This text examines five key political points concerning the just struggle of the Palestinian people for national liberation. While we do not attempt an exhaustive historical analysis of the situation in Palestine, nor can we address every political question it has raised in Britain, our aim is to clarify some of the most frequently debated theoretical and practical issues surrounding the Palestinian national liberation struggle.
1. The Palestinian people are fighting a just struggle
While the world is no longer divided into oppressed and oppressor nations, Palestine remains the clearest case of an oppressed nation, facing relentless persecution by the Zionist state. For nearly eight decades, Palestinians have been systematically murdered and expelled from their land – a process that continues today in its most brutal form. Palestine is also the last remaining nation under an openly colonial system, where native inhabitants are denied the same civil rights as those of the colonial power.
This institutionalised inequality was enshrined in Israel’s 1949 Basic Law, which laid the foundation for one of the strictest forms of apartheid. More recently, this was further reaffirmed when Israel officially defined itself as ‘the state of the Jewish people,’ declaring that ‘the development of Jewish settlement […] shall act to encourage and promote its establishment and consolidation’. This reflects the ideology of settler colonialism, in which Zionists view Palestine not as a land where human beings live, but as territory promised to them. The very existence of native Palestinians is thus seen as an obstacle to this land theft, which Israel has historically pursued through war, apartheid, and genocide.
The struggle in Palestine is not a conflict between religions, ethnicities, or two competing nation-states. It is a fight for survival against total annihilation, against the systematic deprivation of the Palestinian people’s right to exist on their native land by economic, political, and military means. As a result, the struggle against Zionism takes on a distinct character from the fight against imperialism elsewhere. Deprived of the most basic social and political rights, the Palestinian working class cannot pursue social liberation without first freeing itself from Zionist oppression. Those living under Israeli rule face a brutal yet simple dilemma: violent resistance or complete destruction.
Fighting Israeli barbarity is therefore a just and necessary struggle – one that can redeem the history of humanity by ending nearly a century of vicious Zionist oppression. Acts of resistance are not only justified but must be fully supported by communists worldwide.
2. One solution: One state
Broader sections of the left advocate a two-state solution as the final resolution to the Palestinian cause. This is entirely incorrect. A two-state arrangement would merely represent a compromise with Zionism – curbing its most extreme demands while leaving untouched the economic, political, and cultural consequences of nearly a century of oppression. Undoubtedly, an independent Palestinian state existing alongside Israel would put an end to annexation, colonisation, apartheid, and genocide. However, this would also require Palestinians to accept a state with borders determined by decades of war and theft and, even more significantly, it would mean renouncing their right to return to the lands and homes taken from them over a century of Israeli colonisation.
Beyond these long-term disadvantages, the two-state solution is no longer viable in the short term, as it directly opposes the fundamental interests of the Zionist state. Never before has Israel been so explicit in its refusal of any compromise solution, making clear its commitment to the ultimate annihilation of Palestinian land to fully and permanently conquer it. Though often presented as the most diplomatic and therefore realistic option, the demand for two states is not only diluted, but it also has the problem of weakening the Palestinian struggle. By lowering the ambitions of the Palestinian people, it diminishes their willingness to fight while it simultaneously legitimises the Israeli state’s right to exist – and, with it, its history of colonisation and oppression.
In contrast, the demand for a one-state solution, stretching from the river to the sea, carries profound symbolic significance. It would mark the definitive end of Zionist settler colonialism and address tangible issues, ensuring the right of return for displaced Palestinians and laying the necessary political foundation for future coexistence among the various peoples, religions and ethnicities currently living in the region.
One must also understand that this unified and independent Palestinian state, for which it is just and urgent to fight for, would still be a capitalist state. At present, despite the immense pressure exerted by Zionism, which disrupts the normal dynamics of capital accumulation for the Palestinian bourgeoisie, capitalist conditions persist in Palestine. These conditions not only exacerbate the hardship of Israeli oppression but also impose the burden of capitalist exploitation. If Palestine were to free itself from Zionism and emerge as a capitalist state, this exploitation would obviously intensify. With the removal of Zionist constraints, local industrial and financial capital would expand, while regional imperialist powers would gain greater opportunities to invest – leading to increased capitalist accumulation and, consequently, heightened exploitation of workers.
The effects of such a development can be understood by looking at South Africa, where black people succeeded in overthrowing an apartheid system also rooted in settler colonialism. Thirty years into the ‘free’ South African state, it is evident that this ‘freedom’ has been largely limited to the black bourgeoisie, who have gained access to capitalist exploitation without racial or political restrictions. Meanwhile, the black working class remains trapped in harsh labour conditions, suffering from record levels of poverty and unemployment, with limited access to healthcare, education, and decent housing. While this situation is undeniably an improvement over the previous apartheid system, it is equally clear that exploitation and oppression remain unresolved – as is inevitable in a capitalist state.
3. Fight for national liberation, prepare the fight for socialism
Only socialism can abolish all divisions among workers, eliminating the material basis for inequality and injustice. Only the abolition of capitalism will ensure that Palestine becomes a land where different peoples coexist with equal rights; where freedom is not reserved for the class that owns the means of production; where those who own nothing today, will not face a new form of oppression tomorrow.
Should Palestinians, therefore, abandon their fight for national liberation and immediately shift to fighting capitalism? This would be the gravest mistake imaginable – as this fight would be impossible under present conditions. The struggle for a Palestine free from Zionism is the necessary precondition for the struggle for a Palestine free from capitalism. One cannot exist without the other. For this reason, communists must fully and wholeheartedly commit themselves to working alongside all those prepared to fight against Zionism – first and foremost, the bourgeois forces currently leading the Palestinian resistance.
In Palestine, the bourgeoisie is acting in a revolutionary way, fighting for the national liberation of its people and against the genocidal Zionist regime, and therefore it deserves the most committed support. However, as Marx and Engels suggested in the Manifesto, communists, even when fighting alongside the bourgeoisie, ‘never cease, for a single instant, to instil into the working class the clearest possible recognition of the hostile antagonism between bourgeoisie and proletariat’., Communists must not lose sight of the fact that today’s allies will become tomorrow’s enemies in the fight for socialism. To ignore this reality would be to betray the ultimate goal: the establishment of socialism-communism. What may seem like a contradiction – fighting alongside bourgeois forces while preparing to oppose them in the future – is, in fact, the only viable path forward in the struggle for national liberation. Communists face the difficult task of empathising with the people’s aspiration for a ‘free’ capitalist nation while recognising that true freedom can only come through socialism; of unequivocally supporting their bourgeois allies in the fight against Zionism while concurrently resisting their influence over the working-class masses. Most arduously, they must act openly and clearly, never concealing the social and political struggles that lie ahead. In essence, communists must be fully in tune with the oppressed masses while also serving as their vanguard. Only in this way can they fight for socialism while preventing the national liberation movement from exhausting itself and giving way to yet another exploitative and oppressive capitalist state.
Indefinitely postponing this duty to a distant ‘second phase’ of the struggle can only lead to failure. Not only will the bourgeois forces use this time to consolidate their power and better prepare for their future struggle against the working class. More crucially, failing to educate our ranks will lead to a decline in class consciousness, making it much harder to continue the fight for socialism once the national liberation struggle is over.
4. Solidarity in Britain: Only the working class can drive it forward
Despite increasing police repression, the global movement in solidarity with Palestine has demonstrated remarkable resilience and courage. Since October 2023, workers have blockaded factories and harbours set to ship armaments to Israel, activists have targeted Israeli companies, and students have directly and indirectly confronted university administrations complicit in supporting Zionism.
In Britain – much like in many other countries – Palestine solidarity has now reached a critical juncture. The strengths and achievements of the movement cannot obscure the reality of our current situation: our organisational capabilities are weakening, both in militant and popular strength, and we are struggling to achieve any meaningful social or political breakthrough. We must ask ourselves why.
The Palestine solidarity movement in Britain reached its most radical point through the direct action of groups that, among other activities, have successfully shut down Israeli weapons factories, inflicting strategic damage to Zionism. They have not only resisted police efforts to shield capitalist and Zionist enterprises but have also faced escalating legal and political repression designed to crush such actions. The courage of these acts is commendable – not only as expressions of political solidarity with Palestine but also as tangible disruptions to Zionist military supply chains. However, believing that structural change can be built on direct action alone is a misguided form of anarchistic idealism. Isolated from the wider working class, these actions are forced into a cycle of continuous escalation, which not only endangers activists – weakening their ability to sustain support for Palestine – but also risks alienating broader working-class consciousness, further diminishing the prospects of achieving key political victories.
A similar argument applies to student activism. While their efforts to pressure universities into divesting from Israel have been admirable, their long-term approach risks social and political irrelevance. The social democratic and opportunist tendencies of large sections of academia have accelerated this process, as student encampments and campaigns have often dissolved after achieving minor but ultimately marginal successes.
Whether we consider direct action groups, student activists, or the broader Palestine solidarity movement, one thing is abundantly clear: their current political strategy cannot mount a sustained offensive against capitalism, leaving them confined to a glorious but ultimately futile resistance. While action remains necessary, the only path to real success for Palestine solidarity is to root their struggle within the broader working-class movement. This does not mean merely having individual workers among their ranks; rather, it requires a deep understanding of the shared struggle between the Palestinian cause and the exploited and oppressed in Britain – that is, understanding the common root of capitalism, imperialism and Zionism, and finally eradicating it. While different classes may support national liberation struggles, in Britain, the only class with material interests directly opposed to imperialism, and the only one capable of sustaining a structural, long-term struggle, is the working class. It is this class that must be at the centre of the Palestine movement.
5. The Labour Left: Left-wing support of Zionism
It is no surprise to anyone that the Labour Party, in the words of its current leader, ’stands firmly in support of Israel’s right to defend itself.’ Throughout its history, Labour has consistently sided with British capitalism and imperialism, backing the Zionist project even before the establishment of the Israeli state.
With this in mind, how is it that the official leadership of the Palestine movement in Britain, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), continues to platform Labour MPs at national marches? Is it because these politicians represent the so-called ’Labour Left’? Analysed objectively, political parties are expressions of class interests – so as the ‘left wing’ of a pro-capitalist party, the Labour Left merely constitutes the most reformist faction of British capitalism. In words, it opposes imperialism; in deeds, it sustains it by fostering the illusion that imperialism can be reformed without capitalism being abolished. Similarly, the Labour Left serves as the left wing of Zionism, frequently condemning the genocide and the oppressive structures that have systematically murdered the Palestinian people while never once calling for the real and final suppression of the perpetrator of these crimes – the Israeli state.
This contradiction was most evident when Labour had its most left-wing leader ever. Under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, the party supported a two-state solution and adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism, which deliberately conflated antisemitism with pro-Palestinian criticism, causing disastrous consequences for Palestine solidarity in Britain. Similar contradictions persist today with left-wing Labour MPs, who attempt the impossible task of balancing pro-Palestine solidarity with pro-Labour Party rhetoric – meaning, in effect, deference to British imperialism.
By identifying the Labour Left as its closest political ally, the PSC has to reconcile a radical grassroots base – demanding an end to the Israeli state – with a blatantly reformist leadership that seeks to soften opposition to Zionism. Thus, the PSC serves as a paradigmatic example of an opportunist organisation that, instead of channelling its supporters’ justified anger into revolutionary struggle, redirects it towards strengthening a mildly reformed capitalist and imperialist status quo. This approach is reflected in many of the PSC actions and positions:
- It officially states that it is ‘[n]either in support [n]or against a one-state or two-state solution,’ deliberately avoiding taking a definitive stance.
- It demands a ‘ceasefire’ – a necessary call from Palestine, but one that, when raised in Britain, risks obscuring the British state’s active role in supporting Zionism and genocide.
- It focuses much of its activism on boycotts, reflecting a largely bourgeois or petty-bourgeois political orientation.
Predictably, after an initially promising start, PSC marches and events are gradually losing momentum – both in terms of turnout and political impact. This decline has serious consequences, not just for Palestine, but for Britain as well. It represents a missed opportunity to expose how imperialism fuels exploitation and oppression in this country; to direct anger not only at the Zionist oppressor but also at the British capitalist class; and to demonstrate that socialism is the only system capable of guaranteeing peace – both in Palestine and in Britain.
By supporting a party with diametrically opposed class interests, lowering the movement’s demands, and seeking bourgeois approval, the PSC is an obstacle to effective Palestine solidarity in Britain. On one hand, its role as an apparatus of the bourgeoisie and of the left wing of Zionism must be unmasked and denounced. On the other, communists should recognise that the PSC’s broad base of supporters does not necessarily share these positions, and should therefore work to radicalise it towards more uncompromising support for the Palestinian struggle.
Communist Vanguard 2025