Develop the anti-imperialist core of the Palestine solidarity movement

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

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This congress notes that the emergence of a mass movement against the genocide in Gaza is the most significant political development in Britain for many decades.

This congress believes that although its largest mobilisations (around one million people on 11 November 2022) have not reached the size of the huge demonstration that preceded the Iraq war on 15 February 2003 (as many as two million marchers), today’s Palestine movement has a political character that is far in advance of the anti-Iraq war movement.

Congress notes that the movement coincides with a deep crisis of legitimacy for the British ruling class and its state machinery, and has in turn been a spur to further deepening that crisis. This crisis, which is mirrored across the imperialist world, has been fuelled in Britain by a series of events, revelations and scandals, including: continuing unemployment and deepening poverty in formerly industrial areas of Britain; the Iraq and Afghan wars and various Wikileaks revelations; the bank bailouts of 2008 and the accelerated programme of austerity that followed; the Brexit referendum (in particular the three-and-a-half-year parliamentary sit-in with which our ‘elected representatives’ greeted the result); and the handling of the Covid pandemic (in particular the hypocrisy of officials and the profiteering of pharma and tech monopolies).

Combined with the sharp downturn in living standards and a steep rise in all manner of social ills, all this has led to a situation in which politicians and journalists have overwhelmingly lost the trust of the public, which is also losing its faith in other state institutions such as the police, the judiciary, the civil service, academia, etc.

In relation to the present Palestine movement, congress notes:

1. That while StW, PSC, CND and the Muslim Association of Britain have arrogated to themselves the right to control the official platform and set the dates for national demonstrations, these organisations are not responsible for mobilising the mass of the marchers onto the streets and are not able to control the mindset of a large proportion of those who turn out.
2. That the scale and relentlessness of the genocidal assault on Gaza, combined with the huge volume of contemporaneous evidence being made available on social media, and which has forced even the toothless International Court of Justice to rule that a genocide is taking place, has pushed many protestors actively to seek answers about the nature of the zionist project, the reasons for its existence, and the reasons for the total subservience of western media and politicians to the zionist narrative and Israeli interests.
3. That as a result, the movement is developing a genuinely anti-zionist – and therefore anti-imperialist – militant core, which cannot be contained by the usual mechanism of an imposed and controlled opposition ‘leadership’.
4. That the huge groundswell of anger against the Labour party amongst Palestine solidarity activists was what led to the sizeable vote for anti-Labour anti-genocide Workers party and independent candidates at the July 2024 general election.
5. That the concerted efforts made by the state to prevent many of those candidates being elected, and in particular the ones connected to the Workers party, reveal its very real desire to prevent the emergence of an organised anti-zionist group in Parliament, willing to further expose the parliamentary machinations of the ruling class in relation to its war drive and its genocide complicity.
6. That while muslims are disproportionately represented amongst those who have been brought onto Britain’s streets in support of Palestine, muslims are by no means the only protestors. Contrary to the media spin, Palestine is not an issue of religion or identity, but of imperialism and anti-imperialism. This essence, in the present social era of decaying monopoly capitalism, presents itself to many as a struggle between justice and injustice; between common human decency and the bloodlust of those who bury their humanity in self-interest and at the service of big capital.
7. That it is increasingly difficult for western media and politicians to satisfy their populations by mouthing slogans about ‘humanitarian aid’, ‘ceasefires’ and a ‘two-state solution’. The facts have proven all such verbiage to be utterly hypocritical and when repeated today simply reveal those who utter them as two-faced self-serving careerists who are quite prepared for the genocide in Gaza to continue and even to expand so long as they continue in their privileged positions.
8. That the growing trend towards direct action by small groups and individuals against the genocidal war machine is an expression of frustration at the impotence of protest to achieve anything in a ‘democracy’ such as ours, in which workers may be allowed to assemble and express certain opinions (so long as they stay within the bounds of bourgeois respectability), but where no impact on the direction of state policy is to be expected, no matter how large the demonstration of public feeling may be.
9. That while the bravery and sincerity of these groups is to be applauded, the real path to meaningful solidarity lies in the collective action of the workers organised for the purpose, and that the communist-led Hands off Russia campaign of 1920 remains our best template of such militant and successful mobilisation.

In the light of all the above, this congress resolves:

1. To reaffirm our party’s steadfast support for the national-liberation struggle of the Palestinian people, and for all the people struggling against imperialist domination in the middle east, which is spearheaded by the zionist settler-colonial outpost.
2. To continue to do all in our power to bring a clear understanding of zionism and its role as a tool of imperialist domination of the middle east, its people and resources.
3. To continue to do everything possible to develop this anti-zionism into a consistent, scientific and class-conscious opposition to imperialism as a whole, popularising the understanding that the quest for justice can only be fulfilled by the establishment of socialist economic planning, which is the only means by which the endless blood sacrifices demanded by capitalist imperialism can finally be done away with.
4. To redouble our efforts to demonstrate to British workers the justness of the Palestinian and middle-eastern people’s liberation struggles, and of the intimate connection between the struggle of the oppressed peoples abroad and of the impoverished workers here at home.
5. To work tirelessly to promote the understanding that workers in Britain have the power to bring an end to British imperialist support for and complicity with the genocide of the Palestinian people, and to popularise the demand that such a programme should be urgently organised by the trade union movement.

Party members are therefore instructed:

1. To prioritise attendance at local and national Palestine demonstrations and pickets, making sure always to hand out as many leaflets as possible, to have papers and pamphlets available, and to take every opportunity to give speeches and share links to our publications and videos online, all of which will help to connect a genuinely Marxist, genuinely anti-imperialist analysis with those who are looking for it.

To use every opportunity to record short videos when participating: recording speeches made by party members, setting up open-mic sessions, and interviewing members of the public.

2. To create and grow lists of local contacts through these activities and to make every effort to draw in those who are interested in gaining deeper insights to regional branch study circles and other party activities.
3. To do everything in their power to bring to the attention of trade union members and other workers our party’s demand for an organised mass movement of non-cooperation with the genocide in Gaza; to popularise this demand and ceaselessly push for its adoption by every means possible – by leafleting workers in the streets, by making speeches at meetings and demonstrations to explain its necessity, and by proposing motions for trade union branches, regions and national conferences.

Death to zionism, fascism and imperialism!
Victory to the Palestinian people in their just struggle for national liberation!
No cooperation with the genocide in Gaza!