The hypocrisy of Manchester United Co-Owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
His comments in a recent interview how he believes Britain cannot sustain high levels of immigration while so many people are claiming benefits, as if those two realities exist in a vacuum.
As though unemployment, low wages and precarious work simply happen and aren't all symptoms of imperialism
Sir Jim is a billionaire who relocated to Monaco in 2018, keeping his fortune beyond the reach of British income tax. When capital crosses borders to protect wealth, it is called efficiency. When workers cross borders to survive, it is called a crisis.
Ratcliffe’s company, INEOS, operates across continents. Its profits rely on global supply chains, international labour markets and cross-border trade. The modern petrochemical industry is not nationalist. Like all modern corporations it is a global initiative. Imperialism moving capital is not a problem when they generate profit for the likes of Jim Radcliffe.
Yet at Manchester United, hundreds of staff have faced redundancy under his ownership while the club continues to operate in a global marketplace, signing players from around the world, selling merchandise across continents and drawing revenue from international broadcasting rights.
The movement of labour and international relations are not an issue when billionaires benefit from it.
The suggestion that immigration and benefits are somehow causally linked is a familiar political narrative. It shifts attention away from the structural reality: deindustrialisation, weakened trade unions, privatisation of public assets, housing speculation, and decades of underinvestment in working-class communities.
- Immigration did not dismantle council housing.
- Immigration did not outsource industry.
- Immigration did not suppress wages, employers did.
When wages stagnate, when housing is scarce, when public services are strained, it is easier to blame the immigrants than the capitalist.
Under imperialism:
- Capital becomes concentrated in monopolies that dominate entire industries.
- Bank capital and industrial capital fuse into finance capital, forming a financial oligarchy.
- Capital is exported abroad in search of higher profits.
- The world’s markets and resources are divided among the major powers and their corporations.
That’s the mechanism.
Everything else — dependency, instability, migration, rivalry — flows from that structure.
But the movement of labour is framed as a threat as divided workers are easier to oppress than organised ones.
If there are too many people on benefits, the question is not why migrants arrive. The question is why a country as wealthy as Britain produces insecure work, poverty pay and chronic underemployment in the first place — while billionaires hide their wealth in safe haven's like Monaco.
The Class Consciousness Project
His comments in a recent interview how he believes Britain cannot sustain high levels of immigration while so many people are claiming benefits, as if those two realities exist in a vacuum.
As though unemployment, low wages and precarious work simply happen and aren't all symptoms of imperialism
Sir Jim is a billionaire who relocated to Monaco in 2018, keeping his fortune beyond the reach of British income tax. When capital crosses borders to protect wealth, it is called efficiency. When workers cross borders to survive, it is called a crisis.
Ratcliffe’s company, INEOS, operates across continents. Its profits rely on global supply chains, international labour markets and cross-border trade. The modern petrochemical industry is not nationalist. Like all modern corporations it is a global initiative. Imperialism moving capital is not a problem when they generate profit for the likes of Jim Radcliffe.
Yet at Manchester United, hundreds of staff have faced redundancy under his ownership while the club continues to operate in a global marketplace, signing players from around the world, selling merchandise across continents and drawing revenue from international broadcasting rights.
The movement of labour and international relations are not an issue when billionaires benefit from it.
The suggestion that immigration and benefits are somehow causally linked is a familiar political narrative. It shifts attention away from the structural reality: deindustrialisation, weakened trade unions, privatisation of public assets, housing speculation, and decades of underinvestment in working-class communities.
- Immigration did not dismantle council housing.
- Immigration did not outsource industry.
- Immigration did not suppress wages, employers did.
When wages stagnate, when housing is scarce, when public services are strained, it is easier to blame the immigrants than the capitalist.
Under imperialism:
- Capital becomes concentrated in monopolies that dominate entire industries.
- Bank capital and industrial capital fuse into finance capital, forming a financial oligarchy.
- Capital is exported abroad in search of higher profits.
- The world’s markets and resources are divided among the major powers and their corporations.
That’s the mechanism.
Everything else — dependency, instability, migration, rivalry — flows from that structure.
But the movement of labour is framed as a threat as divided workers are easier to oppress than organised ones.
If there are too many people on benefits, the question is not why migrants arrive. The question is why a country as wealthy as Britain produces insecure work, poverty pay and chronic underemployment in the first place — while billionaires hide their wealth in safe haven's like Monaco.
The Class Consciousness Project
💯4👏1
Forwarded from Class Consciousness Project
Any talk of an alliance, or “uniting the left”, means working alongside state-run bodies, Trots, pro-NATO liberals and openly anti-communist organisations. It means granting credibility and legitimacy to forces that have done more than most to sabotage the class struggle.
These groups are not a bulwark against reaction — they are one of its breeding grounds. Their confusion, moralism and constant retreat into liberal politics is precisely why British workers are so often pulled towards reactionary rhetoric in the first place.
We should treat these leftists (who are left of Imperialism, not opposed to it) no differently than the reactionaries themselves. Expose them for what they are: vital components of British capitalism, tasked with containing, redirecting and ultimately neutralising class consciousness.
These groups are not a bulwark against reaction — they are one of its breeding grounds. Their confusion, moralism and constant retreat into liberal politics is precisely why British workers are so often pulled towards reactionary rhetoric in the first place.
We should treat these leftists (who are left of Imperialism, not opposed to it) no differently than the reactionaries themselves. Expose them for what they are: vital components of British capitalism, tasked with containing, redirecting and ultimately neutralising class consciousness.
💯4👍1
Forwarded from Class Consciousness Project
Zionism and anti semitism are both promoted by the British ruling class and have been for many decades. One of the things that has become clear with the emergence of widespread anti-zionist sentiment over the last two years is that one way the ruling class will seek to deal with this is promoting old school anti semitism. They do this because if a worker who has started to wake up to the realities of the nature the Israeli regime can be pushed down the dead end of anti semitism then that is more than acceptable for the ruling class. Someone who becomes a fascist is comparable to a blindfolded man who starts to realise he cannot see and places another piece of cloth over his eyes to help him see better. This is why you get clowns like Nick Fuentes or Dan Bilzerian be promoted in the algorithms on youtube, the ruling class want rejection of zionism to promote fascism. We must see the truth, that these are all reactionary trends and must all be rejected by class conscious workers.
💯7
Here we are, revisiting an old series by our comrade Chris about the Misuse Of Language. In this series, Chris describes how a lot of words in the English language have been muted by popular culture to mean something completely different. It’s our duty to explain these mistakes, as they are often used politically in media and common discussions.
http://classconsciousnessproject.blog/2024/04/18/a-is-for-argument/
http://classconsciousnessproject.blog/2024/04/18/a-is-for-argument/
Class Consciousness Project
A Is For Argument
We as a group do not oppose free speech. Free speech is the free expression of ideas and thoughts. With this freedom comes responsibility. The responsibility to use words correctly, in order to get…
❤1
The next in the series of the Misuse of Language.
In this article the discussion of the term freedom and its misuse within capitalist societies.
http://classconsciousnessproject.blog/2024/04/28/f-is-for-freedom/
In this article the discussion of the term freedom and its misuse within capitalist societies.
http://classconsciousnessproject.blog/2024/04/28/f-is-for-freedom/
Class Consciousness Project
F Is For Freedom
What is FREEDOM? The freedom to bang your own drum, or the freedom from hearing someone constantly banging a drum? The freedom to drive at 90mph past a school, or the freedom to safely cross a road…
Another round of managers sacked in the Premier League.
Sean Dyche has been binned off after only 114 days in the job. The volatile owner Marinakis seems hell-bent on undermining Nottingham Forest after all the work that went into getting them back into the Premier League and the excellent last season they had under Nuno Espirito Santo. Patience appears to be in short supply.
Thomas Frank has also been jibbed after just half a season at Spurs. They finished in the bottom half of the table last season under Ange, and they remain there now. Frank was hailed as one of the better managers in the Premier League not long ago, praised for overachieving with limited resources at Brentford. Now his reputation is suddenly questioned because he hasn’t delivered instant results in a dysfunctional environment. If you watched Ange Postecoglou's interview on the overlap he spoke of a very poor environment at the club. Calling it a big club with a small club mentality.
Essentially, both managers have been sacked for failing to deliver immediately. Club owners, and increasingly fans, seem to believe that if something doesn’t click straight away then that's it. We see it every year, yet it’s been proven time and again that constant upheaval rarely builds anything sustainable. Chopping and changing managers creates instability, not success.
Continuity builds football teams. Stability builds standards. The impatience of board rooms and fans on social media only causes chaos. .
The Class Consciousness Project
Sean Dyche has been binned off after only 114 days in the job. The volatile owner Marinakis seems hell-bent on undermining Nottingham Forest after all the work that went into getting them back into the Premier League and the excellent last season they had under Nuno Espirito Santo. Patience appears to be in short supply.
Thomas Frank has also been jibbed after just half a season at Spurs. They finished in the bottom half of the table last season under Ange, and they remain there now. Frank was hailed as one of the better managers in the Premier League not long ago, praised for overachieving with limited resources at Brentford. Now his reputation is suddenly questioned because he hasn’t delivered instant results in a dysfunctional environment. If you watched Ange Postecoglou's interview on the overlap he spoke of a very poor environment at the club. Calling it a big club with a small club mentality.
Essentially, both managers have been sacked for failing to deliver immediately. Club owners, and increasingly fans, seem to believe that if something doesn’t click straight away then that's it. We see it every year, yet it’s been proven time and again that constant upheaval rarely builds anything sustainable. Chopping and changing managers creates instability, not success.
Continuity builds football teams. Stability builds standards. The impatience of board rooms and fans on social media only causes chaos. .
The Class Consciousness Project
❤3
Forwarded from SOVREV
The European Parliament has adopted two key decisions accelerating the EU's transformation into a closed military camp. With 408 votes in favor (184 against), the "Asylum Procedure Regulation" (APR) has been supplemented with a list of "safe countries of origin." Another 170 votes expanded the "Border Return Regulation," widening the scope for mass deportation of migrants to third countries.
The list of "safe countries" includes states with far-from-spotless reputations: Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, India, Bangladesh, Colombia, and Kosovo. European officials now mandate that citizens from these countries be presumed to face no threats. The burden of proof shifts onto asylum seekers themselves. Given minimal access to lawyers and witnesses, this effectively means rejection of most claims.
The second regulation introduces the concept of a "safe third country" — a nation not the migrant's origin, to which they can be deported if they have relatives there, language ties, or simply passed through in transit. Dozens of countries fit this description, and the EU is already negotiating bilateral agreements.
Consider the position of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) — the European Parliament's second-largest bloc with 136 seats. Formally, the faction opposed the measures, but 25 Social Democratic deputies from Denmark, Malta, Romania, and Sweden voted for the repressive provisions. Others abstained. This is no random glitch but a pattern.
Social Democrats in Denmark, Sweden, Romania, and Malta, abandoning principles of internationalism, consistently tighten anti-migrant legislation. They introduce border controls, restrict refugee rights, and cooperate with regimes that send people to camps. These parties, once connected to the workers' movement, now function to legitimize the far-right agenda in Europe.
The "Fortress Europe" policy is paid for in human lives. 2024 became the deadliest year in the Mediterranean. 2025 continued this trend.
In just the first 40 days of 2026, according to the International Organization for Migration, 524 people have died or gone missing attempting to cross from North Africa to Europe. Following a shipwreck off Libya's coast claiming 53 lives, an IOM representative stated:
"This is the worst start to the year in the past decade... And the deadliest."
Please open Telegram to view this post
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
From Mao to Madrid: Paul Breitner's Story.
Older football fans may remember the highly decorated footballer Paul Breitner. A brilliant pro that came through at Bayern Munich when Germany was still divided by east and west.
He was a full back that would have fitted into modern game with his style of playing, but he was more than just a left back. He was an outspoken political agitator who read Mao Zedong religiously. He even posed with Mao's Little Red Book. Publicly! At a time where doing so in West Germany was dangerous.
He spoke out against the evils of capitalism, about questioning the state. In a famous quotation he correctly declared footballers as workers who sell their labour like anyone else. In a Cold War climate where anti-communism was a state religion, that was very brave.
They called him 'Der Rote Paul', Red Paul! (like our very own Red Rick). His radicalism was real, not like how modern footballers who use their activism to inflate their position.
The early 1970s in West Germany being a 'red' meant surveillance, bans and hysteria about “extremism”. To openly identify with Maoism while representing the West German national team was a refusal to play the obedient sportsman. West Germany was essentially occupied by US forces at this point. The US where the MacArthur trials were hunting down communists in north America.
Having that socialist background made sure he didn’t separate football from society. He understood that football sits inside capitalism, not outside of it.
What saved him was fan support. He backed it up on the pitch. He scored in the 1974 World Cup final. Won European Cups. Dominated domestically. He wasn’t some fringe rebel shouting from the sidelines. He was directly bang in the center of the machine while criticising it.
That contradiction took shape and formed his future material conditions within the game.
When he moved to Real Madrid CF in 1974, the politics took a back step. They stopped being centre stage. Success in football, especially teams like Real Madrid, brings massive scrutiny. These big teams are footballing institutions that demand discipline. Radical language becomes inconvenient when you are part of a global sports brand.
Did he “sell out”? Maybe, but that feels too simple. Conditions change, family and work. We all have to survive within the boundaries of capitalism and without being a part of an organisation of advanced workers people can become disillusioned.
The revolutionary left in Western Europe was fractured and retreated. The 70s closed in and the post war concessions were starting to be removed. Individual careers don’t float above historical shifts.
What his journey shows is this: even at the very top of elite sport, class consciousness can surface. Even within a billion-pound industry, players are still workers selling labour power. The wage might be substantially higher and the contracts might be gold-plated. The relation to capital remains.
Breitner’s Maoism wasn’t a footnote. It was a reminder that football has never been politically neutral. The game produces rebels as well as celebrities.
The Class Consciousness Project.
Older football fans may remember the highly decorated footballer Paul Breitner. A brilliant pro that came through at Bayern Munich when Germany was still divided by east and west.
He was a full back that would have fitted into modern game with his style of playing, but he was more than just a left back. He was an outspoken political agitator who read Mao Zedong religiously. He even posed with Mao's Little Red Book. Publicly! At a time where doing so in West Germany was dangerous.
He spoke out against the evils of capitalism, about questioning the state. In a famous quotation he correctly declared footballers as workers who sell their labour like anyone else. In a Cold War climate where anti-communism was a state religion, that was very brave.
They called him 'Der Rote Paul', Red Paul! (like our very own Red Rick). His radicalism was real, not like how modern footballers who use their activism to inflate their position.
The early 1970s in West Germany being a 'red' meant surveillance, bans and hysteria about “extremism”. To openly identify with Maoism while representing the West German national team was a refusal to play the obedient sportsman. West Germany was essentially occupied by US forces at this point. The US where the MacArthur trials were hunting down communists in north America.
Having that socialist background made sure he didn’t separate football from society. He understood that football sits inside capitalism, not outside of it.
What saved him was fan support. He backed it up on the pitch. He scored in the 1974 World Cup final. Won European Cups. Dominated domestically. He wasn’t some fringe rebel shouting from the sidelines. He was directly bang in the center of the machine while criticising it.
That contradiction took shape and formed his future material conditions within the game.
When he moved to Real Madrid CF in 1974, the politics took a back step. They stopped being centre stage. Success in football, especially teams like Real Madrid, brings massive scrutiny. These big teams are footballing institutions that demand discipline. Radical language becomes inconvenient when you are part of a global sports brand.
Did he “sell out”? Maybe, but that feels too simple. Conditions change, family and work. We all have to survive within the boundaries of capitalism and without being a part of an organisation of advanced workers people can become disillusioned.
The revolutionary left in Western Europe was fractured and retreated. The 70s closed in and the post war concessions were starting to be removed. Individual careers don’t float above historical shifts.
What his journey shows is this: even at the very top of elite sport, class consciousness can surface. Even within a billion-pound industry, players are still workers selling labour power. The wage might be substantially higher and the contracts might be gold-plated. The relation to capital remains.
Breitner’s Maoism wasn’t a footnote. It was a reminder that football has never been politically neutral. The game produces rebels as well as celebrities.
The Class Consciousness Project.
❤🔥6
Here are some unbelievable goals by Paul Breitner.
https://youtu.be/P9Lw-eCX_Ls?si=42OJLW-BHyTe8zFP
https://youtu.be/P9Lw-eCX_Ls?si=42OJLW-BHyTe8zFP
YouTube
Paul Breitner Long Range Goals W Cup 1974 HD
Paul Breitner Long Range Goals W Cup 1974
rex_xerxes777@yahoo.com
rex_xerxes777@yahoo.com
Forwarded from Red Rick
Not everyone that is arrested is a criminal, but everyone that is arrested is treated like a criminal. Being locked up without proof and then waiting for an investigation to prove your innocence is a disgusting breach of human rights.
That's the police though, that's how they act and that's how they are trained to act.
When all you have is hammer everything looks like a nail.
That's the police though, that's how they act and that's how they are trained to act.
When all you have is hammer everything looks like a nail.
👍2❤1
An excellent break down of the west's drive to war with Iran by our comrade Alex.
https://www.youtube.com/live/Si9UtrJcq44?si=Cdk0g70eVBR3y5Nl
https://www.youtube.com/live/Si9UtrJcq44?si=Cdk0g70eVBR3y5Nl
YouTube
Who Is Behind The Drive To War With Iran?
In this episode we look at who the forces behind the imperialist aggression against Iran are.
Be sure to check out our substack and website where you can find the latest articles:
https://melsm25.substack.com/p/war-without-end
https://marxengelsinstitute.org/…
Be sure to check out our substack and website where you can find the latest articles:
https://melsm25.substack.com/p/war-without-end
https://marxengelsinstitute.org/…
Forwarded from Marx Engels Lenin Institute
Alongside corruption, of the monetary kind, being a motivation for the Epstein defenders there is something else in play. This is a form of moral corruption which reflects a deep problem in our societies and that is the significant number of men who see it as acceptable to sexually exploit teenagers. This is routinely denounced by the bourgeois press when it comes to nations which are targeted by imperialism but it is very much part of bourgeois culture in the west as well. We've just reached a point where its no longer considered acceptable to openly promote it but it is embedded in the culture in thousands of ways. There's the obvious and most obnoxious version of this in the revolting form of the porn industry and that has now become so ubiquitous that it is merging with so-called "mainstream" culture. Then there's the related, and heavily influenced by porn, entertainment industry which also promotes this.
❤1💯1
Forwarded from SKWAWKBOX
Labour deselects 3 councillors for wanting inquiry into paedophile...
https://www.thecanary.co/skwawkbox/2026/02/17/labour-councillors-axed-for-raising-paedophilia-concerns/
https://www.thecanary.co/skwawkbox/2026/02/17/labour-councillors-axed-for-raising-paedophilia-concerns/
Canary
Labour deselects 3 councillors for wanting inquiry into paedophile
Labour sinks knee-deep in sex abuse scandals, while Starmer and the corporate media turn their backs on victims
Forwarded from Class Consciousness Project
The propaganda against communism is right when they call it a dictatorship.
They just never say whose.
Yes — communism is a dictatorship.
But it’s not the dictatorship of a few over the many, like the one we live under now.
It’s not the dictatorship of landlords, bosses, and bankers who own everything and let us fight over scraps.
Communism is the dictatorship of the working class, the majority ruling in its own interests, not those of a handful of parasites who hoard wealth, land, and power.
Not for those who continually oppress the workers for profit.
Every state in history has been a dictatorship of one class over another.
Under feudalism, it was the nobility over the serfs.
Under capitalism, it’s the bourgeoisie over the workers.
Under socialism, it becomes the dictatorship of the proletariat — the working class finally commanding their future and seizing the means of production.
The capitalists call that “tyranny” because it strips them of the right to exploit us.
They scream about “freedom” while every one of us is chained to rent, debt, and wages that barely keep us alive.
The “tyranny” they denounce is simply the balance of power shifting — our freedom secured at the expense of theirs.
So yes — communism is a dictatorship.
But it’s the only kind that serves the workers.
Just as capitalism is a dictatorship of the ruling class over the workers, socialism is the dictatorship of the workers over the ruling class, those who’ve ruled and robbed us for generations.
That’s why they fear it.
That’s why they smear it.
Because deep down, they know what it really means:
their rule ends — and ours begins.
They just never say whose.
Yes — communism is a dictatorship.
But it’s not the dictatorship of a few over the many, like the one we live under now.
It’s not the dictatorship of landlords, bosses, and bankers who own everything and let us fight over scraps.
Communism is the dictatorship of the working class, the majority ruling in its own interests, not those of a handful of parasites who hoard wealth, land, and power.
Not for those who continually oppress the workers for profit.
Every state in history has been a dictatorship of one class over another.
Under feudalism, it was the nobility over the serfs.
Under capitalism, it’s the bourgeoisie over the workers.
Under socialism, it becomes the dictatorship of the proletariat — the working class finally commanding their future and seizing the means of production.
The capitalists call that “tyranny” because it strips them of the right to exploit us.
They scream about “freedom” while every one of us is chained to rent, debt, and wages that barely keep us alive.
The “tyranny” they denounce is simply the balance of power shifting — our freedom secured at the expense of theirs.
So yes — communism is a dictatorship.
But it’s the only kind that serves the workers.
Just as capitalism is a dictatorship of the ruling class over the workers, socialism is the dictatorship of the workers over the ruling class, those who’ve ruled and robbed us for generations.
That’s why they fear it.
That’s why they smear it.
Because deep down, they know what it really means:
their rule ends — and ours begins.
❤3👍3✍1🔥1