A Socialist Equality Party team campaigned outside Westbourne Park bus garage in west London this week, which employs 350 bus drivers, engineers and other staff.

The SEP members distributed copies of the statements “Oppose Trump’s criminal invasion of Venezuela! Release Maduro!” and “For a general strike to stop Trump’s occupation of Minneapolis!”, both of which were warmly welcomed by workers.

Most who passed stopped to speak, eager to make clear their hostility to the rampage being carried out by Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) gestapo squads, including the murder of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis.

One driver pledged they would “do anything I can to help” fight Trump. Another said, “What Trump is doing is unacceptable and I support [this] fight.” A young driver explained, “I saw the killing by ICE of the protester. We need to stand together and fight in unity.” Another driver said, “you need unity in your struggle.” Another agreed, “I’ve been following this situation. Stand firm, don’t let them divide you; unity and solidarity in the fight against Trump.”

One worker commented, “I was surprised people voted for Trump. I knew it would be a disaster but he’s not only starting wars, he’s starting a war against his own citizens. I’ve seen ICE in operation: they have to be stopped—Trump has to be stopped. I don’t think protests will stop him. Will a general strike?

“What I do know is [UK Labour Prime Minister Keir] Starmer and Europe are frightened of Trump; it’s down to the people. It’s not just Trump, we’ve got our own problems with Starmer, and he should be brought down.”

Another driver responded, “Trump does not care about ordinary poor people. I can see the same thing happening elsewhere. We workers are having to tighten up on spending on food in order to try get by. I don’t think Trump or any government wants to help workers and the poor; we are going to have to unite and help each other. I don’t know what it’s going to take to stop him.”

The driver was among others at the depot who said they were interested in the fact that a general strike is being called for in Minneapolis, as they had attended many protests in the UK against the Gaza genocide and it was evident to them that “protests do not change anything.”

One young driver said workers had to “stand strong together in unity to defeat Trump. I have followed online the protests against the killing of the lady [Renee Nicole Good] and the attempt by Lang to divide the people, happy to see him driven out.”

Fascist Jake Lang held a small pro-ICE protest in Minneapolis that was broken up by a large counter-protest.

Of the Minneapolis general strike planned for January 23, the driver asked, “What will happen? Will it shut down everything, how will that affect things? A strike just in Minneapolis won’t stop Trump. I see he’s preparing to send troops; if he does it will start a civil war. I will read and get in touch with your website, thank you for this information.”

A worker described the attack on Venezuela as “terrible, it’s a sovereign country. Trump thinks he can get away with it. Somebody needs to stop him.” Others added, “If he can do that to Venezuela, he can do that to anyone”; “Trump says it’s about drugs but it is all about oil.”

One observed, “Trump is ignoring Congress and the law as if it does not matter. It is very difficult to see this happen, it’s very shocking. Where is this going to stop?” They went on, “The Europeans are doing nothing, but he is coming for them next. After Venezuela it will be Greenland.”

The SEP team cited passages from the statement that explained the European powers are themselves engaged in the largest rearmament campaign since the Second World War and see the invasion of Venezuela as a green light for the restoration of their former colonial empires—all to be funded through the destruction of jobs, wages and the social and democratic rights of workers in their own states.

This will meet enormous global opposition. What is required is the development of a socialist political programme among the international working class which can turn general resistance into a conscious struggle against capitalist exploitation and imperialist war.

As the statement “Oppose Trump’s criminal invasion of Venezuela! Release Maduro!” concluded:

“The ruling class has made clear what they want 2026 to be: a year of unrestrained military violence. The answer must be to make 2026 a year of class struggle and the development of a mass movement for socialism. 

“The fight against war is a fight against the capitalist system that breeds it. This struggle must be led by the working class, rallying all progressive sections of the people in a struggle to establish genuine democracy and equality.”