Response to Anti-Lockdown ‘Freedom Rally’ in Stroud

Gloucestershire Socialist Party shares the widespread outrage at the Government’s handling of the pandemic.

The Government has mishandled the pandemic from the beginning, ignoring the warnings, acting late, failing to establish effective testing and contact tracing, confusion over mask-wearing and behaviours, the lack of PPE and ventilators, inadequate income support to workers, the self-employed and small business. While clapping the NHS, contracts have been handed to private companies like Serco, given £57 million to run the ‘world beating’ track and trace system in England. It’s shareholders now expect a windfall after soaring company profits despite the companies poor record, in October, only around two thirds of close contacts of those contracting the virus were contacted. Consultants were paid £7,500 a day in an attempt to fix it.

The government continues these mistakes by keeping schools and colleges open where risk is high for families and teachers. The teachers’ National Education Union (NEU) announced that Office of National Statistics figures showed the biggest increase in Covid cases is among Secondary School pupils, with a 50 fold increase. We support the NEU’s call for schools to close during lockdown.

We also lay blame squarely on successive Tory and Labour Governments for privatisation and severe cuts which have run-down the NHS, social care, mental health services, labs etc. leaving them unable to cope with the pandemic.

These failures have put working-class families in particular into severe hardship, with widespread loss of income, unemployment and illness. And of course it is working-class families and workers who have suffered disproportionately from Covid 19 and its consequences. From April to July the world’s super rich billionaires have seen their wealth rocket by over a quarter, yet this government voted against school holiday free meals.

We reject the Government’s attempt to put the blame for rising infections on individuals and its attempt to divide people by blaming students and young workers.

But it is not a question of being For or Against masks, or lockdowns.

The Socialist Party supports public health measures and this requires some restrictions.

The problem is that pandemic policy is a class policy – a policy to protect the interests of big business and the political establishment that they sponsor. It’s a policy that limits the lives of working class people and puts workers at most risk, in order to maintain the profits of business.

We call for full pay for all workers during lockdowns. Major businesses threatening closure should be taken into public ownership. All health and social care services should be publicly owned and run, with a massive boost to resources. These and Public Health policy should be determined democratically with experts, trade unions, workers and the community.

We call for the Trade Unions leaders to mount action to achieve this program.

We call on people to see the government lockdown measures as policies to protect big business and join us in fighting to change them into the policies of the working class majority.

Statement from Stroud members of Gloucestershire Socialist Party