THE Communist Party has published an open letter calling for collective action to stop working people paying for the Covid-19 crisis.

The party has recorded a 13 per cent increase in membership since the pandemic began, reflecting an increasing militancy on the left, and says that now is the time to join.

“This pandemic has shown how capitalism is a system designed to enrich the few, not to protect the many. There must be a better way of organising our society and its economy,” the letter reads.

“In the midst of this crisis, we have seen the values that could govern a socialist society — the courage, the unselfishness, the solidarity.”

It warns against any “reckless rush into ending the lockdown” and says that the cost of measures taken to protect jobs cannot be shouldered by the poorest as it was after the 2008 financial crash.

“The British ruling class is still one of the wealthiest in the world. It’s time to end the tax haven status of British overseas territories and make the super-rich pay a wealth tax,” it demands.

At its last executive meeting the party called for a “Trident dividend,” with the cancellation of the £150 billion nuclear weapons programme and the money invested instead in “our health, social and emergency services and productive industry.”

And bosses’ determination to get people back to work whether it is safe or not must be resisted by workers must organise “to stop the job when your health and safety is at risk.

“Now is the time for workers to join and strengthen trade unions in the workplace,” the letter says.