While war and poverty rage…the rich get richer

From the Socialist, the paper of the Socialist Party England and Wales

The news from Mariupol and Ukraine continues to be heartbreaking. The war rolls on. The death toll climbs. The suffering multiplies. The brutality escalates. The refugees flood out, fleeing the horrors in search of safety.

Not everyone suffers in a war however. It’s been revealed that British weapons manufacturer BAE Systems’ share price rose 23% in the first four weeks of the war.

Across the world, big business bosses will be watching their bank balances fatten up as the war rolls on. 16 of the world’s 20 biggest arms dealers have also seen share prices rise as this war rages.

Meanwhile, April brings further suffering for working-class families as wages lag way behind bill rises and price hikes, not to mention the brutal attacks coming from the bosses’ fire and rehire or, in the case of P&O; ‘fire  and then super-exploit other workers’. And like the arms producers, the energy companies are racking up obscene profits.

War is the inevitable consequence of an international capitalist system based on profit, exploitation and oppression. So is poverty. So is working-class people suffering.

Five members of the House of Lords have shares in BAE Systems according to the official register of interests. Neither they nor any of the parties currently in Westminster have an alternative to the war, nor to the driving down of working-class living standards.

None of them, including the Labour Party under Keir Starmer, support the nationalisation of the gas and energy companies. The Tories and New Labour represent those who benefit from war and profiteering!

The conclusion is that we need new mass parties that represents the working class – anti-war, anti-cuts, pro-nationalisation. They need to be based on strengthening the trade unions in struggle, and a programme that puts workers’ interests first – a socialist programme. Join the Socialist Party to fight for that.

• Stop the war in Ukraine. Withdraw Russian troops and end the bombing
• No to ethnic division and cleansing. For workers’ unity, and self-determination and full democratic rights for all minorities
• Visa-free travel for those fleeing the war and the right to asylum. No to racist immigration laws
• Homes and services for all: take the wealth off the oligarchs and all the 1%. Workers mustn’t pay the price for the economic consequences of war
• No trust in any capitalist politicians. For the building of mass workers’ parties to oppose war and represent working-class interests, not the bosses
• Fight for a socialist alternative to war and capitalism