MONDAY’s speech to the Charity Commission by the unelected Tory prime minister, Theresa May, revealed the weakness of the Tory government and its intense fear of revolution in the UK and throughout Europe.
She denounced Blair and Cameron as: ‘Politicians who embraced the twin pillars of liberalism and globalisation as the great forces for good that they are, but failed to understand that for too many people – particularly those on modest to low incomes living in rich countries like our own – those forces are something to be concerned, not thrilled, about.’
She added they were: ‘Politicians who made the deals and signed the agreements that changed the nature of their country, but failed to listen to the public’s concerns – dismissing them as somehow parochial or illegitimate instead.’
She trembled: ‘The result of this consensus. . . has been to bring us to a place where all the old certainties are called into question. . . And they are questioning the legitimacy of all the old institutions and systems we have relied on for decades. They have seen a small minority in the banking and business sectors appearing to game the system and play by their own rules. . . And they come to a simple conclusion: that there is one rule for the rich and powerful and another for everyone else.’
Capitalism is clearly in danger of being buried and becoming history, taking its place in the museums! Then yesterday, along came the ‘left’ Labour Party leader Corbyn with a brilliant opportunity to demand that the Tories resign and open up the way for the socialist transformation of society in the UK and throughout Europe.
This he did not do. He did not even mention the word socialism – which McDonnell claimed could only be used in a whisper under the Blair regime. Under Corbyn and McDonnell it does not even get a whisper. He did not give his support to the striking railworkers or to the striking cabin crews, and he certainly did not give any assurances that a Labour government will get rid of all of the anti-union laws.
Under ‘fair sharing’ the best that Corbyn could come up with was a 20-1 ratio between the lowest and highest paid. Also, there was not the slightest mention of the developing banking crisis, and there was certainly no pledge that a Labour government would respond to that crisis by nationalising the banks and the major industries.
On the free movement of labour Corbyn managed to be both for it and against it.
He stated: ‘This government has been saying it will reduce migration to the tens of thousands. Theresa May as Home Secretary set an arbitrary political target knowing full well it would not be met.
‘They inflamed the issue of immigration. They put immense strain on public services with six years of extreme cuts and then blamed migrants for the pressure caused by Tory austerity. ‘And last week a government minister who voted “Leave” told an employers’ conference, “don’t worry, we’ll still let you bring in cheap EU labour”.
‘Unlike the Tories, Labour will not offer false promises on immigration targets or sow division by scapegoating migrants because we know where that leads. The worrying rise in race hate crime and division we have seen in recent months and how the issue of immigration can be used as a proxy to abuse or intimidate minority communities.
‘Labour is not wedded to freedom of movement for EU citizens as a point of principle, but I don’t want that to be misinterpreted, nor do we rule it out… Changes to the way migration rules operate from the EU will be part of the negotiations.’
Under Corbyn Labour opportunism remains rotten to the core. The UK masses voted to quit the EU. All over the EU workers are rising up and fighting the European bankers and the Brussels dictatorship.
In the period ahead workers must ensure that the UK leaves the EU and its single market by carrying out a socialist revolution to expropriate the UK bosses and the bankers as part of the struggle of workers throughout the EU to smash the European Union and its ruling class, and replace both with the Socialist United States of Europe where the working class will rule and will enjoy complete freedom of movement!
