MAMMOTH protests in Prague at the weekend made the direct link between Nato’s confrontation with Russia and the cost-of-living crisis.

It is a connection that needs to be made here as we gear up for mass demonstrations against a new Tory prime minister promising hundreds of billions more in military spending while millions cannot afford their energy bills.

Czech communists were right to dismiss claims that because the far right were mobilising for protests the left should sit them out — instead rallying under their own banners and promoting their own, socialist solutions.

Similar attacks have been made on left politicians in Germany who plan a string of “Monday protests” from today demanding action to bring down energy prices and a halt to Berlin’s policy of propping up energy suppliers’ profits by levying a charge on every kilowatt-hour of energy used.

Again, liberal figures within left organisations use the bogeyman of far-right protests to suggest socialists should stay off the streets and confine their criticisms of government to official channels.

That is a recipe for one thing only — empowering the far right by making it the outlet for popular anger at runaway inflation. 

Those in Die Linke who have rejected the naysayers and promised a “hot autumn of protest to stop a cold winter of unheated homes” are right about the need for public confrontation with the system.

In Britain we face a different problem.

The far right are not as strong as in Germany or the Czech Republic, and show no signs yet of benefiting from the cost-of-living crisis. 

The left, in the form of trade union-led campaigns such as the People’s Assembly, Unite for a Workers’ Economy and Enough is Enough, is leading resistance. 

The latter is packing out rallies in city after city and plans a day of action on October 1, coinciding with Ofgem’s decision to ratchet up the energy price cap by a staggering 80 per cent.

The People’s Assembly’s planned protest on October 2 at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham is more important than for many years. Britain’s new prime minister should feel the full force of demands for pay rises and public ownership.

Combined with the even more significant strike wave, these mobilisations show the labour movement is the real opposition to the Conservatives.

But we should be wary of narratives that separate the domestic from international crises.

The left needs to push for a long-term shift in policy that addresses not just inflation today, but the destructive path on which our government seems set.

The Tories show a wilful blindness to climate chaos which has provoked the worst droughts in centuries in Europe, the Horn of Africa and China, as well as apocalyptic flooding in Pakistan.

Their assault on the railway sector will hamper efforts to move people out of cars, while Liz Truss now suggests a response to the energy crisis is to frack for more shale gas.

No British politician questions the logic of sanctions on Russian energy, though the price rises these fuel are proving a bonanza for Vladimir Putin who has increased sales to key Western suppliers like Saudi Arabia and even indirectly to Europe — which is buying huge quantities of liquefied natural gas from China which experts assess to be resold gas of Russian origin.

All sides at Westminster oppose talks on ending the war in Ukraine, instead backing massive increases in military spending which will inevitably come at the cost of our public services.

The cost-of-living crisis is global. Food and fuel inflation cannot be separated from the impacts of climate change and war.

Britain’s new prime minister must face a movement that raises demands for peace and climate adaptation at the same time as calls for pay justice and price controls.