YESTERDAY’S capitalist press was full of dire warnings of the massive increases in taxation that the Truss government is planning, and with it the pauperisation of all benefit claimants who the government is determined to allow to be destroyed by rampant inflation.
There will no doubt be more tax giveaways for the rich, but for the working class, the youth and the elderly, there is to be nothing but pain, hunger and impoverishment – a return to the 1930s for the vast majority of the people.
Benefits are to be smashed but there are to be record increases in military expenditure for the armed forces, and more massive arms supplies for the Ukrainian fascists so that they can work to undermine Russia.
It is in this crisis situation, which is in fact the death agony of the capitalist system, that the union leaders have called on the Prime Minister and Chancellor – to provide a ‘cast-iron assurance’, that they will not make further spending cuts to public services. And they were not joking!
In a joint open letter to Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng, the union heads call for an urgent meeting amid fears of another ‘crippling round of austerity this November’.
TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: ‘Government departments have been tasked with finding efficiency savings. After 12 years of cutting services to the bone, there is nothing left to trim.’
The letter – signed by 18 unions representing millions of public sector workers – reads:
‘Dear Prime Minister and Chancellor
‘Strong public services are vital to this nation’s health and the economy. But since 2010 our hospitals, schools, councils, care homes, prisons and other essential services have been forced to absorb savage spending cuts. And every month the bills they face are rising, leaving much less for actual services.
‘This has come at a huge cost to communities across Britain.
‘NHS waiting lists are at record highs, school buildings are literally crumbling before our eyes and local government is on its knees.
‘Meanwhile, nurses, teachers, firefighters and millions of other key workers you clapped during the pandemic have seen their living standards decimated with over a decade of pay cuts and wage freezes.
‘Every month dedicated staff are quitting in their droves – tired of being taken for granted and of services being run down.
‘This cannot go on. Prime Minister – you promised in your leadership election campaign that there would be no reduction in public spending.
‘But according to reports, another wave of crippling austerity could be on its way in November in order to fund tax cuts for the super-rich. This would be an act of national vandalism and a huge betrayal of the British people.
‘We therefore seek an urgent meeting with you and the Chancellor, and a cast-iron assurance that you will not make further real-terms cuts to public services – now or in the future.’
The TUC leaders know well that Truss and the Tories are planning to smash the trade unions, not give them support, as the only way out of their crisis.
The TUC leaders are reformists who believe that capitalism is here for ever and that workers just have to accept what the bosses and government are prepared to offer, and workers will just have to put up with it.
In fact, the working class is the strongest force in society. The workers have the power, but the TUC leaders refuse to use it and instead plead with the bosses’ government.
Workers must now take action to organise a general strike to bring down the Tories and bring in a workers’ government and socialism.
The TUC Congress is meeting in Brighton on Tuesday October 18th. The WRP and the Young Socialists will be lobbying this vital Congress from 8am to demand that the TUC call an immediate general strike to bring down the Tories and bring in a workers’ government.
We urge workers and youth to join the lobby – to make the TUC stop talking and start fighting by calling a general strike to bring down the Tories and bring in a workers’ government and socialism!
The TUC must call the general strike at this Congress and form Councils of Action nationally to lead the struggle for a workers’ government and socialism!
