
It is scarcely a secret that the biggest problem the Morning Star has with the Johnson government is that, on so many issues, they fundamentally agree.
On Brexit (preferably âno dealâ), nationalism, hostility to âliberalismâ, âhuman rightsâ legislation, the âmetropolitan eliteâ and âfinance capitalâ, the Star (and its ideological masters, the Communist Party of Britain) sing from much the same hymn-sheet as Johnson and Cummings.
Yes, of course, the Star ritualistically denounces Johnsonâs cruder forays into outright racism and warns that the Tories canât be trusted with workersâ rights; but that cannot hide the underlying political correlation â and, indeed thinly disguised admiration for his âboldnessâ and âunerringâ political acumen.
Nowhere is this demonstrated more plainly than in the Starâs response to the ending of EU free movement and the introduction (from next January) of a "points-based" immigration policy that will (supposedly) end âunskilledâ migration into Britain.
The Star has spent years claiming (on the basis of very little evidence) that free movement of labour drives down wages, so it was hardly surprising to read in an editorial (3 Feb) that it positively welcomes the ending of free movement: âBrexit means that our nation state is no longer bound by the free and often forced movement of labour that accompanies the EUâs free movement of capital.â
That phrase âoften forced movement of labourâ is worth interrogating: what exactly does the Star mean by it? The only possible understanding is that workers often feel âforcedâ to travel in order to find employment â something that applies to British workers relocating within the UK and which (as far as Iâm aware) the Star has no objection to.
The same editorial proclaims âNo human being is illegalâ but then goes on to call for âa non-racist migration policy that both serves our economic needs and meets our humanitarian obligations, but does not denude poorer nations of their skilled personnelâ: which is exactly what the Tories say they are introducing and which, would of course, make any human being who slipped in without sufficient points... illegal.
The Starâs real dilemma over all this was at least partially revealed in a further editorial (20 February):
âIt [the points-based system] is presented as a bid to help British workers, and bossesâ ability to undercut pay and conditions by bringing in cheap labour has been a key factor in creating the âbargain-basementâ economy, dominated by insecure work and poverty pay, that we see around us.â
Now, just read that paragraph again, and try to work out what itâs really saying: is the Star in agreement with the Toriesâ proposition that their new immigration policy will âhelp British workersâ and stop bosses âbringing in cheap labourâ? Given the confused wording, itâs impossible to say, for sure: but what we do know is that the Star believes immigration is a major factor in driving down wages, and has published articles (by no less an authority than Len McCluskey, complete with an out-of-context quote from Marx), arguing just that.
The 20 February editorial warns us that: âPosing as champions of the EUâs free movement model is likely to alienate as many people as it appeals to, since the government has shrewdly pointed out that when the new system kicks in non-EU immigrants will no longer be at a disadvantage ...â
I think we can read that word âshrewdlyâ as meaning âquite rightlyâ.
What the Tories are doing, of course, is extending to EU citizens the racist and oppressive policies theyâve long operated towards non-EU migrants â and (as far as can be judged) the Star thinks thatâs progress!
The one unquestionably internationalist slogan the Morning Star has come out with, in the course of their recent coverage of immigration, were the words âNo human being is illegalâ â however, unfortunately, they should have added âbut some are more legal than others.â