by Ed Renyard (national members council)
A year on and the proxy war and devastation of Ukraine orchestrated by the US led, imperialist NATO bloc, is fully supported by the Labour party.
Articles, statements and propaganda spouted by the Labour leadership reveal the deep-rooted nature of Labour’s ties politically, economically and ideologically to the military industrial complex of anglo-american imperialism. A complex responsible (in just the last thirty years) for the destruction of Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Yemen and a host of other nations bombed into oblivion or submission. Those not at the missiles tip can still expect in place of tomahawk cruise missiles the diplomacy of numerous sanctions as seen in the case of Syria, Venezuela or Iran.
The Labour party, fully endorses the war, shadow defence secretary John Healey with a sublime record of voting for predatory wars, was jubilant last year in celebrating the last stand of soldiers he knows are doomed “… bravery is led by President Zelensky personally, but it is typified by the military last stand of the troops at the Azovstal steel plant.”
Healey regurgitates the NATO line telling us Russia’s military operation in Ukraine was unprovoked. Healey glories in the sanctions imposed on Russia to the eye watering detriment of the British economy and the ramping up of weapons funding to Ukraine as seen with the recent provision of Challenger 2 tanks.
Healey had this to say about sending British tanks to wage war against a nuclear armed power
“Modern tanks are crucial to Ukraine’s efforts to win its battle against Russian aggression.
“The Government has Labour’s fullest backing for military assistance to Ukraine.
“As the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion approaches, this will help reassure Ukrainians that Britain will stand with them for as long as it takes and signal to Putin that things will get worse not better for Russia.“
https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/uk-challenger-2-tanks-ukraine
Healey and his ilk naturally revel in their party’s role in founding the military clique, telling us
“First, Labour’s commitment to NATO is unshakeable. And mutual defence through Article V is the cornerstone of Labour’s commitment on Britain’s security, which Attlee’s foreign secretary Ernest Bevin fought for at NATO’s foundation. All wings of our party supported its formation.”
https://labour.org.uk/press/john-healey-speech-at-rusi-on-labours-core-principles-on-defence-and-security/
The Labour party remains as committed today to NATO as it was eager to found it in 1949, just as today it remains as paranoid and vulgar in its views of Russia as Clement Atlee was which led him to secretly host US atomic weapons so that they would be in range of Russian targets.
Then as now the Labour party serve the interests of the British ruling class and their economic interests.
Labour shadow foreign secretary David Lammy has claimed
“UK leadership could be securing new security agreements with European partners that would allow British businesses to take advantage of new defence investment and help create a more capable European pillar in Nato.”
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/putin-invasion-ukraine-europe-security-b2043886.html
So zealous is the leadership of the Labour party that they pursued the handful of MP’s signing the relatively meek and pacifist statement by Stop the War on Ukraine with swift withdrawal of the party whip should they be so bold as to criticise NATO. As such Labour continue a decades-long tradition of being the party of war and deftly silencing the opposition.
Starmer, in silencing dissenting anti-war voices in the parliamentary Labour party has shown to the party and to the ruling class that he is the true heir to his fellow knight, and war criminal, Tony Blair. The same Tony Blair who had the cheek to describe Russian President Vladimir Putin in monstrous terms,
“He became the autocrat, accumulating personal wealth and unfettered power … though cold-blooded, still calculating … detached from reality, and with no one around him prepared to tell him the truth …”
The Labour party and the Conservative party on the question of imperial foreign affairs cannot be distinguished. And this is nothing new. Tory grandee and foreign secretary Anthony Eden said of Ernest Bevin
“There were many discussions on foreign affairs. I cannot recall one single occasion when there was a difference between us. I hope I do not embarrass the foreign secretary when I say that.”
It seems the current generation of politicians have even less shame, let alone red cheeks of embarrassment. Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak on the one hand and Keir Starmer, David Lammy and John Healey on the other could not fit a fag paper between them on the question of British imperial ambition in conjunction with erstwhile NATO allies. It is no coincidence that opposing benches of parliament stand shoulder to shoulder on the question of Eastern European frontiers. Chew on these for a spot the difference,
“As members of Nato, our security border is not the cliffs of Dover, but the frontiers of our eastern European allies that border Ukraine.” (David Lammy, Labour)
“In today’s world, the road to Global Britain runs through eastern Europe.” (Tom Tugenhat, Tory MP, Chair of the foreign affairs committee).
Of course, the frontiers of British interest are not the borders of Ukraine or a country road in the Donbass but the independent and nuclear armed nation that has held NATO to account. Such independence is an unacceptable challenge to imperialist hegemony.
As Russia has held NATO to account we in turn must hold Britain and particularly the Labour party to account. The Labour party in the name of British workers cannot be allowed to continue the barbarism and savagery of genocide, predatory wars and sanctions it has conducted. The Labour party as such must be destroyed as a political vehicle and a party bearing the interests of the working class must take its place calling for an end to imperialist wars and financial domination, starting with withdrawal from Nato.