A Manifesto for Peace and Socialism
Take back control of our communities
In May this year, voters across England have an opportunity to give a verdict on the exploitation, waste and corruption of capitalism in Britain today. An array of political parties represent the same old managerialist fake solutions that always mean cuts for working people and tax incentives for corporations. The Communist Party calls for a movement to transform a system that is degrading the lives of working people.
For too long, we’ve been told we’re “all in it together”, or that social problems can be addressed by scapegoating migrants. But, while the rich grow richer off our hard work, our local communities where we live are being bled dry. The system isn’t broken – it’s rigged against us. Rigged by developers and speculators, rigged by landlords sitting in the Council chamber and Parliament, rigged by privatised utilities poisoning our water and pushing up our energy bills, and rigged by a Westminster political class that serves the wealthy, not us.
The Communist Party says: it’s time to fight back. Here is our pledge to you:
VOTE COMMUNIST FOR:
An end to the great Council Tax robbery
The Council Tax is a hated, unfair tax that punishes the poorest. It is based on the notional market value of your home, not your ability to pay, and it props up a local government system starved by Westminster.
A Communist councillor will:
- Lead a campaign for abolition of Council Tax.
- Fight for a fairer funding model based on income, real wealth and land values, ensuring the richest and largest estates finally pay their share.
Local government for local people, not profiteers
Years of Tory, Lib Dem and Labour austerity have pushed local authorities into bankruptcy. Youth services have all but vanished, libraries and leisure centres have closed, and over half a million council workers have lost their jobs. Now Westminster wants remote, unaccountable mega-councils and elected mayors to centralise power and weaken democracy.
A Communist councillor will:
- Oppose top-down reorganisation designed to cut services or democratic control.
- Campaign for proper funding to restore services and invest in our future.
- Campaign to bring privatised council services back in-house.
- Call for the abolition of the mayoral model and return power to elected councillors accountable to their communities.
Transport that serves the people
Our towns and cities are choked with traffic congestion, while rural areas are stranded by profiteering bus and rail companies. Public transport is an essential service for those needing to travel to school, college and work, or to care for loved ones, not a gravy train for greedy shareholders.
A Communist councillor will:
- Campaign for fully accessible, affordable public transport.
- Campaign for buses to be taken back into public ownership and control to ensure all communities get a decent, reliable bus service.
- Call for free travel for those attending education, apprenticeships of job interviews.
- Steer councils towards green, affordable options like buses, trams and safe cycling – and oppose extra taxes on drivers.
Homes for people, not for profit
Britain is in the grip of a housing crisis that is tearing our society apart. Private developers land bank while homeless families wait years for secure housing. Our council estates are threatened with demolition to make way for luxury flats that few working people can afford.
A Communist councillor will:
- Call for a major programme of council house building.
- Support tenants resisting demolition and demand refurbishment of existing estates.
- Demand transferred council estates are brought back into local government ownership and control.
- Challenge developers to build the homes they already have permission for.
- Campaign to abolish homelessness, introduce rent controls and security of tenure for private tenants.
- Call for councils to use their powers to compulsory purchase empty homes, bring them back into use and let them at council rents.
Public services in public hands
Our NHS is being carved up by private US health corporations. Our schools are being forced into the unaccountable academy system. Our buses are unreliable and expensive, and our high streets are dying. The sell-off of our essential services has been a disaster.
A Communist councillor will campaign to:
- End NHS privatisation and restore a fully public system with integrated care.
- Abolish academies and return schools to democratic local control.
- Renationalise rail, mail, water and energy.
A future for our communities
We reject the politics of despair and division. The far right and parties like Reform UK offer scapegoats, not solutions. Our problems are not caused by migrants; they are caused by a system that puts profits before people, tears communities apart, and is designed to pit working people against each other.
A Communist councillor will:
- Fight against racism in our communities, stand with minorities scapegoated in the media, and argue for safe, legal routes for refugees.
- Work with trade unions to fight for a real New Deal for Workers, including the right to strike and sector-wide collective bargaining to drive up wages and conditions.
- Use every power at our disposal to support community campaigns, protect our pubs and clubs, libraries, and green spaces, and put power back in the hands of the working class.
War and occupation abroad means poverty at home
While Westminster stokes war fever, funds conflict abroad, and pours billions into arms companies, our local communities are left with crumbling services and rising hardship. Local councils cannot set foreign policy – but they can refuse to be complicit in genocide and war mongering. Local authorities are required to explain to citizens how they plan to deal with emergencies such as an accident involving nuclear weapons. The Communist Party stands on the side of humanity, not with arms dealers and warmongering politicians. A peaceful world begins with peaceful, united communities at home.
A Communist councillor will:
- Demand divestment of council pension and investment funds from arms manufacturers and companies complicit in war and occupation, including in Palestine.
- Work with trade unions, peace groups and community organisations against rearmament and militarisation.
- Oppose military recruitment targeted at young people in deprived areas.
- Promote peace education, solidarity campaigns and anti-racist community work.
Stand and fight for our communities
These are our communities. We raise our families here. We work here. We deserve better. Community means sticking together – and standing up for ourselves collectively. We demand a return to public sector, socialist values and collective good over private greed.
For more than one hundred years, the Communist Party has stood with Britain’s working class. The rich can’t buy us. We fight for a future that works for working people, young and old of all nations —and only for working people.
Vote Communist. Fight for your community. Change everything.