Communist Party leader attacks right wing media consensus

“Right-wing contentions are now presented by the mass media as unquestioned truths”, Comrade Robert Griffiths told the Communist Party’s Political Committee on Tuesday evening (18 June 2024). He condemned Britain’s mainstream political parties and broadcasting media for their “craven capitulation” to the Tory-supporting tabloid press. “It now goes almost without challenge to portray taxation and public spending as purely negative factors in a party’s manifesto, to be costed and condemned”, Griffiths argued, “except when it comes to yet more spending on so-called ‘defence’ as Labour, the Tories and Reform UK outbid each other in their spending pledges for militarism and war”. Similarly, the CP General Secretary pointed out, it has now become part of a largely unchallenged consensus that immigration is a contributory factor to Britain’s chronic problems of poverty, NHS underfunding and the lack of affordable housing. “Together with Russia, China and once again North Korea, they all supposedly pose a growing threat to Britain, its borders and ‘way of life’ – as though everyone shares roughly the same standard of living and quality of life”, Griffiths remarked. He urged Communist Party and other left candidates in the General Election to constantly present a “class analysis” of society’s problems and their remedies in concrete terms that people can recognise. “Britain remains fundamentally a class-divided society, ruled by a wealthy and powerful capitalist class that exploits workers’ labour power here and around the world, always seeking to divide, divert or defame those who might challenge this reality”, the CP leader insisted.  He recalled the words of US billionaire Warren Buffet: “There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning”. “British imperialism has a long record of bombing, invading and occupying other countries, fomenting conflict that has driven millions of people from their homeland in search of peace, work and stability”, Griffiths added. “The challenge for the left now is how to expose these realities and explain the connections between ruling class policies and the real problems facing working class people and its local communities”. Looking beyond 4 July, Comrade Griffiths said the ruling class would have to decide whether to rebuild the Tory Party, switch to supporting Reform UK – an unlikely option – or try to complete its takeover of the Labour Party. “On the other side, socialists and Communists have to work out how to build a united front that can bury the Tory Party and fight a Keir Starmer-led government to secure left and progressive policies”, he concluded. END