Individually, we can be excused for feeling depressed, overwhelmed and powerless at global events. With Israel’s genocide in Gaza, the attacks on Iran, and the threat of a regional war in the Middle East, it may seem like there is nothing that can be done to prevent an inevitable slide into more and more global conflict. However, together as workers, we are far from powerless.
By Andrew Walton
Organised, collective action can make a crucial difference. It is only through the labour of hundreds of thousands of technicians, engineers, dock workers and transport workers that a modern army can function. If we withdraw our labour collectively, the organised working class can stop the war machine in its tracks.
A long tradition of solidarity
Unionised workers have many times refused to handle weapons. In 1972, Glasgow factory workers in Rolls Royce refused to repair engines destined for the military coup happening in Chile under General Pinochet. The documentary Nae Pasaran describes their struggle in more detail. During the 2003 Iraq War, ASLEF train drivers and RMT workers refused to load weapons bound for Iraq, causing delays and expensive detours.
In February this year, the Water Transport Workers Federation of India refused to load or unload weaponised cargoes bound for Israel. Belgian transport workers have called for a similar position – that workers in Belgian airports should refuse to handle munitions bound for Israel. And in June, dock workers in France and Italy refused to load military cargo bound for Israel.
Meanwhile, Starmer’s government continues to send weapons parts to Israel, despite massive opposition to the genocidal war in Gaza and Israeli military attacks on Iran. But while the enormous anti-war protests organised thus far have been significant, they have not been enough to halt the war machine on their own.
Many trade union leaders in Britain have so far not been prepared to stand up to Labour and take the kind of bold action demonstrated by workers in other countries. We need to fight for our unions to follow their example and refuse to produce, handle and transport arms being shipped to Israel.
This could be a springboard for a struggle against the Labour government against rising militarism, and for welfare not warfare, and to nationalise the arms factories in order to prepare a transition toward socially useful products rather than weapons of war.
Our war is not with ordinary workers in other countries, but with the governments which prop up the capitalist system itself, which is the real cause of international conflict. Socialist Alternative organises on an international basis. We are seeking a democratic, socialist society, to plan resources and put an end to warfare worldwide. Join us to change the world.
