Martin Ralph
On May 1st across the world, masses of workers gathered in celebration and solidarity for socialism for international workers day, facing a world of mass oppression, corporate exploitation, far-right attacks, and an erosion of rights for workers, immigrants, disabled people, women (including trans women), and LGBTQ+ people. Workers came out against imperialist violence and occupation—in Palestine, Ukraine, Sudan, and beyond.
In Britain, the Labour Party continues to shift to the right, embracing racist anti-immigration policies and criminalising policies refugees seeking safety. The Supreme Court’s recent ruling against the right to self-identify is a blatant denial of basic human rights. Starmer’s support of this decision only deepens the fear, discrimination, and violence trans people face. If he truly cared about protecting women, he would tackle misogyny and male violence—not scapegoat trans communities. A trans woman is a woman. A trans man is a man. Non-binary people are welcome.
Labour uses far right policies to divide and weaken us, to protect imperialism, justify Israeli apartheid, plunder global resources, and drive environmental destruction. Starmer follows the same path as Trump, chasing geopolitical interests at the cost of people and the planet.
Across the UK, workers are facing an onslaught on their wages, jobs, and working conditions. Strikes in Birmingham, Sheffield, and Merseyside are just the beginning, as workers resist cuts to services and the relentless push for privatisation—driven not by necessity, but by greed.
Starmer and the capitalist system rely on maintaining the status quo—justifying power for the elite with 170 billionaires thriving in 2024. In the 1950s, only 40 people in Britain earned £100,000. Today, inequality has exploded. Poverty is rising to terrifying levels. When Starmer talks about “growth,” he means wealth for the rich and austerity for the rest of us.
With our rights under attack, now is the time to fight back. We need a united, working-class movement to defeat every attack. We must build mass, united-front actions. A true united front will bring together diverse organisations of workers and oppressed people—and their allies—to fight for shared goals, while respecting each group’s autonomy. This must be done democratically and transparently—uniting around common demands and strategies while welcoming diverse perspectives.
We must struggle within these fronts to create mass, coordinated action. There is no better teacher of working-class politics than collective struggle. As Rosa Luxemburg said, “Those who do not move, do not notice their chains.” Through action, our class gains consciousness, strength, and clarity.
It is the activity of the class struggle in which the class learns and develops its consciousness. As such, we must create the opportunities for this struggle and learning to take place. Mass action is the most effective tool we have to win—and it lays the foundation for revolutionary transformation. We need leadership committed to organising against the bosses and their system of war and exploitation.