For working class unity not division!
Horrific scenes played out at the weekend (3-4 August) in Britain as hundreds of people gathered outside hotels housing asylum seekers in Rotherham and Hull, throwing bricks and bottles, and, in Rotherham, breaking in and setting it alight. As the images were plastered all over the mainstream TV and press as well as social media, many Black, Asian and migrant people are now very understandably fearful.
Thirty or more far-right ‘protests’ were called in towns around the country. These racist, Islamophobic events, organised in the name of driving out migrants, follow the far-right Tommy Robinson’s national rally in Trafalgar Square on Saturday 27 July, attended by thousands.
Counter-protests
These events are terrible and must be opposed, although it is also important to note that the racist protests have varied greatly in size. Many of the protests were numbered in tens rather than hundreds. In many cases, the local far-right protests have been greatly outnumbered by counter-demonstrations of local trade unionists, residents and anti-racist campaigners. Socialist Party members participated in and helped to build these among the local trade union movement and communities.
In areas such as Sunderland and Bolton, Muslim youth mobilised to defend the mosques and oppose the far right. The far-right events are rejected by the enormous majority of people in all communities. In all instances where there was violence and vandalism, local communities came together afterwards to help clear up.
And, in a conscious decision, what wasn’t promoted in the establishment media was the tens of thousands who marched on Saturday 3 August against the war on Gaza in central London, opposed by a small far-right group of about 100; or the huge Trans Pride demonstration, again of tens of thousands, that marched on Saturday 27 July, the same time as Tommy Robinson’s rally. Events which demonstrate the unity and strength of the working class are not to be promoted by the capitalists’ media!
Police powers
The new Labour government and media are now discussing if the police need more powers. Police chiefs have been quick to say they do not have enough resources. While many people will look to the police to defend communities and arrest the perpetrators of violence, beefed-up powers could also be used against Muslim youth acting to defend their communities, anti-war activists, or trade unionists taking action.
Far-right individuals like Tommy Robinson are aiming to exploit the deep-seated alienation and desperation of people driven down by decades of poverty and austerity.
Capitalist scapegoating – Tory and Labour
Capitalist politicians – both Tory and new Labour – have doubled-down on scapegoating migrants, pointing the finger at people arriving in small boats as the source of the problem, while they slash and privatise services to the point of destruction, and grind down pay and benefits. Meanwhile, they enable the rich to get richer and richer.
Keir Starmer’s government has been elected on the lowest share of the vote of any governing party and it is clear why. For a section of working-class people there is no expectation of anything improving under this new government. The terrible murders and stabbings of children in Southport have been the trigger for the events of the last week, but the conditions that could enable the far right to exploit anger and desperation were there already.
The divisions the far right try to create would make it easier for the bosses and their pro-capitalist political parties to continue to drive down all workers’ living standards. Already, the news coverage of these far-right protests has quickly replaced the news of Starmer suspending MPs for voting to scrap the two-child benefit cap, Rachel Reeves’s new austerity announcements to fill a “£22 billion black hole” in public finances, and the promise of no money to universities facing insolvency.
The vote for Reform in the general election was a warning of how right populist and far-right forces could step into the vacuum as anger grows under a Labour government. But the massive strike wave in 2022-23 showed the huge potential power of the working class to fill that vacuum with the fight for the pay, jobs, homes and services we all need. Standing up to racism is not separate from that.
Trade union lead
A serious trade union mobilisation against racism and the far right is needed. If that was linked to fighting for pay, jobs, homes and services, the trade unions could mobilise much bigger numbers when needed on anti-racist demonstrations.
Such a movement would go a long way to undercutting support for the far right, as it would be a pole of attraction that could unite all sections of the working class – bringing together the Muslim youth defending their mosques with the organised working class, of all backgrounds, with its potential power to force better pay, council house building, and funding for services from this government.
In 2018, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) agreed to launch a campaign for ‘Jobs and homes, not racism’. It is time for that to be enacted. That should include a serious approach to mobilising for local demonstrations, and providing stewards. Just relying on the police for protection can pose unnecessary risks to the safety of participants.
The TUC and the unions should call an emergency national Saturday demonstration on the theme: ‘Workers unity not division – jobs and homes not racism’.
Working-class political voice
And an essential part of the fight against racism and the far right must be to strive to win a political voice for working-class people that campaigns for socialist policies. At the height of the rail and postal strikes in 2022, Mick Lynch, the general secretary of the RMT rail union, and Dave Ward, the general secretary of the Communication Workers Union launched Enough is Enough. Half a million people signed up, many hoping this would be the beginning of a new political voice. But instead, unfortunately, Enough is Enough was left to peter out, and the far right are cynically claiming the name.
In 2010, the late RMT general secretary Bob Crow initiated, along with the Socialist Party and others, an electoral alliance against austerity, the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC). One of the questions considered at the time was whether Bob should stand against the then leader of the far-right British National Party (BNP), Nick Griffin, in East London, where the BNP had 12 councillors. That kind of a lead needs to be taken now by trade union movement. As Starmer’s Labour government continues to implement anti-worker policies, the unions should call a conference to discuss the building of a political vehicle for workers.
In 2017, Jeremy Corbyn’s anti-austerity manifesto led to Labour winning a million votes from Reform’s predecessor party, Ukip. A party based on the organised working class that fought for anti-racist, anti-war, socialist policies – for the pay, jobs, homes and services we all need – would undercut support for far-right groups and help to isolate the few violent individuals that want to build them.
