Who are we dealing with today in Downing Street? Is it Margaret May, daughter of a rural vicar, pulling in her trail a pale "supportive" husband and posturing as a no-nonsense Little England (although very posh) housewife? Or is it Theresa Churchill, purporting to lead the resistance of a "besieged Britain", unfurling the Union Jack against the European "enemy"? Both, in fact, with a pinch of Donald Trump's paranoia, into the bargain, given May's claim that the EU is trying to "interfere" in her election campaign!
One thing is certain, though. May was utterly disappointed by the defeat of the anti-EU, anti-migrant, anti-working class, far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, in last Sunday's French presidential election. Obviously, May saw Le Pen as a potential ally against the EU - never mind her revolting policies! Instead, May, the London City's puppet, will have to deal with her French mirror image - president Macron, a mainstream puppet of the Paris bankers. Whether pro- or anti-EU makes no difference here. They're both as pro-business and as anti-working class - and both will be defending the rival interests of their respective capitalists, just as all the other EU leaders do.
May's "fight" for her party's interests
But never mind. May is now trying to turn the French election to her advantage, claiming that like Macron, she "needs" a 2/3 majority on June 8th, to "strengthen her hand" in her war game against the EU! As if the EU leaders were likely to be impressed by how many votes or seats she wins!
Besides, which hand are we meant to "strengthen"? Isn't May defending her party's vested interests with one hand and those of British fat cats with the other, while trampling with both feet on the interests of the working class majority?
Indeed, the truth is that May's snap election has little to do with the EU or Brexit, and everything to do with the vested interests of her own party. For her to wait until the planned 2020 election would have been political suicide. Because, if we are already beginning to feel the cost of Brexit today, it would have been far worse by 2020, with inflation, job cuts and austerity measures designed to pay for the bosses' lost profits, taking their toll. And, by that time, the Tories would have faced almost certain defeat.
So, what really lies behind May's call to "strengthen her hand" against the EU, behind her conspiracy theories accusing the EU countries of ganging up against "us" and behind her nationalist flag-waving? In fact, just an attempt to buy her Tory party an additional 2 years of enjoying the perks of power in office and to extend the cushy careers of her MPs by the same timespan!
Voting will be used against us
Not only is the justification for this electoral farce an elaborate lie, but whichever way we vote on June 8th, our ballot papers will be used against us.
Voting for the Tories would be endorsing their appalling record:
- the explosion of fake jobs; wages which are still 7% lower than in 2007 in real terms; the 100% increase in homeless households, to almost 100,000; the expansion of food banks (10 million meals served last year alone!); the collapse of the NHS for lack of funding; the 120,000 more children forced into poverty since last November.
- but also the soaring social inequalities which allowed Britain's 1,000 richest fat cats to increase their combined wealth by 14% over the past year alone, to £658 billion, or 4.5 times the NHS budget serving 65 million people!
Helping the rich to get richer, by making the working class poorer is the Tories' policy. So, no, it is not in our interest to give them our votes - especially as, with Brexit, they'll use every vote to claim our support in their attempt to make us foot a bill which is bound to be huge.
Voting Labour wouldn't make any difference either. No Labour-dominated Parliament would deliver Corbyn's promises, because this would require declaring an open war against the profiteers - the last thing these mostly Blairite politicians want. Moreover, what would be the point of voting for a party which endorses May's nationalist agenda on Brexit - which implies aligning ourselves behind the interests of our exploiters?
No, the only way forward for the working class, the only way of making our voice heard, is to prepare ourselves to stand up against every attack, whether from May or the bosses - by using our only effective weapon, our collective strength, in the streets and in the workplaces. Because this is the only language that the capitalists and their politicians actually understand!