In the loathsome world of British politics, the coming weeks mark conference season: a chance for some of the country’s most detested individuals to parade themselves before the public eye.
This year, as is always the case at these annual jamborees, all of Britain’s main political parties will be rubbing shoulders with lobbyists and journalists; wining-and-dining the representatives of big business; attempting to woo the capitalist establishment and its mouthpieces.
At the rostrum, politicians will give vacuous, pre-prepared speeches, full of meaningless soundbites for the press. At various fringe meetings, meanwhile, these same respectable ladies and gentlemen will court the favour of CEOs and so-called captains of industry.
The stage-managed, carefully-choreographed character of these contrived events stands in sharp contrast to the chaos gripping society back in the real world.
Outside of these conference centres, Britain is a tinderbox, ready to explode.
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Eruptions of anger
There is an enormous accumulated anger against the status quo. And this is constantly bubbling to the surface, leading to outpourings of discontent and eruptions of indignation.
Over the next few weeks, large-scale demonstrations are set to take place against the genocide in Gaza and against Donald Trump’s official state visit to the UK.
This weekend, hundreds of pro-Palestine activists are likely to be arrested on charges of supporting ‘terrorism’. Yet the real criminals – the crooks and warmongers in Westminster – are getting off scot free.
At the same time, up-and-down the country, anti-migration protests are regularly being organised outside hotels accommodating asylum-seekers.
And on Saturday 13 September, far-right charlatan Tommy Robinson – and thousands of his thuggish supporters – will be rampaging through the streets of central London, rallying around a chauvinistic call to ‘Make Britain Great Again’.
Earlier in the month in the UK capital, meanwhile, Tube workers will bring the city’s transport network to a halt, through a series of strikes over pay and working hours.
All of this is a reflection of the malaise and mood of frustration in society – and a harbinger of the storms and upheavals to come.
Broken Britain
In Birmingham this week, on 5-6 September, Nigel Farage will address a motley crew of attendees at the Reform UK conference.
Farage’s latest diatribe will no doubt touch on similar themes as his previous speech in this same city. Expect the usual motifs around migration, crime, and ‘broken Britain’.
From the mouth of this former City trader, such talk is nothing but cynical demagogy, designed to scaremonger and scapegoat.
Whether it comes from Reform, the Tories, or Labour, the aim of this anti-migrant hysteria and ‘culture war’ rhetoric is the same: to deflect the blame from those who are really responsible for the worsening problems in society – not refugees huddled in temporary accommodation, fleeing from war and repression, but Farage’s banker chums, living it up in their penthouses and skyscraper offices.
Nevertheless, Farage and Reform have risen to the top of the polls by tapping into a genuine class anger: a resentment against the lack of decent jobs, housing, and services; a feeling that the current situation and setup does not benefit ordinary people; a sense that working-class communities are not in control of their surroundings and destinies.
All of this is entirely correct and justified. But it is capitalism that is creating artificial scarcity; that is robbing from the poor to line the pockets of the billionaires; and that is generating chaos, both in our local lives and across the planet.
Political vacuum
In truth, nobody on the left is putting forward a consistent, clear, class-based explanation for all these social ills. Nobody, that is, except the revolutionary communists of the RCP. But our voice is still too small to be heard above the establishment’s deafening, racist cacophony.
Far from alleviating tensions over migration, Starmer’s Labour is heightening them: backing the imperialist conflicts that push ever-greater numbers to come to Britain in search of safety; cutting welfare to pay for warfare; and attempting to outflank Reform on the right when it comes to tub-thumping about deportations and ‘stop the boats’ bombast.
Groups like Stand Up to Racism, meanwhile, backed by the trade unions and the Socialist Workers Party, do not go beyond liberal, moralising slogans and demands. These do nothing to address the very real material problems that workers and their communities face, due to capitalism and its crises.
At the same time, independent MPs Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana are dragging their feet when it comes to promises of founding a new left party.
This leaves a massive political vacuum in Britain – partially filled by the Greens, but mostly capitalised on by Farage.
The overall result is that burning anger against the establishment and the status quo is instead being channelled against some of the most vulnerable, oppressed, exploited.
And all the while, as the rich get richer, the decay and decline across society only worsens.
This shows the urgent need to build a real alternative; to build the forces of communism; to build the RCP.
Join the communists!
Farage and Reform may be out in front in electoral surveys. And Starmer’s Labour may be plummeting in the polls. But the fact is that all the major parties and their leaders are hated.
In truth, there is not a ‘shift to the right’ amongst voters, but a polarisation, fragmentation, and radicalisation.
One-in-five Britons say they would support Corbyn and Sultana’s party. This figure goes up to one third amongst young people. Similarly, over half of 16-34 year-olds would back a political alliance made up of the Greens and this new left party.
At the same time, according to recent surveys, almost a third of 18-24 year-olds in Britain have a positive view of communism. Amongst 25-34 year-olds, this number rises to 40 percent. And elsewhere, polling suggests that almost half of Gen Zs want a revolution.
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This is the mood that the RCP is resonating with – as shown by the success of our ‘revolution against the billionaires’ recruitment campaign this summer; or by the bumper sales of recent issues of our paper, The Communist.
Next up, we will be hitting the country’s campuses with our revolutionary message this autumn.
Whether it’s in your university, your school, or your workplace: if you want to put an end to the misery, inequality, and uncertainty that capitalism breeds, it’s time to get organised as a communist. It’s time to join the RCP.
