THE Communist Party has welcomed the determination of unions and the TUC to rebuild strength in workplaces and local communities.

Speaking to the political committee of the party on Thursday evening, trade union organiser Andy Bain said that workers needed unity and solidarity as much as ever in the face of a fresh ruling class attack on pay, conditions, pensions and benefits.

In particular, he welcomed this week’s TUC Congress decision to reaffirm support for a new deal for workers, but he insisted that “fine words must be turned into action” in time for a “working-class fightback” next spring.

Mr Bain also called for a return to workplace balloting, both for industrial action and elections, as a way to increase the participation of workers in trade union democracy.

However, Mr Bain warned against any tendency by union leaderships to step back from political analysis and action.

“Government and company policies backed by the state and the law are unavoidably political,” he argued.

He referred to the increase in national insurance contributions, the withdrawal of the £20 universal credit uplift, the recent rash of fire-and-rehire attacks by employers on pay and conditions and the second rise this year in consumer gas and electricity bills.

The former union president contrasted the Conservative government’s austerity cuts with its costly war-mongering policies, which aim to increase Britain’s nuclear weapons arsenal and boost military spending by £16 billion over the next four years.

Britain’s communists also condemned the new military pact between Britain, the United States and Australia as a “dangerous provocation” intended to whip up support for the new cold war against the People’s Republic of China.

On a positive note, the political committee congratulated the Young Communist League on its disruption of the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) arms fair in London by infiltrating the exhibition and setting off red flares.