on from the start of Israel’s murderous war on Gaza, hundreds of revolutionary communists will march through the streets of central London, as part of the latest mass protest for Palestine.
Our communist bloc will rally around the slogan: ‘For Palestine to live, imperialism must die’.
The message we will be shouting and spreading on this demonstration will be loud and clear. To stop the ongoing genocide, we must overthrow the warmongers in Westminster and Washington. To end the unfolding catastrophe in the Middle East, we must overthrow capitalism. To bring about a free Palestine, we must fight for revolution.
Further from freedom
For three years now, workers and youth in Britain have fought valiantly in support of the Palestinian people – all while facing scandalous repression from the state.
From countless massive demonstrations, to blockades of arms factories, to university encampments, to hunger strikes: all manner of actions and tactics have been attempted to oppose the genocide, and to protest against the capitalist politicians at home who have aided and abetted this.
Yet throughout this period, the situation in the Middle East – and across the globe – has only worsened.
The people of Palestine are further away from freedom than ever. Thanks to Trump, Netanyahu, and their imperialist allies, the entire region is in flames. And the working class worldwide is shouldering the costs, in the form of soaring prices, a looming recession, and the growing burden of militarism.
Zionism is imperialism
All of this chaos can easily seem like madness – a result of the short-sighted, self-serving leaders in the White House, Downing Street, and Jerusalem, and their reckless decisions.
In turn, ever since 7 October 2023, there have been endless calls and moralistic appeals from the Palestine movement for a ceasefire; for ‘peace and justice’; for international law and sanctions to constrain the Zionist war criminals; and for a supposed two-state ‘solution’.
But to grasp why none of this has worked, and point a genuine way forward for the masses in the Middle East, we must understand the root of the problem; the ultimate cause of the oppression of the Palestinian people; the real nature of Zionism.
Green Party activists in Britain have caused a stir, in this respect, by passing a motion at the party’s recent conference condemning Israel’s actions and calling for the creation of a single democratic state throughout historic Palestine.
Unsurprisingly, this has provoked a hysterical backlash from the entire British establishment. This includes the capitalist media, the Board of Deputies of British Jews, and a conservative old guard within the Green Party – all of whom have smeared the resolution and its supporters as ‘antisemitic’.
Green Party’s ‘Zionism is racism’ policy ignites McCarthyite hysteria
The Israeli government, meanwhile, has barred Green leader Zack Polanski from entering the country as a result of his party’s official anti-Zionist position.
The motion is correct in much of what it states and suggests. But its title ‘Zionism is racism’ misses the essential point. More importantly, Zionism is imperialism.
The Zionist project is – and always has been – an inherently expansionist one: premised on driving the Palestinian people from their homes and land; and seeking domination over the whole of the Middle East, in terms of markets and spheres of influence. Hence the present clashes between Israel and its rival powers in the region, such as Iran and Turkey.
Furthermore, US imperialism and its allies could not have maintained their own sway and grip over the Middle East for all these decades without Israel: often referred to as ‘the largest unsinkable American aircraft carrier in the world’.
This is why Trump and his advisors are constantly being dragged back into the maelstrom of the Middle East by Netanyahu, despite the damage this is inflicting upon American imperialism and its representatives – militarily, economically, and politically.
And it is why every occupant of Number 10, in turn, has thrown Britain’s support behind Israel, in order to appease their bosses in Washington, and maintain the so-called ‘special relationship’.
No trust in Burnham’s Labour
For all their smiles and promises, Andy Burnham’s Labour will prove to be no different on this front.
In an effort to win back left-wing voters, Burnham and his ministers have shifted their tone on the question of Israel-Palestine.
“We hear you”, assured Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband at the recent Labour conference, for example, speaking to pro-Palestine activists from the rostrum. “You were right.”
This was accompanied by threats of UK sanctions against Israel for its settlements and ethnic cleansing in the West Bank; pledges to “call out the evidence of war crimes in Gaza”; and vows to “match words with actions”.
But all of this is just cynical posturing. A few hollow platitudes and rhetorical remarks will do nothing to tangibly change Britain’s military and diplomatic alliance with Israel. Supporters of Palestine Action, meanwhile, are still being arrested by police, under the government’s orders.
Let us not forget that Keir Starmer made similarly tokenistic gestures when it served his political interests. His government introduced a supposed ‘arms embargo’ against Israel, for example, and promised to recognise Palestinian statehood.
All of this was done in an opportunistic attempt to win back Muslim and young voters, following the former Labour leader’s earlier support for the siege and starvation of men, women, and children in Gaza.
In other words, these two-faced politicians will happily pay lip service to the Palestinian cause when it is a matter of saving their careers. But when push comes to shove, they will come down on the side of the establishment, and loyally serve their imperialist masters.
Those fighting for a free Palestine must therefore have no trust in Burnham’s Labour.
Government of war
Any UK ‘reset’ with Israel is entirely superficial. Whatever they might say in relation to Palestine will do nothing to alter the fact that Burnham’s administration – just like Starmer’s before him – is a government of war.
As the old saying goes, judge a man not by his words, but by the company he keeps. And on this front, it is clear that Burnham’s government is no less militaristic or imperialist than those of his predecessors.
John Healey, Burnham’s ‘warfare chancellor’, for example, resigned from his previous post as defence secretary under Starmer over military spending – not in protest of the former prime minister’s rearmament drive, but because it wasn’t fast and big enough for his liking!
Healey’s successor at the Ministry of Defence, Wes Streeting, is no better. The notorious Blairite, like Burnham, has emphasised that increased military expenditure will be a priority for this Labour government. And as with many of the PM’s cabinet and inner circle, including Downing Street Chief of Staff James Purnell, Streeting has longstanding ties to Labour Friends of Israel.
On every front, meanwhile, Burnham has continued to provide the UK’s allies with military support, in pursuit of British imperialism’s interests: from the billions given to Zelensky’s corrupt regime in Ukraine, to the assistance offered to the Saudis in their failing attempts to crush the Houthis.
And it is workers, pensioners, and the poor who are being made to foot the bill for all of this militarism, in the form of cuts to welfare to pay for warfare.
That is why, despite the changing of the guard in Number 10, we continue to say: Down with all the Westminster warmongers! Down with British imperialism! The main enemy is at home!
Crisis of leadership
All of this highlights what is needed to genuinely further the struggle for Palestine.
The best, most powerful solidarity that workers and youth in Britain can offer to the Palestinian people is to bring down ‘our own’ imperialist government – those who continue to defend and uphold the barbaric system that oppresses and exploits the downtrodden masses across the planet.
Unfortunately, however, this is not the perspective of the self-appointed leaders of the Palestine movement.
Organisations like Stop the War and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign offer no strategy beyond repeated A-to-B marches, accompanied by vacuous slogans like ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’.
These words ring completely hollow after three years of intensifying genocide. And more importantly, they are utterly meaningless and impotent – aimed as they are at morally persuading the very capitalist politicians who have facilitated this slaughter.
Instead of mobilising workers against the war criminals in government and in support of Palestine, meanwhile, trade union leaders like Sharon Graham have actively endorsed Labour ministers’ militarism, under the guise of ‘boosting industry’ and ‘defending jobs’.
Given this lack of leadership, it is no surprise that activists have looked towards the US encampment movement or groups like Palestine Action for inspiration. But alas, these fighters – despite their audacity and militancy – have also run up against a dead end.
Join the communists
What is required is for the working class to enter and lead the struggle as an organised force. It is workers – given their weight in society, and position in production – who have the power to bring the imperialists’ war machine to a halt.
The Italian working class showed the potential for this a year ago, when they came out in their millions to ‘block everything for Palestine’.
With their general strike of October 2025, Italian workers accomplished more in a matter of days than had been achieved in the previous two years of protests. And they demonstrated what Marxists mean when we say that ‘not a lightbulb shines, not a wheel turns, and not a telephone rings, without the kind permission of the working class’.
More recent events in Europe have underlined this potential. From Spain to France, workers and youth are rising up and demanding a future free of misery. The Gen Z revolutions are growing and spreading. And Britain could be next in line.
The question of Palestine, in this respect, is one of many burning issues – from the climate crisis, to the sense of dread and doom around AI – that is feeding into a generalised mood of discontent and rage.
What is needed is a revolutionary leadership that can give a clear, conscious expression to these feelings; that can help connect the dots between the ruling class’ conflicts abroad and their war on the working class back home; and that can channel this incendiary anger into a movement against the rotten capitalist system and its guardians.
That is the task before us as communists: to build such a leadership; to build the revolutionary party.
The fight for a free Palestine is a fight for revolution. Join us in this struggle.
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