YOUNG communists have a great responsibility to win over our generation to the class struggle and the fight against imperialism.
 
It is easy for many to fall into apathy at what appears to be a dismal future, but the massive contributions that young people are making now to the pro-Palestine movement should fill anyone with hope.
 
Young workers have a lot of energy and creativity to give to the labour and progressive movement, especially in the anti-imperialist struggle, but young communists must bridge the gap between single-issue campaigners and those who are part of building the class struggle.
 
This is important as workers in one of the leading imperialist powers in the world with a ruling class who does not care how much death and destruction it takes to get profit. The British ruling class is made up of those who own major financial companies and through them non-financial companies.
 
They make up a small fraction of the population but wield a vast amount of influence over how Britain’s economy is organised to maximise their profits at home and super-profits abroad.
 
The government are grateful to assist them in this endeavour. Super-profits abroad arise from imperialism, which is marked by monopolisation, inter-imperialist rivalry, war, and colonial or neocolonial super-exploitation. This results in uneven development, especially in parts of Africa and Latin America.
 
Many of these countries blighted by imperialism are behind on economic and social development measures as Britain and the West continue to plunder their natural resources, exploit their labour, and plunge them into debt bondage.
 
Institutions of Western power, including Nato, the IMF, and the EU, uphold the interests of the advanced capitalist states, opposing all genuine popular democratic movements. The reckless drive for market and resource dominance leads to war and bloodshed and the sponsorship of repressive regimes and foreign occupations, killing thousands, and creating many more refugees.
 
Britain’s response to the refugee crisis was to create the Rwanda Bill rather than stop the imperialist interventions that created the crisis in the first place.
 
This serves the insatiable interests of monopoly power. Western monopoly power, led by the US, is now challenged by the rise of China as a global superpower.
 
Inter-imperialist rivalry, once united in the cold war against the USSR, is now united against China. We see this in the Aukus military pact and Quad security initiatives, alongside the US’s strategic military encirclement of China.
 
The propaganda barrage against China has been ramped up in the last 10 years with Huawei bans in Britain and government accusations of Chinese foreign agents justifying stoked tensions against China.
 
The ability of social media, particularly apps such as TikTok and Instagram, to proliferate anti-China propaganda cross-generationally has worked in the interests of Western power. War and other imperialist interventions are not in the interests of the working class in Britain.
 
While our public-sector services are crumbling down around us, the government tells us that there is no money to fund vital services. Yet billions are spent on wars around the globe every year.
 
We can tie the escalation of conflict internationally to the worsening conditions of the working class in Britain. The Labour Party offers no alternative to this order as it maintains a pro-imperialist, pro-capitalist agenda with timid, neoliberal policies that do not differ too much from the Tories, hence why so many Tories are defecting to Labour.
 
The same can be said for the SNP, which applauds the EU and Nato, as well as Welsh Labour, who greenlit the training of Saudi pilots on their land, both parties readily participating in imperialist rhetoric and activity.
 
Millions of working-class people are uninspired and disillusioned by the state of democracy in Britain. Workers are taught that politics is not for them, that they only get one vote every five years, and then they go back to living their lives devoid of any say in policies that affect them.
 
It is the job of communists to show the working class that politics involves more than just the ballot box. Britain, as a leading imperialist power and member state of Nato, supports all imperialist interventions that promote the geopolitical and military strategies of the US.

That is why it is a necessity that communists in Britain consider and campaign against imperialism. Working to dismantle Britain as an imperialist power is one of the biggest contributions that we can make to international solidarity, liberation, and socialism.

We fight for socialism because we know that it is the only answer to ending the misery that capitalism inflicts upon workers. By ending class-based exploitation, the drive to war would cease, because there would be no need to dominate foreign markets and resources to maximise profits.

Thus, the overthrow of capitalism in Britain would not only benefit the working class in Britain but millions of workers around the world. Building mass support for progressive and revolutionary change is essential to overthrowing capitalism in Britain.
 
The working class needs to be engaged with politics in their communities, workplaces, and schools or campuses to improve their material conditions. That is why every communist should be a member of a community or tenants’ union, trade union or student union.

Many of these organisations campaign against imperialist projects and promote international solidarity; however, there is still work to be done to combat pro-war and pro-imperialist sections of these organisations and to build class consciousness among the working class. The recruitment and development of youth should be a priority in these efforts.
 
Socialism and youth are alike in the fact that we are struggling towards something different. The labour and progressive movement needs young workers’ creative capacities and drive to be able to effectively challenge capitalism and imperialism.

This potential is evident in young workers’ contributions to the anti-imperialist and anti-war movements. Thousands of young people are being politicised by the genocide in Gaza, demonstrating in the streets, staging university encampments, and ensuring stories from Gaza are not suppressed.
 
However, young workers have little contact with the labour movement, who have an ageing membership. Bridging the gap must be a priority of young communists to deepen the political consciousness of young workers and build the struggle for socialism. In forging our new path, young workers can build the struggle for socialism by effectively challenging Britain’s ruling class and its interests.
 
Young workers are demonstrating what it takes to damage these interests through boycotts, encampments and protests, and show true international solidarity in the pro-Palestine movement.

One action may not be a lot, but united together the working class can achieve anything. For peace, jobs and socialism in our lifetime.