Archive for April 2011
1 April 2011
Socialist Party members support POA fight against privatisation
London: Socialist Party members visited HMP Holloway to offer their support to POA members who were meeting to discuss their response to yesterday's announcement that HMP Birmingham would be privatised...
1 April 2011
Teachers and council workers strike together in Tower Hamlets
Photo Pete Dickenson
The fight against the cuts in Tower Hamlets, East London, got a big boost on Wednesday 30 March when there was a joint strike of council workers and teachers. An edited version of this article appeared in The Socialist.
2 April 2011
School students stage anti-cuts strike in Dundee
Dundee school students stage anti-cuts strike, photo Leah Ganley
150 school students walked out of Harris Academy in Dundee on April 1st and marched on Dundee City Council. The walkout was organised and coordinated by Students Defending Dundee Schools (SDDS), a citywide school student led campaign group. An edited version of this article appeared in The Socialist.
4 April 2011
On the move in London to fight the cuts
Peter Taaffe, Socialist Party general secretary, speaking about the half-million strong TUC demo, part one, photo Socialist Party
120 trade unionists, campaigners and young people, inspired by the massive national anti-cuts demonstration on 26th March, turned out to discuss the way forward at an excellent London Socialist Party meeting. An edited version of this article appeared in The Socialist.
4 April 2011
Birmingham prison officers determined to fight privatisation
Prison officers in the POA union at Winson Green prison in Birmingham held a protest meeting on Friday 1 April in response to the vicious privatisation plan for the prison. An edited version of this article appeared in The Socialist.
5 April 2011
Bristol meeting - The battle of our lives has begun
In the most inspiring public meeting since the launch of the anti-Poll Tax movement in Bristol in 1989, over 200 angry workers and young people discussed the need to step up the city's anti-cuts campaigning. An edited version of this article appeared in The Socialist.
5 April 2011
Saltend lock-out - Solidarity strike spreads
Saltend construction workers protest against being locked out by Redhall, photo Yorkshire Socialist Party
On Wednesday 6 April, hundreds of engineering construction workers at several sites around the country will be taking strike action in solidarity with the 400 Redhall workers locked out from BP Saltend, Hull. An edited version of this article appeared in The Socialist.
5 April 2011
New Labour is a capitalist establishment party and cannot be 'reclaimed' for working people and their families...
5 April 2011
Devon Bus Workers Fight Low Pay
NEGOTIATIONS OVER the Devon Stagecoach Bus drivers' modest demand of £6.50 an hour with no strings, have started and a strike scheduled for 23 July has been suspended, writes Steve Bush, Devon.
5 April 2011
Belt-Tightening Brown Threatens Cutbacks
GORDON BROWN has warned his fellow ministers to abandon any hopes of big rises in next year's public spending round...
5 April 2011
Heathrow: Why Furious Workers Walked Out
BRITISH AIRWAYS (BA) staff at Heathrow airport walked out in a wildcat action on 18 July to prevent the company imposing an automated time management scheme (ATR)...
5 April 2011
Iraq: Opposition To US/UK Occupation Mounts
The deaths of Saddam Hussein's sons has not stopped the attacks on coalition forces. Some 77 US armed forces personnel have been killed in Iraq since George Bush declared the war was over on 1 May. The...
5 April 2011
Hutton Enquiry: No trust in Blair
Blair has admitted that people don't trust him or his government. At a press conference full of evasion and condescension, Blair appeared unrepentant about the death of Dr Kelly - then jetted off to Barbados...
5 April 2011
Kelly Death Deepens Blair's Crisis
COMING ON top of the controversy surrounding weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), the death of scientist Dr David Kelly has brought about the most serious crisis that New Labour has faced since coming to power in 1997...
5 April 2011
Pride 2003: Fight The Bigots And Bullies
'OUT, PROUD and militant' is the Socialist Party Lesbian Gay Bisexual & Transgender (LGBT) Group message at this year's Pride, writes Manny Thain.
5 April 2011
Fighting homophobia: Take The Argument Into The Communities
COMBATTING ANTI-gay prejudice and discrimination and fighting for legal reform is a vital task for all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, writes Marc Vallee, Socialist Party National LGBT Group Convenor.
5 April 2011
I HAVE been taking part in PRIDE for around 15 years. I am increasingly saddened to see the event become more and more depoliticised and profit-driven. This started with the separating off of the march...
5 April 2011
Austria: Success In Defending Women's Right To Abortion
AN IMPORTANT case in defending women's right to abortion was won on 10 July at the end of a lower court trial, writes Claudia Sorger, Socialist Left Party, Austria.
5 April 2011
French Unions' Protests How The Movement Was Built From Below
A teacher-activist speaks to the socialist: EARLIER THIS year a mass movement involving millions of French workers took place against pension reform...
5 April 2011
Should The Unions Campaign To "Reclaim The Labour Party"?
SOME OF the recently elected left trade union leaders have raised the idea of launching a campaign to "reclaim the Labour Party"...
6 April 2011
Bosses prepare for war on public sector workers
In February it was revealed that the Con-Dem government is preparing a 'war plan' in an attempt to prevent coordinated strike action against the cuts...
6 April 2011
Labour Link won't save jobs and services
Like many trade union leaders across the country, the leadership of Unison in the east Midlands have tried to answer the question: "What next after the demo on 26 March?"...
6 April 2011
Ireland's economy on the brink
Within the first month of taking office, after 14 years in opposition, the shine has already come off Ireland's Fine Gael/Labour coalition government, writes Michael O'Brien, Socialist Party (CWI Ireland).
6 April 2011
Austerity measures take away the basics
Opened in 1983, Derbyshire Unemployed Workers' Centres, where I am training as an adviser, provide welfare rights and debt advice to some of Derbyshire's most deprived communities, writes Karen Seymour.
6 April 2011
Labour 'campaigning' - casework style
Around 50 elderly residents of sheltered accommodation, some support staff and relatives were protesting at Waltham Forest Labour council's decision to implement Tory cuts by picking on the old and vulnerable, writes Linda Taaffe.
6 April 2011
ISTC rip-off: Private health firms ripped off the NHS in London by £22 million between 2007 and 2010. This sum equates to the cost of employing 600 nurses...
6 April 2011
Building support for a socialist response to the repression after the Brixton riots, photo Socialist Party
April 2011 marks the 30th anniversary of the riots in Brixton, south London, against police racism, unemployment and poverty...
6 April 2011
Leicester: still angry with Clegg
Leicester Youth Fight for Jobs helped organise a protest against Nick Clegg visit, photo Leicester YFFJ
On Friday 1 April, Nick Clegg came to Leicester to hold a question and answer session at Showcase Cinema in the Highcross shopping mall, writes Suraj Shah, Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition candidate for Rushey Mead ward, Leicester.
6 April 2011
Youth workers and young people from Hackney, east London, protested outside the council's Children and Young People's Scrutiny Committee to demand an end to the savage cuts that will decimate the services used by young people in the borough, writes Suzanne Beishon, London Youth Fight for Jobs.
6 April 2011
Jordan: 'Reforms' fail to halt growing opposition
On Friday 25 March, more than 1,500 demonstrators demanding reforms clashed with a group of government supporters in the centre of Amman, the capital city of Jordan, writes CWI reporter Amman, Jordan.
6 April 2011
Half-Million strong TUC demo 26 March 2011, photo Dave Beale
Con-Dems declare war on essential services: Like an arrogant bully, the Tory/Lib Dem coalition is pushing ahead with many of its assaults on the lives of working class people...
6 April 2011
Hatfield Socialist Party: Fighting the Cuts
Wednesday 6 April 2011: Hertfordshire AL10 0JZ, writes (next to CW Carpets).
6 April 2011
Leeds Unison - fighting the cuts
Leeds Unison local government branch, jointly with the other council unions, has recently run a consultative ballot amongst the membership. This is over the employer's cuts packages, a Leeds Unison steward writes.
6 April 2011
Tuition fees hike: Of the 24 universities that have so far announced the tuition fees they are intending to charge from 2012, 16 are planning the maximum £9,000 a year for all courses...
6 April 2011
Unison members employed as housing support workers at Leeds Federated are taking industrial action in a dispute over pay and grading, a Unison member writes.
6 April 2011
Fight the cuts with TUSC: more than just a 'protest vote'
TUC demo, photo Paul Mattsson
Launching Labour's campaign for the English local elections last week Ed Miliband argued that families will lose an average of £182 worth of council services this year, writes Clive Heemskerk.
6 April 2011
Call for strikes to stop Ford attack on pensions
200 Visteon pensioners demonstrated outside parliament on Tuesday 29 March as Ford executives met MPs , photo by Mike Gard
Strike action is looming in Ford as the patience of both workers and pensioners runs out, writes Rob Williams, NSSN anti-cuts convenor and former Swansea Visteon (ex-Ford) Unite convenor.
6 April 2011
Nurses onTUC demo, photo Paul Mattsson
Tory health secretary Andrew Lansley has said that the government will "pause, listen and engage" before continuing with NHS 'reforms', writes A north London health worker.
6 April 2011
Housing benefit cuts start to bite
No DSS - benefit cuts lead to homelessness
There will be widespread anguish at Tory/Lib Dems' changes to housing benefit which came into force on 1 April. Hundreds of thousands of families entitlement to help with housing costs in privately rented property will be sharply reduced, writes Dave Nellist, Socialist Party councillor, Coventry.
7 April 2011
Coventry school strike against becoming an academy
Industrial action at Tile Hill Woods school in Coventry has been stepped up against plans to turn the school into an academy...
8 April 2011
Jobcentre call centre staff to strike on 18 April
Thousands of Jobcentre Plus (JCP) call centre staff will strike on 18 April after bosses refused to improve working conditions and customer service, the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) has announced...
8 April 2011
NUJ conference calls for the TUC to organise a 24-hour general strike
The NUJ conference taking place in Southport has voted for the TUC to be called on to organise a 24-hour general strike against the government's cuts onslaught...
9 April 2011
Fight continues to save Leeds day centres
Local mental health service users and mental health workers came together with representatives from Leeds Trades Council, Leeds Against the Cuts and two major public sector unions to lobby Leeds City Council in opposition to its plans to close mental health day centres across the city
9 April 2011
Hands off Westminster children’s services!
'Save Our Children's Services Westminster' organised a protest on Friday 8 April which was lively and effective in holding Westminster council to account
12 April 2011
Protest this Thursday against BP Saltend lockout
BP has its company AGM in London this Thursday, 14 April. Coachloads of locked out workers are going to protest...
13 April 2011
Vote socialist to fight the cuts
The office of Coventry Connexions, the youth advice service, is boarded up. A wall of chipboard greets passers by. The New Labour council's cuts are already biting, writes Rob Windsor, Socialist Alternative candidate, St Michael's ward, Coventry.
13 April 2011
'Unions and socialism to blame for deficit' - rants Glenn Beck
Republicans and Democrats in the US Congress recently agreed an eleventh hour deal to slash a massive $38 billion from federal government spending, mainly on public services and welfare...
13 April 2011
Banking giants avoid punishment
When share prices in Barclays Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland rose by over 3% last week, the markets made it clear that the Banking Commission's interim report into the 2008 financial meltdown is, in fact, a paper tiger, writes Simon Carter.
13 April 2011
Saltend construction workers protest against being locked out by Redhall, photo Yorkshire Socialist Party
National strike needed to defend rights: The Socialist has previously reported on the over 400 engineering construction workers who have been locked out from a site at BP Saltend, near Hull, writes Alistair Tice.
13 April 2011
NUJ conference calls for general strike
The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has become the first trade union to call for a 24 hour general strike, writes A conference delegate.
13 April 2011
The National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) steering committee has agreed to bring the fifth annual NSSN conference forward to Saturday 11 June, writes For more information see: www.shopstewards.net and www.stopcuts.net .
13 April 2011
Fighting the cuts after 26 March demo
Connecting London campaigns: Seventy people, representing 15 London borough anti-cuts alliances, met on Saturday 9 April to "share experiences" and discuss the way forward in fighting the cuts, writes Paula Mitchell.
13 April 2011
Portugal:'We won't pay their debt!'
End the dictatorship of the capitalist markets: The latest eurozone country to face a default on its sovereign debt is Portugal, whose minority government of prime minister Jose Socrates collapsed on 23 March...
13 April 2011
No to nuclear power - nationalise the environment-unfriendly energy giants
After the tsunami hit on the reactors at Fukushima power plant, the Japanese government is raising the nuclear alert level to seven, on a par with the horrors of Chernobyl a quarter of a century ago, writes Ben Norman.
13 April 2011
Chauvinist 'thoughts' from David Willetts
Universities minister David Willetts, a prime architect of this government's slash-and-burn higher education policies, recently revealed his thoughts on social mobility in Britain today, writes Claire Laker-Mansfield.
13 April 2011
Delegates disappointed: This year's Unison health conference, held in Liverpool, was the first major union gathering since the magnificent demonstration on 26 March, writes Roger Davey, Unison health service group executive, personal capacity.
13 April 2011
Striking against a Coventry academy
Strike action at Tile Hill Woods school (THW) in Coventry has been stepped up against plans to turn the school into an academy, writes Sunara Begum.
13 April 2011
The News of the World has finally admitted what the whole world knew - that phone hacking was far more widespread within that organisation than had been uncovered by the first police investigation, writes Ken Douglas.
13 April 2011
Coordinated strike action to defeat the cuts
TUC demontration 26 March , photo Paul Mattsson
"...every activist must be a leader in their own workplace and community...": The big question arising from the tremendous TUC march last month is where does the movement go from here...
13 April 2011
NHS in the firing line, photo Paul Mattsson
Build mass action to save our health service: The NHS is not safe in Con-Dem hands. A new Royal College of Nursing (RCN) report warns that one in eight of all nursing jobs are set to disappear in the next three years. The government puts 'saving'...
13 April 2011
Hands off our Services - Leeds
Leeds: Local mental health service users and mental health workers lobbied Labour-controlled Leeds city council against its plans to close mental health day centres across the city without serious consultation with workers and service users, writes Dave Younger, Leeds City Socialist Party .
13 April 2011
Hands off our services - Westminster
Westminster: 'Save Our Children's Services Westminster' organised a lively and effective protest on 8 April against Westminster council's cuts, writes Elizabeth O'Hara.
13 April 2011
Revolutions in danger, decisive workers' action necessary: Recent days have again shown that, despite the masses' yearning for real change, freedom and the heroic events of the past months, none of the revolutions in North Africa have so far secured a certain victory
13 April 2011
Jobcentre Plus call centre strike
PCS strike placard
We are not numbers! Jane Aitchison, Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) PCS president, explains why PCS members are striking in all Jobcentre Plus call centres on 18 April
13 April 2011
Con-Dems' economic policy... austerity, austerity, austerity!
Protesting in Manchester in January, photo Dave Beale
'The worst is yet to come'. The Con-Dem chancellor, George Osborne, claims his budget (24 March) is the "most pro-growth budget for a generation", writes Lynn Walsh, Editor of Socialism Today.
13 April 2011
Fight the cuts by supporting TUSC
Dave Nellist at the TUSC launch rally, London March 2010, photo A. Hill
Every Labour-led council has voted through cuts, saying they have no choice. But in May's elections, in 55 local authorities as well as in the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly elections, over 180 candidates are standing on the no-cuts platform of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC).
13 April 2011
Jarrow jobs march gains momentum
Support from trade unions for the Jarrow march for jobs has taken off, writes Paul Callanan, Youth Fight for Jobs national organiser.
14 April 2011
'Vote Against Cuts' in Leicester has its launch meeting
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) candidates in Leicester are standing as part of an alliance with candidates from Unity for Peace and Socialism, called 'Vote Against Cuts'...
14 April 2011
Staggering scale of London Ambulance service cuts
The recent announcement about cuts to the London Ambulance service has left even the most battle hardened among us astounded at their scale
15 April 2011
Locked-out construction workers take the fight to BP
Locked-out BP Saltend workers took their fight straight to the company's fat cats at BP's AGM in London Docklands' Excel Centre yesterday
15 April 2011
NSSN anti-cuts strategy vindicated
In January, the SWP opposed the setting up of an anti-cuts campaign by the National Shop Stewards Network partly on the grounds that they had set up the Right to Work (RtW) campaign. A recent letter by RtW secretary Chris Bambery, in which he resigns from the SWP, vindicates the decision that the NSSN took
18 April 2011
Strikes continue at Leeds Federated Housing
Update appended on 21.4.11 From Thursday last week, Unison members working as housing support workers at Leeds Federated Housing have been taking five days of strike action against attacks on pay and increased workloads
18 April 2011
Wales Shop Stewards Network sets up an anti-cuts committee
Over 70 representatives gathered at a Wales Shop Stewards Network conference in Cardiff to discuss the next steps in the fightback against cuts in jobs and services
18 April 2011
Over 2,000 protest against death of Smiley Culture during a police raid
At least 2,000 people assembled outside the Southbank Club on Wandsworth Road in south London to demonstrate against the death of reggae artist Smiley Culture...
18 April 2011
Enthusiastic support for PCS call centres strike
PCS pickets at Cobalt Park Jobcentre Plus call centre, photo Elaine Brunskill
More reports added 19.4.11. Thousands of call centre workers supported the strike by the PCS union in the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) on 18 April over inhuman working conditions and a bad service to benefit claimants
19 April 2011
Nottingham students against cuts and fees: 'Alternative conference'
Tuesday 19 April 2011:
19 April 2011
Youth unemployment still rising - Join the Jarrow march
YFJ demonstrating, photo Paul Mattsson
Last Wednesday the latest unemployment figures revealed that young people are still among the worst hit by the economic crisis and Con-Dem cuts
20 April 2011
Libya: Is humanitarian aid providing mission creep for western powers?
There is little doubt that a bloody war of attrition is being waged against the population of the Libyan city of Misurata by the Gaddafi regime, writes Robert Bechert.
20 April 2011
The high court has ruled that thousands of peaceful protesters at the G20 summit protest in central London in April 2009 were unlawfully contained - "kettled" - by police...
20 April 2011
Fighting anti-cuts programme needed in Scottish elections
The elections for the Scottish parliament on 5 May are taking place at a time of unprecedented cuts, writes Philip Stott, Socialist Party Scotland.
20 April 2011
Coventry: support for socialists increases
"There are times when working people like us have to stand up and be counted''. These were the words of Judy Griffiths, Socialist Alternative candidate in Coventry, at an emergency residents' meeting...
20 April 2011
Enthusiasm for ten TUSC candidates across Kent
Since the first Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition candidate for the local elections in Kent was announced, the idea of a slate of trade unionists, anti-cuts campaigners and socialists across Kent has really taken off, writes Adam Dudley, Kent Socialist Party.
20 April 2011
Vote Against Cuts alliance launched in Leicester
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) candidates are standing as part of an alliance with candidates from Unity for Peace and Socialism in Leicester called 'Vote Against Cuts', writes Becci Heagney, TUSC candidate, Stoneygate, Leicester.
20 April 2011
Build movement against cuts and fees: With education under unprecedented attack and youth unemployment pushing one million, this year's National Union of Students (NUS) conference should have been a council of war, preparing the next steps for the education movement, writes Claire Laker-Mansfield, National organiser Socialist Students.
20 April 2011
Anniversary: Black Friday 15 April 1921
A warning for the workers' movement: Following the magnificent 26 March TUC demonstration workers and anti-cuts campaigners want to know how to build the movement to defeat the cuts...
20 April 2011
"Staggering scale" of London Ambulance service cuts
The recent announcement on cuts to the London Ambulance service has left even the most battle hardened among us astounded at the scale of the cuts, writes Steve Harbord, Unison rep, personal capacity, London Ambulance Service.
20 April 2011
Locked-out BP Saltend workers took their fight straight to the company's fat cats at BP's AGM in London Docklands' Excel Centre on 14 April...
20 April 2011
Enthusiastic support for PCS call centres strike
Thousands of call centre workers supported the strike by the PCS civil service union in the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) on 18 April over inhuman working conditions and a bad service to benefit claimants...
20 April 2011
From 14 April Unison members working as housing support workers at Leeds Federated Housing have been taking five days of strike action, writes Iain Dalton, Leeds Hyde Park and Headingley Socialist Party.
20 April 2011
POA strike ballot: The national executive of the POA prison officers' union has decided to conduct an indicative ballot against prison privatisation...
20 April 2011
Newcastle: Socialists won't be intimidated by racists
Back in March, a group of English Defence League (EDL) thugs surrounded and intimidated Socialist Party members in Newcastle who were selling the Socialist and gathering signatures against the Con-Dems' 'austerity' package, writes A Newcastle Socialist Party member.
20 April 2011
Gay protest and discrimination
On 15 April, the John Snow pub in London's Soho had angry protests outside its doors after two gay men, James Bull and Jonathan Williams, were ejected for kissing...
20 April 2011
"Lambeth council know the cost of everything and the value of nothing"
Lambeth Unison's public meeting to save youth services and adventure playgrounds (APGs) on 12 April was a huge success, 45 people attended, writes Andy Tullis.
20 April 2011
World Bank unease: On the eve of the recent Group of 20 (G20) meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors in Washington - set against a backcloth of a fragile world economy - the World Bank said rocketing food prices have created "a toxic brew of real pain contributing to social unrest."...
20 April 2011
The twin terminator toffs, Cameron and Clegg, are determined to slash public services, privatise whatever they can and wipe out even more jobs, writes Lenny Shail, Socialist Alternative candidate, Coventry.
20 April 2011
War - what is it good for? Arms sales!
Arms manufacturers are excited by the Libyan conflict as it will lead to increased sales and profits.
20 April 2011
Sarkozy instigates ban on veil to boost his political ratings
What attitude should socialists adopt in defending women's rights?: On 11 April 2011 the French government brought into force a ban on wearing full-face veils in any public place in France. The right wing UMP government framed this law on the pretext of 'security'.
20 April 2011
Kick big business out of health care
photo Paul Mattsson
United action to defend NHS: Last week nurses, delegates to the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) conference, rejected Tory health secretary Andrew Lansley's backdoor privatisation health bill by a massive 99% to 1%.
20 April 2011
Striking teachers in Rotherham , photo Alastair Tice
Vote for strike action!: There was a magnificent show of force by the trade unions on the 26 March anti-cuts demonstration. Now the National Union of Teachers (NUT) conference has a historic opportunity to make the next step in...
20 April 2011
Angry protest at death of Smiley Culture
At least 2,000 people assembled on Wandsworth Road in Lambeth on 16 April to demonstrate against the death of reggae artist Smiley Culture.
20 April 2011
The Alternative Vote referendum - 5 May
A 'miserable little compromise'?: As Lib Dem and Tory MPs look on the referendum on the alternative vote (AV) in May with trepidation and anxiety, most people wonder what it is actually about
20 April 2011
Libya: the no-fly zone and the left
Socialism Today May 2011, cartoon by Suz
Imperialist powers have implemented a no-fly zone over Libya to protect their own strategic and economic interests and to restore their damaged prestige, writes Socialist Party general secretary Peter Taaffe in Socialism Today
20 April 2011
How can the Con-Dem coalition be most effectively punished?
26 March demo, photo Senan
Editorial of the Socialist: In two weeks' time voters will have an opportunity to demonstrate their views on the Con-Dem government at the ballot box. After a year of economic stagnation, growing poverty, and vicious cuts; no one is in any doubt what the result will be.
21 April 2011
Saltend - construction workers' struggle continues
On Wednesday 20th April the Redhall construction workers locked out from BP Saltend for the last six weeks met to decide whether to accept a compensation package. The offer of cash was rejected and it was agreed to restart the protest on Thursday morning.
22 April 2011
Journalists in north London strike for more staff
Around one hundred people followed a funeral cortege complete with incense, a coffin and the grim reaper to mark the 'near death' of north London and Hertfordshire newspapers in the Tindle group
23 April 2011
Teachers' conference calls for strike ballot to defend pensions
Teachers strike on 24 April 2008, photo Paul Mattsson
The 2011 National Union of Teachers (NUT) conference, held over Easter, voted almost unanimously (with only two abstentions!) to start a strike ballot against the Con-Dems' attacks on their pensions...
27 April 2011
Fight the cuts - strike, demonstrate, stand against cuts
Spats over the referendum on the alternative vote (AV electoral reform) between the Con-Dem coalition partners reflect the pressure on them from increasing opposition to their vicious cuts...
27 April 2011
NHS cuts Leeds: Save Yorkshire's children's heart surgery unit
Over the past few weeks, dozens of volunteers and activists have taken to the streets of Leeds in an effort to stop the planned closure of the Children's Heart Surgery Unit at Leeds General Infirmary, writes Michael Johnson, Leeds City Socialist Party.
27 April 2011
The Con-Dem government claims that no frontline NHS services will be cut. But the Connaught day hospital, at Whipps Cross general hospital in north east London, is threatened with closure, writes Bob Severn and a Whipps Cross worker.
27 April 2011
Syria: Assad's regime uses brutal terror to suppress opposition
Syria - protests
The Assad regime's increasing brutal crackdown on opposition in Syria is following in the footsteps of Libya's Gaddafi and the Bahraini regime as they all attempt to stem the tide of revolution in North Africa and the Middle East, writes Robert Bechert.
27 April 2011
Police assist racist EDL marchers
A combination of Hampshire, Surrey, Metropolitan and Sussex Police - over 350 officers in total - ensured that the far-right and racist English Defence League (EDL) marched through Brighton on 24 April, writes Jon Redford, Brighton Socialist Party.
27 April 2011
A successful campaign has been launched to oppose the racist British National Party in South Elmsall, West Yorkshire, writes Steve Faulkner, Yorkshire Socialist Party.
27 April 2011
Swansea says: make the fat cats pay!
On Saturday 23 May the Socialist Party in Swansea held a public ballot in the city centre that asked who should be responsible for paying for the financial crisis: banks and big business, or public sector workers such as teachers, nurses, and civil servants?, writes Claire Job, Secretary, Swansea Socialist Party.
27 April 2011
NUJ strike at Newsquest, photo Nick Chaffey
Around 100 people followed a funeral cortege, complete with incense, a coffin and the grim reaper to mark the 'near death' of north London and Hertfordshire newspapers in the Tindle group, writes Paul Kershaw.
27 April 2011
Support the Leeds Fed strikers
Wednesday 20 April was the final day of a five-day strike by housing support workers at Leeds Federated Housing who face large pay cuts and the downgrading of some of their jobs, writes Iain Dalton, Leeds Hyde Park and Headingley Socialist Party.
27 April 2011
London Midland: Train drivers working for London Midland are to vote on a package to end a long dispute over harmonisation of pay and leave entitlement...
27 April 2011
Bristol 'Tesco riot' reveals anger
On Thursday night, 21 April, disturbances took place in the Stokes Croft area of Bristol when police clashed with anti-Tesco protesters and the local squatting community...
27 April 2011
Torture camp: The latest tranche of WikiLeaks documents covering prisoners at the US base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, reveals what has long been suspected, ie that many of those incarcerated were completely innocent people, not terrorists...
27 April 2011
Jacqui Berry chairs the rally at Youth Fight For Jobs Conference 2009, photo Paul Mattsson
A few TUSC candidates explain why they arec standing. Over the last five years I've tried to turn the Greens left, but to no avail. They are obviously good about the environment but have no idea about the class struggle and don't want to get rid of capitalism,...
27 April 2011
Tony Mulhearn on 'The Moral Maze', radio 4, 8pm Wednesday 27 April
Socialist Party member Tony Mulhearn from the Liverpool 47 group of councillors who led a battle against the Tory government in the 1980s will be part of the panel on the programme The Moral Maze tonight, on the issue 'Meritocracy and Monarchy'...
27 April 2011
Management failures force school strike
On 7 April 70 teachers, members of teaching unions NUT and NASUWT, went on joint strike at Darwen Vale High School, Blackburn, Lancashire, and closed the school, writes Paul Gerrard, Bury NUT
27 April 2011
Saltend lockout: Struggle continues
On Wednesday 20 April, the Redhall construction workers, locked out from BP Saltend, near Hull for the last six weeks, met to decide whether to accept a £1 million financial compensation package from BP/Vivergo...
27 April 2011
National Shop Stewards Network 2011 Conference
The 2011 NSSN conference will be held on 11 June at the South Camden Community School, London NW1 1RG...
27 April 2011
Royal wedding: Not much bread but there's plenty of circuses
The Roman Emperors dealt with economic crisis with a policy of 'bread and circuses'. The Con-Dems are determined to leave out the bread and just give us the circuses. Witness the media torrent of sickly...
27 April 2011
Manningham Mills 1890-1891: A strike that changed Britain's unions
Manningham Mills
On 27 April 1891, 120 years ago, the great Manningham Mills strike of Bradford textile workers ended after nearly 19 weeks...
27 April 2011
TUSC election challenge: vote socialist to stop the cuts
Round the country: Trade Unionists and Socialists Against Cuts (TUSC) candidates in Bristol are standing in 16 seats across Bristol in the local elections...
27 April 2011
Fight the cuts: Vote for a socialist alternative
TUSC against cuts
On Thursday 5 May millions of people get the chance to pass judgement on a year of the Con-Dem government. Socialist candidates will be offering an alternative to the diet of cuts, writes Dave Nellist, Socialist Party councillor, Coventry and TUSC steering committee.
27 April 2011
No Health Cuts, No Privatisation
Health workers demonstrate, photo Paul Mattsson
Stop Con-Dems' assault on NHS Hardly a day goes by without some report outlining the crisis facing the National Health Service. This crisis is a consequence of the drive toward privatisation and the most severe financial cuts, writes Roger Davey, Unison, Health Service Group Executive (personal capacity).
28 April 2011
Coventry - youngest election candidate speaks out
Coventry Socialist Party website interviewed 18-year old Dan Crowter, Socialist Alternative Coventry, youngest election candidate in the Coventry local elections
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MARXISM
Communist
Manifesto by Marx and Engels
Communism, grotesque caricature: see Soviet Union. See also What About Russia?
How would a socialist economy work?
Lenin:
On Marxism
Terrorism: Marxism Opposes Terrorism
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