- Build a new left party!
- End misogyny, transphobia and capitalism!
Trump’s second presidential inauguration symbolises the rising global threat posed by the poison of the populist and far right. This man and his sidekick Elon Musk embody the capitalist system in an advanced state of decay.
The demonstrations called by the UK Women’s March across the country on 18 January (two days before Trump enters the White House) should act as a call to arms for all those prepared to resist the right.
The struggle against the right is not just about the US. The politics Trump espouses is gaining ground here. Starmer’s pro-capitalist Labour government’s abject failure to offer a future is laying the foundations for a Reform insurgency. In the firing line are women, migrants, people of colour, LGBTQ+ communities and working-class people more generally.
Starmer might be prepared to hit back at Musk when he gets attacked personally. But when it comes to defending oppressed and marginalised people he is quite prepared to mirror Farage’s talking points. His own political strategy involves actively mimicking the far right. He’s presiding over new restrictions on trans healthcare. He’s joining in with migrant bashing. He’s attacking women – including reneging on the promise of pensions justice for the Waspi women. Meanwhile, his failure to offer a way out of this drawn-out cost of living crisis has seen Labour’s approval ratings nosedive.
We can’t allow Farage (or even Badenoch) to position themselves as the ‘real opposition’ to this government. That’s why fighting the right, building solidarity with those facing oppression, and fighting for a real alternative to Starmer’s government are all part of the same task.
We need to build action on the streets, drawing together different struggles and maximising our strength together. We need serious trade union action to demand pay rises that reflect the real cost of living and working conditions that protect, not damage, workers’ mental and physical health. We need to continue to build an anti-war movement – one that stands in solidarity with the people of Palestine – and that opposes imperialism and capitalism in all its forms.
We need a socialist feminist movement for reproductive rights, childcare, women’s rights at work, and against femicide, gender violence and harassment, which are being continually pushed on social media and in society by the likes of Andrew Tate and Musk.
Alongside this, we need to fight for a new left party, rooted in these struggles, that can offer real opposition to politics for the rich. Socialist Alternative says we need a new left party now, and that Corbyn should use his position in parliament to call a conference to launch it.
We argue that to be fully effective, such a party would need to adopt socialist politics.Capitalism as a system has long been incapable of taking society forward. But the climate catastrophe means the time we have to replace this system is limited. The fact that the most powerful man in the world is a climate denier only emphasises this.
There is an alternative. We stand for a society in which the vast wealth currently held in the hands of a tiny few is taken out of their hands and used for the good of all. We stand for public ownership of the big monopolies that dominate the economy and an end to the class society that thrives on the basis of gender-based oppression, imperialist wars and brutal exploitation. We stand for socialism. Join us!
