The daily, distressing images of two years of war in Gaza, and the evidence that the ‘solutions’ being put forward by the various bourgeois states are orientated to suit their militarist circles, have led some to seek an immediate remedy in the sabotage of the arms industry.

“Palestine Action”, a group formed over five years ago got going in July 2020 when it broke into and spray-painted the interior of the offices of the offices of the Israeli weapons manufacturers Elbit Systems in London, and since then they have consistently used direct action of various sorts, sometimes in collaboration with environmentalist and animal rights groups, against a number of other weapons manufacturers and those associated with them.

But as Israel’s response to the armed incursion of Hamas and associated groups into Israel, in October 2023, became increasingly disproportionate, the group became heavily involved in pro-Palestinian and anti-war demonstrations. In June this year it entered the RAF Brize Norton base and damaged two refuelling planes by spraying red paint into their engines. Its stated intent was to prevent genocide and the crimes of British bourgeoisie “which continues to send military cargo, fly spy planes over Gaza and refuel US and Israeli fighter jets".

The British government then resorted to the Terrorism Act 2000 to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist group, making it an offence to be a member of the organization, to fundraise for it, to wear or display items arousing reasonable suspicion of membership, or if someone invites support or “expresses an opinion or belief supportive of Palestine Action”. The government has certainly not been slow to apply it, and it continues to arrest all those who infringe even the most innocuous clauses of this draconian anti-terrorist legislation. After the numerous and growing demonstrations in support of Palestine Action the number of arrests is now in the thousands; which attracted even more demonstrators, with many attending simply to vent their indignation about the lie being given to the myth of free speech and democracy. Many of the demonstrators certainly didn’t correspond to the typical image of the angry young anarchist, and the diverse demographics seem to indicate that pensioners, the middle classes and white collar workers are increasingly feeling the ground shifting under their feet as the crisis deepens and widens.

The government certainly wants to stifle protests but it is also keen to brainwash “public opinion” with a campaign of disinformation, by conflating antisemitism with antizionism and also with opposition to the lebensraum policy of the Israeli state, as the latter blatantly seeks to annex neighbouring territories.

On October 5 the new Home Secretary Sheban Mahmood announced plans to enable the police to impose restrictions on the duration of “repeat protests” or ban them outright.

But the ideology that informs these pacifist groups concentrates merely on the technical side of war and ignores its economic and social base. For them it is ‘the people’ oppressed by ‘the system’ rather than it being the working class oppressed by capitalism. And in the capitalist system it is not just the arms industry that carries out a crucial role.

In this restricted vision, the social considerations are ignored and national ones given priority: support for “Palestine against Israel”, with words or with arms? And, later, off to the national recruiting offices of one’s own country in the name of an imaginary justice in the future.

The real force that will overthrow capitalism, and along with it the arms industry, resides in the working class. But part of the process of unleashing that force depends on working people throughout the world increasingly coming to realize that all wars are wars against THEM; that in peace and war they must continue the battle to defend and improve wages and conditions, and that the enemy is always at home, in the ruling class, on both sides of the battle lines.