The struggle of British working class: what is at stake?
The emergence of militant, British working class which is here and is not going anywhere, which is no longer accepting living in poverty and under austerity policies – as Mike Lynch has put it – has also a meaning at the international level. Especially when we look at it from a European perspective.
Some liberal commentators would claim that it is not true and add: since Brexit we shall not look at what is going on in Britain. But in the end – it is in the UK where neoliberalism was born. Who said it cannot die there?
The avalanche that is crumbling the kingdom started a couple months ago, and it is still far from reaching her limits. Every day, every week new strikes and protest actions emerge. In upcoming days, there will be a teachers strike in Scotland. The Universities and College Union is also going into the fight in other parts of Britain.
Some private sectors are facing rising demands of workers about pay rises and better working standards. Royal Mail is on strike, British Airways workers are also in a dispute. The Tories are not ready to face it: they are right now mumbling about some anti-union laws, and Thatcher-styled politics, but there is no reality check. In the meantime, the Conservative Party members are yet to decide, which of two incompetent candidates would lead the kingdom. They will touch the grass after electing Truss or Sunak, even thought we do not know what the exact establishment response will be.
The big majority of Britons support the strikers. Will the new prime minister risk a brutal pacification of the strikers, combined with fascist-style propaganda made by British, oligarch-owned media? Or should we expect an u-turn?
Red autumn is gaining speed in front of us
Enough is enough campaign and Trade Union Congress action to fight for 15£ per hour minimum wage have just started. What does it mean for us, people who are observing this labour, militant actions full of hope and anger from the other edge of La Manche?
Britain right now is facing the biggest social and economic crisis in the last 40 years. Back then, Margaret Thatcher implemented her neoliberal agenda, pacyfing the miners, leaving scorched earth in Wales and Midlands. She decimated trade unions. As a result, she should be considered the real creator of the New Labour of Tony Blair – her zealous accolytes.
All of this in the name of growth, ecology and making profits – yes, she used also that – accompanied with robust privatisation of water, energy, later rail and everything else, you name it.
Thatcher along with Pinochet has shaped the future of social politics all over the world.
What Pinochet did for the Global South, Thatcher introduced in the Global North.
All governments after them had to play in the match with rules set by them – and the believers of their doctrines.
And it is thanks to the them that right now the United Kingdom, Argentina, Chile and other countries are facing enormous challenges. However, the wind of history has changed, now we need to rethink our political imagination.
Austerity and neoliberalism are not an answer to face climate crisis and geopolitical turmoil such as this.
Heard it multiple times? Perhaps. But this is not a banal constatation. This is what must be done.
And this is at stake right now in Britain. This autumn and winter, when it comes to Europe, is going to be full of strikes and demonstrations because of the inflation and rising costs of living. And this is just a prologue for much more harsh years ahead.
If they win, we might win – in France, Germany, Poland and any other country. We have nothing to lose, but we need some hope, and victory of British working people might bring it to us.
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