16.06.2024

LEAGUE STATEMENT ON THE 2024 GENERAL ELECTION

This year's UK General Election looks set to be the most dangerous in a generation.

It is clear that the Conservatives are heading for a monumental defeat - a just verdict on 14 years of austerity, war, racism, and corruption. Even after securing the further powers for themselves that they craved through the Brexit referendum, they have proven themselves to be utterly inept at even the most rudimentary forms of government. In this we may be thankful, considering their lofty ambitions for a rigged parliamentary system and hugely reduced social security & employment rights.

However - it is also clear that the Labour Party, who are on course for a massive majority, offer no alternative to the established policies of the British government such as neoliberalism, support for war, support for NATO, and of government in the name of multinationals & vested state interests. An incoming Starmer government will offer nothing to the vast majority of working people in the UK, and is committed to exactly the same course as its Tory and Labour predecessors.

Although the debate in this election has been dominated with the twin dog whistles of immigration and culture wars, rather than issues such as the cost of living crisis or climate change, it is also continually ignoring the huge international crises of the age - such as the massacres in Gaza and the ongoing war in Ukraine - both of which the British state has a vested interest in continuing in the name of its Atlanticist allies. Britain is being therefore being marched ever closer to a war footing , at the behest of its masters in the United States.

The weakness of the Sunak government has furthermore led to the resurgence of far-right formations such as Reform UK, who would seek to capitalize on the current debate and make a parliamentary breakthrough. Although their chances of having any actual power are slim, they will continue to poison the political debate through their racist rhetoric, amplified as ever by their media allies; and in the event of a Starmer government failing to challenge the fundamental arguements of the far-right will themselves lend even greater succour to reactionary forces and see their popularity increase.

Furthermore, the complexities of the current political situation, and the lack of principled positions amongst large sections of the left on issues such as trans rights and racial justice, mean that even those political elements that take some correct positions on issues such as Gaza also masquerade on others as ‘anti-woke’ and socially reactionary.

It is therefore imperative that the progressive movement in Britain take steps to prepare themselves for five more years of struggle, and begin to bolster progressive positions within Parliament and society as a whole. The League of Communists in Britain therefore calls for support of all social movements and parties that support peace, Palestinian liberation, workers rights, trans rights, racial justice, and popular sovereignty.

The League of Communists in Britain also calls upon the workers movement and all socially progressive forces to begin the process of creating a movement of resistance, to carry forward the struggle for peace and justice, regardless of the results on the 4th July.