THE government is to write into law for the first time the principles of a ‘military covenant’, which will give members of the navy, army and airforce, plus their families, privileges during and after their period of service that the working class of the UK will not enjoy.
Prime Minister Cameron says the government must ensure that the military gets ‘the recognition it deserves’. It has been announced that society owes members of the armed forces ‘a duty of care’ and in the words of the Defence Secretary Fox, ‘Those willing to lay down their lives for the country have a right to expect they will be dealt with properly.’
Measures including being automatically first in the queue for health care, housing, education for their children and for themselves after discharge, and financial discounts from big-business for home purchases etc were to be made public yesterday.
Cameron said on Sunday: ‘Our Armed Forces Bill will ensure Parliament holds the government to account on the central principle of the covenant that military personnel will not suffer any disadvantage as a result of their work.’
Cameron said: ‘They put their lives on the line for us and I think it’s right we do whatever we can for them.’
Fox is expected to set out a number of enhanced services for the military, such as doubling the rate of council tax relief to 50% for those serving overseas, a £3 million boost for schools with high numbers of children from forces families and making it easier for seriously injured service personnel and veterans to access cut-price public transport.
This caring attitude for their soldiery is something new for the British ruling class. Previously, the Duke of Wellington’s attitude to his troops was their guide. He considered his soldiery to be ‘scum’, more dangerous than the ‘enemy’, and to be kept under control by use of the lash.
British troops have traditionally been looked on as cannon fodder. It is only of late that they have been returned home for burial. Previously they were buried where they fell.
There is a reason for the apparent change in attitude. After two very unpopular wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the troops are very discontented especially with being made redundant while they are on the front line.
The working class in the UK is being pauperised, and ahead are the biggest class struggles in the history of Britain. The ruling class has belatedly woken up to the fact that its main enemy is at home and that its future may well be decided by whether its soldiers are ready to carry out a series of ‘Bloody Sunday’ operations at home.
This is why they have announced that they really love their soldiers.
However, all their propaganda is completely false.
The notion that the soldiers are laying down their lives for us is a lie.
The majority of people opposed the Iraq slaughter. The majority of people opposed the Afghan slaughter. The majority of the people oppose the war in Libya.
We never asked the soldiers to go and fight for us. The ruling class dispatched them to fight for the interests of British imperialism, not for us!
In fact, at home, workers are rebelling because they are having to pay for a crisis that was caused by the bankers and the bosses, who are continuing to live like kings and queens.
Workers will not accept this situation as their living standards are collapsed and their jobs are destroyed by the ruling class. They will rise up against it.
The military are being buttered up, in words at least, because the ruling class intend to use it to repress the working class at home.
Our message to the troops is ‘you were used in Iraq and you were used in Afghanistan, don’t be used in Britain by a ruling class that has always treated you like dirt and always will.’
When the crunch comes, take sides with the workers and join the struggle to dispatch the capitalist system to its well-earned grave!
