The British establishment and its institutions are rotten to the core. Parliament is infested with rogues and reprobates. Capitalist politicians and their parties are hated. It is time to sweep out the lot, and build a communist alternative.

　　Putrid institutions

　　The organs of the British establishment have become a collective cesspit of corruption and cronyism; of scandal and abuse.

　　Tabloid frontpages distract readers with headlines about the Royals’ latest ailments and diagnoses. But in truth, the whole monarchy is a cancerous parasite: leeching off the public purse, while providing a sanctuary for suspected sex-pests and predators.

　　The police – tasked with protecting the property and privileges of the rich and powerful – are just as reprehensible, offering a home to countless racists and rapists. No wonder public confidence in the Met is at rock bottom.

　　Yet it is the institutions of bourgeois democracy that seem to have putrefied the most. The so-called ‘Commons’ is stuffed full of crooks, clowns, and careerists. Every week seems to bring with it new allegations of misconduct and misdemeanour by MPs, with constant revelations about harassment, bullying, and sleaze.

　　As a result, there is a widespread hatred towards all the traditional parties and puffed-up politicians. One recent survey by the ONS put Parliament and political parties at the bottom of the pile when it comes to the public’s faith in the bodies of the British state, on 24% and 12% trust respectively.

　　Similarly, a recent Ipsos poll suggested that politicians are the least trusted profession in Britain, on 9%, behind bankers, landlords, and estate agents – the lowest of the low.

　　British capitalism is rotting from the head down.

　　Stinking hypocrites

　　The overriding waft on Downing Street, meanwhile, is the reek of desperation.

　　Wracked by endless by-election defeats, internal plots, and backbench rebellions, Rishi Sunak and the Tories are eager to manufacture all manner of distractions: from whipping up panic about supposed ‘mob rule’ and ‘threats to British democracy’; to conducting ridiculous culture-war skirmishes over the England football kit.

　　Zombie government

　　Aside from speeches about asylum-seekers and Islamists, and complaints about perversions of parliamentary procedure, it seems that this shambolic government does little else.

　　According to new analysis by the Financial Times, the time spent by MPs in the House of Commons has been shorter on average for this parliamentary session than in any other in the past 25 years.

　　These findings have led to accusations that Sunak is presiding over a “zombie parliament”, with these malingerers shuffling in and out of Westminster just to gorge themselves on a feast of taxpayer-funded perks.

　　Sunak’s government certainly resembles the living dead – stumbling from one calamity to the next, just waiting to be put out of its misery at the next general election. The only uncertainty that remains is when the execution date is.

　　Unfortunately for the working class, however, the ‘alternative’ is no better. Starmer’s Labour has nothing to offer the exploited and the oppressed.

　　Whether it be the closure of industry, like the steelworks in Port Talbot; the slashing of services in bankrupt councils such as Birmingham; or the suffering facing thousands and millions in Gaza: the right-wing Labour leaders remain completely silent in the face of these injustices and horrors.

　　Instead, Keir Starmer and his sidekick Rachel Reeves have spent all their energy on cosying up to big business, with promises of ‘fiscal responsibility’ and ‘sound finance’ – i.e. further austerity and vicious cuts.

　　Workers must therefore trust only in themselves. They can have no confidence whatsoever in these charlatans.

　　Sick system

　　Faced with this choice between Tweedledee and Tweedledum, many workers and youth are understandably looking elsewhere when it comes to casting their vote. And they will have a variety of options to choose from at the next election.

　　George Galloway and his Workers’ Party of Britain are looking to capitalise on their recent victory in Rochdale. Jeremy Corbyn is likely to contest his current Islington North seat, possibly in coordination with allies in other constituencies. And left-wingers such as journalist Owen Jones are canvassing support for Green candidates and pro-Palestine independents.

　　Given the burning anger towards the political establishment, there is a possibility that some of these protest votes could actually win.

　　Even if this transpires, however, it will not be enough.

　　Globally, the capitalist system has nothing to offer but crises, wars, inequality, and climate catastrophe. British capitalism is completely bankrupt. Just last week, official data from the DWP revealed that a quarter of children are now living below the poverty line – the fastest rise in child poverty in the UK for 30 years.

　　Only a root-and-branch transformation of society will suffice. But such a revolutionary perspective is not on the agenda for any of these ‘lefts’, who cling to the mistaken idea that capitalism can be patched up and reformed, made ‘greener’ and ‘kinder’.

　　That is why we are launching the Revolutionary Communist Party, and the Revolutionary Communist International, to forge a genuine path forwards for the working class, in Britain and beyond.

　　Communist cleansing

　　Back in 1858, compelled into action by the stubborn stench, Parliament gave the relevant authorities the powers and funds needed to resolve London’s pungent problem.

　　This paved the way for Victorian engineer Joseph Bazalgette’s epic sewage network, which funnelled waste out of the city, curbing diseases such as cholera in the process.

　　Today, it is the entire system that stinks. It is capitalism that is killing us. Meanwhile, a degenerate Tory Party leads a decrepit government on behalf of a rotten establishment – incapable of maintaining schools and hospitals, let alone constructing ambitious new infrastructure projects.

　　It is time to flush away all this capitalist crap, and cleanse society of this feckless, foetid filth.

　　Editor: Zhong Yao  Liu Tingting

　　From: https://communist.red/the-great-stink-of-2024-flush-away-this-rotten-system/（2024-3-28）