[First delivered by Georgina Andrews at the January 2026 meeting of the YCL Central Committee, 24th-25th January, with additions from the subsequent discussion]
International:
Palestine
Trump’s so-called Board of Peace is a board for war and imperialism. Launched this week in Davos, the body will be under Trump’s exclusive control even beyond his US Presidency term. Its membership includes warmongers such as Tony Blair and far-right and authoritarian figures, whose first action is to impose a free market development regime in Gaza, financed by US investment. It strips Palestinians of their land, rights and future while lining the pockets of warmongers and imperialists.
Since the ceasefire began on 10th October 2025, over 470 Palestinians have been killed by the so-called Israeli Defence Force, including children, while famine continues to ravage the region. The ceasefire quells the Palestinian resistance movement whilst Israel massacres Palestinians with complete impunity. China has refused to participate in this board as it undermines the function of the UN, and Britain is yet to sign on false grounds that Russia is involved. In fact Russia has not signed the board. Vietnam however has chosen to join the board, and may hope to counter some of Trump and his allies’ plans for Gaza in doing so. The YCL condemns any attempt to use this board, imposed on the people of Palestine, in the interests of imperialism. We stand in firm solidarity with the Palestinian people, reaffirming our commitment to the sovereignty of the Palestinian people, the establishment of the Independent State of Palestine along pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, and the right to return for all Palestinians.
Venezuela & Cuba
US imperialist aggression in Latin America threatens the sovereignty, security and economic survival of Cuba, Venezuela and the rest of Latin America. The illegal kidnapping of President Nicolas Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores was of course not enough for US hegemony. The Trump administration further threatens attacks unless acting President Delcy Rodriguez grants US fossil fuel companies access to Venezuelan oil. A new Bill proposes to open Venezuelan oil up to foreign private investment, overhauling the current public ownership. This is a direct attack on Venezuelan sovereignty and the gains won by the Bolivarian Revolution under Hugo Chavez.
In December 2025, the US National Security Strategy outlined the revival of the Monroe Doctrine to ensure the Western Hemisphere is US dominated and “non-hemispheric competitors” are excluded. Imperialism never changes its character. While Trump have may done away with the liberal veneer used to justify past interventions under both Democratic and Republican administrations, he is continuing the decades long attempt to assert and maintain US hegemony.
Cuba, choked by the US’s 63 years of illegal economic blockade, is in a perilous situation. Lindsey Graham, Republican Senator, has described Cuba’s days as “numbered.” In response, Cuban President Miguel Diaz Canel resolutely stated: “Cuba is a free, independent and sovereign nation. No one dictates what we do. Cuba does not aggress; it is aggressed upon by the United States for 66 years. It does not threaten; it prepares, ready to defend the Homeland to the last drop of blood.”
Fernando Gonzalez, one of the Miami Five and the President of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, added; “Here no one surrenders! Homeland or death. We will overcome.” The Cuban people are resilient in the face of US aggression and are determined to defend their sovereignty.
The YCL expresses unwavering international solidarity with the peoples of Venezuela and Cuba resisting US imperialism as we intensify our campaigns for material aid, call for peace and sovereignty against intervention in Latin America, and pressure the British government to uphold international law.
Though imperialism’s nature remains the same, the world is still seeing a large shift in the post-WW2 UN based world order and framework. The starkness of Trump’s kidnapping of President Maduro and his wife, the seeming irrelevance of international law in light of the genocide in Gaza, and the recent threats by Trump against Cuba and Greenland all do away with the myths once used to justify the current order and build consent for Western interventions. On Greenland particularly, growing disagreement between Europe and America, even within NATO itself, presents an opportunity for change. Even if the disagreements between Western leaders were to amount to little more than posturing, the growing awareness amongst everyday people of these points of tension, of the real risk that being in NATO and hosting US military bases presents, may serve to popularise the campaign for US bases out of Britain, Britain out of NATO, and a independent and sovereign foreign and defence policy.
Iran
Nationwide protests in Iran erupted earlier this month in response to the economic crisis resulting from the national currency collapse, exacerbated by corruption and thirty years of neoliberal economic policies. The ruling theocratic regime has responded to the protests with internet blackouts, armed security patrols, mass detentions, torture, forced disappearances, sexual violence and the killing of protestors, including children. While the movement for change contains some reactionary pro-US trends, its core demands for economic change, democracy, social justice and women’s rights are progressive. The YCL stands in solidarity with the Tudeh Youth Organisation and other left and progressive forces inside Iran who reject US interference in the sovereignty of the Iranian people. The future of Iran must be decided by the Iranian people alone.
Britain:
Moving to Britain, the Labour government has awarded a £330 million contract to Palantir, a US tech firm founded by far-right mogul Peter Thiel, for NHS data collection services. This promotes the subordination of the British government to US corporate interests meanwhile entrenching the privatisation of our NHS. The head of the British Palantir operations is none other than British Union of Fascists’ Oswald Mosley’s grandson Louis Mosley. The correlation of capital, far-right and the privatisation of public services is noted here.
This is another example of the Labour government’s commitment to prioritising capital over the working class. Young communists must continue to fight for progressive public ownership and fully-funded public services.
It is no surprise that the Labour government and Starmer in particular are so unpopular, having promised change and delivered nothing in their subservience to capital. Therefore it is to be expected that attempts to overcome this unpopularity would include the prospect of replacing Starmer with a less unpopular Labour figure in Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester. Labour’s NEC blocked Burnham – who is of course no great socialist revolutionary – from standing in the Gorton and Denton by-election, which would have allowed him to become an MP and therefore eligible to become Labour leader. However, this will do little to quell the dissatisfaction even within the Labour party with Starmer’s leadership. A potential Labour civil war would in fact only deepen the unpopularity of this government, something that should not just be left to Reform to capitalise on, but for communists across the workers and progressive movement to use to popularise our left wing program as a clear alternative.
Reform may find it increasingly hard to come across as an alternative to the Tory and Labour parties as it continues to take on defectors from the Tory party. While Reform leader Nigel Farage my try to argue that his party will not be the Conservative Party 2.0, the crossing over of Tory politicians and previous backers of said party suggests that, at the very least, Reform is being considered as the new main party of British capital.
With the Welsh Senedd elections coming later this year, it is important to note the decline in support for Welsh Labour, with the Greens now outpolling Labour in Wales. Rising support for the Greens is unsurprising in the context of Labour’s unpopularity, especially in Wales where Labour has been in government consistently for many years and proven how little real change they can bring. The desire for a left alternative is real and growing, now it is the job of young communists to harness this.
Capitalism’s deepening general crisis urges young communists to increase the agitation, education, mobilisation and organisation of youth in class and mass struggles across Britain, in their workplaces, communities and campuses. This naturally ties into strengthening our influence in the trade union and progressive movements to build the United Front against austerity and war amongst young trade unionists and young campaigners in housing, health, anti-austerity, anti-racism and anti-war movements. Doing so builds the League and the Party to advance the class struggle in Britain, for peace, jobs and socialism in our lifetime.
