Stick it to Labour — Vote Workers Party!

Together with supporting the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition and pro-socialist independents, we also call to vote for the Workers Party against Labour. In particular, the Workers Party is running candidates against left Labour MPs like Zarah Sultana and John McDonnell. A vote for it there is key to sending a clear message to these so-called leftists who refuse to break with Starmer.

The Workers Party is a political animal containing all the contradictions of its leader, George Galloway. It is running an openly anti-Starmer campaign on a pro-Palestine and pro-socialist basis and staunchly opposes the liberal “woke” left. However, its attacks on liberals range from opposing anti-worker “green” measures like ULEZ, as we do, to embracing British nationalism, campaigning with the colours of the Union Jack and defending socially conservative politics on trans people, gays, abortion etc. In the name of fighting liberals, the party falls into British chauvinism. In turn, liberals and Starmerites are whipping up hysteria against it precisely based on liberal values.

Let’s get one thing straight: the pro-NATO, anti-worker Green liberals or stooges supporting Sir Kid Starver’s Labour Party of genocide are nobody to lecture the Workers Party. For decades, the left has liquidated into liberalism, chaining the workers movement to pro-EU, pro-imperialist “progressives” who represent the reactionary interests of the London middle and upper classes. This alliance has brought nothing but disaster for workers, with any fightback deemed “racist” by the liberals (ie Brexit). No wonder many workers have turned to the right wing.

Our criticisms of the Workers Party are over how to actually defeat the liberals. The working class must oppose liberalism based on its own class interests, but this is not what the Workers Party does. Its embrace of British nationalism and backward social attitudes place it in an ideological bloc with another, more conservative wing of the ruling class.

The unity of His Majesty’s Kingdom against Scotland and Ireland, Christian morality and sexual regimentation are all traditional ideas of the British upper class. These are pushed into the working class to instil obedience and to go after anyone fighting oppression. Remember Thatcher: she hated striking miners, the Soviet Union, gays and Irish Republicans, all of which she viewed as threats to “Western civilisation”.

If Galloway’s outfit were a real working-class party, it would defend the rights of trans people and stand for sexual freedom. It would do so not out of liberal “sensitivity” but because right-wing anti-trans hysteria is used to repress all youth and to strengthen religious reaction, a threat to Muslims, other minorities and the entire workers movement.

It’s no surprise that liberals and Starmerites seize on the Workers Party’s hostility to trans people, gays and illegal migrants to attack this troublesome enemy. But rejecting the defence of these oppressed groups as a diversion from upholding workers’ interests is dead wrong. It’s a capitulation to the liberals, who posture as the only defenders of oppressed minorities in order to pit them against the working class. This is how the whole debate about “wokeness” keeps the oppressed at each other’s throats. To cut through this, it is necessary to take up the cause of all those oppressed by this rotten system and join it with the workers’ cause. This is how to fight Starmer and the liberals, who are enemies of us all.

The same applies to Scotland. The Workers Party’s refusal to defend Scotland’s national rights and self-determination guarantees it will never get a hearing in the Scottish working class. Instead, the party helps strengthen the Scottish nationalists, whose appeal is based on Scotland’s national oppression inside the United Kingdom and widespread hatred of English chauvinism.

The Workers Party cannot possibly unite the working class under a socialist banner when it embraces the Union Jack and Christian morality — ideological rubbish whose purpose is to keep workers and the oppressed divided. Nor will it be able to fight a Starmer government, not least over Palestine!

Nevertheless, those on the left who refuse to vote for the Workers Party because of its nationalism and social conservatism are simply liberals. There is no fundamental difference between the Workers Party, TUSC, Jeremy Corbyn and the rest. All defend variations of Labourite “little England” socialism, with the Workers Party actually being closer to the “old” Labour left. This programme cannot lead the working class to victory.

We support the Workers Party, as well as TUSC, in this election because its success would be a welcome slap across Starmer’s face by a force claiming to represent the working class. The greater the Workers Party’s success, the more it will be torn by the fact that you cannot stand for socialism while sharing the values of Winston Churchill.

Lastly, we note that the Workers Party is an eclectic formation revolving around Galloway, a political maverick, that has attracted some dodgy candidates. We cannot assess each one here. We urge readers to scrutinise Workers Party candidates and vote only for those who stand for the workers movement against British imperialism.