THE

COMMUNISTS
SPEAK...
Political statements
2021-2023
Communist Party
57th Congress, 4-5 November 2023
#CP57 #ForwardToAUnitedFront
www.communistparty.org.uk
 THE COMMUNISTS SPEAK …
Communist Party of Britain
Political statements 2021-2023

CONTENTS

2021
On the threshold of a new phase of development November 10
Capitalism equals corruption November 18
Violence against women – the ‘shadow pandemic’ November 24
Fight back against the Tory and big business offensive December 16

2022
Workers must not pay for the offensive January 6
Let the people decide! January 12
Bold left alternative more important than Johnson’s fate January 16
‘Provocative and war-mongering’ West condemned February 7
Protest for peace February 9
Ukraine: stop the war, start the peace February 25
No to Putin’s war, no to NATO! March 14
Punish the P&O oligarchs March 23
The ‘Child Q’ outrage March 23
Ukraine War – Communists condemn repression and censorship April 5
There’s always money for war not the poor April 10
CP warns against far right and war in Europe April 27
Tory defeat but Labour failure May 8
Warning: ‘class war’ on democratic rights May 18
On to a programme of action June 15
Oslo shootings condemned June 26
Downing Street change not enough July 6
Support workers against the ‘new robber barons’ July 24
Tories and Starmer offer little or nothing August 3
Build a tidal wave of protest! August 15
Truss must face a united front September 7
Bread and circuses without the bread September 18
Time to complete the democratic revolution September 18
Kwarteng’s Budget September 23
Much more needed from Labour September 28
Who rules Britain? October 26
Class unity the key to combating climate challenge November 9
For a ‘united front’ against the monopolies November 20
A united front can defeat the Tories November 30
Unity needed to combat ‘cost of pro ts’ crisis December 12

2023
New Year call for solidarity and resistance January 5
‘Red alert’ on anti-strike plans January 8
Kill the Bill with mass action January 18
Action to bring down the Tories February 13
The ‘carnival of reaction’ continues … February 22
Women are ghting back world-wide March 7
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Class politics the key across Britain March 12
Gender recognition and equality law March 12
Reject the ‘more pain today, but some jam tomorrow’ Budget March 15
Condemn the racist Immigration Bill March 28
Communists and the May 2023 local elections March 29
For anti-racist immigration and nationality laws March 31
For an anti-Tory, anti-capitalist May Day April 25
CP welcomes Tory slump as Labour vote stagnates May 8
The Coronation and the Monarchy May 9
Communists slam G7 ‘war summit’ May 24
Build the mass movement despite Starmer’s purge May 29
Crisis of state calls for class politics June 23
Communists blast right-wing Labour drive July 12
CP condemns Labour’s ‘purge of the left’ July 18
Starmer treats unions with contempt July 24
No to ‘fortress Britain’ and ‘fortress Europe’ August 15
The TUC must help build a united front September 7
Real struggle not bogus debate the way forward September 27
War in Palestine-Israel October 8
End Israeli occupation and tyranny October 9
Defend Gaza and the right to protest October 31
 On the threshold of a new phase of development
10 November 2021

The Communist Party in Britain is now at the threshold of substantial growth in size and in uence in the labour
and progressive movements.
Last weekend's 56th congress marked the party's emergence into a new phase of development after the long
struggle to re-establish it since 1988.
The weekend's debate and decisions re ected a unity and con dence that will stand the CP in good stead over
the next two years. There were many more younger delegates than previously, itself a product in part of the
great progress being made by the Young Communist League.
The 56th congress itself was attended by around 150 voting and consultative delegates, representing a CP
membership that has risen by almost two-thirds to more than 1,200 since the previous congress in 2018.
International guests included representatives from the embassies of China, Cuba and Vietnam and from
Communist and workers' parties in Afghanistan, Greece, India, Iran, Ireland, Portugal, the Russian Federation
and Spain.
Among the decisions last weekend were those to engage in major campaigns on the climate crisis and the
public ownership of energy and against the 'new Cold War' declared by the Western imperialist powers against
China.
Other important policy areas discussed by delegates included the 'New Deal for Workers', women's rights,
progressive federalism, racism, housing and homelessness, transport, the 'Green New Deal', gender politics,
anti-Semitism, Afghanistan, Israel and Palestine and Britain's nuclear weapons programme.
The congress also elected the Communist Party's executive committee for the next two years: Nisar Ahmed,
Sonya Andermahr, Andy Bain, Mollie Brown, Andrea Burford, Sean Cannon, Ben Chacko, Andy Chaffer, Tony
Conway, Mary Davis, Lorraine Douglas, Alex Gordon, Bill Greenshields, Moz Greenshields, Robert Grif ths,
Jonathan Havard, Richard Hibbert, Johnnie Hunter, Bernadette Keaveney, Tam Kirby, Hugh Kirkbride, Gawain
Little, Sarah McDonough, David Morgan, Tommy Morrison, Kevan Nelson, Evan Pritchard, Carol Stavris, Ruth
Styles, Robin Talbot, Jade Welburn.

Capitalism equals corruption

18 November 2021

'One basic fact is missing from media coverage of the latest scandals at Westminster', according to Communist
Party general secretary Robert Grif ths, 'namely the systemic link between capitalism and corruption'.
He told the party's Political Committee on Wednesday evening (November 17) that big business has a built-in
tendency to corrupt public, parliamentary and political life.
Hiring MPs as consultants and directors is just one of the ways in which capitalist monopoly corporations use
their wealth and power to in uence political decisions, he declared.
Mr Grif ths pointed to the dozens of Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs whose income from outside
business interests exceeds their basic parliamentary salary of £82,000 a year.
He cited three recent cases that illustrate the web connecting capitalist corporations, politicians, government
and the state.
In the rst, Owen Paterson had been paid £100,000 a year to lobby public agencies and government ministers
on behalf of two companies. After the Commons standards committee recommended Paterson's suspension for
improper conduct, Boris Johnson's government and most Tory MPs had tried to block it before the MP resigned
his seat in disgrace.
One of Paterson's paymaster companies had received two Covid testing contracts worth £480m, neither of
them put out to competitive tender despite the rst one resulting in massive failures.
In the second case, former Attorney General Sir Geoffrey Cox has been receiving £1m a year from business
interests, including £400m for advising the government of the British Virgin Islands facing corruption charges.
The BVI is one of the world's biggest centres for shielding wealth, registering 'shell' companies and laundering
money on behalf of big business and the super-rich.
'Successive British governments have failed to drain that swamp and the others under British jurisdiction', Mr
Grif ths remarked.
In the third case, former Conservative prime minister David Cameron received around £85m over 30 months in
fees and share sales from Greensill Capital, since collapsed after lending money to the US coal industry and the
Gupta family empire which includes Liberty Steel.
Cameron's lobbying of top Tory ministers failed to keep the company a oat long enough to repay up to £400m
borrowed from the public sector British Business Bank.
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 'All efforts to halt the nancial corruption of political life have been obstructed, outed or circumvented because
the economic power of the capitalist monopolies has fused with the political power of the state', the CP general
secretary explained, 'to form the modern system of state-monopoly capitalism'.
Britain's Communists demand that MPs should work full-time for their electors and the general public, while
corporate and state funding of political parties should be outlawed and parties compelled to rely on their own
members and supporters.
The CP also called for a big turnout at the Polish embassy in London on Saturday (November 20) at 12 noon
for a 'Solidarity with refugees, No to Fortress Europe' demonstration called by CND, Stop the War and Stand Up
to Racism.

Violence against women – the ‘shadow pandemic’

24 November 2021

Throughout the world, November 25 is recognised as the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of
Violence Against Women.
World Health Organisation research estimates that one in three women globally experience physical and/or
sexual violence in their lifetime. Most violence comes from an intimate partner.
In poor regions of the world, in war zones and in countries with authoritarian regimes, women’s health,
wellbeing and safety are badly compromised. In countries with histories of misogyny, levels of femicide — the
killing of women because they are women — have always been high. Some progressive governments, for
example in Mexico, are now recognising this and attempting to change their cultures.
Despite inconsistencies in data collection from country to country, it is also clear that rape is a major issue
across the world. In some developed countries, including Britain and the US, levels of prosecution and
conviction for rape have fallen sharply within the past ve years. In Britain, evidence is emerging that most girls
face some sexual harassment from an early age at school.
The outbreak of Covid-19 has intensi ed all forms of sex-based violence in what the UN-Women organisation
describes as a 'shadow pandemic; in particular, there has been a global rise in domestic violence.
None of this is inevitable. It can be ended. The Communist Party of Britain demands:
● Immediate government action to challenge and prevent violence against women and girls at work, in
society and in schools and colleges.
● Zero tolerance of all sexual harassment and sexual exploitation within our society.
● Action to provide and fund essential life-saving services for women and girls who have endured sex-
based violence.
● Real commitment and urgency to tackle institutional misogyny, sexism and racism within our police
forces.
● Investment in measures to change the culture which tolerates, exploits and so perpetuates violence
against women and girls.
● Immediate rati cation of the Istanbul Convention and its enshrinement in British law to give support and
protection — free from discrimination — to migrant women.
The Communist Party reaf rms its revolutionary commitment to the struggle against the oppression of women,
for women’s rights and for socialism.

Fight back against the Tory and big business offensive

16 December 2021

Women's Organiser Carol Stavris launched a stinging attack on Conservative government policies at the
Communist Party's political committee on Wednesday evening (December 15).
She said the controversy surrounding last year's Downing Street staff party, Boris Johnson's wittering at the
CBI conference and the Owen Paterson lobbying scandal has acted as a smokescreen to divert attention from
the huge damage done by government policies.
While public anger at Tory hypocrisy and rule-breaking when it comes to Covid rules is understandable, the
biggest threats come from Conservative and big business attacks on the NHS, living standards and democratic
liberties.
In particular, Ms Stavris warned that a decade of NHS underfunding and privatisation has left Britain's hospitals
and GP services terribly vulnerable to the seventh and possibly biggest wave yet of Covid infections.
'Longer waiting lists for medical treatment have a greater impact on our most deprived local communities,
where Covid death rates are nearly four times higher than in wealthier areas', she pointed out.
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 She warned that vacancy rates for doctors and nurses have reached at least 7% and 10%, respectively. The
government's incompetent roll-out of a third, booster vaccination against the new Omicron strain has already
resulted in long queues, shortages of testing kits and an online booking crash, Ms Stavris charged.
'At the same time, millions of people face an even bigger drop in their living standards since the Covid
pandemic struck, with rocketing household fuel bills and petrol prices, withdrawal of the Universal Credit uplift
and next Spring's rise in National Insurance contributions', she insisted, noting that in ation was rising more
than three times faster than wages.
But Britain's Communists urged trade unions to take the offensive on the wages front.
'They can draw inspiration from the recent victories won by workers at Clarks in Somerset and Jacobs Douwe
Egberts in Banbury against " re and rehire" attempts', Ms Stavris proposed.
The CP Political Committee also condemned Conservative government bills attacking people's rights of
protest, citizenship and refuge, urging anti-racist and community organisations to unite in a campaign against
racist immigration and asylum laws. 'The Labour Party leadership is failing to give any lead in the struggle
needed for an alternative to Tory policies', Carol Stavris concluded, 'preferring to attack China, Russia and the
left in its own party than put the case for price controls, public ownership and peace'.

Workers must not pay for the offensive

6 January 2022

'In the past year, we have seen the crisis of Britain’s capitalist system laid bare', trade union president Alex
Gordon told the Communist Party's political committee on Wednesday evening (January 5).
'Workers are now paying the price for Tory corruption and incompetence as the energy, Big Tech and Big
Pharma monopolies reap big pro ts', he said.
Condemning the two-year public sector wage freeze and a reversal of progress towards closing the gender pay
gap, Mr Gordon welcomed the readiness of workers to ght back on a range of issues including ' re and rehire',
pay and health and safety.
Britain's Communists warned that millions of working-class families face a cost of living crisis early in the new
year as gas and electricity bills rocket, National Insurance contributions go up along with rents and rail fares,
and the Universal Credit uplift is withdrawn. The CP political committee called for price controls, a windfall tax on
the 'Big Five' energy monopolies and the abolition of VAT on household fuel bills now made possible by Brexit.
Mr Gordon insisted that public ownership is the only rational alternative to the 'rigged' gas and electricity
market, which has failed to invest in insulation and storage while 50 smaller companies have gone bust since
2018 at a likely cost of £2bn to the public purse.
As the Tory government struggles to contain Britain's crisis, arming itself with new repressive powers to combat
dissent and protest, he said that divisions are re-emerging over Britain’s relationship with the EU Single Market.
'In these conditions, Boris Johnson will not lead the party into the next General Election should he continue to
be a vote loser', Alex Gordon predicted.
At the same time, he slammed the 'anodyne leadership' of the Labour Party under Keir Starmer.
'A creature of the Blairite party machine, he has no intention of offering even a feeble version of social
democracy, preferring to re-establish Labour as the party of business', Mr Gordon charged, 'while the task of the
Communist Party is to support and broaden working-class and trade union resistance to the impact of capitalist
crisis'.

Let the people decide!

12 January 2022

On January 12, CP general secretary Robert Grif ths commented on recent political developments, including
that day's Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons:
'Yet again, Johnson has been caught out making a mockery of openness and truth. But his real crime has been
to abandon the responsibilities of of ce when millions of people are in need. He is still failing to deliver PPE to
our NHS and elderly care frontliners, to protect the extra millions about to be plunged into fuel poverty, and of
course he does nothing to challenge the to arrest the rampant pro teering of the Big Pharma, Big Energy, Big
Supermarket and Big Banking monopolies.
'It seems incredible that in the midst of economic crisis and the health crisis, some of Britain's biggest
companies are reaping record pro ts, whilst ramping up the price of food, fuel and rent. Sunak’s pretentious
budget has all but melted into thin air.
'Although institutionalised corruption has long been the case in capitalist Britain, Johnson and Gove have
turned the Conservative Party into an open kleptocracy. That he should go needs no further words from us. But
the Communists focus on the question of power at state level and on government policy.
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 'What is really needed is regime change. Across the three nations of Britain, the clamour for a General Election
grows. It is the people as voters who should hold MPs to account. We cannot enter this next phase of Covid with
this government still in place. And we cannot hope to defeat the economic crisis whilst still led by its architects.
'The Communist Party calls on all workers to now raise their voice. Let the people decide'.

Bold left alternative more important than Johnson’s fate

16 January 2022

'Boris Johnson has turned Downing Street into the equivalent of an American speakeasy during Prohibition',
Communist Party general secretary Robert Grif ths told the party's newly elected Executive Committee at the
weekend.
'Of course, he's un t to be Prime Minster — but what many millions of people need more than a change of
tenant at Number Ten is a government that will challenge monopoly power — not protect and subsidise it,
including with a battery of new anti-democratic laws to suppress dissent and protest', he declared.
Mr Grif ths pointed to forthcoming gas and electricity price hikes that will plunge another two million
households into fuel poverty, making a total of six million across Britain by the spring.
'Yet the Big Five energy monopolies are making big pro ts from supply, production or both — for example
Centrica-British Gas almost doubled its pro ts in the rst half of 2021', the CP leader commented.
Britain's Communists demanded strict price controls, a windfall tax on the fossil fuel giants, the permanent
abolition of VAT on household energy bills — now made possible by Brexit — and a return of the industry to
public ownership.
'The ruling capitalist class is in a prolonged political crisis as the result of divisions and setbacks over austerity
policies, relations with the EU and responses to Covid', Mr Grif ths argued, 'but in the face of Labour Party
timidity it falls to the wider labour movement to unite around a bold, left and progressive alternative to the Tories'
pro-big business agenda'.
The CP executive committed the Communists to take part in joint community campaigning initiatives by trade
unions and the People's Assembly for jobs, pay and public services.
The weekend meeting also elected the Communist Party's of cers for the next two years, including Ruth Styles
(chair), Tony Conway and Mollie Brown (vice-chairs), Robert Grif ths (general secretary), Andy Bain (trade
union organiser), Carol Stavris (women's organiser) and Kevan Nelson (international secretary). They will be
joined on the new Political Committee by Alex Gordon, Lorraine Douglas, Tony Conway and Young Communist
League general secretary Johnnie Hunter.

‘Provocative and war-mongering’ West condemned

7 February 2022

Communist Party of Britain general secretary Robert Grif ths addressed the 19th national conference of the
Association of Indian Communists (AIC) in Feltham, west London, at the weekend.
The fast-growing AIC comprises members and supporters in Britain of the Communist Party of India (Marxist),
which is a mass party leading left and progressive coalition governments in two states of India.
Mr Grif ths highlighted the danger of war on the border between Ukraine and Russia, accusing NATO
secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg, US secretary of state Antony Blinken and British foreign secretary Liz truss
of 'provocative and war-mongering threats' as they build up Western forces on the land and in the seas around
Russia.
'Since collapse and counter-revolution in the former Soviet Union and socialist countries of eastern Europe, the
promised "New World Order" has turned out to be an endless series of US, British and NATO wars against
governments that dare to challenge Western imperialist interests', he accused.
'After a brief cut in military spending, the Western powers have started a new nuclear arms race as NATO and
the EU expand across Europe to the borders of Russia', he added.
He told the 100-plus AIC delegates that the loss of the Non-Aligned Movement, in which India played a leading
role, had removed another restraint on imperialist political and military ambitions.
'It is now urgent that Communists, socialists and progressives unite to renew the peace movement nationally
and internationally', he declared, urging solidarity with China and support for the anti-imperialist analysis and
proposals of the World Peace Council.
On the domestic front, the CP general secretary warned of the possible impact of higher living costs and falling
real incomes on community relations, boosting racism as right-wing politicians and sections of the mass media
seek out scapegoats to blame for the resurgent cost-of-living crisis.
'Together with trade unions, community campaigns and the People's Assembly, we need to build a mass
movement which targets the pro teering of the big capitalist monopolies and their hired MPs', he urged.
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 But Robert Grif ths insisted that a change of tenant at Ten Downing Street would not be enough, nor even a
change of government, because 'what millions of people need is a fundamental change of direction that goes
beyond the feeble policies peddled by the Labour Party's neo-New Labour leadership'.

Protest for peace

9 February 2022

The British government should be seeking to de-escalate tension on the Ukraine-Russia border, not engaging
in the 'rhetoric of war', according to Britain's Communists.
Addressing the Communist Party of Britain's political committee on Tuesday evening (February 8), Kevan
Nelson described as 'absurd' the claims that Russia's deployment of troops within its own borders poses a
threat to world peace, while NATO countries pour vast quantities of arms and military personnel into Ukraine,
Poland and the Baltic states from North America and Western Europe.
'The US already has 70,000 troops permanently stationed in Europe, now being reinforced by ghter jets from
Denmark, the Netherlands and Spain as NATO warships patrol the Black Sea', the CPB international secretary
pointed out. He also warned that 'NATO's war psychosis is drawing Finland and Sweden closer into its orbit',
calling instead for a negotiated settlement of Europe-Russia relations.
Mr Nelson contrasted the ease with which Western imperialism's military forces and hardware are rapidly
deployed across the world to the catastrophic failure to distribute Covid-19 vaccines and medical equipment to
low-income countries.
The CPB political committee urged support for anti-war protests, beginning with the Stop the War online rally
on Thursday evening (February 10), and called for an end to NATO and EU expansion.
On the domestic front, Kevan Nelson said the cost-of-living crisis is becoming more of a 'crisis of everyday
living' that would not be resolved by the Conservative government's bogus 'levelling up' agenda.
'The rampant pro teering of the energy companies is rooted in the privatisation of BP and the public utilities in
the 1980s and early 1990s', he charged, 'and the solution is to revert to public ownership'.
The CPB political committee welcomed the resurgence of extra-parliamentary action by trade unions and
campaigning bodies such as the People's Assembly, which is organising 'We Can't Pay' protests in 25 towns
and cities across Britain this coming weekend.

Ukraine: stop the war, start the peace

25 February 2022

The war between Russia and Ukraine is part of a wider con ict between capitalist powers, between Russia on
one side and Ukraine and the expansionist NATO powers on the other.
Neither side in this war stands for the real interests of the peoples of Russia, Ukraine or of Europe more widely,
which include living in peace and determining the future of their own society free from outside domination.
Putin represents the interests of Russia's big business oligarchs who pro t from the theft of that country's
economic assets from the Russian working class. Far from wishing to restore the Soviet Union, he rejects
socialism and has explicitly attacked Lenin's policy of federalism and autonomy which guarantees the rights of
nations and nationalities.
The Ukrainian government represents the Ukrainian oligarchs who, like their Russian counterparts, stash their
stolen wealth in Western banks such as Credit Suisse and launder much of their money through the City of
London. The Ukrainian Communist Party and its MPs — who uphold Ukraine's national sovereignty — have
been banned and the country thrown open to Western capital.
NATO is an alliance of imperialist powers, dominated by the US, with a long history of bombing, invading,
occupying and partitioning sovereign nations up to the present day including Iraq, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia,
Libya and Syria.
The eastwards expansion of NATO and the EU in breach of documented pledges to ex-President Gorbachev
and ex-Foreign Minister Shevardnadze; NATO's military build-up in eastern Europe and the Baltic states and in
the seas and oceans around Russia; the US- and fascist-backed coup to replace Ukraine's democratically
elected president by pro-Western politicians in 2014; the unpunished massacre at the Odessa trade union HQ;
the refusal of the Ukrainian government to implement the UN-backed Minsk II Agreement including autonomy for
the Donbas region; and in recent days — as recorded by observers from the Organisation for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) — the escalating attacks on the 'People's Republics' in Donetsk and Lugansk ...
all have created the conditions for today's war.
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 However, none of this justi es the widespread military offensive launched by President Putin on February 24.
This onslaught further destabilises Ukraine and will strengthen the hand of those elements in eastern Europe,
Britain, the US and NATO who prefer expansionism, militarism, provocations and war to negotiation and the
peaceful settlement of problems between and within states.
Already, the giant oil and armaments corporations of the US, Britain and Western Europe are making
enormous pro ts out of this con ict.
The Communist Party of Britain, therefore, calls for an immediate cease re in Ukraine, a halt to all military
operations and the beginning of negotiations to bring about a just settlement of the Ukraine question.
Where necessary and by agreement, UN peace-keeping forces should be stationed in Ukraine to protect
communities from further attack. Western governments in the OSCE should reverse their withdrawal of
observers from the country.
Sanctions against Russia will not only make any progress more dif cult. They will also damage the well-being
of the peoples of Russia, Ukraine and the rest of Europe including Britain, while making Europe more dependent
on energy supplies from US corporations and Middle East dictatorships.
Instead of war-mongering and sending yet more military forces and armaments into eastern Europe and the
Baltic states, the British government should be using its permanent membership of the UN Security Council to
work alongside China for peace and a negotiated settlement.
The objective should be a demilitarised and neutral Ukraine whose sovereign borders are respected and
guaranteed internally and externally.
The Communist Party of Britain stands in solidarity with all peoples and movements who demand an
immediate end to military action in Ukraine and condemns any moves to silence anti-war voices whether in
Britain, Ukraine or Russia.

No to Putin’s war, no to NATO!

14 March 2022

Britain's Communists have reiterated their opposition to Russian president Putin's invasion of Ukraine and urged
people to step up the campaign for a cease re and a peaceful settlement of the con ict.
'The working class and peoples of Ukraine, Russia and elsewhere will not be the winners of this war', Carol
Stavris told the Communist Party's executive committee at the weekend. The CP women's organiser highlighted
the huge and lasting impact of the Russian offensive on hundreds of thousands of women and children eeing
Ukraine.
'Meanwhile, the giant armaments and energy corporations are reaping super-pro ts as they intensify the cost
of living crisis in Britain and elsewhere', she noted.
Ms Stavris warned that the Ukraine War is being used to boost fossil fuel industries, with fresh oil and gas
drilling in the North Sea, an end to Britain's ban on fracking and a major increase in US exports of fracked oil
and gas to Germany in place of Norstream imports from Russia.
'The British and US governments show no signs of pushing for a peaceful settlement', she charged, pointing to
recent Tory government decisions to send more arms to Ukraine and more troops to Poland.
Ms Stavris accused Prime Minister Johnson and President Biden of putting the expansion of NATO and the
weakening of Russia before the search for peace.
She also accused the owners and controllers of Britain's mass media corporations of trying to discredit and
silence anti-war and anti-NATO voices, with the assistance of Labour Party leader Keir Starmer.
Britain's Communists expressed their solidarity with peace campaigners around the world, including in Russia,
and reaf rmed their view that NATO is a force for instability and con ict rather than for security and peace.
The CP executive welcomed the upsurge of industrial action against real-terms pay and pension cuts as
millions of workers and families face the growing cost of living crisis.
'Wall-to-wall coverage of the Ukraine War must not be allowed to crowd out coverage of workers' battles to
resist and defeat employers' attacks', Ms Stavris insisted, criticising the TUC decision to call off its 'Britain needs
a pay rise' during the Tory Party conference in Blackpool on March 19.
The CP executive approved plans to contest local council seats in England, Scotland and Wales this May, with
its candidates campaigning for more public sector housing, an end to privatisation and outsourcing and the
renationalisation of gas, energy and water.

Punish the P&O oligarchs

23 March 2022

'What the sacked workers at P&O Ferries need now is action not platitudes', Mollie Brown told the Communist
Party's political committee on Tuesday evening (March 22).
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 'Yet all the government has proposed so far is to send a stiff letter to the company's owners in Dubai, while
most Tory MPs abstained in a House of Commons vote to outlaw no-notice sackings and re-and-rehire
policies', she pointed out.
'Despite its pledge to do so, the government has not ended the exemption of shipping companies from
minimum wage legislation, as P&O Ferries bring in cheap labour at £1.80 an hour to replace the 800-strong
workforce'.
The Communist Party called for prosecution of the company for breaching employment law, exclusion of
owners DP World from its 'freeports' plan and public ownership of P&O Ferries should it refuse to reinstate the
sacked workers. 'If the properties in Britain of Russian oligarchs can be seized, why not those of British, Arab
and other law-breaking oligarchs?', the party asked.
Ms Brown remarked that these were very dangerous times with direct attacks on employment rights, a
worsening cost of living crisis, a new upsurge in Covid deaths and hospitalisations and the tragedy of the
Ukraine War.
A recent study has indicated that fuel poverty — whereby people cannot afford to heat their homes adequately
— will triple to around six million households across Britain after their bills rocket in April, she declared, warning
that soaring household debt and house evictions would be the result.
Ms Brown criticised government plans for council tax rebates and energy loans as either too little or too late,
whereas the gas, electricity and oil monopolies continue to reap huge pro ts. Political, trade union and other
campaigning bodies should target their of ces and events with banners and placards.
Britain's Communists called for a Windfall Tax on monopoly pro ts, abolition of VAT on energy bills, a cut in fuel
duty and a programme of massive investment in home insulation and clean, renewable energy generation.
The CP political committee also urged support for the Unite protest in Coventry on Saturday (March 26) to
back striking refuse workers and welcomed the TUC's decision to march in London on June 18 against the cost
of living crisis.

The ‘Child Q’ outrage

23 March 2022

The Communist Party of Britain strongly condemns the actions of the Metropolitan Police Force in strip-
searching a young child at a school in Hackney in 2020, which has recently come to light. That the child in
question was a menstruating black girl is a horri c example showing the callous behaviour of some of our police
forces, whose misogynistic and racist culture was clearly exposed following the murder of Sarah Everard and
others.
Neither can the school escape blame. It was teachers who have a legal duty of care that invited the police in
and did not ensure that a responsible adult was present. The actions removed a young female student from an
exam. Its actions will have long term implications for Child Q.
This can no longer be brushed off as a bad apple. Misogynistic and racist behaviour is prevalent across the
whole of the Metropolitan police.
The CPB demands all recommendations in the Gamble Report are adopted immediately, followed by a much
wider discussion of the changes needed in society to end sexism and racism in our institutions so this can never
happen again.

Ukraine War – Communists condemn repression and censorship

5 April 2022

The Putin regime's war in Ukraine is strengthening the very forces it claims to be combatting.
Firstly, Russia's violation of Ukrainian sovereignty and the unjusti ed bombardment of civilian areas has
enabled NATO to promote its bogus image as the guarantor of peace, freedom and national sovereignty in
Europe, while President Zelensky presents himself as the saviour of the Ukrainian people. This is despite the
latter's reckless support for NATO expansion and his domestic policy of austerity and privatisation backed by
corrupt oligarchs.
Secondly, Moscow's policy has strengthened the position of nationalists, the far-right and fascist forces inside
Ukraine itself. Extreme right-wing military formations such as the Right Sector have been promoted within the
security apparatus of several major municipalities, while the fascist Azov Battalion has increased in size,
in uence and prestige.
Thirdly, Russia's invasion has provided the pretext for a substantial extension of censorship and self-
censorship in the mass media. Russian state broadcaster RT and its satellite Sputnik channel have been
banned from mainstream broadcasting networks across Europe, including Britain, while anti-war and NATO-
critical views are now excluded from most media coverage and social media accounts are censored or closed
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down. This restriction of freedom of expression could have far-reaching consequences for the ability of citizens
in Britain and other NATO member states to hold their governments to account in the future.
Thus there has been little or no reporting of President Zelensky's suppression of socialist and progressive
organisations in Ukraine that do not share the aggressive nationalist politics of his far-right allies.
On March 6, Mikhail and Aleksandr Kononovich, leaders of the Ukrainian Communist Youth Union, were seized
by Security Service of cers in Kyiv. They were then held in secret, seriously assaulted and now face serious
charges relating to espionage (they are of Belorussian origin). Other left-wing activists, trade unionists,
journalists and bloggers have since been detained or disappeared.
On March 20, the Ukraine authorities banned 11 parties allegedly linked to Russia, including the main
parliamentary opposition. The outlawed organisations also include the Union of Left Forces, the Left Opposition,
the Socialist Party and others who are not pro-Moscow but who oppose membership of NATO and the EU.
The Communist Party of Ukraine has been illegal since 2015, despite its electoral support and after its leader
was physically attacked while addressing the country's parliament. Left-wing and communist symbols and
publications are also banned under that country's 'de-communisation' laws, as they are in some other east
European and Baltic states.
The closure of all independent television stations in Ukraine has been condemned by media trade unions
across Europe.
Much of this has not been reported in the Western mass media. While Ukrainian state repression does not
justify the brutal war unleashed by President Putin and his oligarchs on February 24, the struggle for democratic
rights is universal. It must embrace Ukraine and Europe as well as Russia and the Middle East.
The Communist Party of Britain adds its voice to demands that the Kononovich brothers be released, that all
Ukraine's political parties and media outlets be permitted to operate freely as long as they do not engage in acts
of terrorism or sabotage, and that the criminal actions of far-right and fascist groups are punished rather than
tolerated or encouraged.
We also reaf rm our call for an immediate cease re and a negotiated settlement that respects Ukraine's
sovereignty while also recognising Russia's legitimate concerns about NATO's 26-year long military build-up in
eastern Europe and parts of the former Soviet Union.

There’s always money for war not the poor

10 April 2022

'The working class in Britain is facing the most vicious ruling class offensive in generations, with a huge rise in
the cost of living and attacks on democratic rights', Ruth Styles told the Communist Party executive committee
at the weekend.
She highlighted the impact of massive energy price hikes which threaten to leave hundreds of thousands of
families in the cold or going hungry.
'The soaring cost of living is prompting outbreaks of industrial action as workers across the public and private
sectors demand higher pay to meet rising prices', the CP chair declared.
Ms Styles pointed to the illegal sacking of 800 workers by P&O Ferries as a focal point for solidarity
campaigning and condemned 'the ne words from Tory government ministers but no action'.
She contrasted the apparent inability of Chancellor Sunak to nd nancial assistance for millions of working
people and their families to the government's readiness to nance Russia's and NATO's war in Ukraine.
The CP executive committee called for all alleged war crimes in Ukraine to be fully investigated, but said this
could only be done in peaceful conditions by a respected international body.
'The USA, Israel, Saudi Arabia and other Middle East dictatorships refuse to recognise the International
Criminal Court, enabling their political leaders and military personnel to evade investigation into war crimes in
Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Palestine, Serbia and elsewhere', Britain's Communists pointed out. Russia also does
not recognise the ICC.
The CP leadership congratulated the work of party candidates and campaigners in the May 5 local elections
and urged its members, supporters and allies to support striking workers, the People's Assembly, Stop the War
and CND in rallies and protests across Britain.

CP warns against far right and war in Europe

27 April 2022

'Macron’s win in the French presidential election does not disguise the fact that Marine Le Pen achieved an 8-
point improvement on her 2017 performance', Lorraine Douglas told the Communist Party of Britain's political
committee on Tuesday evening.
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 'The strong victory of the Fidesz-led alliance in Hungary is further evidence of the growth of right-wing populist
nationalism in Europe', she said, pointing to public support for President Orban’s refusal to bow to EU pressure
for sanctions against gas imports from Russia. Another factor in the election has been the mistreatment of
Ukraine's Hungarian minority following the Maidan coup in Kyiv.
Ms Douglas opposed the delivery of US and British military training and arms to groups in Ukraine such as the
Azov Battalion, the Right Sector and the National Militia, which are part of a European network of fascists.
'The medium-term risks this presents to the working class movement throughout Europe cannot be over-
estimated', she declared.
The CP political committee warned that the war in Ukraine is entering a new, potentially more dangerous
phase as Russia consolidates its position in Donbas and the Ukraine government demands yet more weapons
in an effort to escalate the war.
What is needed is the same urgency to achieve a cease re and negotiations for a peaceful settlement that
respects Ukraine's sovereignty, allows autonomy to Donbas provinces and halts any further expansion of NATO.
'However, President Biden sees this proxy war against Russia as serving US economic and political interests
as he pursues his objective of switching EU reliance on Russian gas and oil to reliance on US imports delivered
by tankers', Lorraine Douglas commented.
Likewise, she condemned the belligerent rhetoric from Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is using the Ukraine
war as the principal reason for keeping him in of ce.
Britain's Communists accused the British and US governments of trying to sideline the United Nations as a
force for mediation and peace and reiterated their condemnation of President Putin's invasion of Ukraine and of
NATO's 18-year drive eastwards which provoked it. The CP political committee warned that the alternative to a
rapid peace was not the illusion of a Ukrainian military victory but a long war of attrition that could spread into
neighbouring countries, raising the spectre of nuclear war and mutually assured destruction (MAD).
'This makes it all the more vital to support the principled and courageous work of Stop the War and CND in the
face of Keir Starmer's pro-war, pro-NATO diktats', the party's international secretary Kevan Nelson concluded.

Tory defeat but Labour failure

8 May 2022

'While Tory losses in the local elections were bigger than expected, many millions of electors did not trust
Labour with their protest vote against the cost of living crisis and Boris Johnson's disastrous priorities during the
Covid epidemic', Robert Grif ths told the Communist Party's executive committee at the weekend.
'The LibDems and Greens were the biggest winners, but Labour under Keir Starmer's lacklustre leadership
failed to make headway across large parts of northern England and the south-west and Cornwall', he
commented, pointing out that two-thirds of electors had not voted at all on May 5.
The CP general secretary identi ed two key factors in Labour's failure in much of England outside London and
parts of the south. Firstly, he argued, millions of former Labour supporters in Lancashire, Yorkshire and parts of
the Midlands had not forgotten nor forgiven Labour's attempts to dismiss the democratic vote to leave the EU in
the 2016 referendum.
Secondly, Starmer's purge of the left in the Labour Party effectively sabotaged the party's campaigning
capacity, provoking more than 150,000 members — many of them activists — to resign and take their
membership dues with them.
Mr Grif ths warned that the pressure would now intensify for Labour to enter into a formal or informal pact with
the LibDems, Greens and possibly Plaid Cymru and the SNP at the next General Election.
'Instead of ghting everywhere on a manifesto of bold left policies and progressive federalism, Labour would
be invisible in more than a hundred constituencies and lumbered with policies straight out of the LibDems
infamous pro-big business, pro-market Orange Book', he warned.
Furthermore, the CP leader added, 'this electoral alliance would be a Trojan Horse for pro-EU fanatics to bind
Britain to EU single market rules instead of utilising Brexit to abolish VAT, direct private capital investment,
support local enterprise and reverse privatisation'.
Congratulating the Communist Party's own candidates on their vigorous local campaigning, the CP executive
decided to place its election commission on a permanent footing and tasked it with increasing participation in
next year's council contests.
Britain's Communists welcomed the recent statement on the Ukraine War by Lula da Silva, former Brazil
president and favourite to defeat Bolsinaro next time. Lula holds Ukraine president Zelensky, US president
Biden and the European Union equally to blame with Putin for the con ict. He has criticised Western powers for
inciting and escalating the war instead of working for peace and ruling out Ukrainian membership of NATO.
'Lula's position underlines the need to re-establish the Non-Aligned Movement, which challenged imperialist
domination and aggression during the rst Cold War', Robert Grif ths remarked.
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 The CP executive also condemned the threat to abortion rights from the US Supreme Court and warned that
the hard-right Christian lobby would seek to extend their offensive to women and LGBT people generally.

Warning: ‘class war’ on democratic rights

18 May 2022

'The Queen’s Speech con rms the Conservative government’s turn in a deeply authoritarian direction', Ben
Chacko told the Communist Party's political committee on Tuesday evening.
Pointing to the powers already given to the police, courts and immigration and intelligence of cers to target
protestors, asylum seekers and refugees, he warned that new repressive measures were being planned.
The government's legislative programme seeks to replace the Human Rights Act and ban local authorities and
other public bodies from adopting boycott and divestment policies against repressive regimes in Israel and
elsewhere.
'Furthermore, Home Secretary Priti Patel is pushing for wider deployment of tasers to volunteer police and for
greater stop and search powers which we know have been deployed in a racist manner', he informed the
political committee.
'These measures are being prepared at a time when trust in the police is at an all-time low following the Sarah
Everard murder case and the horri c revelations from the Spycops inquiry', the Morning Star editor added.
He claimed it was 'no coincidence' that the government's new plans are being laid as the cost of living crisis
intensi es.
'The Tories are out of touch, but they do understand where the resistance to soaring prices, job losses and cuts
in public services is likely to come from and are determined to smash it. This is why government supporters and
the right-wing media are attacking the most organised sections of the labour movement such as the railways
workers and civil servants', Mr Chacko insisted.
Furthermore, he argued, the huge advance of censorship during the Ukraine War underlines the need for the
left to reclaim the cause of free speech from the right. In particular, monopoly control of the mass and social
media must be challenged.
He urged civil rights, anti-racist and other campaigning groups to join trade unions in a mass movement
against state-backed 'class warfare' on people's democratic rights and living standards.
The CP political committee opposed any expansion of NATO into Sweden and along Finland's 900-mile border
with Russia as 'dangerous', warning that it would turn the Arctic into a zone of military confrontation at great cost
to the Earth's environmental security. Britain's Communists also expressed their disappointment at the silence of
Labour MPs in the face of NATO's militarisation of eastern Europe and the West's military build-up against
China.

On to a programme of action
15 June 2022

Communist Party industrial organiser Andy Bain has welcomed recent statements by trade union leaders who
want to build a united mass movement against Tory government and big business policies.
'We face a growing cost of living crisis, one for which the ruling class has been preparing with new laws
designed to divide us and restrict protest', he told the party's Political Committee on Tuesday evening (June 14).
'They are, however, divided on whether Johnson is a liability, on the Irish border question and on the balance
between neoliberal and interventionist economics — but they will unite against workers who challenge them', he
added.
Mr Bain urged not only a massive turnout for Saturday's 'We Demand Better' demonstration in London called
by the TUC, but for a range of trade union and campaigning bodies to escalate the ght-back in the period to
follow.
'We need unions, trade councils, the People's Assembly, Labour Party organisations, women's and pensioners'
campaigns, health service and housing activists, student unions and others to agree an action programme up to
the next General Election', he proposed.
The former trade union president said the movement around such a programme could grow rapidly at local as
well as national level, with councils of action formed to prepare the ground for coordinated action across Britain.
'Workers in health, education, the Royal Mail and the civil service face deep cuts as millions of people face a
cost of living crisis', he pointed out, 'yet the Tory government promotes more outsourcing and privatisation while
public opinion favours the renationalisation of energy, the railways and the postal service'.
Britain's Communists reaf rmed their support for a determined effort by non-aligned governments and the UN
to broker a cease re in the Ukraine War.
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 'This is the only path to a permanent settlement that respects both Ukrainian sovereignty and Russia's
legitimate security concerns in the face of NATO's aggressive expansion', CP general secretary Robert Grif ths
commented after Tuesday's meeting.

Oslo shootings condemned

26 June 2022

The shooting dead of two people and the wounding of many more was a homophobic attack on the people of
Norway. Coming the morning before the Oslo Pride festival, this assault was intended to terrorise and intimidate
LGBT+ people and undermine the growing acceptance of full equality for all.
Andy Chaffer, convenor of the Communist Party's LGBT commission said:
"This brutal attack must be condemned. Our love and thoughts are with the families and friends of the victims.
The attack must be seen in the light of growing calls by right wing and fundamentalist religious groups to reverse
LGBT+ equality gains across the world. The gunman does not represent his reported religion and his deranged
actions must not be used as an excuse for any repression. An injury to one is an injury to all".

Downing Street change not enough

6 July 2022

'The rats are jumping the Johnson ship — but a change of Tory leaders will not alter the Tory government's pro-
big business, anti-democratic, racist and war mongering agenda', Tony Conway told the Communist Party's
political committee on Tuesday evening (July 5).
As the news of ministerial resignations broke, Britain's Communists called for a united response from trade
unions and campaigning movements to the cost of living, housing, climate change and food crises.
Mr Conway urged the maximum local solidarity with striking workers, calling for 'generalised strike action' as
communications and civil service staff prepare to join railway workers, baggage handlers, lecturers and
barristers in the ght for jobs, services and a living wage.
'Building on the vibrant TUC demonstration on June 18, we need a programme of action including town hall
meetings to promote the New Deal for Workers and renewed efforts to build the People's Assembly, Stop the
War and CND in local communities', declared the former PCS national of cer.
As the convenor of the Communist Party's anti-racism anti-fascism commission, Mr Conway also emphasised
the need to overturn British state policy to deport refugees to Rwanda, which he said 'rips up Britain's solemn
commitments in international and humanitarian law'.
The CP political committee condemned the recent decision of the US Supreme Court to abolish the right to
abortion established by the Roe v Wade ruling 50 years ago.
'A woman's right to choose now faces a fresh offensive in Britain and elsewhere', Mr Conway added,
expressing solidarity with US Communists and pro-choice campaigners.

Support workers against the ‘new robber barons’

24 July 2022

Britain has entered 'the new era of the robber barons', Mary Davis told the Communist Party's executive
committee at the weekend. Emphasising the value of Marxist analysis, she declared that the so-called 'cost of
living' crisis is, in fact, a 'crisis of capitalism's rate of pro t'. In particular, gas and oil prices have rocketed as the
industry's producers, shippers, traders and suppliers reap enormous pro ts.
'We must demolish the myths that soaring in ation in Britain has been caused by wage rises or the Ukraine
War', she argued, 'when price rises — like wage restraint, re-and-rehire and cuts in public services — are
ruling-class remedies for their crisis. along with the tax cuts for the rich and big business now promised in the
Tory leadership contest'.
With in ation set to reach a 40-year high of 11 per cent — the highest level in Europe — Ms Davis added that a
massive expansion of military expenditure would stimulate in ation still more.
Drawing similarities and differences between capitalism's crisis today and during the Labour government's term
of of ce in the mid- and late 1970s, she called upon Labour leader Keir Starmer to learn lessons from Prime
Minister Callaghan's 'betrayal of the working class'.
'Our demands must be based on raising the level of class consciousness', she urged. and should include the
nationalisation of public utilities such as gas, electricity, the railways and mail; reversing all public sector
privatisation; higher taxes on the rich, cutting pro ts not wages, rebuilding the broad left network in the trade
union movement and winning more support for the Morning Star and the Communist Party.
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 The CP executive urged communists and socialists to visit and support picket lines during the railway strikes
on July 27 and 30 and August 18 and 20.
International secretary Kevan Nelson reported on recent contacts with the Ukrainian Communist Party (KPU)
and urged left, progressive and trade union bodies to protest to the Ukrainian embassy in London against the
decision of the Lviv Appeal Court to uphold the ban on the country's Communist Party (KPU) and con scate its
assets.
Before the pro-Western Maidan coup in 2014, the KPU held 32 parliamentary seats with 13 per cent of the
popular vote, then came under attack from 'decommunisation' laws, electoral bans and fascist-led assaults on
its of ces and representatives.

Tories and Starmer offer little or nothing

3 August 2022

'There's little or nothing to choose between the two right-wing contenders for Tory Party leader and prime
minister', Robert Grif ths told the Communist Party's political committee on Tuesday evening (August 2).
'Touting for votes from one of the most reactionary electorates in Europe, namely, card-carrying Conservatives,
Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak attack the same old scapegoats for 12 years of Tory misrule: migrants, refugees,
trade unionists, public servants and the unemployed', he declared.
The CP general secretary accused the two candidates of proposing nothing to challenge the 'oil pro teers, the
energy fat cats and the land and property speculators who are plunging millions more people into poverty'.
'Both Truss and Sunak appeal to British nationalism and jingoism, while refusing to maximise the potential
bene ts of Brexit by radically reforming VAT and public procurement rules and rebuilding a regional economic
development policy based on the direction of private capital investment', Mr Grif ths continued.
But Britain's Communists also slammed Labour leader Keir Starmer's failure to back workers ghting for pay,
jobs and services. 'He should be inspiring people with bold, popular policies such as public ownership, selective
price controls and a wealth tax, not continuing Labour's purge of its left-wing and anti-war activists', Robert
Grif ths insisted.
The CP political committee condemned the visit of US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi to the
self-styled 'Republic of China (Taiwan)' as 'pointlessly provocative'. In particular, the appearance of four US
warships off the eastern coast of Taiwan was condemned as 'a dangerous escalation of tension' with the
People's Republic of China.

Build a tidal wave of protest!

15 August 2022

The Communist Party has welcomed the upsurge in protest against rising prices, job cuts and falling living
standards.
The party's political committee on Sunday evening also urged the maximum unity between trade unions and a
range of campaigning bodies as a series of strikes and protests are being organised in the autumn and early
winter.
'Picket lines and the Tory Party conference in Birmingham from October 2 provide ideal opportunities to step up
the opposition to Tory government and big business policies', the convenor of the CP anti-austerity commission
Sean Cannon pointed out. In particular, he emphasised the need to highlight further threats to trade union rights
and democratic freedoms being voiced by contenders Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak for the posts of Tory Party
leader and British prime minister.
'Together, we can launch a tidal wave of activity in the run-up to the national demonstration in London on
November 5 announced by the People's Assembly', Mr Cannon suggested.
But Britain's Communists also repeated their call for the labour movement to put forward an alternative left-
wing programme to end the 'rip-off' of privatisation and pro teering in the energy sector.
'The Tories want to protect monopoly pro ts, but the most direct response to rocketing fuel prices is a statutory
price cut and a system of price controls in place of the Ofgem charade, followed as soon as possible by the
renationalisation of gas and electricity', Sean Cannon insisted. 'Only then can we ensure that these vital
services are run in the interests of consumers, workers and the environment', he added.

Truss must face a united front

7 September 2022
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 'As the fourth Tory prime minister in six years, Liz Truss shows no sign of understanding or resolving the
economic crisis facing the peoples of Britain', Lorraine Douglas told a meeting of the Communist Party's political
committee on Tuesday evening (September 6).
'While Britain plunges into recession and widespread impoverishment, she intends to freeze energy prices at
their current levels for 18 months – to be funded by huge government borrowing to subsidise the giant energy
companies, rather than the far cheaper option of nationalising them, taxing company super-pro ts and bringing
the British oil and gas elds back into public ownership', she added.
Treasury estimates predict 'excess' pro ts of £170bn for gas producers and electricity generators over the next
two years, while the cost to the public of the new Prime Minister's plan is likely to be around £100bn.
Ms Douglas also attacked the 'dismal failure' of Tory governments to develop green energy rather than rely on
gas imports and an expansion of nuclear power.
'Truss and her Cabinet colleagues have refused to expand onshore wind power, so protecting the interests of
landowners; failed to make the installation of solar technology compulsory in all new properties, so protecting
the pro ts of developers; and instead of realising the potential of hydropower, they have opted for more
expensive, toxic and inherently dangerous nuclear power', she argued.
'As Foreign Secretary her ignorance of European geography and of the normal protocols when dealing with
foreign powers, including her statements that she is "ready" to use nuclear weapons, risk a dangerous
escalation of the war in Ukraine and con ict with China', Ms Douglas declared.
Britain's Communists warned that a Truss government will launch a new round of attacks on democratic, trade
union and workers' rights while public services and the NHS continue to deteriorate.
Urging the labour, anti-austerity, peace and pro-democracy movements to work together in a united front, the
CP political committee called for mass pressure on the Tory government to go and for Labour to ght a general
election on a left and progressive manifesto.

Bread and circuses without the bread

18 September 2022

Britain's ruling class and its new Downing Street administration are preparing a fresh offensive against people's
living standards and democratic rights, the Communist Party warned at the weekend.
'Millions of people will nd that they have "bread and circuses" but without the bread', Andy Bain told the party's
executive committee meeting at Ruskin House, Croydon.
'While monarchs old and new are used to mask a society based on exploitation, oppression, militarism and
imperialist war, Prime Minister Liz Truss and her regime are drawing up plans to subsidise big business super-
pro ts, cut and privatise public services and further restrict hard-won rights to strike, dissent and demonstrate',
he declared.
Welcoming plans by rail unions RMT and ASLEF to resume strikes, the CP industrial organiser urged these
and other unions to coordinate industrial action for maximum impact on employers and the government. He also
emphasised the important role that anti-austerity campaigns, trades councils, Labour Party organisations and
the left must play in building solidarity for workers in struggle.
'Liz Truss and Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng are racing to defend the interests of the big corporations as Britain
and the international capitalist economy slide into recession', Mr Bain pointed out.
'There will no more talk of "levelling up" as the bankers' bonus tax is abolished and public money is used to
shore up the super-pro ts of the big energy companies', he added.
According to Treasury estimates, these companies will reap up to £170bn in 'excess pro ts' over the next two
years, although the Tory government refuses to extend the current windfall tax which is expected to raise just
£5bn in its rst year.
Britain's Communists called instead for a 100 per cent windfall tax, while insisting that this is no substitute for
the return of the energy industry and North Sea oil and gas to public ownership and control.
'Nationalisation is the only basis on which we can plan to meet future energy needs at a reasonable price for
domestic and industrial consumers, developing safe and renewable energy supplies that are not at the mercy of
capitalist markets and speculators', Andy Bain insisted.
The CP executive committee condemned the Russian government's anti-Soviet, anti-Leninist and expansionist
war in Ukraine and the Kyiv government's ban on trade unions and opposition parties including the Communist
Party. It repeated its call for a cease re and a negotiated settlement in place of NATO, Russian and Ukrainian
war-mongering and the risk of nuclear warfare.

Time to complete the democratic revolution

18 September 2022 Statement by the Communist Party executive committee
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A change of head of state without a single vote being cast is an ideal opportunity to begin a debate not only on
the left and in the labour movement, but also among the wider public, on Britain's constitutional arrangements.
Can we really be satis ed that two of the three major pillars of the political power structure alongside the
Westminster parliament are unelected, namely, the head of state and the House of Lords? It's long past the time
to complete the democratic revolution that began in the 1640s and was reversed by the 1688 counter-revolution,
which consolidated the restoration of the monarchy, the House of Lords and the established Church of England.
In particular, Royalty continues to be used to mask the realities of an economic and social system based on the
exploitation and oppression of one class by another and to whitewash Britain's bloody imperial legacy.
Around the world, wars of conquest, occupation and plunder have been carried out in the name of the British
Crown. Today, the legacy of British imperialism includes the Crown Territories, some of which today are among
the biggest tax havens where the super-wealthy of Britain and other major capitalist countries conceal the vast
proceeds of their commercial and criminal activities.
Another legacy is the division of Ireland, where loyalty to the British Crown is used as a toxic weapon to
impede reuni cation of the island in a 32-county republic.
At home, the monarchy has been cynically deployed to promote jingoism, militarism, imperialism and a bogus
'national unity' and to undermine working-class and popular resistance to ruling-class policies. In particular,
events since the death of Elizabeth Windsor have con rmed the extremely close ties between the royal family
and Britain's armed forces, which allow no mention of the war crimes and gross abuses of human rights that
have taken place during her reign from Cyprus, Kenya and Aden to Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Although democratic advances have been made in terms of universal suffrage, the establishment of Scottish
and Welsh parliaments and decolonisation in the former Empire, the peoples of Britain and the misnamed
Commonwealth still do not exercise real sovereignty over the economic, social, political and cultural forces that
dominate our societies. What civil, political and trade union rights we have were won by mass popular and class
struggle — never willingly granted by the ruling class and the monarchy.
In England, Scotland and Wales, many of these rights now face a fresh threat from the new Tory government
headed by Liz Truss. As much of the capitalist world slides towards recession and capitalist markets increasingly
fail to secure economic and environmental security, social justice and peaceful development, the British ruling
class is preparing a new offensive against working people's living standards, trade union and employment rights
and the vital democratic freedoms to dissent and protest.
This offensive will be promoted by the same mainstream media that have done so much to promote the myths
of monarchy, including the fawning, one-sided and historically revisionist coverage of the death and replacement
of a monarch.
Only the most steadfast and united resistance can meet the challenge of the coming offensive from big
business and its government. But as harsh reality reasserts itself, the pro-monarchy hysteria fades and
resistance grows, the opportunity must also be seized to raise important constitutional questions.
The current leadership of the Labour Party, wrapping itself in the Union Jack, is unwilling to undertake any of
these vital tasks.
For its part, therefore, the Communist Party will work with left and progressive allies to make the case for an
elected head of state; nationalisation of the Crown Estate and its use for the public good; abolition of the House
of Lords; a federal system in Britain with substantial economic and nancial powers and resources for Scottish,
Welsh, English parliaments, regional assemblies and local government; and a voting system that produces
proportional representation in the parliaments and assemblies, preferably by single transferable vote in multi-
member constituencies.
The Communist Party also welcomes the decision by the people and parliament of Barbados to leave the
Commonwealth and become a republic. We look forward to the forthcoming decision of the people of Jamaica
and other members of the Commonwealth to depose the unelected monarch as their head of state and to assert
their national sovereignty and independence. These overdue constitutional changes should be an inspiration to
the peoples of Britain. Until Britain's constitutional arrangements are radically democratised, they will be used
to protect the wealth and power of the few against the interests and demands of the many.

Kwarteng’s Budget
23 September 2022 Communist Party general secretary Robert Grif ths on the Chancellor's nancial statement
today:

This mini-budget will be a giant bonanza for big business and the super-rich. Abolishing the top rate of income
tax in England and Wales will make the average millionaire more than £1,000 a week better off, while working
people on low or middle incomes will gain between £3 and £7 a week from other tax and National Insurance
cuts. Funding energy super-pro ts from borrowing will mean the return of austerity with a vengeance. This is a
declaration of naked class war by Truss and Kwarteng and it now falls to the trade unions, campaign groups and
the left to form a united front and ght for an alternative economic and nancial strategy
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 Much more needed from Labour
28 September 2022

Britain's Communists have welcomed Keir Starmer's conference pledge to renationalise the railways and
establish a public body, GB Energy, in the privatised energy market.
'But much more is needed if Labour is to overturn the 80-plus Tory majority in the House of Commons', Robert
Grif ths told the Communist Party's political committee on Tuesday evening.
'Not even this week's 12 to 17 point lead in the opinion polls would guarantee a majority Labour government at
the next General Election', he added.
The CP general secretary said it was 'scandalous' that a Labour government would leave most of the water,
sewerage and energy industries in the hands of 'pro teers and polluters who reap super-pro ts while refusing to
invest in a clean, green and fair-priced future'.
He also accused Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves of ' nancial illiteracy' for not understanding that restoring
the 45p top band of income tax could only create extra funds for the NHS by cutting other spending programmes
by between £2bn and £6bn.
'Retaining the reduced basic rate at 19p would also mean cutting public spending by around £5bn', he pointed
out.
The CP political committee welcomed the resurgence of industrial action for higher pay, decent jobs and better
services.
'We urge workers, the unemployed, students and pensioners to show their solidarity with rail and postal
workers on the picket lines, in meetings and on demonstrations', Mr Grif ths declared. In particular, he called for
mass turnouts for the People's Assembly and Midlands TUC demonstration at the Conservative Party
conference in Birmingham on Sunday, October 2, and the national demonstration in central London on
Saturday, November 5.
'Chancellor Kwarteng gave notice in the mini-Budget that we face the ght of our lives as the Tories plan to
destroy the right to strike by imposing "minimum service agreements" and yet more costly ballots on the unions',
Mr Grif ths warned.
Britain's Communists expressed their solidarity with the women and other progressive forces opposing the
theocratic dictatorship in Iran, praising the Tudeh Party and its allies who oppose any Western imperialist
intervention in their country.
The CP political committee also welcomed China's call at the UN for talks and a peaceful resolution to the
Ukraine War which takes account of the legitimate security concerns of all parties to the con ict.

Who rules Britain?

26 October 2022

The Communist Party has warned the labour movement against complacency after the Tory Party's slump in the
opinion polls and the downfall of Liz Truss.
As Rishi Sunak moved into Ten Downing Street on Tuesday, Johnnie Hunter told the CP political committee
that the change of prime minister showed who really runs Britain.
'The Bank of England, the City of London and its nancial markets sacked Truss because she had no
coherent, credible strategy for subsidising big business pro ts from a fresh round of severe public spending
cuts', he claimed.
'Far from being wise, moderate forces for stability, the casino capitalists were prepared to create contrived
chaos in the bond and currency markets in order to replace Britain's shortest-serving prime minister with its
richest-ever one', the Young Communist League general secretary insisted.
'As in the 1960s and 1970s, these same forces would turn ruthlessly on any Labour government that puts the
interests of working people and their families above those of monopoly capital and the super-rich', Mr Hunter
added.
Britain's Communists said the struggle facing the working class and peoples of England, Scotland and Wales
was against not only the Conservative government but against a vicious ruling class offensive to slash living
standards, public services and trade union and civil liberties.
The CP political committee urged trade unions, the labour movement and the left not to underestimate the
capacity of the Tories and their business and media backers to spread lies and divisions between now and the
next General Election.
'Our response must be to support and spread industrial action, turn out in our thousands for the TUC-backed
demonstration in London and local picket lines on November 5 and to demand positive left and progressive
policies from the Labour Party leadership', Johnnie Hunter concluded.
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 As well as deciding to hold a series of public meetings around Britain, the Communist Party nalised plans for
chair Ruth Styles and international secretary Kevan Nelson to attend the annual international meeting of
Communist and workers' parties in Havana this weekend, while CP general secretary Robert Grif ths goes to
Caracas for the congress of the Communist Party of Venezuela.

Class unity the key to combating climate challenge

9 November 2022

The greenwashing circus at COP27 in Egypt exposes government hypocrisy and capitalism’s inability to
address climate change, the Communist Party said yesterday.
Ben Chacko told the party’s political committee that eco-protesters taking direct action were right to highlight
the lack of progress on reducing emissions — but warned that only uniting climate action with industrial and
peace struggles stood a chance of delivering real change.
“It’s absurd to claim you can reduce emissions without a cheap, comprehensive, reliable public transport
network — but politicians are cutting investment and attacking rail workers,” he pointed out.
Britain needed more projects like the Welsh Labour-led government’s Core Valley Lines Transformation
scheme, electrifying the valleys for a train-tram network that would reduce emissions, boost connectivity and
create jobs.
Equally, relying on companies making super-pro ts from fossil fuel extraction to deliver a transition to clean
energy was hopeless, Mr Chacko pointed out, with nationalisation of the energy sector an essential demand,
while co-operation on tackling global issues like climate change depended on opposing the new cold war on
China and ending the war in Ukraine through peace talks.
The political committee welcomed new dates for strike action announced by the UCU and the ballots for action
across the Civil Service, education and health sectors, saying only a united working-class mobilisation could
defeat the class war on workers.
And it praised the successful People’s Assembly march on November 5, saying with new laws planned to
render effective strike action illegal it was more important than ever that political and street mobilisations are
combined with industrial action to ramp up the struggle on all fronts. It welcomed the call for local People’s
Assembly actions on November 19, following the government’s planned “ nancial event.”
The political committee called for work to promote the united front strategy and build understanding of united
front work among cadres. It called for maximum attendance by party members at the Campaign for Trade Union
Freedom’s From Pentonville to P&O conference on December 3 in London.

For a ‘united front’ against the monopolies

20 November 2022

'The votes for strike action by members of PCS, the RCN — Britain’s fourth largest union — and the Education
Institute of Scotland con rm that the strike spirit has spread beyond the industrial, transport and
communications sectors', Alex Gordon told the Communist Party executive committee at the weekend.
'Hopefully, the current ballots by Unison in the NHS and the two main teachers' unions NEU and NASUWT will
strengthen the determination of unions to coordinate strike action and collective bargaining strategies in order to
bust the Tory pay freeze and secure a real cost of living increase for workers', he added.
Mr Gordon pointed to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's Autumn Statement as evidence of the enormous attack being
launched against people's living standards, democratic and employment rights and public services, with £60bn
of new cuts in public spending planned from 2025 — after the next General Election.
Britain's Communists called for a 'united front' of working-class organisations and the left to challenge the
ruling class offensive by the capitalist monopolies and their government. The CP will give full support to the
development of an effective coordination committee of trade unionists able to link up their disparate disputes
into united struggles.
Alex Gordon insisted that it was the common interest of the great mass of the population of our planet today to
replace globalised nance capitalism by a socialist order of society.
This was demonstrated by the refusal of the US and other major capitalist powers at the COP27 summit in
Sharm el-Sheikh to agree clear targets for rapid progress towards the elimination of fossil fuels.
'The EU proposal for a loss-and-damage fund are another attempt to wriggle out of the Paris Agreement
commitments and to blame China for the failure of the rich developed countries to cut carbon emissions and cap
global warming at 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels', Mr Gordon commented.
At the COP15 Copenhagen summit in 2009, the developed countries had pledged $100bn in climate change
aid to developing countries by 2020, but the undisclosed sum raised so far has fallen a long way short.
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 'All attempts to greenwash global nance capitalism have collapsed as US banks refuse to disinvest from fossil
fuels — a contradiction that demonstrates the limits of capitalism and threatens the future of the planet', Mr
Gordon concluded.
The CP executive committee also received reports from chair Ruth Styles and international secretary Kevan
Nelson on the International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties in Havana and from general secretary
Robert Grif ths on his visits to Cuba and the congress of the Venezuelan Communist Party in Caracas.

A united front can defeat the Tories

30 November 2022

'The historic Royal College of Nursing's decision to strike on December 15 and 20 re ects the depth of the crisis
in the NHS', Ruth Styles told the Communist Party political committee on Tuesday evening (November 29).
Up to 100,000 nurses across England and Wales are taking action for the rst time in the union's history,
demanding higher pay as annual in ation rises above 10 per cent.
'Last year, 25,000 nursing staff left the Nursing and Midwifery Council, many of them fed up with being
overworked, underpaid and undervalued in our underfunded NHS', Ms Styles pointed out. This year, the NHS
has spent £3bn hiring agency workers in an attempt to ll the gap, while waiting lists for elective surgery have
soared above seven million.
'Now we learn today that UNISON health workers have voted to strike over pay and staf ng levels, underlining
the need for coordinated as well as generalised action against the Tory and ruling class offensive', the
Communist Party chair announced.
But she said the key question is whether this gathering strike wave across the public and private sectors will go
beyond an 'economistic' response to the cost of living crisis and develop into a broad and political working class
counter-offensive.
While strikers are winning public support on a scale not seen for decades, Britain's Communists are calling for
more solidarity and action in local communities through a 'united front' of unions, trades councils and anti-cuts,
housing and environmental campaigners.
The CP political committee urged support for the Campaign for Trade Union Freedom and Institute of
Employment Rights conference on December 3 and the People's Assembly all-Britain conference on January
14.
'These can be important building blocks towards the formation of a united front at national level, ghting to
bring down a corrupt government that priorities military spending, nuclear weapons and war over the health,
heating and housing needs of the people', Ruth Styles concluded.

Unity needed to combat ‘cost of pro ts’ crisis

12 December 2022

Britain's Communists have emphasised the need for unity in each sector of the economy between trade unions
taking action in the run-up to Xmas.
Johnnie Hunter told the Communist Party's executive committee over the weekend that unions in the health,
rail, postal and education sectors have a golden opportunity to replace past divisions with a united, coordinated
approach.
'The industrial battles now taking place should be supported and broadened as they demonstrate their
relevance to a new generation of workers', the general secretary of the Young Communist League declared,
urging trades councils and unemployed and retired workers to visit local picket lines to show their solidarity.
The YCL leader also said that socialists and Communists had an essential role to play in winning the labour
movement to a 'class understanding' of what is in reality a 'cost of pro ts' crisis in Britain.
'Faced with the spiralling costs of food, energy and transport, the left must put the case for the kind of left-wing
programme of measures such as pay rises, price controls and public ownership as the only real alternative to
Tory-backed big business pro teering', Mr Hunter insisted.
He warned that workers and their unions face a new round of anti-strike, anti-union legislation that would have
to be resisted by working class unity and mass action.
'That's why the current industrial and anti-cuts battles must be a springboard for building a united front that can
remove the Tories from of ce and win a progressive government committed to expanding workers' rights, taxing
the rich and big business, investing in industry, saving the NHS and enhancing public services', he added.
The CP executive committee emphasised that an incoming Labour government would have to be compelled by
the labour movement to implement its 'New Deal for Workers' policy. This pledges to outlaw ' re and rehire' and
zero-hour contracts, repeal anti-union laws — including compulsory postal ballots — and promote trade union
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 recognition, sectoral collective bargaining, Fair Pay Agreements and full employment rights from day one of a
job.
In at contradiction to EU law, Labour's public procurement policy proposes to discriminate in favour of in-
house provision, workplace trade unionism, collective bargaining, environmental standards and corporate tax
compliance.
The Communist Party welcomed the widespread distribution of its own pamphlet, The Fight of Our Lives, with
its call for the formation of non-sectarian broad left organisations in the unions. Britain's Communists also called
for a big attendance at the forthcoming People's Assembly and Stop the War trade union conferences on
January 14 and 21, respectively.

New Year call for solidarity and resistance

5 January 2023

'The Communist Party of Britain sends New Year greetings to workers and peoples across the world who are
ghting exploitation and oppression', CP general secretary Robert Grif ths declared on Wednesday evening
(January 4).
Addressing the party's political committee, he expressed solidarity with 'nurses from Britain to New York,
people resisting the CIA-backed coup in Peru, the courageous women of Iran and their supporters, Palestinians
confronting the far-right and murderous regime of Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Ukrainian civilians under
bombardment from Russian invaders and the NATO-backed Kyiv regime'.
Welcoming the resurgence of strikes in Britain, Mr Grif ths described mass coordinated action as the 'most
direct and effective weapon the working class has in response to a "cost of capitalism" crisis that is plunging
millions more families into poverty'. He urged trade unions to work together and present a united response to
the new anti-strike legislation being prepared by the Conservative government.
Turning to the crisis in the NHS, the CP leader blamed 'decades of underfunding, privatisation and
mismanagement under both Tory and Labour governments'.
'Staff vacancies, waiting lists, training levels and A&E and GP services demonstrate the breadth and depth of
this emergency, made all the worse by the impact of the same right-wing policies on social and community care
services', he added.
As an immediate response, Britain's Communists called for private sector hospital and medical facilities to be
requisitioned by the state and put at the service of the NHS. 'All health facilities and services should be planned
and coordinated in a uni ed system that puts public health before private pro teering', Mr Grif ths insisted,
pointing out that most private sector medical staff were trained at public expense and still work in the NHS.
The CP political committee urged socialists, workers and NHS campaigners to attend the People's Assembly
and Stop the War trade union conferences on January 14 and 21, respectively.

‘Red alert’ on anti-strike plans

8 January 2023

Britain's Communist Party sounded the alert at the weekend on the Conservative government's plans for new
anti-strike, anti-union legislation.
'The trade union movement must draw up a united response to the Transport Strikes (Minimum Service Levels)
Bill before it becomes law', the party's Industrial Organiser Andy Bain told the CP executive committee on
Saturday (January 7).
The Bill seeks to undermine strikes in any transport services which affect travel for work, health or education
purposes or threaten to damage national security, the economy or the environment.
In selected industries, employers and unions would be compelled by law during an industrial dispute to operate
a 'minimum service agreement', empowering bosses to issue 'work notices' forcing employees to break strikes.
'This is a "slaves charter", punishing unions and removing the few remaining protections from dismissal for
striking workers', Mr Bain declared, 'and while unions will explore the possibilities for legal challenges, they also
need to draw up a united strategy to frustrate the new law in practice'.
The former union president also warned that the Bill gives wide powers to government ministers to interpret its
content, threatening unions and workers in a wide range of industries and services including Border Control and
the Environment Agency, oil and gas supplies, the utilities and food distribution.
The Communist Party urged the British, Scottish and Welsh TUCs and their af liated unions to organise a
mass campaign to explain the Bill's contents to workers, leading to an all-Britain militant 'day of action' on the
day it receives its Second Reading in the House of Commons.
The campaign could be called 'Kill the Bill 2', Mr Bain remarked, recalling the successful struggle to defeat the
notorious Industrial Relations Act in the early 1970s. As he spoke, news broke that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak
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and Business Secretary Grant Shapps had originally favoured banning union membership altogether in
transport industries.
Noting Labour leader Keir Starmer's pledge to repeal any new legislation should his party take of ce after the
next General Election, he added that the whole labour movement should 'hold his feet to the re', not only to
keep his promises but also to reverse 40 years of anti-strike, anti-union and anti-worker legislation.
The CP executive called for a big turn-out for the Stop the War Coalition's 'The World War at War — A Trade
Union Issue' conference on January 21 and expressed the party's solidarity with women and girls facing the
theocratic dictatorship in Afghanistan.

Kill the Bill with mass action

18 January 2023

Britain's Communists have welcomed new additions to the growing strike wave for more pay and job security.
Teachers, Environment Agency employees and Welsh school heads and support staff are among the latest
groups of workers to join the movement demanding wage raises at or above the level of in ation.
But Lorraine Douglas told the Communist Party's political committee on Tuesday evening that the Tory
government is 'nailing its authoritarian colours to the mast' with further attacks on rights to strike and protest.
A revamped Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill extends anti-strike measures to all sections of workers in the
health, education, border security, transport, nuclear decommissioning and re and rescue services.
'This is a slaves' charter which would make scabbing a legal requirement', Ms Douglas declared. She
welcomed the response of the TUC to call a 'day of action' on Wednesday, February 1, to defend the right to
strike and urged the English regional, Scottish and Welsh TUCs, trades councils and unions to mobilise in
communities and workplaces to support the protest.
Teachers, train drivers, airport workers, civil servants and university staff are all due to strike on February 1 and
the Communist Party has urged further action at any level that can be achieved on the day, including town
centre rallies and workplace meetings.
'Ultimately this draconian legislation can only be defeated by an upsurge in mass extra-parliamentary protest
and industrial action', Ms Douglas insisted, emphasising the importance of the Campaign for Trade Union
Freedom's conference in London on January 24.
In that connection, Britain's Communists also welcomed last Saturday's successful conference of the People's
Assembly. More than 300 delegates and visitors agreed to support a 'united front' of working class organisations
against the capitalist monopolies whose interests are served by the Tory central government.
In particular, the People's Assembly decided to organise protests at central and regional of ces of the energy
companies whose pro teering is sending household and small business bills through the roof.
The CP political committee pointed to the soaring costs of Britain's nuclear arsenal and arms shipments to
prolong the Ukraine War, urging a big turnout for next Saturday's Stop the War trade union conference.

Action to bring down the Tories

13 February 2023

'There is a growing recognition across the working class and peoples of Britain that "we are not all in this
together"', Moz Greenshields told the Communist Party's executive committee at the weekend.
'They know that poverty is not the fault of the poor, unemployment is not the fault of the worker, and working
people are not the fault of the economic and cost of living crisis', she argued, 'they are all the fault of the system
and its big business monopolies'.
Ms Greenshields, a leading gure in the trades councils movement, accused the Conservative government and
employers of ghting a 'war of attrition' against the trade union movement. The intention is to divide and exhaust
unions and their members, offering smaller real-terms pay cuts to some and nothing to others, while Britain's
harsh anti-union laws force unions to ballot and re-ballot in order to take action.
'That's why a united front of labour movement organisations is vital in order to strike down a government that
has declared war on the working class in order to protect the subsidised pro ts of the rail and energy companies
and the super-pro ts of the likes of Shell and BP', she declared.
Britain's Communists said now was the time to prepare for the formation of 'councils of action' in towns and
cities across Britain, bringing together trades councils, local union committees, the People's Assembly, Black
Communities Matter, tenants groups, health and pensions campaigners, student unions and others.
'This would not only maximise the prospects for bringing down the Tories', Ms Greenshields remarked, 'it will
also open the way to building an anti-monopolies alliance to ght for an alternative economic and political
strategy — whatever the nature of the next government'.
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 The Communist Party executive urged unions and the TUC to work out a united, coordinated strategy to make
the Strikes (Minimum Level of Service) Bill unworkable and charged the party's political committee with issuing a
statement on the Scottish Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill.
The CP also condemned the riot instigated by fascists outside a hotel for asylum seekers in Knowsley,
Merseyside, last Friday evening, praising the role of the Young Communist League and local people in
organising a counter-demonstration.

The ‘carnival of reaction’ continues ...

22 February 2023

Communist Party of Britain international secretary Kevan Nelson has declared that the failure of recent British
government talks on the future of Northern Ireland con rms James Connolly's claim in 1914 that the partition of
Ireland 'would mean a carnival of reaction both North and South, would set back the wheels of progress, would
destroy the oncoming unity of the Irish labour movement and paralyse all advanced movements while it lasted'.
Mr Nelson was addressing his party's Political Committee on Tuesday evening, after Prime Minister Rishi
Sunak's discussions with the Democratic Unionist Party had ended without agreement.
'The DUP has created political gridlock by boycotting the Belfast Assembly, conveniently vetoing Sinn Fein —
now the largest party in the Assembly — from taking on the First Minister role', Mr Nelson pointed out.
'However, this situation is far from unique, the devolved Assembly having been in suspension for more than a
quarter of its almost 25-year existence', he added.
The right-wing DUP demands changes to the Northern Ireland Protocol which uncoupled the six-county statelet
in trading terms from Britain, thereby keeping it in the EU single market in order to maintain an open border on
the island of Ireland.
At the same time, the British government and the EU have spent twelve months renegotiating the Northern
Ireland Protocol concerning imports from Britain, trading standards, the application of EU rules on state aid and
VAT, and the jurisdiction of the EU Court of Justice.
The DUP and the European Reform Group of Tory MPs want to press ahead with a new NI Protocol Bill which
would impose reforms without EU agreement.
'In the event of a Tory rebellion against any agreement with the EU, Sunak can count on the Labour opposition
to get his deal over the line', Mr Nelson remarked, 'Connolly’s prescient analysis has been borne out by more
than a century of division and neo-colonialism, not only in Ireland’s relations with Britain but for the past 50
years with the European Union'.
Reaf rming their commitment to work for the reuni cation of Ireland, Britain's Communists also called for the
maximum turnout at this coming Saturday's 'Stop the War — Start the Peace' in Ukraine demonstration called
by CND and the Stop the War Coalition.

Women are ghting back world-wide

7 March 2023

'Women and girls around the world still face violence, super-exploitation, discrimination and inequality on a
horrendous scale', Carol Stavris told the Communist Party of Britain's political committee on Tuesday evening
(March 6).
'Whether it's domestic violence in Europe and Latin America, state violence in Iran, abortion rights in the USA,
genital mutilation in Africa and the Middle East or access to education in Afghanistan, they confront oppression
— but women and girls are ghting back with the support of progressive men, trade unions and political parties
of the left', she added.
Ms Stavris, the Communist Party women's organiser, paid special tribute to the Women's International
Democratic Federation and its af liates across the world including the National Assembly of Women in Britain.
'The WIDF and its sister organisations understand that the oppression of women today is determined by a
warmongering capitalist system rooted in the exploitation of labour in the economy and wider society, much of it
performed by low-paid and unpaid women and girls', she pointed out.
Britain's Communists also discussed the Gender Recognition Reform Bill passed by Scotland's parliament,
since vetoed by the British government using powers reserved to the Westminster parliament.
'The SNP government rejected all the warnings and amendments designed to stay within the Scotland Act and
Britain-wide equalities legislation, hell-bent on contriving a constitutional crisis', Ms Stavris accused.
'But this reckless, divisive approach back red as the Tory government in London grabbed another opportunity
to ght the so-called "culture wars"', she added.
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 Ms Stavris urged the Welsh government not to follow the Scottish government into the constitutional cul-de-sac
of gender self-ID, but instead use its existing powers to strengthen the law against anti-trans discrimination and
enhance the access of trans people to specialised services.
The CP political committee reiterated the party's commitment to maintaining single-sex spaces and services for
women, while also respecting trans people and meeting their particular needs.
A detailed statement on issues of sex and gender will be considered by the Communist Party's executive
committee this coming weekend.

Class politics the key across Britain

12 March 2023

'Class politics hold the key to resolving the national question, bringing down the Conservative government at
Westminster and isolating the fascists', Tommy Morrison told the Communist Party executive committee at the
weekend.
He said the contest to succeed Nicola Sturgeon as leader of the SNP and Scotland's First Minister was
exposing deep divisions within the nationalist party.
'The main leadership candidates want to take the SNP in a more neoliberal and pro-big business direction and
hand over Scottish sovereignty to the EU and NATO, whereas many SNP voters are on the left and one-third of
them voted take Scotland and Britain out of the EU', Mr Morrison argued.
As secretary of the Communist Party in Scotland, he wanted to see a third option on the ballot paper in any
future referendum on that country's constitutional future.
He insisted that the 'separatist option for a veneer of sovereignty' would undermine 150 years of building
working class unity across Scotland, England and Wales against the British capitalist class, while the unionist
option would do nothing to change the 'undemocratic and anti-working class status quo'.
'That's why Scotland's Communists call for a third option — a federal system, which extends and entrenches
the powers of the Scottish people through their own parliament to intervene against the very capitalist market
forces and monopoly power that the EU and the British state are designed to reinforce', he explained.
The CP executive committee urged closer links between local community and trade union organisations to help
build united resistance to Tory central government policies to cut living standards, boost corporate pro ts and
restrict democratic rights to protest and take industrial action.
'This is the best basis on which a united front can be forged to defend living standards, public services and
jobs, form councils of action and press local councils to ful l their duty to assess the impact of budget cuts on
the most vulnerable sections of society', Mr Morrison declared.
'It is also the real alternative to the appeal of the racist and fascist groups trying to bene t from the vile anti-
migrant hysteria being whipped up by Tory ministers and the right-wing press and TV channels', he added.
Britain's Communists urged its members and supporters to help make this coming Wednesday (March 15) a
militant day of action at picket lines and demonstrations in solidarity with striking workers and appealed for big
turnouts on marches in London, Cardiff and elsewhere next Saturday to mark UN Anti-Racism Day.

The EC also agreed to:

● Work to place regional assemblies on trade union agendas in England.

● Support the stance of Gary Lineker on migrants and asylum seekers and oppose his suspension by the
BBC.
● Address the concerns of local people while helping (with the YCL) to mobilise local communities against
attacks on accommodation for asylum seekers (a new CP lea et is available).
● Call on Party branches directly, or through bodies such as trades council and the People's Assembly, to
invite local bodies to a round table to discuss joint campaigning and councils of action in solidarity with
strikes and against cuts, energy prices, etc.
● Urge local authorities to make impact assessments of the effect of cuts on poverty, women, BME
communities, etc.
● Urge local Party branches where feasible to draw up and publicise an alternative needs-based budget
for their area.

Gender recognition and equality law

12 March 2023

Communist Party executive committee statement

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 1. The Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill was passed by the Scottish Parliament on 22 December,
2022. The Bill reforms the 2004 Gender Recognition Act (GRA) for Scotland only. It changes the process for
obtaining a gender recognition certi cate (GRC) for anyone born or ‘ordinarily resident’ in Scotland. It aims to
change the basis on which people in Scotland can change their sex in law from one of a shared medical
diagnosis to that of self-declaration alone ('self-ID') and lowers the qualifying age from 18 to 16.
2. On January 17 this year, the UK government used its powers under Section 35 of the 1998 Scotland Act to
stop the Bill receiving Royal Assent. This power of veto can be used in circumstances where an item of Scottish
parliamentary legislation is judged by the Secretary of State for Scotland to have an adverse impact on law in
areas of policy ('reserved matters') for which the UK Parliament and government are solely or chie y
responsible. Similar provisions apply to the devolved parliaments of Wales and Northern Ireland.
3. The so-called Sewel Convention obliges the UK government to consult the devolved administrations when
its own proposed legislation impacts on the powers and policies of the devolved parliaments. Ultimately, the UK
Parliament can disregard refusals of consent from the Scottish, Welsh or Northern Ireland legislatures.
4. The Communist Party of Britain and its leadership bodies in Scotland and Wales believe that the current
devolution settlement must be protected and improved. However, in the case of the GRR (Scotland) Bill, the
intervention by the UK government was entirely predictable given the political struggle over Scotland's
constitutional status and the controversies over issues of sex and gender.
5. The awed approach of the Scottish government over the Bill and its wider effects has been brought
persistently to the attention of Scottish ministers over the past four years. During the Edinburgh parliament’s
scrutiny of the Bill, serious problems were raised by a range of women’s and other civil society groups who
asked for the Bill to be paused so these could be discussed and resolved, as well as by legal and policy experts
and other organisations. Yet ministers consistently denied and dismissed the problems being raised.
6. Unfortunately, discussion around the GRR Bill has now become so acrimonious and toxic as to obstruct
meaningful and respectful debate. The SNP-Green government in Edinburgh’s action has been portrayed as
part of their attempt to secure separation from the UK; the Westminster veto — while defending the
constitutional status quo and the Equality and Scotland Acts — has been described as taking an opportunity to
discredit the SNP and its separatist goal.
7. The Communist Party of Britain believes that the current system for transgender people to gain access to
services and achieve safe and legal gender transition requires substantial resourcing. If the aim of this Bill is to
make the lives of trans people easier, then it is a failure. The CP supports the right of trans people to live free
from discrimination and prejudice. This attempt to change the law does nothing for their access to health,
medical, housing, advisory and other services sensitive to their needs.
8. For Communists, the main concerns are about how the GRR Bill (as devolved legislation) interacts with the
operation of the 2010 Equality Act (as reserved legislation) across the UK. This is a complex area of law but the
crux of the matter rests on two main things.

(i) ‘Gender recognition’ is both reserved and devolved

9. A system for allowing someone to change their legal sex has to work across Britain as a whole. This is
because the legal term 'sex' is referred to in hundreds of pieces of legislation which are both reserved to
Westminster and devolved to the Scottish Parliament. For this reason, when the Labour government decided to
introduce the 2004 Gender Recognition Act it reached agreement with the devolved assemblies/ parliaments
that the Westminster government would create a single legal framework for Britain as a whole. To make this
possible, the Scottish Parliament passed the Sewel resolution granting consent for Westminster to legislate in
devolved areas for this speci c purpose.
10. These facts were known by the Scottish government and by civil servants before it embarked on going it
alone in reforming the GRA in Scotland. It was always clear that a Scotland-only scheme would mean that
Gender Recognition Certi cates issued in Scotland would apply only to reserved areas of law. Anyone applying
for and obtaining a GRC in Scotland under the new scheme could be sure of their rights in relation to devolved
areas — such as the recording of births, deaths and marriages by the National Records of Scotland, or the
Scottish NHS – but would have no idea where they stood in relation to reserved areas such as pensions, (most)
social security bene ts and areas covered by the Equality Act such as employment protection during pregnancy,
maternity pay and other important rights.
11. Instead of resolving these issues, ideally in advance of introducing legislation, the Scottish government
stuck to its position that the GRR Bill had no effect at all on the operation of the Equality Act. They continue to
claim it is an administrative change only and there is simply nothing to consider.
12. This is despite a legal judgement clarifying the matter, made on December 13, 2022 (For Women Scotland
vs The Scottish Government). This ruling established that a GRC changes someone’s legal sex for all purposes
under the 2010 Equality Act. Legal counsel for the Scottish government successfully argued this case in court.
Despite this, Scottish ministers chose not to pause the Bill so that the implications of this important ruling could
be understood before MSPs had their nal vote on the Bill.
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 13. The face of the Bill may include wording that it ‘does not affect the operation of the 2010 Equality Act’ (a
Labour amendment), but this is meaningless because in effect the Bill certainly does.

(ii) The GRR Bill means there would be different legal de nitions of sex in Scotland and in England &
Wales

14. The effect of the Bill is that the legal de nition of a ‘man’ and a ‘woman’ and the people who are included in
these categories will be different in Scotland than in England and Wales. In other words, there will be two
different legal de nitions of sex in operation within the UK. No-one knows how that will work in practice. It has
never been examined. It is likely to mean that people with a Scottish GRC will have separate legal identities for
different purposes.
15. The effect is to create legal chaos for service providers and organisations in the different countries of the UK
and for UK- and Britain-wide organisations. The groups of people in sex-related categories will be entirely
different in Scotland on one side and England and Wales on the other.
16. In particular, the UK Gender Recognition Act 2004 focuses on people with 'gender dysphoria' – their sexed
body causes psychological distress such that medical/ surgical interventions are deemed necessary. They are
the only group eligible for a GRC and thereby entitled to change their legal sex on their birth certi cate.
17. The Scottish GRR Bill allows anyone over the age of 16 access to a GRC, with no medical requirement.
Anyone is eligible who self-identi es into an ‘acquired gender’ and can provide fairly minimal evidence of living
in this for at least three months is eligible. Sex offenders and those charged with sexual offences can apply,
MSPs having voted down amendments to exclude them. The implications of self-ID as the sole requirement for
access to single-sex spaces and facilities are serious when it comes to safeguarding women and children from
predatory and abusive behaviour by men who can simply declare themselves to be women.
18. This reform could pose great dif culties for education institutions, sports organisations and other clubs and
societies. They have to work out how to meet their legal duties under the 2010 Equality Act and make defensible
decisions. They must balance con icts of rights under the Equality Act and, if they are public sector bodies, ful l
the public sector equality duty and promote good relations between people with different 'protected
characteristics' (which include 'sex' and 'gender reassignment'). This is not a simple matter, and there are sure
to be legal challenges. Navigating complex legislation while managing different legal de nitions of sex which
contain very different groups within them will not be easy.
19. When these questions were asked as the Bill went through the Edinburgh parliament, the Scottish
government said it was up to the Equality and Human Rights Commission to draw up guidance. It refused the
EHRC’s request for the Bill to be paused so these issues could be examined. Some argue these changes
involve very small numbers of people and therefore the impact will be minimal. However, the wider context of
the social transitioning of children in schools under government guidance puts that in doubt.
20. Meanwhile, the Welsh government has announced its intention to assist trans people to gain GRCs without
a diagnosis of gender dysphoria; enhance their access to a full range of tailored services; and 'ban all aspects'
of conversion practices. No Bill has yet been published and it is recognised that powers currently reserved to
Westminster under the Wales Act may be necessary to carry out this programme in full. The UK central
government has made clear it will veto any Welsh Bill which seeks to assume these reserved powers
unilaterally.
21. The Welsh government also pledges to uphold women's rights and spaces. Its LGBT Action Plan (2023)
claims there is a 'lack of evidence' that trans-inclusion would have any adverse impact on women's single-sex
services and facilities and no evidence at all to justify a blanket exclusion of trans people from them. Instead,
exclusion from single-sex services should be considered on a case-by-case basis as provided for in the 2010
Equality Act.
22. Heavily in uenced by Stonewall rather than by a desire to boost the case for independence, the
motivations of the Welsh government appear to be different in this fundamental respect from those of its Plaid
Cymru partners and the SNP government in Scotland. Nonetheless, should it choose to go down the same
constitutional cul-de-sac as the GRR Bill by attempting to provide for gender self-ID, the same opportunity will
be missed to provide and improve services for trans people.

In summary and conclusion

● The UK government’s veto of the GRR (Scotland) Bill was entirely predictable. The real issue here is self-ID
and the impact of legislating for it.
● If the aim of this Bill was to make the lives of trans people easier then it has not only been a failure; it is also
proving to be counter-productive.
● Anyone gaining a GRC under this Bill would have no certainty about the rights it confers. This is because of
the fundamentally awed approach taken by the Scottish government which, among other things, has meant
that speci c measures in its Bill have not won broad public support.
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● The real innovation of this Bill is to legislate for the self-ID of someone's legal sex, embedding self-declared
‘gender identity’ in law. But when pursued to the exclusion of such considerations as the sex-based rights of
women, and the fragmentation of equality legislation across Britain, it undermines the drive to build unity
within and between the working class and the oppressed and disadvantaged groups in our society.
● The Communist Party is the only political party with a coherent political analysis of sex and gender. Gender
as an ideological construct should not be confused or con ated with the material reality of biological sex.
Gender is the vehicle through which misogyny is enacted and normalised. Gender identity ideology is well-
suited to the needs of the capitalist class, focusing as it does on individual as opposed to collective rights,
enabling and supporting the super-exploitation of women.
● For these reasons, the Communist Party rejects gender self-ID as the basis for sex-based entitlements in law
to women's single-sex rights, spaces and facilities. The Party will continue to oppose any proposed legislation
— whether at Scottish, Welsh or British level — that seeks to enact such a provision.
● We call for 'sex' as a protected characteristic under the 2010 Equality Act to be de ned as 'biological sex'.
● At the same time, Communists are clear that efforts must continue to improve the resourcing of the current
system for transgender people to access services and to transition legally, not just in Scotland but across
Britain. Together with the defence and improvement of women's sex-based services and facilities, this is part
of the broader struggle for democratic rights, social justice and socialism.

Reject the ‘more pain today, but some jam tomorrow’ Budget
15 March 2023 CP general secretary Robert Grif ths responded to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's ‘spring budget
‘ today:

When is a tax rise not a tax rise — when it is a tax on corporate pro ts. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is going ahead
with Prime Minister Sunak's increase in the headline rate of Corporation Tax (CT) from 19 per cent to 25 per
cent. Yet he also boasts that only one-in-ten companies will be paying it. The current loophole for avoidance will
become an enormous chasm, as companies offset real and bogus spending on IT, plant and machinery against
tax over the next three years.
That means the Treasury is foregoing around £27bn in CT revenue over the next three years — income that
could have been invested in green energy-saving and cost-cutting programmes that would keep people warm
and help them travel more easily for work, family and leisure purposes.
Hunt talks about a high-wage, low tax economy in which hard work is a highly rewarded virtue. Yet he puts
peanuts aside for the genuinely hard-working public sector workers who staff our hospitals, schools and local
community services.
At the same time, he lifts the tax-free cap on annual private pension contributions from £40,000 to £60,000 —
how many hard-working employees have a spare £5,000 a month to pay into their private pension pot?
The plans to lift the cap on bankers' bonuses are unchanged. Britain's corrupt weapons industry will be
celebrating an extra £11bn in military spending over the next ve years, including £5bn to boost the US-UK-
Australian cold war offensive against China.
These giveaways to the rich and big business, amounting to more than £42bn, put the £5bn extra for childcare
— after ve years of cuts — into proportion. Then there are the billions in public funds that compensate the
energy suppliers — under the guise of the 'energy price guarantee' — for not raising their prices even higher,
while continuing to pay the wage bills of the train operating companies as they jack up the fares.
As living standards are set to fall still further over the next two years, all Chancellor Hunt can offer is the hope
that the economy will grow next year while in ation is mystically slashed by two-thirds in time for this Christmas.
A million striking workers have shown today that they reject the 'more pain today, perhaps some jam tomorrow'
policies of this government.
But they and millions more will need to ght just as hard to force any future Labour government onto the path
of progressive taxation, wealth redistribution, public investment, economic planning and the nationalisation of
essential industries and services.

Condemn the racist Immigration Bill

28 March 2023

'People seeking to build a new life in Britain are being targeted by those who want to divide us', Tony Conway
told the Communist Party's political committee on Monday evening (March 27).
'The Tory government at Westminster, the far right and the big business media are using every weapon to
stigmatise migrants and asylum seekers instead of addressing the real economic and social problems facing
working people and their families', he added.
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 Mr Conway spoke as Home Secretary Suella Braverman was steering yet another Immigration Bill through the
House of Commons aimed at so-called 'boat people'.
The Bill brands people who enter Britain by unrecognised routes as criminals who will be deported and banned
from Britain for life and therefore — as Ms Braverman freely admits — is regarded as illegal in national and
international human rights law.
'Even the Tories are split on the Bill — between those who believe it will undermine modern anti-slavery
legislation and those who wish to abandon the European Convention on Human Rights', Mr Conway
commented.
The convenor of the Communist Party's anti-racism anti-fascism commission pointed out that 160,000 migrants
are currently awaiting decisions on their immigration status, yet 70 per cent of all asylum seekers are granted a
right to remain once their cases are properly considered.
'The lack of investment in visa application points overseas, safe routes of entry and the civil servants who
process these cases is in sharp contrast to the money lavished on 400 commandeered hotels here and special
detention camps in Rwanda', Mr Conway remarked. He criticised the Labour Party leadership's 'feeble' objection
to Tory plans that they are merely 'unworkable'.
The CP political committee nalised the Communist Party's involvement in a new campaigning initiative against
Britain's racist immigration, asylum and nationality laws being launched with the Indian Workers Association,
Caribbean Labour Solidarity and the Bangladeshi Workers Council.
Reaf rming the party's commitment to black self-organisation, Mr Conway urged support for the Liberation
Movement and this summer's Windrush Festival as elements in the growing alliance of trade union, political,
anti-racist and community bodies against exploitation and oppression.
Britain's Communists also demanded a 'root and branch' restructuring of the Metropolitan Police in light of the
Casey Report, which found the force to be institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic.
'The Metropolitan Police has also long been a central part of the state apparatus aimed at trade unions, left-
wing political organisations and other campaigners for reform and fundamental change', Tony Conway pointed
out.

Communists and the May 2023 local elections

29 March 2023 CP Political Committee statement:

The Communist Party stands for the interests of the working class, the labour movement and the people,
against monopoly capital and its state power.
In the May 2023 local elections, we urge support for non-sectarian candidates who ght for these working-
class and progressive interests in a non-sectarian way; who stand for policies that serve the interests of
workers, their families and local communities; and who work to promote left and progressive unity to these ends.
In wards where there are far-right racist or fascist candidates, the Communist Party and its local organisations
must campaign against them — with allies wherever possible — and call for a vote for the candidate and party
best placed to prevent them winning a seat.
Low turnouts often favour the chances of victory for far-right and fascist candidates, which is an important
reason why Communists should encourage people to exercise their hard-won right to vote.
Elsewhere, local CP branches should assess the standpoint and record of the Labour, left and progressive
candidates in their area and, in consultation with their District Committee and its of cers, decide the position of
the Party branch accordingly.
In many areas, where no Communist is standing, the CP branch may well decide to vote and urge support for
local Labour Party candidates. This must be the rst consideration for Communists. Where those candidates
genuinely ght for left and progressive policies, the CP branch should offer them practical campaigning
assistance.
In too many other cases, however, Labour candidates do not defend the interests of the people they were
elected to represent. They are content to impose austerity and privatisation measures without any effort to
investigate or promote alternative policies, and frequently are neoliberal and even anti-socialist in their general
outlook.
These Labour candidates often play a major part in causing the widespread disillusionment with politics that
exists in many working-class communities.
In such cases, or where no Labour or Communist candidate is standing, there may be other left candidates
who best represent working class interests and deserve CP support. The Branch must inform the District
Committee and Party Centre immediately of any proposed endorsement of non-CP, non-Labour Party
candidates.
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 Branches must, of course, bear in mind that any decision they take will re ect upon the Communist Party more
widely and could be subject to veto by a higher Party committee.

For anti-racist immigration and nationality laws

31 March 2023

Joint statement with the Indian Workers Association, Caribbean Labour Solidarity and the Bangladeshi Workers
Council:

Britain has relied on and bene ted from immigration for centuries and yet Governments and their apparatus
have chosen to discriminate against immigrant communities and black people.

● The Labour Movement is central to the campaign against racism and discrimination.
● The Labour Movement must unite our communities and our working class in the months and years ahead.
● We stand for equality and not discrimination.
● We oppose the hostile environment and are for the repeal of racist legislation.
● We stand for safe and legal routes and are against the outsourcing of Britain's asylum system to Rwanda or
elsewhere.
● We call for a reduction in immigration fees.
● We oppose people being housed in detention centres and are for people residing in communities with proper
support.
● We stand for the treatment of people as Human Beings.
● We oppose income thresholds as a means to determine immigration and are for fair and equal treatment.
● We support the right to work and say asylum seekers and refugees should have inde nite leave to remain,
access to public funds with faster tracking to nationality.
● We oppose the revoking of UK Citizenship and the deportation or removal of those who have UK Citizenship,
or are at risk and for a proper appeal system. Children without Citizenship should automatically be given it on
reaching adulthood.
● We call for parliamentary scrutiny of any changes to immigration and nationality laws and for the Police and
Home Of ce to be stripped of discretionary powers. The Windrush Scheme is not t for purpose and must be
revamped and made accessible.
● We call upon Labour Movement Organisations to back these demands.

We recognise more needs adding. We do not seek to replace organisations and campaigns that already exist.
Indeed, we call upon Trade Unions to support these campaigns.

For an anti-Tory, anti-capitalist May Day

25 April 2023

With the Tories engaged in a vicious assault on the right to strike, demonising refugees amid a rise in far-right
street activity and determined to make workers pay for the cost-of-capitalism crisis, May Day rallies should
demonstrate the scale of resistance, the party's political committee urged on Monday night.
'A highly visible left presence in towns and cities marking May Day this weekend would also build for a strong
anti-Tory vote at next week’s local elections in England and show support for workers engaged in strike action',
Ben Chacko told the committee.
The furore over Labour MP Diane Abbott’s letter to the Observer on racism underlined the need to build a mass
anti-racist movement rooted in class struggle and focused on uniting all anti-racist forces.
Her letter’s apparent attempt to set a hierarchy of racisms should be condemned — but so should a shallow,
purity-test approach that turns anti-racism into a matter of etiquette and ignores the decades of actual anti-racist
struggle by veterans like Ms Abbott, Mr Chacko argued.
He reaf rmed the Communist Party's commitment to oppose all forms of racism, noting the leading role long
played by socialists and communists in the ght against antisemitism.
Given Ms Abbott’s swift apology, Sir Keir Starmer’s withdrawal of the whip was a cynical attack on a leading left
MP, Mr Chacko declared.
The CP political committee called for support for Communist candidates where they are standing for council
seats next week and for non-sectarian left candidates elsewhere in cases where Labour candidates are
unworthy of left support, except where the far right present a threat, in which case it calls for a vote for the
candidate best placed to defeat them.
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CP welcomes Tory slump as Labour vote stagnates
8 May 2023

Britain's Communist Party has given a cautious welcome to the local election results in England.
'The voters have rejected the Conservative central government's policies to let pro ts rip while cutting people's
living standards and public services', election coordinator Andy Chaffer told the CP executive committee at the
weekend.
He reported on the collapse of the Tory vote in many areas, while noting that the Liberal Democrats and the
Greens together had made more gains in terms of votes and councils than the Labour Party.
Labour's share of the poll stayed stagnant at around 35 per cent compared with the last set of local elections in
2019, Mr Chaffer pointed out, even though the Conservative vote has slumped from that gure to just 26 per
cent.
'But the biggest winner at the polls on May 4 was the stay-away party', he remarked, pointing out that two-
thirds of electors had again abstained from voting in local elections.
He identi ed three major reasons: the removal of powers and resources from local government since 1979; the
lack of convincing alternative policies from the non-Tory parties; and the likely impact of new voter ID rules
which discriminate against younger people in particular.
'Keir Starmer's Labour Party has no real solutions to the cost-of-capitalism crisis gripping millions of people
across Britain, while the LibDem and Green Party leaderships are equally shallow and unprincipled in their
scramble for votes and seats', Mr Chaffer accused.
He said only the Single Transferable Vote system in multi-seat constituencies — and not ' rst past the post' or
tactical voting — could ensure a fair representation of people's real views and beliefs.
The Communist Party executive committee congratulated its own candidates, agents and campaigners for
taking a socialist message to scores of thousands of homes. They won between one and seven per cent of the
votes on a programme of more investment in council housing, education and public transport; reversal of
privatisation in health and other local services; public ownership of the energy sector; a fundamental
redistribution of wealth; and solidarity with striking workers.
The CP leadership also adopted a statement on the coronation and the monarchy. It reaf rms the party's call
for an elected ceremonial head of state not tied to the Anglican church and the military and condemns the
oppressive use of new anti-protest laws against peaceful republican demonstrators, journalists and women's
safety volunteers.

The Coronation and the Monarchy

9 May 2023 Communist Party executive committee statement:

This weekend's coronation was designed to maintain public support for an institution that embodies the gross
inequalities, privilege and anti-democratic nature of our society.
Recognising that many people enjoy opportunities to gather together in response to appeals based on
patriotism, tradition and ceremony, Britain's ruling class and its mass media have done all in their power to
promote this spectacle.
Dissenting voices have been all but silenced. As usual, the one daily paper — the Morning Star — that did not
join in the royalist hysteria has been excluded from all media reviews of the daily press. Unsurprisingly, as an
institution itself not known for a commitment to equality and democracy, the Metropolitan Police have arrested
and detained women's safety volunteers as well as peaceful protestors against the monarchy. In some cases,
people were arrested before they had done anything at all, in effect as though they had committed 'thought
crime'.
Trade unions should protest against this use of repressive legislation — which could be used against strikers
and their supporters at any time — and demand its repeal by an incoming Labour government.
The coronation ceremony itself con rmed the close ties between the monarchy, the Anglican Church, the
political establishment and Britain's long and bloody history of militarism, conquest and plunder. The Communist
Party refuses to celebrate a monarchy inseparable from its part in Britain's record as a reactionary colonial and
imperialist power.
In place of servile oaths to serve the head of an aristocratic family for evermore and pious phrases about
'serving the nation' and 'helping the poor', the Communist Party demands a massive transfer of wealth from the
capitalist class to the working class.
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 In place of a mythical royal sovereignty based on bloodline, the Communist Party proposes popular
sovereignty based on the people and their elected representatives in parliaments, governments and mass
movements.
In place of a bogus national unity that conceals deep social, national and religious inequalities, the Communist
Party ghts for socialism and a federal, secular Britain in which England, Scotland and Wales enjoy equal status
and people are free to practice their religion or no religion at all, with no privileged status for any one nation or
faith.
An important step towards these aims would be the abolition of all powers and institutions relating to the
monarchy, including such posts as head of the Anglican Church and commander-in-chief of the armed forces,
together with the royal prerogative, the Privy Council and other unaccountable of ces of state.
The abolition of the monarchy itself, to be replaced by an elected head of state for ceremonial purposes, would
complete a process that needs mass public support in order to succeed.
Important to winning such support would be a drive to reform, democratise and restructure the state apparatus,
resulting in its transformation into one which serves the interests of the working class and people generally,
rather than those of the big monopoly capitalists centred on the City of London. This is the revolutionary
essence of socialism.
In the meantime, the Communist Party will continue to commemorate and celebrate with others the struggles
of those who have fought exploitation and oppression in England, Scotland, Wales and beyond. That is why we
urge people over the coming weeks to turn out in great numbers to the Chainmakers Festival, the Durham
Miners Gala and the Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival.

Communists slam G7 ‘war summit’

24 May 2023

Communist Party general secretary Robert Grif ths has condemned last weekend's G7 summit as a 'disgusting
display of breath-taking hypocrisy, double-speak and dishonesty'.
He told his party's Political Committee on Tuesday that the decision to hold the summit and a 'sham peace
ceremony' in Hiroshima, Japan, was an insult to the survivors and bereaved relatives of the city destroyed by a
US atomic bomb in 1945.
Their huge protest against the summit on Sunday was largely ignored by the mass media in Britain, with the
exception of the Morning Star.
'All but one of the seven leading capitalist states represented in Hiroshima either possess nuclear weapons
(the US, Britain and France) or play host to them (Germany, Italy and Japan) and refuse to sign the UN Treaty
on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons that aims for multilateral nuclear disarmament', Mr Grif ths declared.
'Six of these states including Canada are members of NATO, an expansionist military alliance led by the US
which has a " rst use" policy when it comes to the atomic mass murder of civilians', he pointed out.
At the summit, US President Biden promised an extra $300m in military to special guest President Zelensky of
Ukraine, on top of the $38bn pledged so far, while the UK has pledged £5bn including long-range cruise missiles
and the EU around €6bn via its European Peace Facility.
In the face of these realities, the CP leader poured scorn on the post-summit communiques committing the G7
countries to peace and disarmament, commenting that 'in Western-speak, peace means war and disarmament
means rearmament'.
NATO member states are all increasing their military expenditure, most of them towards a target of 2.5 per cent
of GDP which the US already exceeds.
'Workers and their families in Britain and across Europe struggling to meet rocketing food, energy and housing
costs should challenge the priority their rulers give to militarism and war', Robert Grif ths urged.
The CP political committee agreed to send a message of congratulations to the big Japanese Communist
Party on its leading role in the anti-nuclear protest movement in their country.

Build the mass movement despite Starmer’s purge

29 May 2023

'Many Labour Party members and ex-members are demoralised by Keir Starmer's feeble response to the cost of
living crisis and to the giant rip-off that is privatisation of energy, water, communications and transport', former
trade union president Andy Bain told the Communist Party executive committee at the weekend.
'Yet there is much vital work for socialists to do outside the con nes of electoral and parliamentary politics and
despite Starmer machine's purge of the Labour left', he insisted.
The CP industrial organiser pointed to the ongoing strike wave as evidence that mass struggle does not rely
upon support from the Labour Party leadership in order to go forward, 'which is just as well' Mr Bain added.
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 He congratulated the members and leaders of unions across the public and private sectors — notably in the
privatised railway and airport industries — who are continuing their industrial action for pay and job security. But
he also warned of the threat to the universal postal service as privatised Royal Mail seeks to restore pro ts after
years of mismanagement.
'Ongoing strike ballot victories at Virgin Media and Heathrow airport, and from Manchester Metrolink to
Swansea DVLA, show that workers are determined to defend living standards, their terms and conditions and
standards of service to the general public', Mr Bain declared.
At the same time, he urged trade unions to build greater coordination and unity.
'The Tory government has forced through its Bill compelling workers to break strikes, defeating amendments to
exempt nurses and strikers in Scotland and Wales whose governments oppose this illegal Bill', Mr Bain
commented, arguing that only militant, mass organised de ance could make anti-strike laws unworkable.
Britain's Communists welcomed the agreement of campaigning organisations to attend a meeting at the Marx
Memorial Library on July 1 to discuss the need for a mass socialist women's movement across England,
Scotland and Wales.
The Communist Party executive committee also urged socialists and progressives to build the peace and anti-
war movement to combat what it called 'the dangerous drive to the precipice of economic and military war
against China and Russia, spearheaded by the US, Britain, NATO and the EU'.
Britain's Communists accepted invitations to send delegations to China, South Africa and October's
international meeting of Communist and workers' parties in Istanbul and condemned the violent occupation of
Sudanese Communist Party headquarters in Khartoum by one of the militias engaged in that country's vicious
civil war.

Crisis of state calls for class politics

23 June 2023

'Britain's political crisis re ects a deeper crisis of the British state and its institutions', rail union president Alex
Gordon told the Communist Party's political committee on Monday (June 12).
He was speaking as past and present Conservative Party prime ministers were at each other's throats, one
having been denounced by a House of Lords committee, and after the arrest of the former Scottish rst minister
as part of a police investigation into the nances of the Scottish National Party.
'Meanwhile, the increasingly autocratic Labour leader and his faction are purging their party and Britain's only
Green MP and former party leader is quitting the House of Commons because nothing useful can be achieved
there', Mr Gordon remarked.
'As the Conservatives face three by-elections losses, the ruling class is preparing the Labour Party for
government as Sir Keir Starmer dumps left-wing policies in return for shed loads of big business cash', he
added.
He also noted that the Greens have betrayed their long-standing opposition to NATO as Britain's mainstream
mass media rigorously peddle a single pro-war, pro-nuclear weapons and anti-China agenda, excluding all
critical voices from broadcasting coverage.
Mr Gordon traced the latest stage in Britain's political and state crisis to its roots in the 2016 EU referendum
result.
'Britain's ruling capitalist class has lost its role inside the EU as a champion of economic neoliberalism and US-
NATO foreign and military policy, yet the attempts from outside to create an exclusive economic, technological
and media relationship with the US are being rebuffed as President Biden pursues allies and markets
elsewhere', he insisted.
At the same time, the trade union leader declared, British capitalism's parasitic reliance on nancial services,
investment abroad and short-term pro teering at home is driving the current offensive against living standards,
stable employment and democratic rights.
'Workers are ghting back on the basis of class politics, as disaffection with the main political parties, elections
and the integrity of government and the state continues to grow', Mr Gordon insisted.
Warning against a turn to the far right, racism and fascism, Britain's Communists urged the political left to build
a 'united front' against the ruling class offensive, reinvigorating the anti-war movement and rebuilding working-
class organisation in the trade union movement and local communities.

Communists blast right-wing Labour drive

12 July 2023

Young Communist League leader Johnnie Hunter has slammed calls by the Bank of England and government
ministers for pay restraint in order to combat in ation.
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 'People everywhere should treat this ruling-class attempt to shift the blame and the burden onto working
people. It's the energy companies, banks and retail giants who have driven up fuel, food and housing costs in
their greed for greater pro ts', he told the Communist Party's political committee on Tuesday evening (July 10).
'Workers and their families have suffered real cuts in their incomes and living standards, while the fat cats
continue to enjoy the cream', he argued.
Mr Hunter, a delegate to the recent Unison conference, urged the labour movement to uphold the essential role
of unions to ght and when necessary strike for higher wages.
Instead, Labour leader Keir Starmer and his of cials continue to pull their party to the right, purging socialists
and gerrymandering selection processes to ll the Parliamentary Labour Party with 'tame stooges'.
'Like Unite, Labour-af liated trade unions should demand and ght for radical economic and employment
policies from the Labour Party in return for working people's money', Mr Hunter continued.
He warned that Britain's ruling class wanted to rupture the link between the labour movement and the Labour
Party, pouring huge donations into party coffers and lobbying Starmer and Shadow Cabinet members for even
more big business-friendly policies.
'Today, only the Communist Party stands unreservedly for policies such as price controls, renationalisation, a
wealth tax on the rich, the repeal of all anti-union laws, millions more council houses and an economic plan to
combat climate change and create full employment', the YCL general secretary insisted.
Britain's Communists condemned the latest NATO summit, in Lithuania, which they said will only perpetuate
the Ukraine War rather than begin the search for a cease re and peace negotiations.
'The accession of Sweden to this aggressive nuclear rst-strike bloc demonstrates how, after provoking the
con ict which President Putin so recklessly escalated, the NATO powers have manipulated public opinion to
present NATO as a guarantor of peace', the CP political committee declared.

CP condemns Labour’s ‘purge of the left’

18 July 2023

'Jamie Driscoll's resignation from the Labour Party is an understandable reaction to Keir Starmer's betrayal of all
the pledges he made to get elected as party leader after Jeremy Corbyn', Ruth Styles told the Communist
Party's political committee on Monday evening (July 17).
'Starmer has dumped most of his policy pledges and launched a purge of the left after promising to promote
party unity on a left-of-centre programme', she pointed out.
Mr Driscoll had been excluded from the process to select Labour's candidate for mayor of North East England,
despite his widely praised record and popularity as the mayor of North Tyne.
His resignation from the Labour Party has come as Labour MPs are criticising Keir Starmer's u-turn decision to
retain the two-child cap on child bene t should he win the next General Election.
'Starmer and his minions are determined to make a future Labour government safe for big business and the
City of London by preventing voters from electing socialists like Jamie Driscoll and Jeremy Corbyn as of cial
Labour Party candidates', Ms Styles accused.
The CP chair also cited the Labour leader's backtracking on issues such as renationalisation, green energy
investment, student tuition fees, free school meals and NHS privatisation.
'He is dividing the Labour Party when he should be giving people hope and belief that a Labour government
will be on their side, taking the steps necessary to raise people's living standards, invest in infrastructure and
public services, devolve power and resources to the regions and local communities, and provide jobs and
homes to all who need them', she insisted, 'because not being the Tories may not be enough to win the next
General Election'.
Ms Styles warned that 'Keir Starmer should not be surprised when working-class voters turn out to elect hard-
working and principled independent socialists rather than nodding dogs who tamely do their master's bidding'.

Starmer treats unions with contempt

24 July 2023

Assessing last Thursday's three by-elections for the Westminster parliament, the Communist Party of Britain has
said a Labour victory at the next General Election is far from certain.
'Keir Starmer's dogged determination to purge his party of socialists and popular left and progressive policies is
not enthusing millions of people who want an end to Tory rule', Robert Grif ths told the CP executive committee
on Sunday (July 23).
The CP general secretary accused the Labour leadership of treating most of the party's af liated unions with
'utter contempt', banning their choices for mayoral and parliamentary candidates from the selection process.
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 He also pointed to proceedings at Labour's weekend national policy forum, where proposals to raise the
statutory minimum wage to £15 an hour, promote collective bargaining, extend free schools, lift the two-child
bene t cap and scrap anti-union and anti-protest laws were thrown out at the insistence of Keir Starmer and his
shadow ex-chancellor Rachel Reeves.
'Starmer obviously believes that with big business donations of £4m already in his back pocket, he owes
Labour's staunchest and most loyal supporters nothing', Mr Grif ths declared. 'He thinks like Lord Mandelson
that socialists, progressives and trade unionists have nowhere else to go when it comes to elections — but as
last week's by-elections con rm, people don't have to vote Labour when they can simply stay at home', he
added.
Labour won only one of last Thursday's by-elections. Although the total Tory vote collapsed by 60,000 from the
2019 General Election, Labour's total fell by 9,000 for a second time while the LibDems and Greens held steady.
'Rather than rely on anti-Tory feeling and informal deals giving the right-wing LibDems a free ride — which
buried the Labour candidate in Somerton and Frome — the Labour leadership should end the purge and
campaign instead for popular policies such as public ownership of water, gas, electricity and railways and
massive green investment in public sector housing and infrastructure', the CP leader proposed.

No to ‘fortress Britain’ and ‘fortress Europe’

15 August 2023

'Imperialism’s military interventions and proxy wars are destabilising countries in Asia, Latin America, East and
West Africa in an aggressive drive to protect Western economic interests and impose political dominance', Carol
Stavris told the Communist Party's political committee on Monday evening (August 14).
She said Niger, whose valuable uranium resources are being exploited by the country's former colonial master
to feed France's nuclear power industry, had more than ten million people — almost half Niger's population —
living in extreme poverty.
'No wonder scores of thousands people eeing zones of con ict, persecution and extreme poverty are
attempting to get to Britain by any means necessary', she declared, pointing out that half of those who crossed
the English Channel last year came originally from Afghanistan, Iran, Eritrea, Syria and Sudan.
'But instead of enabling asylum claims to be registered safely and legally for processing, the Tory government
operates a deadly "Fortress Britain" policy alongside the EU's brutal "Fortress Europe" policy', the CP women's
organiser added.
She cited the UK Resettlement Scheme for people escaping war zones — including those created or made
worse by British and US military intervention — which awarded just 1,056 grants last year.
'The deaths caused by capsizing boats are wholly preventable', Ms Stavris insisted, 'and no amount of blaming
civil servants for backlogs, or attacking law-abiding human rights lawyers like Jacqueline McKenzie, should shift
the spotlight from a Tory Prime Minister and Home Secretary who want to ght the next General Election in the
gutter, against a callous and cowardly Labour party leadership'.
With estimates that climate change and natural disasters could displace more than a billion people across the
world by the middle of this century, Britain's Communists condemned the refusal of the Tories and Labour to
pledge £11.6bn to the global fund to protect the world’s poorest people by helping them to develop renewable
energy.
The CP political committee also deplored a recent judgment of the Venezuelan Supreme Court to recognise an
'alternative' leadership of the Communist Party of Venezuela in place of those democratically elected by the
party's congress last November, attended by CPB general secretary Robert Grif ths.
The TUC must help build a united front
7 September 2023

'This year's TUC conference must seize the opportunity to help build a united front against ruling class and Tory
attacks', Andy Bain told the Communist Party's political committee last night (September 6).
'At a time when the Labour Party leadership seeks to calm big business concerns about an incoming Labour
government, it falls to the trade unions not only to defend workers' rights but also to rally the people in support of
decent incomes, jobs, public services and democratic rights for all', he urged.
In particular, the CP industrial organiser welcomed union motions to take industrial, political and campaigning
action to oppose the Tory government's latest anti-strike law.
'If the labour movement fails to force a Keir Starmer government to repeal the Minimum Service Levels
legislation, we could witness the grotesque spectacle of a neo-Blairite regime trying to force unions to break
their own strikes', Mr Bain added.
The former trade union president also warned against a trend to commit the trade union movement to
militarism and an escalation of the Ukraine War.
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 'The penny needs to drop urgently that hundreds of billions spent on armaments and Britain's nuclear weapons
programme means hundreds of billions not being spent on schools, hospitals, housing, transport and all the
other attributes of a civilised society', he declared.
Britain's Communists expressed their alarm at the 'collapse of the public realm' as public services crumble and
Birmingham City Council becomes the latest local authority to announce its own bankruptcy.
'Decades of privatisation, outsourcing, periodic austerity and a refusal to tax one of the wealthiest and most
corrupt capitalist classes in the world have taken their toll, making socialist policies an urgent necessity to stop
the rot', the CP political committee insisted.

Real struggle not bogus debate the way forward

27 September 2023

'We appear to be entering a General Election period, even though no election has to be held until January
2025', Tony Conway reported to the Communist Party political committee on Tuesday evening (September 26).
'The Conservatives are attempting to put clear blue water between themselves and Labour, with government
ministers and right-wing think-tanks using issues such as low emission zones, oil and gas drilling, inheritance
tax, bene t fraud, refugees and the European Convention on Human Rights to wrong-foot Keir Starmer's feeble
and vacillating Shadow Cabinet', the former PCS national of cer declared.
But he also warned that, despite the capitalist media's attempts to invent or highlight any signi cant differences
between the two main parties, Labour and the Conservatives both support the economic and social status quo.
'The smart way to keep people from rebelling against the whole system is to strictly limit the spectrum of public
opinion reported in the mass media, while playing up any differences within that narrow range of acceptable
views', Mr Conway noted. 'This gives people the sense that free and lively debate is going on, while reinforcing
the idea that no other options exist or are remotely practical'.
The result, he concluded, is that any government that replaces the Conservative administration will have no
programme for far-reaching change.
'Yet we can also see in the struggles of workers and peoples here and around the world that victories and even
fundamental changes can be won', the Communist Party's anti-racism, anti-fascism of cer noted.
Britain's Communists urged a big turnout for the People's Assembly demonstration next Sunday at the
Conservative Party conference in Manchester.
The CP political committee also welcomed the recent 'G77+China' summit in Cuba, where the leaders of 135
countries called for a 'new global order' in which US and Western imperialist states and their transnational
corporations no longer dominate and grossly distort the economies of developing countries.
'The terrorist attack on the Cuban Embassy in Washington DC last Sunday re ects the alternative mindset,
where US governments assume the right to bully and sanction countries that do not submit to their will,
regardless of international law', Tony Conway pointed out.

War in Palestine-Israel
8 October 2023 Communist Party executive committee statement:

The Communist Party of Britain expresses solidarity with the Palestinian people at this time of an escalation of
resistance to the criminal occupation of Palestinian land by the state of Israel.
The events occurring this weekend are the entirely predictable response of a people to military occupation,
apartheid and constant attack and humiliation.
The full responsibility for the current situation rests not only with the current far-right Netanyahu government
and with the increasingly cruel strangling since 2007 of Gaza and of all occupied territories, but with all the
historic injustices in icted upon the Palestinian people.
The deaths of civilians and crimes against them on both sides must be avoided and condemned. However, it
must be clearly understood that horri c crimes are perpetrated against the Palestinian people daily by the Israeli
military and state backed settlers, armed and funded by the USA and other imperialist powers including Britain.
Collective punishment of the people of Gaza is a war crime and must cease immediately.
It is clear, now more than ever, that the only solution can be an end to the criminal occupation, an end to racial
apartheid and crimes against civilians and the implementation of a two-state solution based on pre-1967 borders
establishing an independent Palestinian state.
The Communist Party rejects the actions and statements by the British government to criminalise solidarity
actions with the Palestinian people, including the measures in the Anti-Boycott Bill.
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 We call on all Party members, trade unionists and socialists to support and attend solidarity actions with
Palestine taking place across Britain including in London on Monday 9 October and to step up support for
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel.

End Israeli occupation and tyranny

9 October 2023

Britain's Communists have reaf rmed their solidarity with the Palestinian people under siege in Gaza and
demanded progress towards the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state.
Responding to the outbreak of fresh hostilities in Israel and Gaza over the weekend, CP general secretary
Robert Grif ths insisted there would be no peace in the region until the Israel state ends its illegal occupation of
the West Bank including East Jerusalem and ceases its 'slow strangulation' of the Gaza Strip.
'Not only successive Israeli governments but also the major imperialist powers bear the ultimate responsibility
for this latest and inevitable Palestinian revolt against occupation and tyranny', he told the Communist Party
executive committee on Sunday (October 8).
'Instead of demanding that Israel negotiate with the representatives of the Palestinian people to create an
independent, sovereign Palestine alongside a sovereign and secure Israel, the US, Germany and Britain
continue to arm Tel Aviv's state terrorists to the teeth', he accused.
The CP executive urged people to join the international movement of solidarity with the Palestinian people and
to intensify the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against the Israeli state. The Communists
welcomed recent statements issued by the Palestine People's Party and the Communist Party of Israel and
echoed the call on all forces in the con ict to safeguard civilian lives.
In his nal report to the outgoing party executive, Robert Grif ths warned against arrogance and complacency
about likely result of the next General Election.
'Labour's victory over the SNP in last Thursday's by-election in Rutherglen & Hamilton West should not conceal
the harsh fact that more than six electors in every ten there didn't vote at all', he pointed out, 'which underlines
the need for Labour to embrace bold, inspirational policies such as public ownership of energy and transport, a
Wealth Tax on the super-rich and massive public investment in council housing, health, education, advanced
technology and the Green New Deal'.
CP international secretary Kevan Nelson reported that leaders of Communist and workers' parties in South
Africa, India, Ireland and Belgium would be among the guests at the Communist Party of Britain's 57th
Congress over the weekend of November 3-5.

Defend Gaza and the right to protest

31 October 2023

Sixty-eight communist parties across the world have demanded an immediate halt to Israel's 'brutal military
offensive, inhuman blockade and barbarous genocide' in the Gaza Strip, Kevan Nelson told the Communist
Party of Britain's political committee on Monday evening.
He was reporting after he and Carol Stavris represented the CPB at the 23rd International Meeting of
Communist and Workers' Parties in Izmir, Turkey, in late October.
Delegates there unanimously adopted a statement calling for the establishment of an independent Palestinian
state, the dismantling of Israeli settlements on the West Bank, the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli
jails and the right of return for Palestinian refugees in accordance with UN resolution 194.
The 121 representatives also condemned US, NATO and EU support for the Israeli offensive carried out after
the Hamas attack on civilian and military targets in Israel on October 7.
Turning to events in Britain, Mr Nelson praised the extent and content of the demonstrations in many towns
and cities in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
'They are nothing like the "hate marches" denounced by Home Secretary Suella Braverman, although it must
be conceded that her anti-immigrant and anti-refugee words and actions make her an expert when it comes to
stirring up hatred', he remarked.
The CP political committee urged trade unions, political parties and campaigning organisations to oppose any
further restrictions on the right to demonstrate in Britain.
'The Palestine solidarity protests of recent weeks have been large, peaceful and without any support for
antisemitism or terrorism', the CP international secretary pointed out, 'and the best response to Tory government
and police threats is to make the demonstration in London on November 11 the biggest yet', Mr Nelson
declared.
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FORWARD
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Communist Party
57th Congress, 4-5 November 2023
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