The struggles of immigrants in the United Kingdom are deeply connected to the broader contradictions of capitalism—oppression, inequality, and racist super-exploitation. The Progressive Labor Party asserts that these issues are not random misfortunes but rather immigration policies and borders are designed to serve the interests of the increasingly fascist national imperialist ruling classes from the U.S. to Europe, and their junior partners in the ruling classes around the world. Capitalism thrives on cheap labor, divisions within the working class, and the scapegoating of immigrants to divert attention from their own failures and control labor and resources.
Economic exploitation and class struggle
Capitalism consistently drives immigrants into exploitative economic conditions. Highly skilled and educated individuals are often relegated to insecure, low-paying jobs. Employers take advantage of their vulnerable status by subjecting them to poor working conditions and minimal job security. Zero-hours contracts, wage theft, and hazardous workplaces disproportionately affect migrant workers, perpetuating a system that prioritizes profit over people.
The Progressive Labor Party fights for an end to anti-worker migration policies, stronger labor protections, unionization, and the eradication of exploitative work conditions. The struggle of immigrants is inherently a class struggle—both migrant and native-born workers must unite against their shared enemy: capitalist exploitation. However our long term goal is to smash all borders and fight for a communist world run by and for the international working class.
Anti-immigrant rhetoric and divide-and-rule tactics
Capitalists fuel anti-immigrant sentiment to divide the working class. By blaming immigrants for low wages, housing shortages, and strained public services, they shift attention away from the real culprits—corporate greed, privatization, and austerity policies. The ruling class benefits from pitting workers against one another instead of against the exploitative system that oppresses them all.
The Progressive Labor Party actively opposes such scapegoating and champions international worker solidarity. The challenges facing the working class in Britain can not be solved by closing borders or deporting immigrants, but rather by smashing the capitalist system that creates inequality in the first place.
Border controls and the immigration system
The UK’s immigration system is designed to serve capitalist interests, selectively admitting workers when needed while criminalizing and deporting others. Policies like the "hostile environment" push migrants into precarious situations, exposing them to deportation threats and restricting their access to essential services such as healthcare and education.
We argue that borders function as tools of the ruling class to control labor and enforce alienation. The Progressive Labor Party demands the abolition of exploitative capitalism and its racist immigration laws and fights for a world where all workers, regardless of origin, should have full rights, including citizenship. This can only be achieved in a communist world where all workers from around the world are in power.
Housing and social services
Immigrants face widespread discrimination in housing, overcrowding, and homelessness. The lack of affordable housing is not a result of immigration but a consequence of a capitalist system that prioritizes profit over people’s needs. Real estate speculation, the privatization of public housing, and government austerity measures have fueled a housing crisis that affects both immigrants and native citizens alike.
Communists call for state investment in social housing, rent controls, while also fighting for an end to landlord exploitation. The struggle for fair housing is an essential part of the broader fight against capitalist oppression. Under communism housing will not be rented or sold for profit. There will be free, safe, and good housing for all.
Racism and state repression
Racism serves as a tool of capitalist repression, reinforcing economic exploitation and social exclusion. Police brutality, surveillance, and discriminatory immigration enforcement are used to intimidate and oppress immigrant communities. Detention centers, deportations, and restrictions on asylum seekers are all part of the state's broader strategy to criminalize migrants.
The Progressive Labor Party fights for the destruction of racist state institutions and detention centres. Only through an international communist revolution, under the banner of the Progressive Labor Party, can systemic racism and capitalist oppression be eradicated.
Long live the international working class and the Progressive Labour Party!
