Immigration, class unity and the fight against racism

The following resolution was passed unanimously by the tenth party congress of the CPGB-ML.

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This congress recognises that the struggles of migrants, asylum seekers and all members of the working class for a better life are interconnected, and our party remains committed to opposing the divide-and-rule tactics used to stop the proletariat of Britain from realising its collective power.

History demonstrates that a united working class, standing shoulder to shoulder irrespective of ethnic, religious or cultural differences, possesses the strength to challenge and overthrow the capitalist system. However, racism, xenophobia and other such prejudices prevent workers from achieving this necessary unity.

Congress notes that these harmful ideas are not innate to workers but are in fact deliberately cultivated by the ruling class in order to maintain its domination. The relentless propaganda against certain groups of workers, especially muslims at this time, is an orchestrated strategy of the state. The concept of the ‘muslim outsider’ has been deliberately fabricated to justify imperialist wars of plunder and domination in the middle east under the guise of fighting ‘terrorism’, while masking the racist justifications for such wars and justifying the criminalisation of support for the targeted countries.

Islamophobic propaganda in Britain has been weaponised for two and a half decades, enabling the ruling class to promote racist narratives under the pretext of ‘religious differences’ and to set white workers against brown ones, thus demobilising many potential antiwar activists and undermining the possibility of mounting serious resistance to the entire edifice of British imperialism.

Congress notes that British imperialism’s divisive narratives are assiduously promoted by the Labour party, which has always worked alongside the ruling class to weaken class solidarity from within the working-class movement. Far from being an ally in the fight against fascism, the Labour party’s imperialist allegiance explains its consistent support for reactionary forces and its complicity in perpetuating the very systems of oppression it claims to oppose.

Congress notes that the stirring up of fascist mobs to attack vulnerable communities is only possible because of decades of state-sponsored racism – under Tory and Labour governments alike. Such thugs act as a tool of the establishment, helping to distract workers from understanding who are their true enemies – the capitalist elite – and encouraging them to blame other workers for the systemic problems of poverty, unemployment, poor housing etc. Fascist organisations are not the primary architects of this hatred, but hired agents whose actions further the ruling class’s objectives.

They serve three key purposes for the ruling class:

1. Splitting anti-imperialist movements by redirecting working-class anger toward marginalised communities.
2. Intimidating and punishing communities, particularly muslim workers in Britain, for their support of anti-imperialist resistance in the middle east, especially for the Palestinian cause.
3. Justifying increased surveillance and repressive laws under the pretext of maintaining ‘order’.

Congress notes that this cycle of divide-and-rule is actually reinforced by bourgeois ‘antiracist’ organisations and narratives, which constantly work to herd workers back into the Labour party fold, perpetuating the illusion that this imperialist party can offer solutions to the problems faced by working people under decaying capitalist-imperialism. As Josef Stalin noted, social democracy is the moderate wing of fascism; an observation amply demonstrated by the British Labour party’s support for genocidal imperialist wars and reactionary stooge regimes abroad, and for racist policies and policing at home.

The so-called ‘British values’ of bourgeois ‘democracy’, ‘freedom’ and ‘tolerance’ are routinely undermined by the actions of the ruling class, and especially now in conditions of a deep global crisis of overproduction and its accompanying war drive. Our party upholds and propagates the understanding that democracy for the masses simply cannot exist in a system where wealth and power are concentrated in the hands of a few, and where individual liberty is curtailed by poverty and systemic inequality. The hyperexploitation and scapegoating of asylum seekers and other migrants are symptoms of a system that seeks to obscure the true source of workers’ struggles: capitalism and its crises.

Mass migration and racism are not random phenomena; they are direct products of imperialism and capitalism. Poverty, war and superexploitation in the oppressed nations are inbuilt features of the imperialist system, and they drive people to seek refuge from war and economic ruin in the nations where the world’s wealth has been concentrated. The imperialist ruling class’s hypocrisy in exporting productive industries and cutting back on social provision in Britain in the interests of profit, and then blaming migrants for the declining living standard of the British working class, must be vigorously and systematically exposed.

Anti-immigrant rhetoric, whether it comes from Labour, Tory or any other stripe of bourgeois politician, serves only one purpose: to deflect attention from the real causes of economic hardship and keep the working class divided and weak. Migrants are not the problem. They are workers seeking to survive in a system that has stolen their resources, destroyed their homelands and denied them the chance to build a prosperous and dignified life in the lands of their birth.

Congress notes that the history of the USSR and other socialist states provides us with ample evidence that people of diverse racial and cultural backgrounds can coexist harmoniously when working together within a planned economy, freed from capitalist exploitation and all its accompanying ills. This historical achievement underscores the necessity for socialism if we are serious about overcoming the divisions perpetuated by the present system.

In light of the above, this congress reaffirms our party’s belief that all workers, regardless of race, religion or immigration status, share a common interest in opposing exploitation and oppression.

Congress therefore resolves:

1. To continue working to build solidarity and unity amongst British working people.
2. To oppose all forms of racism, islamophobia and anti-migrant rhetoric that are used to divide and weaken working-class unity.
3. To oppose the scapegoating of asylum seekers and migrants, who are victims of the same system that impoverishes and exploits all working-class people.
4. To expose the false friends of the people who claim to be against racism while constantly working to tie the working class to the coat-tails of the racist and imperialist Labour party.
5. To continue working to build the understanding that antiracism is not a matter of token gestures, symbolic acts or isolated reforms, but a question of tackling the root cause of racist ideology in our society – the imperialist system itself.
6. To continue to oppose Britain’s participation in imperialist wars and to expose the policies that destabilise and destroy nations abroad (whether by military or economic means), thus creating the conditions that force people to migrate in search of security and work.
7. To continue to educate our party members and the wider working class about the history of working-class solidarity. In particular, to propagate awareness of situations in which united working-class action has achieved significant victories, and of the huge achievements of the USSR and other socialist states in creating conditions for the harmonious coexistence of working people of all colours and creeds.