“I’m so sick of big business politicians not caring about people.” – Rosie, Coventry
“I’m sick of being exploited.” – Christopher, Chester-le-Street
“I’m sick of growing inequality, oppression, exploitation, and lies. There should be no billionaires while children are starving. Capitalism is the scourge of humanity.” – Emma, Halifax
“Honestly, I’m just sick of me and everyone I love being controlled by the wealthy. Why should we go hungry, while they can buy up houses from the poor and jet around destroying the globe.” – Ben, Lincoln
“I’m tired of barely being able to make ends meet. And I’m tired of seeing this country and the world being sold out by billionaires in Westminster and beyond.” – Seth, Leeds
“I’m fed up with the fallacy of liberal democracy and the two-party system, which feels more like two sides of the same coin, as we watch a Labour Party enact the policies of the Tory Party.” – Ethan, Preston
The words above were all written by those applying to join the Revolutionary Communist Party, as part of our current recruitment drive.
Sick. Tired. Fed up. This is the real mood of anger and despair amongst ordinary people in Britain right now. Yet where is this reflected politically? Certainly not in any of the traditional parties, who are all rightly despised.
Capitalist hymn sheet
As the last of these quotes indicates, Starmer’s Labour and the Tories are seen as “two sides of the same coin”: both supporting the same austerity agenda; the same imperialist warmongering; the same racist migrant-bashing and divisive culture war.
What do either of these establishment parties have to offer workers and their families, other than a lifetime of misery and insecurity?
We had 14 years of crisis, cuts, and chaos under successive Conservative governments. And now Starmer and his cronies are promising years more of the same.
They are like Tweedledee and Tweedledum, singing from the same capitalist hymn sheet.
No wonder many working-class voters are now backing Reform UK, as indicated in the recent local elections.
Nigel Farage’s calls to nationalise the steel and water industries, reverse the cuts to pensioners’ winter fuel allowance, support striking bin workers, and take on the establishment may be cynical, opportunistic demagoguery.
Nevertheless, for many, such talk will come as a breath of fresh air compared to the stinking garbage and broken promises offered by Labour and the Tories.
Crisis of leadership
Ultimately, the blame for this sorry situation lies with the leaders of the ‘left’ and the labour movement.
These ‘lefts’ have completely failed to provide a genuine political alternative for workers and youth; a clear reference point for all the accumulated discontent in society.
This is not for want of opportunities. From the Corbyn movement of 2015-19, to the inspiring strike wave of 2022-23, to the huge protests against the genocide in Gaza: there has been no shortage of mass struggle – politically, industrially, and socially – in Britain in recent years.
Yet on every occasion, the leaders of these movements have been found wanting; devoid of any perspective or strategy for taking the fight forward.
That is why we are urgently building the Revolutionary Communist Party: to provide the missing subjective factor in the equation – the revolutionary leadership that the working class needs and deserves.
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Broken Britain
Capitalism is in a deep crisis – perhaps the deepest in history.
Ever since the turning point of the 2008 slump, the global economy has stumbled from disaster to catastrophe. And at every key juncture, the ruling class has bailed out the banks and big business, and loaded the costs onto the shoulders of the working class.
The crisis of British capitalism is particularly acute. A century of decline, degeneration, and deindustrialisation has been compounded by years of austerity and attacks on living standards, welfare, and public services.
This has left UK industries rusting and infrastructure crumbling. And it is what Farage and Reform are tapping into with their promises to fix ‘broken Britain’.
Palliative treatment
The problem, again, is the utter political vacuum, with no fighting programme from the left and the trade unions.
The decrepit capitalism system is dying on its feet. Yet the leading lights of the ‘left’ seem determined to prop it up, prescribing palliative treatments that do nothing to tackle the real disease: the anarchy of the market and production for profit.
The best they can offer is mild, timid demands to ‘tax the rich’. But you can’t cure cancer with an aspirin.
Begging for a few extra scraps from the fat-cats’ table won’t do anything to stop the rampant plundering and profiteering of the bosses and bankers.
Nor will claims that ‘austerity is a political choice’ convince the capitalists and their representatives to stop their slashing of welfare to fund warfare.
Cuts and conflict; inequality and instability; austerity and attacks: all of these are part-and-parcel of the inherently crisis-ridden capitalist system.
Revolution against the billionaires
Our criticism of the left reformists is not that they demand reforms, but that they are incapable of winning these; that they sow illusions in the ability of capitalism to improve the lot of ordinary folk; in short, that they do not go far enough.
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We are communists because the capitalist system cannot take humanity forward, and needs to be overthrown; because we want to grasp the problem at its root.
Like those writing in to join our ranks, comrades of the RCP want to see a world free of hunger and homelessness; exploitation and oppression. We want nothing less than a paradise on Earth.
To bring this about, we need to get organised as communists, educate ourselves in genuine Marxist ideas, and fight for a revolution against the billionaires. Join the RCP today!
