Inclusive Socialism

WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE

77 percent of Britons want reductions in the number of new arrivals to their country. Eight out of 10 Britons now believe that immigration rates should be limited, with almost six in 10 supporting significant reductions in the number of foreigners allowed in.
One in three Britons now support the view that immigration stimulates Britain culturally, as opposed to 45 percent who believe it is outright dangerous.
56 percent favor reducing the number of new arrivals “a lot” – a record figure. In 1995, when the question was first posed to Britons, just 39 percent supported major reductions, while two years ago only 51 percent held the view.

54 percent of individuals who view immigration as a positive factor for the economy still want to see immigration reductions, including one full quarter who would favor “severe reductions.” Among those who believe immigration is culturally beneficial to the nation, 55 percent still support greater limitations.

In October 2013 an Italian teenager who had recently gone to the UK to study and find work was beaten to death . Joele Leotta, 19, was brutally attacked by a group of young men who accused him of “stealing English jobs”,  the attackers were migrant workers themselves from Lithuania. The history of immigration is rife with this phenomenon of old waves of immigrants attacking new waves of immigrants for undercutting their labour.  When  British broadcasters do on-the-street interviews they are easily able to find first or second generation immigrants to say they support a government policy of lowering the number of immigrants who can come into the country and cracking down on illegal immigration. It's not hard to see why if they are being told that their own jobs are being threatened by new waves of immigration. For the poor will look for what seems an easy solution such as attacking the "outsiders who take our jobs".

 Athough anti-immigration hysteria, racism and propaganda are nothing new, we are witnessing again the development of increasing hostility, xenophobia, discrimination and intolerance towards immigrants. An old fashioned class war waged by the rich and powerful cheered on by the politicians vying for votes and a right-wing media has produced a xenophobic UK. The message that they purvey is that Britain is not the most welcoming place for a foreign person to go. The ruling class wish to produce yet a new distraction for people to project their anger and bitterness at the suffering  they are told to endure for the good of the economy. Nationalism is systematically created and perpetuated from the top of society in order to divert attention from their own failures. Immigrants, time and again, are the sacrificial scapegoats.

Modern nationalists talk of the threat to "cultural identity". The different culture being objected to inevitably belongs to the poor and powerless. Today the rise of modern communications technology, social networks and internet and so on makes communicating with people across national borders and cultural boundaries easier and more "natural" than ever. Yet xenophobia remains a powerful emotive and irrational force. The two most common negative ideas of immigrants contradict one another. These are the claims that immigrants steal jobs and that they come to Britain for ‘benefit tourism’ by going on the dole and claiming housing benefit. Politicians easily ignore making young people and families homeless through housing benefit cuts and universal credit. For the Socialist Party it is irrelevant whether or not immigrants claim a lot of benefits or not. If it could be proven that they do, which it can’t, because they do not, all the evidence show that immigrants use substantially fewer public services than people born in the UK, we would still never side with those calling for limitations to immigration and curtailment of migrant workers  rights.  Curbs on immigration are used to divide workers amongst themselves, thus weakening them. The working class, is not divided into ‘British’, ‘Polish’ and ‘Roumanian’, but is one class.

We always emphasise that the real burden in society is the idle capitalist class and their perpetual drive for profits. We live in a global economy, with an international division of labour. There are also economic advantages for some employers in promoting immigration.  Capital wants to be able to move freely, from border to border. But it preys upon labour, and like any other predator, it wants to be able to catch its prey easily. Thus controls on the free-movement of labour can be to its advantage.  Denying them rights and turning migrants into social pariahs enables the capitalists to hold down their wages. The fact that the ‘problem’ of immigration under capitalism can never be resolved, is both a blessing and a curse for the ruling class. It means they can constantly play the race card. But it also means that each party that promises to attack immigrant rights so that British workers can get more jobs and housing, must always fail and lose its support, since workers are not really interested in attacking immigrants but in getting decent jobs and housing. Capitalism cannot provide these things. It is the social system of capitalism which is responsible for mass unemployment and homelessness. Immigration has nothing to do with it. It is capitalism, and capitalism alone, that does not know what to do with the abundant human and technological resources at our disposal. The world has the potential to feed and clothe all its peoples, to guarantee decent housing and jobs for all. But for that to happen, the ownership of the resources must be taken out of the hands of a small minority of capitalists. Without putting society under the genuine, democratic control of humanity (i.e. socialism), we are at the mercy of blind, inhuman forces like the market.

We are descendants of migrants. The Socialist Party stands for inclusive socialism and  learning from each other’s differences.