Looking
Forward to Advancing Our Work in 2021
As we enter the New Year,
RCPB(ML) pays tribute first and foremost to its activists and circles and all
their efforts to advance the work of the Party in the challenging conditions of
2020. The working class and people too in the conditions of the pandemic, in
the refusal of those in power to guarantee the safety and interests of the
people as a whole, are demonstrating that they have the potential to constitute
the new authority. The future is that of taking hold of what belongs to them by
right, and in this it can be said that now is the time for the working class of
England, Scotland and Wales to show what they are made of.
In the conditions of the pandemic
and the anti-worker, anti-social offensive, and the attempts to crush the
resolve and initiative of the working people, working people have shown that
they are by no means reconciled to being spectators to the programme and agenda
of the ruling elite. On the contrary, their spirit is to build the resistance
movement to the anti-social offensive and refuse to be reconciled to
relinquishing control of their lives to any other force. They are showing their
will to fight for peace and justice, and, most importantly, to engage in the
battle of democracy.
The fight of the Irish people for
the reunification of Ireland, and to put the Irish people themselves in control
of the destiny of the island of Ireland has also been evident. The Westminster
elite, showing its contempt for this right, as well as for the rule of law,
attempted to turn back the clock with such measures as the Internal Markets
Bill. But the motion of the people of the whole of Ireland to decide on their
own future is an irresistible one.
In 2021, there is much work to do
to continue to challenge the status quo, and for the working class and people
to set their sights on a way out of the all-round crisis which favours them. It
goes beyond the issue that the Westminster government is not listening to the
voices of those who have the solutions. It is that the old authority is in
shambles, and demonstrating that at base what it relies on is its police
powers. In these circumstances, the fight of the working class to defend its
dignity, defend its rights and defend that its security lies in fact in
affirming the rights of all, is crucial. Workers have shown this resilience
during the pandemic of 2020.
The government lacks mandate for
its actions. Its claim that it is acting on behalf of all the communities and
the nations within Britain and that “we are all in this together”,
is a pretext to attempt to act with impunity and without any recourse to be
held to account. The cause for dignity and optimism which pervades the stands
and actions of the working people are not the counterfeit
“optimism” and “confidence” promoted by the ruling
elite. It is not imperialist globalisation which is a guarantee of the defence
of rights and peace and social justice, but the resistance struggle of the
people themselves. This is a common struggle of the working class and people
throughout Europe.
What kind of society is it where
the government openly declares that to call for the end of preserving the
rotten capitalist system and its associated anachronistic and dysfunctional
liberal-democratic institutions is “extremist”? The
“optimism” and “confidence” of the ruling elites that
in 2021, the peoples of Britain have their freedom in their hands ring very
hollow, and are not shared by the working people. It is inconceivable that a
few wrong policies, attributable to one party or another, to one leader or
another, can account for the crisis, chaos and incoherence. The forums and
collectives of the working people themselves in opposition, reaching the
conclusion that a fundamental change in direction of the economy and the
safeguarding of the social and natural environments are required, are giving
the lie to this ludicrous and dangerous definition of “extremism”.
In this respect, we pay the
utmost tribute to the key workers themselves, the healthcare workers and
professionals, the teachers, social care workers and others, who have had to
perform heroic deeds in a situation where this very system of privatisation,
cutbacks and enrichment for the very few have created intolerable conditions.
Yet they have continued under all the stress, collectivising their experience,
acting with full responsibility, and speaking out.
Globalisation under the control
of the financial oligarchy is a disaster with threats of world war increasing
with every passing day. The stand of many political and working class leaders
for peace and justice in this context is what the ruling elite cannot stomach
and tries to eradicate its influence. The working class of Britain has a vital
role to play as a contingent of the working class internationally fighting
against the wars of aggression of the imperialist powers, fighting to establish
an anti-war government, and establishing a new framework of action and
thinking. It remains an urgent necessity to step up the work towards
establishing such an anti-war government, with its modern democratic
personality, its participation by the people themselves, who wish for peace and
justice, and direct their anger and organisation against the ruling elites in
positions of power, and who themselves want decision-making power.
The struggle against
state-organised racism and police violence has been one of the hallmarks of
2020. The year has been one where the under-cover policing has also been
exposed, in which the state has attempted to undermine and block the people's
movement and the resistance to the attacks on rights. This struggle too will
continue in 2021, despite the attempts to render the opposition passive.
We reaffirm our anti-imperialist
solidarity with the peoples of Asia, Africa, Latin America, Oceania and the
Caribbean fighting for their rights, and all the peoples affirming their right
to be. RCPB(ML) salutes the Communist Party of Cuba and the Cuban people, the
Workers' Party of Korea and the people of the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea, and the Communist Party of Vietnam and the people of that country on
this occasion. We stand as one with all our fraternal parties.
In our work for 2021 there are
many challenges, but this is vital work and the Party is determined to fulfil
its responsibilities to the maximum. It is a case of going all out to get rid
of the Old and to bring in the New, the fight for a human-centred society, the
fight for and the unfolding of the independent programme of the working class
to which RCPB(ML) is dedicated. This is a fight taken up for solution, with the
perspective that new forms of governance have to be brought into being.
We once again extend our
heartfelt greetings to all the democratic and justice-loving forces in motion,
and wish everyone the greatest success in 2021!
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