The struggle of the people against imperialism must be strengthened!

 Joint Statement of Communist and Workers’ Parties

The Communist and Workers’ Parties signing this Joint Statement strongly condemn the US attack on Iran, which escalates the military offensive already launched by Israel.
After Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and the ongoing genocide in Palestine, the USA and its allies are now shedding the blood of yet another country in the Middle East. This imperialist aggression is plunging people into war across a wider region and threatening to destroy humanity as a whole.
The Communist and Workers’ Parties are demanding an immediate end to the escalation of the war against Iran by the USA, NATO and Israel. We also call on people to strengthen their struggle against war, foreign military bases, troop deployments abroad, military equipment and nuclear weapons.
Solidarity with the people of Iran, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and all other peoples in the region must be strengthened.
 
SolidNet Parties

• Communist Party of Albania
• Algerian Party for Democracy and Socialism
• Communist Party of Armenia
• Communist Party of Australia
• Party of Labour of Austria
• Democratic Progressive Tribune, Bahrain
• Communist Party of Bangladesh
• Brazilian Communist Party
• Communist Party of Britain
• New Communist Party of Britain
• Communist Party of Canada
• Communist Party of Chile
• Colombian Communist Party
• Socialist Workers' Party of Croatia
• Communist Party of Bohemia & Moravia
• Communist Party of Denmark
• Communist Party of El Salvador
• German Communist Party
• Communist Party of Greece
• Communist Party of India
• Iraqi Communist Party
• Tudeh Party of Iran
• Communist Party of Ireland
• Workers Party of Ireland
• Communist Party of Israel
• Socialist Movement of Kazakhstan
• Communist Party of Mexico
• New Communist Party of the Netherlands
• Communist Party of Norway
• Communist Party of Pakistan
• Palestinian Communist Party
• Palestinian Peoples Party
• Paraguayan Communist Party
• Peruvian Communist Party
• Philippines Communist Party [PKP 1930]
• Communist Party of Poland
• Romanian Socialist Party
• Communist Party of the Soviet Union
• Communists of Serbia
• South African Communist Party
• Communist Party of the Workers of Spain
• Communist Party of Sri Lanka
• Communist Party of Sweden
• Syrian Communist Party
• Swiss Communist Party
• Communist Party of Turkey
• Communist Party of Ukraine
• Union of Communists of Ukraine
• Communist Party USA
• Communist Party of Venezuela

Other Parties

• Argentinian Communist Party
• Revolutionary Brazilian Communist Party 
• Communist Workers' Party – For Peace and Socialism (Finland)
• Communist Revolutionary Party of France 
• Communist Party (Germany)
• Communist Front (Italy)
• Communist Workers' Platform USA

Israel lights the fuse

The Israeli attack on Iran is the opening shot of a war that could plunge the whole of the region into flames. The Israelis originally said their objective was to destroy Iran’s atomic energy industry, which they claim is a cover for efforts to produce nuclear weapons. Now they’re calling on the Iranian people to overthrow their government.
These have always been the objectives of Benjamin Netanyahu and the rabid Zionist leaders of the parties in his coalition government. More to the point they are also the objectives of American imperialism that has long worked for regime change in the Islamic Republic. 
Netanyahu’s coalition is deeply divided over moves to end Orthodox Jews exemption from conscription. Some of the Ultra-Orthodox parties have threatened to resign over the issue which would bring down the government and lead to fresh elections – elections Netanyahu would almost certainly lose.
Israel is in a quagmire of its own making fighting a war in Gaza it cannot win amidst rising inflation and economic stagnation. Many Israelis think Netanyahu is indifferent to the fate of the remaining Israelis held by the Palestinian resistance. Public opinion polls show a growing number of Israelis support the anti-war movement while calls for army reservists to refuse service have also been increasing.  So while doing the Americans bidding war with Iran provides a new prop to hold Netanyahu’s coalition together.
Though there is a growing peace movement in Israel the Netanyahu government thinks it can do whatever it likes regardless of the consequences because it believes that the Arabs and the Iranians are weak and that the United States will always be there to lend a hand when the going gets tough.
What they didn’t take into account was the Iranians’ ability to withstand their first wave of attacks. Nor did they foresee the devastating missile response which has shattered the myth of the so-called “Iron Dome” defence and left parts of Tel Aviv in ruins. Neither did Trump.
The ludicrous dreams of the US president of winning a Nobel Peace Prize have died in the dust of the streets of Gaza and the rubble in Tel Aviv. The Iranians say that as the Americans are the main supporter of Israel, the United States "will also be responsible for the dangerous effects and consequences" of Israel's attacks. Even some of Trump’s closest supporters have broken ranks with him over Iran including Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News anchorman, who says his former icon was  “complicit” in Israel’s attacks on Iran. Carlson says “Washington knew these attacks would happen. They aided Israel in carrying them out. Politicians purporting to be America First can’t now credibly turn around and say they had nothing to do with it”.  Or as Mollie Hemingway, another Republican pundit, put it: if Trump gave Israel the “green light” to target Iran, it “would be seen as an unforgivable betrayal by millions of American voters”.
 Israel has not been able to kill or drive out the defiant Arab population of the Gaza Strip. Gaza is not going to become a Trump-style American leisure resort. The Palestinians fight on. And so do the Iranians.

A new lease of life for Labour?

Labour’s victory in the south Lanarkshire by-election this week has surprised the bookies, dented the prestige of the SNP and boosted the standing of Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar. But while the nationalists were expected to hold their Hamilton, Larkhall & Stonehouse seat the political pundits always said it would be a close run thing.
And so it was with Labour’s Davy Russell beating the nationalists by a margin of 602 votes. The Faragists came a close third while the Scottish Tories were well behind with the also-rans.
Labour’s U-turn over pensioners’ winter-fuel payments and the expansion of the free school meals scheme clearly helped sway voters – as did the decision to keep Sir Keir Starmer well away from the constituency during the campaign. 
But though Labour and the nationalists were neck and neck in Hamilton the SNP still retain a clear lead in the national polls. Professor John Curtice says “the recent message from opinion polls are the SNP is running at just over 30 per cent, Labour is around 20 per cent, so it seems a reasonable expectation that such a result would not mean Anas Sarwar is Scotland’s next First Minister”.

No arms for Israel!

Too much even for Britain or France to stomach – the latest American veto at the United Nations shows the true colours of the Trump administration as the instigator of the Zionist massacres in the Gaza Strip. But while the Starmer government likes to pose as “even-handed” or even sympathetic to the legitimate demands of the Palestinians it continues to supplies arms and intelligence to the Zionist entity. 
Now a new Opinium poll reveals huge British public support for arms embargo on Israel by the UK government alongside other sanctions. The British public support a full arms embargo on Israel by more than 4 to 1, including 72 per cent of those who voted Labour in 2024. 54 per cent of the British public support Israel being expelled from the United Nations, with only 16 per cent being opposed. And 50 per cent of respondents supported the idea that supermarkets should no longer stock any goods produced in Israel, in line with the Co-op’s recent decision to boycott Israeli goods at its AGM.
Now we’ve go to turn these polls into reality. Get the message across at the monthly mass protests in London and the weekly demonstrations throughout the country.  From the river to the sea Palestine will be free!

Pastures new?

It didn’t take long for differences between Donald Trump and Elon Musk to degenerate into smears and common abuse. Musk is peddling all sorts of unsavoury stories about his former ally while Trump leaves it to his acolytes to call for Musk’s deportation as an “illegal immigrant”. 
The South African-born oligarch became an American citizen in 2002. He is still, apparently,  a Canadian citizen. But as he is unlikely to be welcomed back in either of his past homelands he should seriously consider the offer of a new safe haven in the Russian Federation.
Communist MP Dmitri Novikov, the first deputy chairman of the Committee on International Affairs in the Russian parliament, told the Moscow media that he could always seek political asylum in the Russian Federation. Somewhat tongue-in-cheek Novikov added that while he didn’t think Musk would need it “Russia, of course, could provide it”.
Indeed. Musk should take it while the going’s good given the irascible and unpredictable nature of the The Donald these days...

Knives out for Starmer

Smears, rumours and gossip. From the mainstream media to the murky corners of the dark web it’s clear that concerted efforts are being made by some of the Labour prominenti to clear the decks for a challenge to Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership later in the year. Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are in the frame amid renewed speculation around Andy Burnham’s return to the parliamentary arena.
The knives are out on the Labour street. Many in the Westminster bubble say any one of those three could do a better job than Starmer. The truth is that practically anyone in the Labour Party as a whole would be better than Starmer – the man who led Labour to landslide victory at the general election last year and is now leading them to an equally colossal defeat if the opinion polls are anything to go by.
Starmer is a cynical politician whose lodestar is simply to follow what he believes is the dominant trend within the British ruling class. Not an easy thing to do at the best of times – let alone in these fraught times of end days capitalism.
But there is no dominant trend within the ruling class these days – neither on the European Union, Nato or, more importantly, on how to deal with the Trump administration.
Starmer’s European “reset” enraged the Brexiteers but won him no favours from the Remainers who say, with some justification, that these token gestures to Brussels do nothing to swell the demand for a second referendum on the European Union. His attempt to become a “leader” in Europe by rallying Franco-German imperialism to stave off the collapse of the Zelensky regime is an equally pointless gesture as the fate of Ukraine is going to be decided by Washington and Moscow – regardless of the “special relationship” that supposedly exists between Britain and the United States.
Gone are the delusions of grandeur of the British ruling class who believed that the American sphere of influence across the globe constitutes the “free world” and that Britain was the second-in-command in policing it. The days when British imperialism could play off the USA against the Europeans by acting as a trans-Atlantic “bridge” between American imperialism and that of France and Germany are long gone. 
The “special relationship” that Winston Churchill believed went beyond the terms of the NATO alliance largely existed only in the imagination of Tory leaders and right-wing Labour politicians. Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair liked to pose as partners of Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton but at the end of the day it was always the Americans who called the shots. Boris Johnson talked about "a new special relationship"  and a trans-Atlantic free trade zone. But the ‘Treaty of Washington’ never saw the light of day and Trump’s latest thinking – a one-sided tariff agreement and the annexation of Canada – is totally unacceptable to the British ruling class.
In the corridors of power some believe Britain should simply sit it out. Put up with Trump until his term of office expires and hope for better times to come.  Others say time is not on their side – wary of the talk of a “new Yalta” in Washington and the Kremlin – a redivision of the world by the super-powers that would leave nothing but crumbs for Britain and the European Union.
A change may well be as good as a rest but Labour needs more than a cosmetic reshuffle of the top table to revive its flagging fortunes. Starmer, of course, has to go. But whoever takes his place will have to dump the old imperialist agenda if Labour is to have any hope of winning the next election.

The cowardly BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is one of our supposed “national treasures” whose aims are to educate, inform and entertain the public that funds it through the licence fee. Under the motto “Nation shall speak peace unto Nation” the BBC claims to be a pillar of impartiality and a reliable source of independent news at home and abroad. 
That was never the case back in the 1920s when the Corporation was founded. It’s certainly not the case now.
The BBC’s role has always been to serve the ruling class and defend British imperialism. During the Second World War the BBC’s policy of credible reporting easily outshone that of the Nazis. When the war ended the BBC continued to serve the ruling class and defend British imperialism. It totally failed to report a famine in Bengal that resulted in around 10 million deaths and was the result of a deliberate British imperialist policy of deprivation, and defended colonial efforts to maintain the Empire throughout the post-war era. 
During the Cold War the Beeb cashed in on its war-time prestige to churn out sophisticated anti-communist propaganda at home and all around the world in the service of Anglo-American imperialism. It was said that while news from the Voice of America and Radio Moscow were “95 per cent truth and five per cent lies” the BBC had the edge with “ninety-eight per cent truth and only two per cent lies”.
Those days are now long gone. Although the state-owned broadcasting service still promotes some serious dramas, its news and current affairs output is just cheap, dumbed-down, third-rate bourgeois propaganda.
The BBC consistently supported Nato aggression against Serbia, Iraq and Libya, and imperialist efforts for regime-change in Syria and Venezuela, whilst turning a blind eye to Ukrainian fascist war-crimes in the Donbas and routine Zionist atrocities against the Palestinians. Obscure Russian, Chinese and Korean dissidents are treated like latter-day Gandhis while communists and other left leaders in the Global South are vilified or simply ignored. 
This is the BBC that led the pack that demonised Jeremy Corbyn when he was the leader of the Labour Party. This is an international news outlet that crackdowns on their own journalists for sharing posts that include facts about Israeli atrocities in Gaza. This is the broadcaster that totally ignored the massive Palestine solidarity demonstration that rocked London last weekend. Some 600,000 people marched through the heart of the capital in support of the heroic Palestinians who still refuse to budge in the face of Israeli terror. But you wouldn’t know about it if you only relied on the BBC for home news.
Meanwhile this august body, which turned a blind eye to all sorts of degenerates like the late Jimmy Saville, can force out Gary Lineker for daring to publicly denounce the Zionist genocide in the Gaza Strip.
Lineker was a legend on the pitch. A top scorer in the League he made his England debut in 1984, earning 80 caps and scoring 48 goals over an eight-year international career, which made him England's second-highest goal-scorer on his retirement. Now he’s an immensely popular sports broadcaster. It’s the Beeb’s loss and Lineker’s gain. He’ll soon be back amongst the highest echelons of the sports media. As for the BBC no-one will miss it. The sooner it goes the better...

Back from the brink

Pakistani, Indian and Bangladeshi communists all called for restraint following clashes over Kashmir that, once again, took India and Pakistan to the brink of all-out war. The latest round of fighting was triggered by the sectarian killing of Hindu tourists in Indian-controlled Kashmir. The Indian government blame the Kashmiri Resistance Front, which they say is a front for Pakistani intelligence. The Resistance Front vehemently denies any involvement in the deadly attack. They say it was an Indian “false-flag” provocation designed to provide a pretext for more Indian aggression and they’re calling for an independent investigation into the massacre.
Pakistan called for an independent investigation into the massacre which was rejected by the Indians who instead launched coordinated airstrikes and artillery attacks on what they called the “terrorist infrastructure” across the cease-fire line that has divided Kashmir since 1949. Pakistan responded by downing five Indian war-planes and a surveillance drone. Fortunately both nuclear powers have pulled back from further action that could have spelt disaster for millions of people in Pakistan and India. But a cease-fire isn’t going to end the Kashmir crisis that has led to  four all-out wars with Pakistan since independence. 
The crisis goes back to the shambles of the partition of the British Raj in 1947. Faced with the overwhelming demand of the Indian masses for independence after the Second World War Britain had no choice but to bring down the curtain on direct colonial rule and that of the feudal Indian kings who ruled the “princely states” of the Indian Empire.  
But the British ruling class believed that sectarian divisions would preserve their interests after independence.  Millions upon millions died in communal rioting, partition, the establishment of the supposedly secular Indian Union and the Muslim state of Pakistan (which then included Bangladesh) and the first Indo-Pakistan war that followed.
Kashmir's decision to join the Indian Union was made by their feudal prince without consultation with the people – a fact recognised by one of the first decisions of the United Nations, which agreed on a referendum to allow the population to vote on whether they wanted to join India, Pakistan or establish their own independent state.
India is led by a reactionary high-caste party that relies on the support of anti-Muslim Hindu movements to keep them in office. The decision of the Modi government to abolish the Indian-Kashmiris right to their own constitution and parliament fulfils the long-term objective of the Hindu supremacists who want to end all pretence of secularism in the Republic of India.
A cease-fire line divides Kashmir – one-third under Pakistani control while India administers the rest. The vast majority of the population are Muslims with close ties to Pakistan. There can be no doubt that any popular vote would lead either to union with Pakistan or independence. The Indians have never accepted this and now they think Pakistan is too weak to stop them annexing Eastern Kashmir outright.
Pakistan and India are both nuclear powers and another full-scale war could easily escalate into a nuclear exchange that would leave millions dead. We must support all efforts to ensure that this does not happen.
But the key demand must be the end of partition. We must uphold the original UN resolution and support the just demand for a referendum to let the Kashmiri people decide if they want to be part of India, Pakistan, or in an independent state of Kashmir.

A symbol of China’s Dulong people in London

by New Worker correspondent

David Francis and the blanket

A traditional Dulong blanket from China's least populous ethnic minority made its debut at the opening of the China National Pavilion during the 2025 London Craft Week which ran until 18th May. The China Pavilion is themed "Tian Gong Kai Wu" after a renowned 17th-century Chinese encyclopedia widely regarded as the world's first systematic record of Chinese craftsmanship and agricultural knowledge. 
The Dulong primarily reside in Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture in south-west China. The Dulong blanket, woven by Dulong women, is a cultural symbol of their community.
The Dulong display was supported by the Mothers' Needlework initiative, launched by the China Ping An Group and the Art and Design Press. The programme aims to promote women's employment and alleviate poverty.
At the opening Zhao Fei, from the Chinese embassy, highlighted the shared heritage of craftsmanship in both China and Britain. He noted that both countries have splendid craft traditions, and expressed hope that this year's London Craft Week would deepen mutual understanding and friendship between the two nations.
Qian Zhu, president and editor-in-chief of Art and Design magazine, said that Dulong blankets and its related textiles generate annual sales of approximately 500,000 yuan (£51,600) in the UK. For an ethnic group with a population of just 7,000, the growing domestic and international recognition of Dulong textiles is a significant achievement.
David Francis, a lecturer in Curating Asian Art at SOAS, University of London, whose research includes ethnic minority communities in China said he was excited to see textiles he had encountered in China now being exhibited in London. He emphasised the importance of integrating traditional craft with contemporary design to resonate with modern audiences.