What most people don’t know, because they’ve never been told it by the mainstream media, ‘education’ systems etc, is that the old Soviet Union and China NEVER had communism or socialism, which are the same thing in Marxism. If you simply think about what a Marxist society means (i.e., no ruling class, and the people — NOT an elite — owning and controlling the means of production) then it should become obvious that no country’s population has yet managed to establish communism/socialism, and therefore the vast majority of humankind has been repeatedly lied to. In reality, Lenin’s and Stalin’s Russia and Mao’s China, had state capitalism (i.e., the same profit-driven economy, with waged work, buying and selling, markets, banks etc that are found in free-enterprise economies, except with the privileged asset-owning capitalist class being a state elite instead of private individuals and companies). For the workers, being exploited so profits can be made by a totalitarian state, instead of by private employers, is the same. The reason for this continuing Big Lie should also be obvious: if the working class majority are deceived into believing communism/socialism has been tried and was a ghastly failure, then they’re never going to want it or even listen to those (like ourselves) who advocate it. Sites like @x, @facebook etc show this Big Lie has been very successful, but socialists have to keep challenging the fiction with facts.

When @Tom_Watson said “Capitalism is not the enemy” in 2016, we tweeted back “Yes it is. Meaning you are too.” He blocked us. But we were right because now he’s to get a fat salary for trying to help controversial firm Palantir profit under a Labour government. One thing on his to-do list will be an initial three-year contract that Palantir has with the NHS which is up for review in 2027, and which NHS England could end. Tom will no doubt be telling @andyburnham that capitalist Palantir are not the enemy.

The reason ‘far right’ politicians and parties are managing to attract support is because they’re exploiting the consequences of global capitalism transferring so much wealth from the working class majority to asset-owning billionaires and multi-millionaires. The resulting huge inequality and governments struggling financially has opened the door to fascism. Because people are sick of inadequate incomes, the rising cost of living, difficulty obtaining homes, deteriorating essential services etc, and because they’re sick of conventional (pro-capitalism) parties failing to solve these problems, those dissatisfied and angry are being preyed upon by radical right politicians, like Nigel Farage and Rupert Lowe in the UK. They are falsely blaming immigrants for all the problems. This is exactly what Nazi propaganda did with Jewish people. Although suffering poverty and deprivation themselves, Jewish people were blamed for causing it and inflicting it on the German population, when in reality it was due to Germany’s struggling economy caused by intense competition with America, Britain, France etc for resources and profits, which eventually resulted in a second world war. Even if there was a far-right UK government, as it would be pro-capitalism as well, wages and benefits would not suddenly increase so people were a lot better off. The state would not provide homes for all those in need of them. The NHS would not be given tens of billions of pounds to improve. Instead, the ever-suffering working class majority would be squeezed so the capitalist class could make more profits. And when their supporters became restless, a new scapegoat would be unveiled and blamed. What’s really sickening is that while the global capitalist class caused the problems in the first place, and which far-right politicians and grifters are exploiting, billionaires are now handing over huge sums of money to these opportunistic shit stirrers so they deliver policies which benefit them.

Describing a black woman in statue form as “filth” shows exactly what sort of person @RupertLowe10 is.

Another £36 million for @reformparty_uk from another crypto billionaire. Chris Harborne says he will match the £36m given to Reform UK from Ben Delo yesterday. Such large amounts obviously aren’t given without expecting substantial benefits in return. Other political parties also receive multi-million ‘donations’ from the immensely wealthy. This is the capitalist class undermining democracy by influencing political agendas and elections. People will object to billionaires and multi-millionaires getting what they want from governments, but the fact is, under capitalism, the super-rich asset-owning class as a whole already get what they want from governments — i.e. the right to continue profiting from the subjugation, exploitation and deprivation of the working class majority. The £36m Delo and Harborne donations are for a particular cherry on top. In a democratic society, rich people shouldn’t bankroll political parties to win elections, but under capitalism, democracy doesn’t exist.

Reform UK — a party led by millionaires funded by billionaires while claiming to be “for the working class”. Anyone who believes @Nigel_Farage is on the side of the exploited, deprived and suffering majority is exceedingly gullible.

A cryptocurrency billionaire, Ben Delo, has given Reform UK £36 million. This is not about getting a “level playing field” as claimed. This is about trying to rig the next election in favour of Nigel Farage who is a big supporter of crypto, but who also allegedly urged the Bank of England to drop its plan for a state-run crypto alternative which could seriously financially damage those billionaire crypto investors like Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne now bankrolling his party.

If religious leaders could not convince people a wonderful life comes about after death they’d find it a lot harder to persuade people to die for a god.

Danny Thomas (aka Danny Tommo) has recently organised the attendance of balaclavad men at two anti-migrant protests in Dover and Portsmouth. His claimed intention being “patriots” taking back control from a “globalist, Marxist-communist, anti-Christian group that has ruled us for too long”. Marxist-communists advocating global socialism and opposed to religious superstition would be an accurate description of our party, but to think we have somehow been in control shows confused or delusional thinking. Those in control of society are the capitalist class comprising billionaires and multi-millionaires. Governments are compelled to prioritise the needs of this asset-owning profit-taking minority. The global capitalist system that capitalists benefit from is the cause of huge inequality and all the problems that Danny Tommo and his followers blame “illegal migrants” for. Our members are part of the working class majority, and as such, the only ‘power’ we have is to express our views and opinions. But whereas we condemn global capitalism (the cause of homelessness, inadequate essential services, poverty etc) those on the far-right condemn those merely trying to escape from it.

𝗣𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗧𝗬 𝗜𝗡 𝗙𝗔𝗠𝗜𝗟𝗜𝗘𝗦 A recent study showed that nearly half of parents are struggling financially after having a baby. In some cases this has even led to them watering down baby formula milk in order to save money. This can be really serious for an infant, as it may result in growth problems and developmental delays. Baby banks supply clothes, nappies and baby wipes to parents, but get few donations of baby milk. This is what life can be like for some of the poorest workers under capitalism: essential items such as baby formula can barely be afforded. A society that results in this level of poverty needs to be replaced by one where meeting human need is the priority. worldsocialism.org/spgb/snip…

The Pankhurst name is mainly associated with the Suffragette Movement, as Christabel Pankhurst and her mother Emmeline (“Mrs Pankhurst”) were the most prominent leaders of the Votes for Women movement in the late 19th and early 20th century. Christabel’s younger sister, Sylvia Pankhurst (born 1882), was also involved in the suffrage campaigns, but in addition she came to adopt ideas and aims which are of more interest to those who advocate a socialist world. Although Sylvia was far from consistent in her views, she did point out that Socialism/Communism meant a moneyless, classless community, and that what was being built in Russia under Lenin was capitalism, and not actual socialism. She explicitly described Lenin’s New Economic Policy, introduced there in 1921, as “reversion to capitalism”.

‘Research published last month found narcissistic leaders – those with a tendency to be self-centred and entitled – were more likely than others to resist remote work. Why? The study concluded “it interferes with their motivations for power and status”. The higher the opinions of themselves leaders expressed, the more they coveted power and status — and the more they favoured full-time return-to-office mandates.”’

This is how @reformparty_uk supporters react to someone who tries to protest. One man allegedly strikes her on the neck with a walking stick while a woman pulls her hair. It’s like watching a pack of wild dogs attacking defenseless prey.

So Starmer has resigned as an MP. This will allow him to follow the plan he set out after he resigned as PM, i.e.: “𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒇𝒐𝒄𝒖𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒇𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒍𝒖𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒅𝒆𝒇𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆, 𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒚, 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒏𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒇𝒂𝒔𝒕-𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅.” A cynic might translate this as: “𝑰 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒑 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒃𝒚 𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒏𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒚 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒍 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒆𝒇𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔, 𝒎𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒔, 𝒃𝒊𝒈 𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉, 𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒌𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒔. 𝑨 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝒎𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒅 40 𝒐𝒅𝒅 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒑𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔, 𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒋𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒔𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒆. 𝑺𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒓𝒔”. worldsocialism.org/spgb/snip…

Earlier today @Nigel_Farage — aware that Channel 4 News were going to broadcast undercover recordings of Reform UK allegedly breaking election law by accepting donations from an American firm — posted this comment on Facebook. He makes a fair point about both Labour and the Tories ‘rewarding the wealthy for ‘donating’ money’. Of course, that doesn’t mean its okay for @reformparty_uk to accept dodgy donations as well. But if all the pro-capitalism political parties are dependent on, or can be influenced by, the asset-owning rich (which they are and always have been), then democracy is a sham and the system stinks. And our repeated call for the total abolition of today’s class-divided society and its replacement with class-free, state-free, money-free socialism, is upheld yet again.

Reform UK involved in another allegedly dodgy donation scandal.

September’s Socialist Standard is available to read for free now. worldsocialism.org/spgb/soci…

“A generation has grown up through austerity, a pandemic and a digital revolution, while the costs of getting a home and starting an adult life have soared.” Ellie Harris, head of children and young people at IPPR, said: “Whatever their background, too many young people are experiencing distress, loneliness and barriers at every turn. “This cannot be solved by tweaks to youth policy, another education initiative or simply adding a few more professionals.”