Communist Manifesto

Vote CPGB on May 7!

You have an important opportunity in these May local elections in England and Wales. You can deliver your verdict on one year of New Labour rule. The Communist Party is standing in these elections offer a genuine alternative to the establishment parties. Unlike the Tory, New Labour, Liberal Democrat, Green, Welsh nationalists and the various fascist and anti-European parties standing in this election, our manifesto has nothing to do with running capitalism.

At the same time, we make no bones about it - elections as such change nothing. The economy is dominated from top to bottom by big monopolies. This is a thousand times more significant than any election. It is these unelected capitalists - with their obscene levels of wealth - that decide the overall direction of the economy and of our political life. New Labour has shown itself the willing servant of these big business interests. It has carried on with exactly the same core policies as the despised Tories. Blair promised a 'New Britain' when he was elected last May. After 18 long years of Tory barbarism, millions hoped that kicking Major's gang out would at least mean an end to the corruption, bigotry and crass attacks on working people that was the hallmark of their rule. Few had illusions in Labour, but most thought it could not be as bad as the Tories. Blair and his New Labour have quickly disabused people of that illusion. Just look at their record in office.

The trade unions - basic organisations of working people - remain shackled by the Tories anti-trade union laws. Effective strike action is more or less illegal. Labour is continuing the policies of privatisation and deregulation that have cut services to the bone and lined the pockets of the politicians' well placed friends. NHS waiting lists are now longer than under the Tories, despite the pre-election promises. Real funding continues to decline in relation to what is really needed. Workers in the industry are still to be paid insulting levels of wages and have been warned by health minister Frank Dobson not to expect much more. Those in work still have to work longer and harder than workers anywhere else in Europe. The fear of unemployment, of chronic job insecurity continues under Labour as it did under the Tories.

Unemployment remains at 1930s levels. The only solution of New Labour is more hopeless cheap labour schemes or harassment. The appointment of Frank Field - a man with truly 'Victorian attitudes' - to "think the unthinkable" in the field of welfare indicates the direction of Blairite thinking. Most new jobs presented to the unemployed are badly paid, often part-time and with few or no union rights.

Cynically, New Labour has picked up where the Tories left off with draconian law and order campaigns. These are nothing but an excuse to erode our democratic rights and hard won liberties. Jack Straw is simply lying through his teeth. Study after study show that despite having tens of thousands of people - overwhelming working class and disproportionately black - banged up in the inhuman squalor that fills most prisons, crime and anti-social behaviour increases. The lives of millions of ordinary people continue to blighted. The hypocritical law and order drives simply give the state more excuse to pry into and regulate our lives.

None of this should be a surprise. From its very first days in government in the 1920s, through its vicious attacks in the 1970s (which saw unemployment double and working class living standards fall more steeply than under Thatcher), to today's openly pro-capitalist regime of Tony Blair, Labour has been essentially the same as the Tories. It has been 100% loyal to the British imperialist state, at home and abroad. It has organised brutal colonial oppression in India, Kenya, Malaya, Cyprus, Aden and - of course - Ireland. It has used troops to break the strikes of workers in this country and has always met any challenge to the capitalist system with brutal oppression.

The only real difference with Blair's New Labour is that now it does not even pretend to have anything to do with the working class or socialism. Without a hint of shame, it declares itself to be the party of big business - just like the Tories. For the first time in nearly a century, working people in this country do not have a mass party that even pretends to be on their side. The ruling class - a tiny, privileged minority of the population - now have three Westminster parties that openly defend it and its system.

The working class needs to build a party of its own. The working class needs the build a mass organisation that fights for real socialism. Real socialism has nothing to do with the brutal monstrosity of a society that was built by Stalin and collapsed under Gorbachev. Socialism is a system of planned production for human need, not profit. Socialism is the only way to end the horror of pollution and ecological destruction. Socialism will mean that science and technology will be harnessed to liberate humanity, not exploit them, make them redundant or carbonise them with brutish weapons of mass destruction. Socialism is the answer to the wars, anarchy and crises of capitalism. It is the only hope not only of the world's working class, but also for all of humanity.

The Communist Party is fighting to make that hope a reality. That is why we are standing in these local elections - to get our message to as many people as we possibly can. We make no pretence that elections under capitalism change anything.

Thus, the demands we outline here in this manifesto are not some shopping list of empty pledges we promise to deliver you when we're after your vote, then quickly forget after we are elected. It is an action programme that every single one of our candidates is committed to fighting for before, during and after the election. It is programme for genuine change, based on what we need to lead decent and dignified lives in the here and how. Blair wants to save the United Kingdom by reforms. We want to get rid of the monarchy and replace it with the most far-reaching democracy. What this rotting system and what its two-faced political spin-doctors say can be "afforded" should not even enter into our calculations.

Our immediate demands

Not a single one of the rights the working class has ever fought for has been simply handed over by the British state. Whether its has been voting rights for the working class, free education for our children or the right to form unions, we have had to fight the ruling class for it. Every one of the establishment parties - with Labour at the head of the pack - will tell us that the system cannot afford such things. But all these rights are necessary for a full life in Britain today. The Communist Party puts people before profits. We say if capitalism cannot afford to give people a decent life, then it should go

Democracy

Communists are for the fullest democracy both under capitalism and socialism. Of course, Blair talks about 'democracy' too. But for him, this means saving the constitutional monarchy system, sham parliaments in Wales and Scotland, puppet dictators as city mayors and powerless councils. This is why communists are for a boycott of the London May 7 referendum. For us, democracy is far more than putting a cross on a piece of paper once every few years to decide who will misrepresent you. It means taking control of our lives and actively fighting to end all privilege and oppression.

• For a federal republic of England, Scotland and Wales
• Abolish the monarchy, the House of Lords and all hereditary privilege
• For proportional representation and the recallability of all elected representatives
• Separate the Church of England from the state
• For free speech. Against the pernicious growth of censorship
• Freedom of religious belief and freedom of atheistic information
• For openness in all state and business affairs
• For an elected democratic assembly in London and all towns and cities

Ireland

Blair's much-hyped 'peace settlement' in Northern Ireland is actually the latest phase in the long running imperialist domination by Britain. The basic source of conflict remains unresolved. The division of Ireland in 1921 and the British support for an artificial, sectarian statelet in the north. Communists support Irelands right to self-determination and all those fighting for it.

• Britain has no progress role in Ireland. It must withdraw immediately, leaving the Irish people free to determine their own future
• Smash all 'anti-terrorism' legislation
• Release all Irish political prisoners
• Boycott the May 22 referendum. For a united Ireland

Scotland and Wales

New Labour's 'parliament' in Scotland and assembly in Wales are sops. Neither have the basic right that these two nationalities in Britain really want - the right to self-determination up to and including the right to separate and form new nations. The fact that we stand for this right does not mean that we advocate nationalism and the division of Britain along national lines. Far from it. In Scotland and Wales, our Party has fought against ugly 'anti-English' chauvinism and called for the continued unity of the peoples of this island. But the divisiveness of nationalism is best fought not by denying rights, but by extending them.

• For Scottish and Welsh parliaments with full powers up to and including the right to become independent
• For unity against the monarchy, against separation
• For measures to encourage the full development of Gaelic and Welsh cultural life
• For the full equality of Welsh and Gaelic in all relevant official documents and proceedings

Women

The three major capitalist parties make a great show of their commitment to 'equality' for women. But their parliamentary tokenism barely touches the lives of ordinary women. Women still get less pay, do most housework, child rearing and caring for elderly relatives. They are still second class citizens, patronised and oppressed by a male chauvinist society. There must be equal pay for equal work. Also, moves towards the full socialisation of the drudgery of housework with comprehensive nursery provision and state sponsored care of the infirm.

• Free contraception and abortion on demand
• Free, high quality, 24-hour nurseries
• NHS day and night care for the housebound

Minorities and immigration

Communists are for the right of all ethnic minorities to use and be educated in their mother tongue. We also support their right to assimilate, to be educated in and speak English. We oppose all separate schools based on language, religion, sex or ethnicity. Ethnic minorities and migrant workers are often used as cheap labour by capitalism. Discrimination and threat of deportation keep wages low and divide the working class. A split working class undermines the possibility of trade union organisation. Immigration controls have nothing to do with 'overcrowding'; they are designed to criminalise migrant workers.

• Stop police raids
• For the right to emigrate from Britain, for the right to migrate here
• End all immigration controls - if the product made by the worker is legal, then so is the worker
• Full citizenship rights for all workers
• United workers' defence to combat racist attacks and fascist provocation

Law and order

The police are corrupt, chauvinist, and reactionary. As an institution, they were founded not to 'protect' society, but to keep working people and the poor in their place. They serve capitalism, not the people. New Labour home secretary Jack Straw is as concerned as his Tory predecessor Michael Howard to give the police and the courts more and more draconian powers. Communists say shutting ever greater numbers of people up in squalid, overcrowded prisoners actually makes the problem worse. We must change the conditions, which cause crime - poverty, alienation, unemployment and social fragmentation. We do not need the police to start to do that; we need integrated workers' defence patrols of our communities.

• No support for the police
• Repeal all laws against drugs. At a stroke, this would dramatically reduce crime. Like prohibition in America of the 1920s, criminalising drugs actually creates huge levels of crime
• Prisoners must have the right to vote and access to extensive training and education. Prison must be about rehabilitation, not punishment
• Prisoners' work must be paid at the trade union rate for the job

Lesbians and gays

Communists are for the full equality of people, whatever their sexual orientation. No more jailings for consensual sexual acts. No discrimination against homosexuality or lesbianism in the sexual education of the young. Sexual preferences outside heterosexuality must not be presented as 'unnatural'.

• End police harassment of homosexuals and lesbians
• Abolish clause 28
• For the right to adopt for homosexual and lesbian couples
• For workers' defence against 'queerbashers'

Youth

Youth are the future. Young people in education should receive grants at the level of the minimum wage from the age of 16. If young people are allowed to work at 16 every other social right must be extended to them. The age of consent is an arbitrary ruling that only acts to oppress and criminalise most of our youth. Young people themselves must be free to decide when they are ready for sexual activity, without the stigma of breaking the law.

• For the right to vote in elections and be elected from the age of 16
• Abolish the age of consent. For alternative legislation to protect the young from abuse and exploitation

Education

Schools and colleges are run down, understaffed and underfunded. Communists say there must be comprehensive and free education for everyone who wants it, from nursery to degree level. We say elitism must be fought and the battle for democracy won in education.

• Boards of governors in schools and colleges must be made up of elected representatives of teachers, pupils over 16, local working class organisations and, where appropriate, parents
• Abolish private schools

Trade unions

Labour is happy to continue the Tories' anti-union legislation that has made effective trade unionism illegal. Most trade union leaders have tamely accepted this, fearing to break the law. Communists say there must be a right to join a trade union and the right to be represented, no matter how few trade unionists there may be in the workplace.

• No state control or supervision of the trade unions
• For democratic rank and file control of the unions
• All trade union officials should be electable, recallable and their pay limited to that of their members' average
• Smash all anti-trade union laws

Wages

Our starting point is what is required for a decent life in Britain today. That means communists support workers in struggle for better pay and conditions.

• A minimum weekly wage of £285 - a maximum of 35 hours a week
• End all compulsory overtime with no loss of pay

Unemployment

Across Europe, the tens of millions of potentially productive workers on the scrapheap are an indictment of the economic madness of capitalism. Instead of working to enhance the life of society as a whole, the unemployed are used to keep the wage levels of those in work low. Communists want to organise the unemployed alongside the employed to present a united challenge to capitalism and its state.

• No to Job Seekers Allowance and New Deal. Work at trade union rates of pay or benefit at the level of the minimum wage
• Oppose all redundancies and natural wastage schemes
• Threats of closure should be met with occupations
• Nationalise unprofitable industries faced with closure. Put them under the control of the workers
• No slave labour 'training' schemes. For real training under workers' control

Housing

Homelessness and overcrowding exist side by side with empty houses and unemployed building workers. Decent housing is a basic right. We say there must be good quality housing for all.

• An emergency programme of house building and repair
• For the right to occupy empty houses
• Confiscate the second homes of the rich. Distribute housing according to need

Pensioners

The state treats elderly people with contempt. After a lifetime of work, they are excess baggage when they can no longer provide the capitalists with profit. Private pensions are being pushed for those that can afford them. At the same time, the relative worth of state pensions is steadily falling. Communists say that pensioners have a right to a full life.

• Pensions set at the minimum wage - £285 a week
• For the right to stop work at 60
• No compulsory retirement age

Taxes

Over the last 20 years, the top 10% of society have had huge tax handouts at our expense. We say that the burden must be shifted from indirect to direct taxation. There must be no income or council tax for those on low or middle incomes.

• Abolish VAT
• Force the big companies and the rich to fund state spending
• End the right of the rich to pass on their wealth

NHS

The NHS was a real gain for our class. But both Labour and the Tories have starved it of cash. We say that the service must meet the growing needs of the population, not be run according to what capitalism can afford. NHS hospitals must be run not by unaccountable trusts, but by democratic committees of trade unionists and elected local working class representatives.

• Abolish the waiting lists
• No private practice in the NHS
• Comprehensive, free medical, dental and optical treatment