The Stop the War Coalition panel at the beginning of the conference
THE trade union movement risks “sleepwalking into catastrophe” by mutely following a Tory government bent on escalating war with Russia, delegates at the first ever Stop the War Coalition trade union conference heard today.
Stop the War vice-chair and former Unite chief of staff Andrew Murray warned that the British government had the most aggressive stance of any world power on the war in Ukraine — with even the United States seeing more “nuance and dissent”.
By contrast, a cross-party consensus in Britain was pushing the war’s “continuation, exacerbation and extension” — and the TUC’s endorsement of more arms spending showed it failed to understand that “war is a class question and the working-class movement must stand against it,” he charged.
Investing the £75 billion slated for defence spending on a green new deal, healthcare and education would create jobs and help communities far more than weapons spending, argues UCU general secretary JO GRADY
LIZ PAYNE condemns how Labour backs war in Gaza and Ukraine, and massive funding for Trident’s nuclear bombs, when billions are needed just to restore public services
