Liverpool TUC president addresses anti-racist demo

Model trade union motion

Reports from some of the anti-racist protests

Editorial of the Socialist issue 1286

After over a week of horrific violent racist and Islamophobic attacks, huge numbers took to the streets in counter-protests on 7 August. Millions of Black and Asian people, especially Muslims, have been living in fear. That is the desired effect of the hardcore far-right agitators stoking violence and intimidation.

The huge scale of the anti-racist protests – over 10,000 in Walthamstow, east London and 3,000 in Newcastle on a Wednesday evening at short notice – should give confidence that the overwhelming majority of people in society reject the dangerous and detestable ideas of the far right. And that there are many prepared to mobilise to defend our communities from racist attacks.

As evidence of the popular revulsion to the far-right violence, even the right-wing Daily Mail newspaper, under pressure to reflect the mood of its readers, carried the front page headline: “Night anti-hate marchers faced down the thugs” on 8 August.

Just 2% of those surveyed by YouGov on 5-6 August “Strongly support the unrest at protests”, including only 5% of those who voted for Reform UK in the general election.

The trend is for survey respondents in Britain to say they feel more comfortable living side by side with Black people Muslims and immigrants. But like on every issue, attitudes and ideas are mixed and complex. A majority want to take stronger measures to exclude illegal immigrants, a majority also want to do more to help refugees, for example.

Is it any wonder? Britain is more diverse than ever, one in five British people are not ‘white British’. Picket lines throughout the strike wave brought together workers of all backgrounds to fight against the Tories and bosses.

Racist division

On the other hand, capitalist politicians of all varieties and backgrounds have used racist scapegoating of immigrants to distract from the failure of their profit system to provide decent pay, homes, services and a future for young people.

Reform’s Nigel Farage is one particularly odious politician who consistently spouts divisive anti-migrant rhetoric. But to focus entirely on him and his party lets the rest of the capitalist politicians off the hook. The Tories spent the last years in government talking incessantly about migrants on small boats and taking part in the expensive political theatre of Rwanda deportation flight plans. In an interview with the Sun ‘newspaper’ ahead of the general election, now Labour prime minister Keir Starmer singled out people from Bangladesh as an example of migrants who should be ‘removed’.

Meanwhile, all of these politicians support privatisation and cutbacks to public services, and do nothing of substance to address falling living standards, or the housing and cost-of-living crises.

This latest surge of racist violence serves as a warning as to what can develop under a Labour government which is continuing with the Tories’ austerity policies – already cutting pensioners’ winter fuel payment and promising billions of pounds of further cuts. The election of five Reform MPs is a warning too.

Protests against racism

The thousands of young people and others marching against racist hate are motivated to bring about change so that we can live in a society free from racism, Islamophobia and division. The way to mobilise maximum numbers to fight for that kind of change is to link the struggle against racism to the fight for jobs, homes, services and a decent future for young people. That’s why the Socialist Party has taken our placards with the slogan: ‘Jobs, homes and services for all – smash racism’ to the protests.

If the 6.5 million strong trade union movement was to lead a struggle for those things – bringing together workers and young people from all backgrounds – it would give an expression to the huge anger and discontent that exists under the surface in society.

It is that anger and discontent at the establishment that explains the mass abstentionism in elections, some of the electoral support for Reform in the general election, and is also expressed by many of the working-class young people drawn into the fringes of the some of the rioting.

Trade unions must act

Socialist Party members have been campaigning for the trade unions nationally to use their substantial numbers and resources, as well as their political authority, to mobilise members to join the anti-racist protests. Our members who have elected positions on national executives of the trade unions have been pressing the demand for the Trades Union Congress to call a Saturday demonstration, in its own name, calling for jobs, homes and services, not racism. A mass national mobilisation would be a show of strength, boosting workers’ confidence.

It is also necessary to organise to defend our local communities when they come under attack. A feature of the recent far-right attacks has been the huge number of threats and potential targets, fuelled by posts on different social media platforms. This presents challenges in organising counter-protests at short notice.

To meet these challenges, there can be no shortcut past the need to strengthen and consolidate working-class organisation. In many areas, well-organised local trades union councils, with delegates representing thousands of workers in a city or area, have been crucial in mobilising workers to support counter-demonstrations. This needs to be further developed – including trade union stewarding of counter-protests for safety and effective tactical coordination.

The task of defending our communities from racist attacks, building united workers’ struggle for all the things we need, undermining the support for and fighting against reactionary ideas of all kinds, strengthening the level of organisation of the working class and developing a workers’ political voice – all go hand in hand.

We are building a party which takes part in all those struggles, fighting for the socialist transformation of society, based on bringing the commanding heights of the economy and the banks into democratic public ownership. Under the democratic control and management of the working-class majority, society’s wealth and resources could be put to good use to meet all of our needs. That is a necessary component of the fight to end racism and inequality for good. If you want to help us build that party then join the Socialist Party.

‘The enemy is the ruling class’ – Liverpool TUC president addresses anti-racist demo

Below is a speech to the anti-racist counter-demonstration in Liverpool on 3 August 2024, delivered by Dave Walsh, president of Liverpool Trades Union Council and Socialist Party member

We know who the real enemy is. The enemy is the ruling class, and we’ve learned those lessons time after time. Liverpool Trades Council is the oldest in the country – 175 years old. Workers organised across all the different trade unions to work together to fight for working-class communities.

It played a role in 1911 in this city, in the great transport strike, a general strike that was successful, but we knew who the enemy was because they shot dead two of those striking workers. The ruling class did that. We’ve learned those lessons time after time.

In the 1980s, the city council in Liverpool made a stand against Thatcher, refused to implement austerity. 47 of them carted off to court and surcharged. We learnt again who the enemy is: the establishment, the ruling class.

After the Hillsborough disaster, the ruling class made us the problem, we were to blame. Again we’ve learned the lessons, time after time, who the enemy is.

We’ve learned those lessons, but there are a layer of people who are looking for answers to the problems that they are facing, and Tommy Robinson, and Nigel Farage, and the Reform Party, are growing because they are giving them ‘answers’.

They are saying the reason why you can’t get a job and a home, the reason why you can’t get a hospital appointment and a doctor and a dentist, it’s because of migrants, it’s immigrants, it’s because of trans people, it’s because of every minority… The young, the old – they’ll divide us on any lines they can. That’s why they’re growing.

So we’ve got to answer those questions with real answers, that address those problems. Labour have just won a landslide victory, but that landslide victory was built on the smallest turnout since 1918, the lowest vote for a government since 1918. It’s tenuous. It’s paper thin.

But they’ve got an opportunity in power to win those people back that have lost all faith, that have lost confidence that are disenfranchised. Labour have got an opportunity to win them back:  Create the jobs, build the houses, build the infrastructure, give the youth the future. Address the problems with the environment, get rid of the private owners of water, stop them ruining our lakes, our rivers, our seas. Take it all back into public ownership!

Last week, a motion was put to Parliament to get rid of the two-child benefit cap. Keir Starmer said he can’t afford it. £4 billion too much. Put that in perspective, last year the richest hundred people in the country got richer by £40 billion. 10% of that and you can take a quarter of a million kids out of poverty, give them a future, give them a decent life: food, a warm home.

The money is there

£4 billion is affordable, just take it off the rich. They’ve been taking it off us for 40 years! The way to take it off them? Break from Tory policies, don’t stick by their fiscal rules, by their spending plans.

Get rid of privatisation. Reverse it!

Get rid of austerity. Reverse it!

Get rid of the anti-trade union laws. Give the workers the power back to win back what’s ours – what we build, what we make. That’s how the Labour Party could win back the working class.

But if they’re not willing to do that, then the trade unions have got to ask themselves a question. I’m in Unite, Labour’s biggest donor. Are we going to give all our money and resources to a party if it does not give us the policies that can address the problems we’re facing?

[‘No way!’ shouts from the crowd]

I want to make this point. Over the two-child benefit cap, Labour went as far as to suspend seven Labour MPs for having the temerity to vote for that motion. Ian Byrne is here and he is one of them.

Let’s call on the Labour Party to take these actions forward. But if they’re not willing to do that, then the trade union movement, with six and a half million workers – with all its money and resources. Take those resources and organise a conference of the working class so we can debate these issues. Because it was the trade unions that created the Labour Party. If they’ve left us, that’s okay. We can create another party. We can create a party with socialist policies!

Trade unions: don’t let the Labour Party hand over millions of votes to Reform. Call on the Labour Party to deliver a socialist programme. If they’re not willing, then organise us a big conference, to build a new workers’ party.

Model trade union motion

• This union branch/trades council condemns the violent protests called by far-right and fascist groups
• They have sought to exploit the horrific incident in Southport on 29th July
• We send support and solidarity to all those affected by that attack, especially the families of those killed or injured
• With absolutely no evidence and on the basis of deliberate misinformation, the far-right have targeted refugees, migrant workers and the Black and Asian and Muslim communities

This union branch/trades council believes:

• That it is essential that the trade union movement plays the leading role in building a united movement against the far-right. This is especially the case as history has shown, the far-right and fascist forces have targeted unions and striking workers
• With 6.5 million members, across all working-class communities, the unions can unite workers against racist division which weakens our movement and only assists the bosses
• But this requires a militant industrial and political programme
• The strike wave over the last few years has shown that workers and their unions are prepared and able to fight to defend jobs and living standards, and when they do so, they become a pole of attraction for all those suffering from austerity
• The vote for Reform is a warning of how vital it is to build a working-class political voice that fights for socialist policies. The new Starmer-led Labour government has announced cuts affecting parents and pensioners, showing its intention of continuing austerity. A party based on the organised working class that fought for anti-racist, anti-war, socialist policies – for the pay, jobs, homes and services we all need in order to prevent the far-right harnessing growing anger of working-class people with Starmer’s Labour
• It is therefore necessary that such a movement fights for the policies that can transform the lives of working-class people, including on jobs, pay, housing, the NHS and education, after decades of neo-liberal policies of successive governments. Motion 44 passed at TUC Congress in 2018 launched  a “Jobs, Homes, Not Racism campaign to unite the wider trade union movement and to campaign effectively against the far right.”

This union branch/trades council demands:

• That the TUC and the unions call an emergency national Saturday demonstration on the theme: ‘Workers unity not division – jobs and homes not racism’
• That where the far-right call protests in localities, the trade union movement – including unions, regional TUCs, local union branches and trades councils – takes the lead in organising counter-protests, linking up with migrant, refugees and any targeted communities as well as anti-racist and anti-fascist organisations
• That all such protests are well stewarded by trade unions to guard against any threat from far-right groups
• That the unions fight to compel the Labour Government to implement pro-worker policies and if it does not do so, the unions will call a conference to discuss the building of a political vehicle for workers

If your union branch/trades council passes this motion us know. [email protected]