2024 saw the historic defeat of the once-most successful capitalist party in the world. The Tory Party vote at the general election collapsed, leading to the worst result in its 200-year history and its lowest-ever number of MPs.
We carried the headline “Tories smashed”, and with it the immediate urgent task for the workers’ movement: “Build the socialist opposition.”
In its first six months, Keir Starmer’s Labour government has shown again and again that its priority and purpose is to serve the interests of the capitalist class and to defend the profit-based capitalist system. While business figures complained about the National Insurance hike and other extra costs, its first Budget was welcomed by the International Monetary Fund and Financial Times as being in the interests of the system as a whole.
Starmer’s government was elected with the votes of just 20% of the electorate – the lowest support base of any government since 1918. Elected with little enthusiasm, the Labour leadership is distrusted, with even some Labour members calling it ‘dishonest’.
Just two weeks after the election, Starmer faced his first rebellion in Parliament with seven Labour MPs voting against keeping the two-child benefit cap. All seven currently sit as independents, suspended from the Labour whip.
Cost of living
As we celebrate the new year and resolutions are being made, the ghost of the cost-of-living crisis haunts us. The headlines in the capitalist press on 1 January were all about energy bills going up. It is expected that on average households will face a £240 bill jolt.
Everything is going up – bus and train fares, mobile and broadband charges, council tax, water, food, tv licence – the list goes on. As the cold winter and snow set in, many working-class families will be put in an impossible choice between heating or eating. The cutting of winter fuel allowance for 11 million pensioners puts them at risk of freezing this winter. Price increases are further fuelling an already acute housing crisis. Almost one in eight private renters faces the threat of eviction this winter.
We don’t need Starmer’s New Year message to tell us things are going to get worse, working-class and young people are experiencing it.
But it’s not all bad for everyone. Bankers are set to receive even bigger bonuses, some ten times their salaries in payouts, after the removal of the bonus cap. Energy companies continue to make record profits. Just 20 energy companies have made a staggering £457 billion in profits since the start of the energy bills crisis.
Rigged system
Increasingly, working-class and young people are drawing the conclusion that the system is rigged against us.
The memory of the highest level of strike action since 1987 is not forgotten, including that strike action can win. Since August 2021, Unite the Union members have won £430 million in increased wages, from 1,250 disputes, with over 200,000 workers taking action – over 80% of them wins. That’s just in one union.
Other unions have also had an increase in membership, and with new layers of reps and activists developing. There is a layer of workers who are drawing the conclusion that we need to fight!
Working-class pressure is mounting on individual Labour MPs and councillors. Some fear not getting re-elected and are shedding crocodile tears. Others could be forced to take a stand at odds with the Starmer leadership.
At a parliamentary level, the election of Jeremy Corbyn and four other independents for Gaza shows the possibilities of how this government will face opposition to its left in future polls. As the suspension period of the 7 MPs is coming to a head, their fate in the Labour Party is in question, particularly if they stand up for the interests of the working class.
On a local level, a number of councillors are leaving the Labour Party to sit as independents.
Broxtowe independents
The latest to join them are 20 councillors in Broxtowe near Nottingham resigning from Labour and accusing Starmer of abandoning Labour’s values. Summarising the situation today, they were denounced by the former Conservative MP for Broxtowe Anna Soubry, who argues that the current Starmer Labour MP ‘deserves the support of everyone in Broxtowe’.
Now the biggest group on the council, the Broxtowe Independents could use their position to spearhead the fight against Starmer’s austerity, including by continuing their stated policy of opposing cuts in this year’s council budget.
The Socialist Party welcomes the steps the Broxtowe councillors have taken and is encouraging them to organise a local conference and invite trade unions, anti-cuts campaigners and other socialists and activists, to discuss how to build the strongest working-class challenge at the upcoming local elections in May for Nottinghamshire County Council. (Broxtowe Borough Council does not have elections this year.)
Nottinghamshire Trades Council, which covers Broxtowe, could invite the councillors to discuss with its delegates what kind of political representation the working class needs.
May’s elections will be the first major electoral battle under Starmer’s government. The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), of which the Socialist Party is a part, is hosting its conference to discuss plans for a working-class stand this May, taking place online on 2 February.
TUSC is a banner under which socialists and independent anti-cuts councillors can stand – clearly identifying themselves as trade unionists and socialists, and distinguishing themselves from the whole spectrum of ‘independents’ of various political backgrounds. There are, for example, existing independents on Broxtowe council, not part of the new group and not on the left.
Fighting for working-class political representation, a party for our own class that defends our interests, remains a priority as we start the new year. But we don’t need to wait for a new party to be formed to win gains for the working class right now.
Socialist Party members will continue to support workers taking action, help organise local campaigns, push for councils to set no-cuts needs-based budgets and fight for the socialist programme needed to get rid of capitalism.
If you agree capitalism is rotten, and things need to change – we agree! We can change and fight for rights now not tomorrow – join us today.
