This blow to welfare and services comes at a time when poverty and workplace poverty in Britain continue to rise. So far, the governments of Westminster, Holyrood and the Senedd have failed to take measures to alleviate these conditions, and indeed attacks on our society’s most vulnerable are set to continue.

　　Pensioners have lost the winter fuel allowance, and the two-child limit on benefits remains in place. Those with disabilities are being threatened with £5 billion worth of cuts. Inflation is set to rise again due to the growing cost of energy and other costs. This will hit all workers, and particularly lower-paid ones who are already struggling.

　　If this wasn’t frightening enough, the government continues to fan the flames of war. The continued and reckless drive to a war with Russia has left a shadow of discontent across Britain, with ex-Nato chiefs and British politicians amplifying the discussion on conscription.

　　So where does this put us? Our movement and the path to take in combating both the build-up to WWIII, and Labour’s very own brand of austerity?

　　First, the connection between the slashing of public services and welfare, along with the continued funding of wars, must be made every single time we are dealing with either subject. Labour politicians have tried to deflect away from spending on public services and welfare by stating that “there is no magic money tree.”

　　Yet, behind them lies a garden of Eden for the private enterprises that get hold of our sold-off council services, and for the arms companies who bathe in the blood-soaked bank notes from their criminal actions abroad.

　　In challenging Labour’s stance in refusing to acknowledge the link between the money and contracts gifted to private enterprise, and the pillaging of our local councils and welfare system, we can open the door for workers to step into a class-based analysis of the Labour Party and whose interests they represent.

　　It’s also vital to challenge our own trade union movement, which has been infected with parasites who have built careers, and future careers for when they leave, at the expense of their members and workers abroad.

　　My own union, GMB, stands as a testament to this. Just like Unite, GMB has remained committed to the increase of “defence spending” under the guise that it is beneficial for the workers of Britain in that it offers jobs and a future for young workers.

　　But this isn’t the case, because if war in Europe goes ahead, then it shall be the young workers who find themselves conscripted and kidnapped to fight in foreign lands.

　　It will be the workers who are ordered to murder their fellow workers for the profits of the arms companies that unions such as GMB and Unite have stood in repeated defence of.

　　Finally, the fightback against cuts starts at home. Specifically in our local councils. The STUC-commissioned report Raising Taxes to Deliver for Scotland in 2023 already showed us that there’s potential to fund increased investment across public services in Scotland using a progressive and simple package of tax increases.

　　In the short run, the report recommended a number of reforms to the tax system which if they had been introduced as early as April 2024, then just over £1.1 billion of additional revenue could have been raised.

　　In the long run, the report showed that raising almost an extra £2.6bn per year from a series of more complex reforms to the tax system could be achieved. With this in mind, a fightback led by local TUCs must use this paper as the basis to tie issues such as pay and public-sector cuts into a shared economic vision for Scotland, away from war and poverty.

　　As fascism and the drive to war grow across Europe, we enter a time of general “patriotic” intoxication. The workers of Scotland must stand out and keep true to the slogan “Workers of the world unite!”

　　Editor: Zhong Yao  Deng Panyi

　　From:https://marxist.com/the-meaning-of-donald-trump-a-marxist-analysis.htm/(2025-3-21)