The latest tranche of Epstein files, numbering three million pages in total, has further lifted the lid on the crimes of the establishment.
In almost every part of their wealthy and powerful circles, they have been shown to be complicit. From billionaire elites and tech-bro CEOs, to royals and politicians, the oppressive and depraved morality of the ruling class has been laid bare.
Without diving into the sordid details, what’s clear is that Epstein’s operation was far greater than many understood. He worked many years not as a lone actor, but as a central figure in a ring of well-connected creeps, rapists and paedophiles.
If you need living evidence of how capitalism breeds oppression, this is it. These men saw young women and children as property. And they had no problem using their wealth and connections to abuse with impunity.
Many of these men have also been exposed as prize hypocrites. For all the talk from the right about ‘protecting women and girls’, their leaders seem quite happy to turn a blind eye to abuse when the perpetrator is a white billionaire financier or his mates.
Mandelson
Now at the centre of the scandal in Britain is Peter Mandelson, the so-called ‘Prince of Darkness’ who was instrumental in Tony Blair’s New Labour project of the 1990s and 2000s. Appointed last year to be UK Ambassador to the United States by the Starmer government, Mandelson is named roughly 6,000 times in the Epstein files. The scale of their corrupt relationship is almost too intricate to summarise.
Not only was Mandelson an integral part of Epstein’s depraved circle – he was also leaking private government information to Epstein, encouraging his CEO mates to “mildly threaten” the British government into carrying out policies favourable to their interests.
Starmer clearly thought he could wash his hands of this whole affair by sacking Mandelson and claiming ignorance. But the news is out. Starmer knew that Mandelson remained best pals with Epstein – a convicted paedophile and sex trafficker – for many years, and they hired him anyway!
Clearly, Starmer’s days are numbered. It’s quite possible that, had the government stuck to its previous attempted cover up of the Mandelson vetting files by invoking “national security and international relations”, the PM would be out of office. Only the intervention of former Deputy PM Angela Rayner on Wednesday forced a u-turn.
Starmer could still be gone in a matter of days. Many of Labour’s backbench MPs, even including some former loyalists, are likely to mount a leadership challenge at the earliest opportunity. What worries them most is the future – not just for their own seats, but for the Labour Party itself.
So why hasn’t Starmer already been thrown out? To put it simply, they can’t find anyone with a clean record! Wes Streeting, the favourite of the Blairite right wing, has been a long-time friend of Mandelson, implicated in his appointment to the Ambassador post. Rayner, who backbenchers hope will revitalise Labour’s brand, is still under investigation for tax fraud.
Regardless of who replaces Starmer, nothing will change the anti-working class nature of the Labour Party, or fundamentally reverse its decline. We need to build Your Party as the socialist, working-class alternative to these establishment hacks and goons.
Overthrow the Billionaire Parasites!
The Epstein files reveal that the culture of corruption and abuse isn’t limited to one man or a few ‘bad apples’ – it is endemic to the billionaire class. They show how capitalism needs to not just be reformed or tweaked, but abolished and uprooted from top to bottom. We echo the call from Zarah Sultana and Grassroots Left in Your Party to abolish the monarchy, House of Lords, and other undemocratic institutions which shield the wealthy and powerful.
Small tweaks won’t do the job when the rot is this widespread. That’s why we fight to nationalise the commanding heights of the economy under democratic workers’ control – not just to meet the needs of the majority, but to win justice for the many thousands of women and children abused in this scandal. Let’s see what these parasites have really been getting up to behind our backs.