Starmer's 'lumpen politics'? Fading mass hope following Conservative defeat in UK

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak

In a Labour Party Election Broadcast on April 16th, 2024, Sir Keir Starmer highlighted how his working-class background influences his approach to politics. In a BBC interview on May 27th, 2024, Sir Starmer reinforced his working-class roots and promised to serve the interests of the working people in Britain. He even described himself as a progressive and a socialist. However, the mass hope following the Conservative Party's defeat is fading as Starmer's politics and policies as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom are revealed.

As he unveils himself as PM, he not only betrays his working-class voters but also his own working-class heritage. Starmer’s ideology, political positions, principles and policies changes more often than British weather. There is nothing called political pledge to principles for him.

In a recent press briefing on 27th of August 2024, Prime Minister Starmer warned the working masses in Britain that the upcoming October budget would be painful. He advised people to "accept short-term pain for long-term good." He is planning to implement Tory austerity measures that will increase the cost of everyday living for working people.

Starmerism is an ideology-free zone where commitment to principles is denied, and the lumpen politics of opportunism are promoted to uphold the interests of the transnational and national capitalist classes in Britain. He seized every opportunity to suppress democratic dissent within the party, ensuring that there is no space for popular leftist leadership or socialist debates within the Labour Party under his leadership.

In doing so, Starmer has not only dismantled the Labour Party as a democratic socialist party but also transformed the party into a second-rate Tory party. The traditional labour party is doomed, and the future of Britain looks bleak under Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

Austerity is not an economic policy; it is a project by the capitalist class to drain the pockets of working people. Austerity measures create economic conditions where the working masses suffer in crisis, normalising low wages and naturalising job insecurity. These conditions of low wages and job insecurity undermine a productive environment for innovation and diminish the productive abilities of the working class.

Britain began experiencing rising wealth inequalities and increasing low incomes during the 1980s due to policies of liberalisation, privatisation, and globalisation. These policies introduced structural adjustments and internal austerity measures as policy alternatives. In reality, austerity can neither help in the short term nor in the long term.

It works against social, economic, and scientific progress and prosperity. It creates conditions of destitution that destabilises economy. Therefore, austerity is a destructive economic choice, now being adopted by the Labour government under the leadership of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

Starmer has not only dismantled the Labour Party as a democratic socialist party but also transformed the party into a second-rate Tory party

The working people are suffering from the rising cost of living crisis, whereas British corporations are making super profits. The Labour Party government under Keir Starmer is working like the Tories to protect the super-rich in Britain by marginalising the working people. His electoral promises and his actions in government are diametrically opposed to each other.

The working masses did not vote for austerity measures in health, education, transportation, and other welfare services. People gave a landslide victory to the Labour Party to recover from the crisis, not to normalise it in their everyday lives in Britain.

The lumpen politics of the Labour Party under Starmer's leadership reveals that there is no fundamental difference between the Conservative and Labour leadership. Both uphold the interests of the British establishment. It is clear that these two parties have failed and have no plans to uphold the interests of the working masses.

Such an ideological alliance between the two mainstream parties in Britain creates an opportunity to establish the foundations of alternative politics based on peace, prosperity, and progress. By centering the interests of the working masses, this alternative approach can address the political and economic crises in British society.

Working-class mobilisation is the first step toward defeating these two mainstream parties and politics of their lumpen leadership. The working class's dependency on the British establishment must end. It is time to establish working-class politics as the only viable alternative to establishment politics.

No more expenditures on wars and focus on people’s welfare. These possibilities can only address ongoing everyday crisis in Britain.

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