www.socialistparty.org.uk This podcast is a discussion with Rob Williams, the industrial organiser of the Socialist Party, about the upcoming UNITE the union executive council elections.Unite’s elections take place as the pro-capitalist character of Keir Starmer’s Labour government becomes ever clearer, with the working class still paying the price for the crisis in the bosses’ system. The elections from 23 March to 27 April are for the Executive Council (EC), the lay-member leadership of the union.Later this year there will be the election for general secretary. Where Sharon Graham is standing for re-electionSocialist Party members are standing on the left ‘Workers Unite/Back to the Workplace’ slate that supports the manifesto on which Sharon was elected in 2021. The slate includes fellow supporters of the Unite Broad Left, a new broad left group in Unite. We supported Sharon in the 2021 general secretary election because her programme best ensured that Unite would maintain itself as a militant industrial union. This has been borne out by events. Sharon was previously Unite’s head of organising, effectively the lead officer for the union’s industrial action strategy. As general secretary, this has been taken to an even greater level, on a systematic scale. Since she became general secretary, Unite has called over 1,500 disputes, winning 83%. Those disputes have won £605 million for members. ‘The main opposition is grouped around the United Left (UL). It is clear that it is in political retreat, tying itself to Starmer’s Labour and its cutting Labour councillors. What else is at stake in these crucial elections? Further reading: Unite Executive reduces payments to Labour Party:

https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/148868/18-03-2026/unite-executive-reduces-payments-to-labour-party/ Taking the fight for a new party into the trade unions https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/148864/18-03-2026/taking-the-fight-for-a-new-party-into-the-trade-unions/

Tony Saunois, Secretary of the Committee for a Workers International, and Sean Figg, from the CWI’s International Secretariat, discuss the kidnaping of Venezuelan president Nicholas Maduro and what a new era of US imperialist aggression will mean in an already volatile capitalist world.

Paula Mitchell from the Socialist Party Executive committee explains the Socialist Parties approach to fighting racism and the far right.

The need to combat racism and the far right is urgent. Although recent polls have shown a small dip, Nigel Farage’s racist right-populist Reform UK is at around 25%. In the summer, over 100,000 people marched with far-right activist Tommy Robinson on a ‘Unite the Kingdom’ demonstration. Protests have taken place at asylum hotels around the country. There is a widespread fear among Black, Asian and migrant communities, and among many workers and activists, at the likelihood of gains for Reform in the May elections and the possibility of a future Farage-led government. What methods and tactics are needed to fight racism and the far-right?

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Further reading

Is fascism ‘growling at the door’?socialismtoday.org/is-fascism-growling-at-the-door

Lessons from fighting the fascist British National Party in the 1990s - the spycops enquiryhttps://socialismtoday.org/lessons-from-fighting-the-bnp-in-the-1990s

‘Together’ – or a union-led fight against racism and the far right?https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/146225/10-12-2025/together-or-a-union-led-fight-against-racism-and-the-far-right/