Join the Young Reds!

Broken Britain just keeps getting worse. Racist thugs roam the streets, Palestine activists are smashed by the state, the worst heatwave ever saw no climate movement, and youth across the country are falling into despair. All the while the left looks like a Monty Python skit. It is practically irrelevant, divided into numerous groups, half of which cling to sterile, abstract orthodoxy with no answers for the real world, while the other half chase after liberals and trade union bureaucrats. In this context, the youth of two different socialist groups—Spartacist League/Britain and International Socialist Alternative (Revolutionary)—have come together to establish a new revolutionary youth organisation: Young Reds. Our starting point is the struggle for a split from both dead ends, along clear class lines, based on the power of the working class and the oppressed. Only through such a rupture can we rebuild a strong and fighting socialist movement.

The following points are presented as a start towards this effort. They are not the final word; as we grow, we hope to infuse the various lessons of youth struggles across Britain into a programme of action that can truly fight for a future we all deserve.

Fight British imperialism, Zionism and the US empire!

While social services are cut, working conditions get worse, and education faces a freefall—every mainstream party commits to remilitarisation, destroying the future for workers and youth at home and abroad. They do this because they follow the demands of the US empire. Their support to genocide and the Zionist outpost, Israel, flows from this same place. To fight back: defend Iran! US bases out of Britain! The main enemy is the US empire, not China or Russia! For a red and free Palestine from the river to the sea!

Defend immigrants with community defence committees!

There are paramilitary thugs on the streets of Dover and Portsmouth. What do Stand Up To Racism and the Together Alliance propose? Preaching love and unity while in alliance with the hated Labour government! This only fuels the right. Socialists need to build defence groups of the working class, trade unions and immigrant communities to fight back when racist mobilisations happen. No faith in the racist police! No attacks against refugees, immigrants or the native-born working class! Seize empty manors, turn them into public housing for all!

For united front defence!

The last few years have seen an unprecedented level of repression of pro-Palestinian activists, both on campus and at large. People can even get arrested for tweets the government doesn’t like these days. We can’t just have small defence actions of each individual or group. We must break the sectarianism and build genuine united front campaigns to push back against state repression. Make “an injury to one is an injury to all” a real principle again!

Students and workers: stand together!

The government and uni bosses have placed the burden of Britain’s decline on students by raising tuition and cutting classes, staff jobs, wages, and hours. We must support the unions–lecturers, support staff and cleaners–while fighting their do-nothing leaderships. We fight for trade unions to organise young workers bearing the brunt of zero-hour contracts, penny-paying apprenticeships and gig work. Make the financial parasites in the City of London pay for free education & decent wages, not us!

For trans liberation!

Trans rights are under attack. This is especially true for trans youth, who cannot get gender-affirming care freely. Gender is becoming a flashpoint in society, dividing youth and workers alike along the lines of woke vs traditional values. The way to overcome these is through putting our shared material interests front and centre, not by fighting over ideas in people’s heads. Muslims, black and brown youth, and trans people all face a common enemy: the British ruling class. We must struggle together. This is not wishful thinking–history shows the way. Unity between the gay movement and the working class in the 1980s was built through Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners demonstrating their shared material interests against their common enemy, Margaret Thatcher. Defend trans rights through class struggle! Down with the Cass Review & Supreme Court ruling!

For women’s liberation!

Misogyny and sexual violence are rapidly growing, as is the popularity of Tate and other bigots among young boys and men. But the real cause of these trends is the general social decay all around us. You can’t fight misogyny by calling on the cops, security guards, bosses and the government to do more and to be more sensitive. Remember Sarah Everard! The cops are not only peak misogynists—they also break strikes and the skulls of pro-Palestine activists. As for the governments, the establishment has let this country rot from the inside out and now copes and seethes when rats like Tate move in. Meanwhile, it makes illegal the most elementary means of self-defence which women can avail. Legalise pepper spray! The only way to really crush the manosphere and end violence against women is to link women’s issues to the fight for improving the conditions for the entire working class! The trade unions fight for bread, but they must fight for roses too!

Down with the monarchy!

The royal family is the most rotten symbol of the class society we live in. But it is not just a symbol; the King is the head of state in Britain as well as other nations, it is his army and parliament, and the Crown owns hundreds of thousands of acres of land. For Irish unity and Scottish independence! For Wales’ right to self-determination! Turn Buckingham Palace into a Spoons!

Expropriate the banks! For a planned economy!

The neoliberal model that is wrecking working-class Britain is dying and something even worse is dawning. Already there are over a million young people not working, not studying, nor training. Meanwhile the government is banning cigs and TikTok. A degree feels useless, there are no decent jobs, and everything is expensive. There are no solutions to this crisis under capitalism. Only an alliance of workers and youth can show the way! Expropriate the City of London to reindustrialise Britain!

For a revolutionary socialist party!

Labour, Tories, and the Lib Dems—the establishment parties—are widely discredited. Yet it’s Reform who are mostly gaining from this. To stop Reform, workers need their own party! This means standing against all sides of the establishment. Some leftists think the Greens can stop Reform. But this illusion only discredits the left. The Greens are a middle-class party that present populist ideals while at the same time remaining committed to NATO and the EU. They don’t even have the backbone to drive the Zionists out of their own party! Only a party of the working class, fighting for control of society, can actually advance our struggles in the here and now. For revolutionary socialism!

Rebuild the socialist left!

The left seems only capable of shooting itself in the foot. Jeremy Corbyn’s Your Party went from 800,000 sign-ups to irrelevance in under a year. The left needs to unify. But to unify we have to openly debate burning political questions, not stupid organisational issues, and resolve the root cause of our problems. Ultimately, that means socialist unity will have to come through a split with those who shackle the left to the liberals or scabbing trade union bureaucrats, and those who conciliate the right wing. To this end, we have fused to form a new revolutionary youth group. Yes, we want unity, but unity can only come from the struggle for an anti-imperialist and pro-working-class way out of broken Britain.

-If you or your organisation agrees, join today!

-If you or your organisation agrees in part, or you agree with the aim of building a unified, socialist youth organisation, then let’s discuss further.

20th September 2026