Rishi Sunak recently announced his intention to reinstate national service. This is an obvious attempt to plug the holes in British capitalism’s sinking ship.
The Tories harp on about fostering ‘national unity’. But the vast majority of us are squeezed by austerity and a cost-of-living crisis. In reality, they and their super-rich chums live on a different planet from the rest of us.
This is blatant electioneering – an effort to shore-up what little support the Tories have amongst their voter base by appealing to patriotic nostalgia, while ignoring the real issues facing the working class.
Even army chiefs have expressed reservations. They know that this is a cynical attempt to exploit young people, forcing them to fill gaps in the workforce created by Brexit and deteriorating working conditions.
The policy is so ridiculous, that the audience at the first televised debate between Sunak and Starmer burst into laughter when it was mentioned.
🚨 NEW: The audience laughs at Rishi Sunak when he says National Service will be a “transformative” experience for young people#ITVDebate pic.twitter.com/6dcCYVsqbl
— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) June 4, 2024
This whole charade reminds us of another Tory wheeze: David Cameron’s ‘Big Society’ – a grand vision of a nation united in charity. In reality, this was a smokescreen for cuts to vital public services, leaving communities struggling to pick up the slack.
The idea of introducing mandatory national service is a similar trick; a con designed to distract from growing inequality, stagnant wages, and crumbling infrastructure – and from the fact that the system itself, capitalism, is incapable of providing decent living standards.
This is just another farcical attempt to patch up capitalism. The Tories are trying to sell us a rusty old car with a shoddy paint job. But workers and youth won’t be fooled.
Fight for your future! Demand votes at 16!
Freya Bonner, Leyton Sixth Form College
The Tories recently announced plans to reintroduce national service, should they stay in power. 18-year-olds would have to do 12 months of either military training or community volunteering.
Yet most of those who would be forced to endure this policy will be unable to vote in this election.
Young people today are trained to withdraw themselves from politics; to see it as something alien that they cannot influence. Decisions are being made about our futures without our consent.
The further academisation of our schools; increasing tuition fees; this latest ill-conceived national service plan: these regressive policies are being developed for the benefit of the Tory ranks and the bosses, and not for the people they will directly affect.
In the 2019 general election, 47 percent of 18-24 year-olds voted – the lowest turnout of any age range. And no wonder: none of the major parties offer anything to young people.
As British capitalism festers, the best the ruling class can hope for is to keep young people out, fomenting a sense of despair and hopelessness.
Both Labour and the Tories will continue to take away what little we have left (except our debt, of course), pursuing a race to the bottom. All the while, they call us lazy, apathetic, and ignorant. But if young people are shut out, then we will only disengage further.
Extending the franchise, by itself, would not reverse this trend entirely. But it would provide a partial channel for the burning anger that young people feel.
Young people do care about politics. In recent Scottish elections, 16-17 year-olds have turned out in higher proportions than other youth. And school students have been a mass presence at protests for climate change, Black Lives Matter, and for Palestine.
This is why communists support extending the franchise to 16-year-olds.
But we also call on young people to shape their destiny more fundamentally, by getting organised and joining a fighting revolutionary party – by joining the RCP.
We can only rely on ourselves, struggling alongside the working class, to solve the problems that our generation faces. We can show the establishment that – despite our disenfranchisement from parliamentary politics – we can still change society!
