Archive for February 2020
3 February 2020
Sadiq Khan "out-Tories" himself to defend tech firms' tax bonanza
In an interview, London's Labour mayor shows he's a friend of the multinationals and not the working class
4 February 2020
14 more days of university strikes over pensions, pay and conditions
The UCU has announced 14 days of further strike action
5 February 2020
Victory for library workers after 241 days on strike!
Bromley library workers achieved a victory after eight months on continuous strike
5 February 2020
Grenfell watch: Unions challenge 'mockery of justice'
General union Unite and the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) have challenged Grenfell suppliers' scandalous request for immunity from prosecution in exchange for cooperating with the public inquiry
5 February 2020
Ealing tax office workers strike against closure
Civil service workers at Ealing tax office took further strike action on 29-31 January against its closure and staff redundancies
5 February 2020
NHS: Save stroke beds in Coventry and Warwickshire
Coventry and Warwickshire will lose 30 stroke beds when existing facilities in hospitals in Nuneaton and Warwick close
5 February 2020
Cancel the franchise, not our trains
The performance of West Midlands Trains - the current franchise holder for rail services in the West Midlands - is talked about everywhere; in newspapers, on radio and TV and of course among rail travellers
5 February 2020
Will the North get investment and transport infrastructure?
Boris Johnson has pledged to earn the trust of working-class voters who 'lent' him their vote in the general election
5 February 2020
Nationalise the railways: For an integrated public transport system
Privatisation doesn't work! That's the real message from the Tories' decision to take Britain's worst train operator, Northern Rail, back into public ownership
5 February 2020
Record dissatisfaction with democracy: capitalism's dead end
The strategists of capitalism are worried. Global levels of distrust in democracy are at an all-time high. In reality, this represents a growing dissatisfaction with capitalism itself.
5 February 2020
'Post-Brexit' era of crisis ahead
Brexit Day has been and gone. Now Johnson is promising the "dawn of a new era".
5 February 2020
500 BBC journalists' jobs under threat
BBC top management have announced that 500 journalists' jobs are to go. This is a direct attack on the National Union of Journalists (NUJ). BBC journalists are the largest single group in the union.
5 February 2020
Newham council tax workers' pay victory
Unite members working as council tax benefit managers for Newham's Labour council in east London have won a pay and grading claim after giving the employer notice of strike action to commence.
5 February 2020
No to academisation of east London schools!
Brentwood Catholic Diocese in east London wants to turn all its schools into academies. Already academisation at St Angela's in Newham has been ruled out for five years after strike action.
5 February 2020
Syria: Assad regime consolidates power after brutal counterrevolution
Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad has succeeded, for now, in defeating the revolutionary uprising and subsequent armed rebellion that has swept over the country since the 'Arab Spring' of 2011.
5 February 2020
Israel/Palestine: Trump 'peace plan' promises further conflict
The recent 'deal' announced by US President Donald Trump and enthusiastically endorsed by Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was billed as a 'Middle East peace plan'. But as the Economist journal wrote: "As a blueprint for a two-state solution it was dead on arrival".
5 February 2020
Liverpool council: "No more cuts" - Is Joe Anderson serious?
Joe Anderson, Liverpool's elected mayor, has caused a publicity storm in the city by publicly announcing that he will refuse to make any more cuts at the behest of the Tory government.
5 February 2020
Alternative Burns Night success
Some came by word of mouth. Others saw our posters, read the article in the local paper or heard the interview on BBC Radio Cumbria.
5 February 2020
Defend and fight for warm, safe housing for Samira and everyone
Samira and her family have suffered damp and mouldy housing for ten years.
5 February 2020
Support the working-class press in 2020
Which paper details a fighting industrial strategy to beat the anti-union laws? Who explains how councils can set budgets that defy the Tory cuts? Where can you read about the practical programme needed to reconstitute a mass party for working-class political representation?
5 February 2020
Reading Labour council: Stop privatising our leisure services
If the right-wing Labour council succeeds, a private company will be given a 25-year contract to design, build, operate and maintain Reading's sports centres.
5 February 2020
The rich fund the Tories and Blairites, so help fund the working-class fightback
The Socialist Party needs you to increase your subs.
5 February 2020
6.5 million working poor: Fight to end low pay
There are now 6.5 million workers in the UK who are part of the "working poor."
There are now more people who are both working and in poverty than people who are officially unemployed.
5 February 2020
Expensive, overcrowded and unreliable: Renationalise the railways!
The Socialist warned that a privatised rail service would fail, be run for profit, fares would increase, safety compromised and investment fall.
5 February 2020
Coronavirus exposes capitalism's weaknesses in healthcare and economy
Tragedies like the deaths from novel coronavirus, are never just 'natural disasters'.
5 February 2020
Labour leadership contest and public ownership
A debate, of sorts, is opening up on nationalisation in the Labour leadership election.
5 February 2020
Refuges turn away 64% of women - set no-cuts budgets now!
The number of refuge bed spaces in England is now 30% below the number recommended.
11 February 2020
University strikers walk out for better pay and pensions
The University and College Union announced 14 days of further action
12 February 2020
Solidarity with Turkish workers
Socialist Party members joined a protest on 8 February called by the campaign Solidarity with the People of Turkey (SPOT - the Socialist Party and the National Shop Stewards Network are both on its committee)
12 February 2020
An important discussion at Lambeth Unison's annual general meeting ended with a vote to endorse and circulate an open letter to Unison's leadership
12 February 2020
Come to the London National Shop Stewards Network meeting, Tuesday 18 February 7.30pm at the Indian YMCA, 41 Fitzroy Square, Bloomsbury, W1T 6AQ
12 February 2020
Solidarity with victimised bus rep Moe
Moe Muhsin Manir, a Unite rep on London buses and Socialist Party member, has a disciplinary hearing, on 13 February at bus company Abellio, and is facing the sack
12 February 2020
Nottingham: death of vulnerable claimant
A vigil was held in Nottingham on 7 February to remember Errol Graham, who died when the Department for Work and Payments (DWP) stopped his benefit
12 February 2020
Cesar Zanin, a part-time NHS worker living in temporary accommodation and bringing up a six-year-old daughter, didn't know where their next meal was coming from after the DWP stopped his Universal Credit without warning
12 February 2020
"20 years of building regulation failures" have fallen on the one body that is completely innocent - the residents
12 February 2020
There was great support in Leeds for bringing the railways and buses back into public ownership. While people welcomed the announcement of Northern Rail being brought into public ownership, many were suspicious
12 February 2020
Lebanon - mass protests cut across sectarian division
In the following article - the fourth in a continuing series in the Socialist on countries in turmoil in the Middle East - Socialist Party national committee member Iain Dalton looks at the most recent protests shaking the political establishment in Lebanon
12 February 2020
Windrush deportations: end the hostile environment
Two years after the Windrush scandal, the Home Office has operated a charter flight to Jamaica forcibly deporting Jamaican-born British citizens. Tragically, this will tear many families apart.
12 February 2020
Will capitalism save the planet? "The reality is that the big companies rule the roost, and they're only interested in short-term profit," replied the Socialist Party's Martin Powell-Davies on BBC1's 'The Big Questions' on 9 February.
12 February 2020
The working class of Rhondda Cynon Taff will be on the march on Saturday 15 February to stop the closure or partial closure of their A&E department in Royal Glamorgan Hospital. Hundreds have attended meetings and lobbies across the area.
12 February 2020
Unnecessary surgery scandal shows need for democratic control of NHS
It is shocking that a doctor, breast surgeon Ian Paterson, subjected more than 1,000 patients, mainly women, to unnecessary and damaging operations over 14 years.
12 February 2020
NHS debt so high it can't be repaid - so don't pay it!
Cuts and privatisation mean NHS trusts now have debts so high they might never be repaid, according to the National Audit Office (NAO).
12 February 2020
Callous Tory cuts to children's speech therapy in Nottinghamshire
Tory-controlled Nottinghamshire County Council wants to cut two-thirds from the budget for early-intervention speech-therapy services.
12 February 2020
PCS union: Uniting the left around a leadership that can win for members
The 2020 national elections of the PCS, a union of civil servants and private sector workers on government contracts, are at a key stage. Branches throughout the union are meeting to agree nominations for president and national executive committee.
12 February 2020
Westex workers win increased pay offer in 11th week of strike
The Westex carpet workers in Yorkshire are now into their 11th week of strike action. The strike is solid and no Unite the Union member has crossed the picket line.
12 February 2020
East London school strikes against academisation continue
When will schools in Newham see sense? We do not want academisation.
12 February 2020
Foreign Office workers' strike
One week into a month-long strike PCS union members working for Interserve at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London were joined by the Trade Union Congress and PCS general secretaries and Labour Party Socialist Campaign Group MPs, including Jeremy Corbyn, on their 11 February picket line to mark 'heart unions' week.
12 February 2020
Clive Walder, a Unite rep, is a longstanding member of the Socialist Party and the National Shop Stewards Network steering committee. He was dismissed on 7 February by National Express in Birmingham.
12 February 2020
Cuts councillors are the real problem
The attention-seeking, right-wing Labour leader of Newcastle City Council, Nick Forbes, described by the Guardian as "the leader of Labour's 6,600-strong army of councillors", has attacked Corbyn for being out of touch with Labour voters and disregarding local councillors' experiences.
12 February 2020
Council houses - not private property developers
To the big number of Londoners forced to fight to save their homes and their local environment from private property developers, London mayor Sadiq Khan's 'London Plan' is notorious.
12 February 2020
Build independent workers' media with May Day greetings
The working class needs its own independent media to represent its own interests. This is ever more evident in the hopeless confusion and monstrous smears from the established press. We need organised workers to support the alternative - the Socialist newspaper.
12 February 2020
Building a working-class movement for Tamil rights
On 4 February, Tamil Solidarity called a protest outside the Sri Lankan High Commission in London. This protest marked a black day for Tamils.
12 February 2020
New BBC series - Insight or whitewash?
The BBC programme 'Universal Credit: inside the welfare state' is a series of three programmes on the highly criticised benefit system.
12 February 2020
Hackney: We don't want homes and retail units working-class people can't afford
Angry residents, from Hackney east London, packed into a meeting at the Dan West Trelawney estate community hall. Labour mayor Philip Glanville tried to justify the council's decision to ask a private developer to revamp the site of the local Tesco.
12 February 2020
Big Unison south east regional meeting votes for anti-cuts position
Over 150 delegates registered for the South East regional council meeting of local government union Unison which took place on 8 February. This was the biggest meeting for many years.
12 February 2020
Trade unions - new decade, new challenges
The unions and their members are facing serious challenges - not least a Boris Johnson-led Tory government with a working majority.
12 February 2020
Johnson emits huge quantities of hot air!
Socialist policies needed to create green jobs and net-zero carbon emissions
12 February 2020
How to resist Tory attacks on local communities
One of the reasons why Labour lost seats in the North and Midlands in the general election was because Labour councils have carried out ten years of Tory government cuts.
12 February 2020
Streatham attack: Johnson's bill can't stop terror
"It's only February and this has already happened." The response from Becky Smyths, a resident of Streatham where terrorist stabbings took place on 2 February.
12 February 2020
Sinn Fein harnesses working-class anger to top poll
The general election in Ireland saw a seismic change in the electoral landscape, with a big surge in support for Sinn Féin.
19 February 2020
Socialist Students says democratise the climate strike movement
London climate stewards use undemocratic methods: A mass movement is necessary to challenge profit at the expense of the environment
19 February 2020
The Labour Campaign for Trans Rights has intervened in the party's leadership contest, calling on candidates to back its 12-point pledge
19 February 2020
Peterborough food workers picket and protest
There was a noisy demonstration outside Peterborough's Pioneer Foods site on the Orton Southgate industrial estate for two hours on 11 February
19 February 2020
The Socialist: Ideas to change society
How can we make sure the Socialist newspaper gets into as many hands as possible?
19 February 2020
Hackney parking wardens strike for £15 an hour
Parking wardens in Hackney, east London began a two-week strike on 10 February demanding a £15-an-hour wage, improved sick pay and increased annual leave
19 February 2020
Unite union executive council elections
Build a fighting trade union movement: The key task will be strengthening the more militant path taken by the union since the election of Len McCluskey
19 February 2020
Sixth-form strikers stand firm for increased funding
Picket line reports from Leeds and east London
19 February 2020
East London anti-academy strikes escalate
Education workers in Newham have escalated strike action at St Michael's and St Bon's to halt plans for academisation
19 February 2020
A Unite rep at National Express is appealing his dismissal, which we believe is totally disproportionate
19 February 2020
London bus rep dismissal update
Moe wants to thank the huge support that he has received
19 February 2020
Stop Newham Labour's cuts and gentrification
Labour should refuse to make the cuts, and keep sheltered housing council-owned
19 February 2020
Yemen's desperate civil war fuelled by imperialism and regional powers
Only unified, revolutionary movement of working class and poor can end the turmoil: The final article in our series on the Middle East
19 February 2020
Brilliant Korean film exposes class inequality
Cinema - Parasite: It's the rich who are the real parasites
19 February 2020
Javid's departure foreshadows deeper Tory divisions
Boris Johnson's "peoples' government" lasted as long as his first cabinet reshuffle
19 February 2020
Coronavirus crisis shakes Chinese regime
Will the regime's initial denial of the problem and punishment of those who raised the alarm have major political consequences?
19 February 2020
Keep the pressure on to save Royal Glam A&E
The health board should make it clear the unit is permanently safe
19 February 2020
Cuts and climate change cause floods
Two storms in a week brought some of the worst floods in living memory, killing at least five people and damaging thousands of homes.
Big business didn't send the rain. But the distorted priorities of the profit-obsessed capitalist system are to blame for the misery that ordinary people must endure because of it.
19 February 2020
Couldn't pay, wouldn't pay, didn't pay: the battle to defeat the poll tax
30 years ago the historic struggle against the hated poll tax was reaching its peak.
20 February 2020
'Roses are red, violets are blue, BP and Shell - we're coming for you'
Climate strikers' Valentine's Day message
21 February 2020
Preparing for the post-Corbyn era
Just two months after the general election the simmering divisions within the Tory party bubbled back to the surface
22 February 2020
Workers call on Interserve bosses to recognise union
Members of the Public and Commercial Services union protested outside Interserve's London headquarters
25 February 2020
Royal Mail workers in the Communication Workers' Union (CWU) at a gate meeting leicester Meridian, photo by Steve Score
25 February 2020
University workers' strike escalates
Workers at over 70 universities are out for 14 days in February and March.
25 February 2020
All out to win strike reballot
The Communication Workers Union is reballoting its 110,000 postal members.
26 February 2020
Immigration: For a system that meets the needs of the majority, not a rich elite
There has been a lot of controversy in the capitalist media about the Tory government's proposed 'points based' immigration system
26 February 2020
Number of women killed by current or ex-partner rises
Labour councils 'balance' their budgets with cuts - they are "balancing with women's lives"
26 February 2020
Students and workers out together on Budget Day, 11 March
Socialist Students is backing protests against the Tory budget on 11 March
26 February 2020
If Karl Marx were alive today, I'm certain he'd have a card reader
26 February 2020
Coventry: A socialist councillor who will vote against cuts
Socialist Party member Jane Nellist is standing as a candidate for Coventry council in the Upper Stoke by-election on 19 March. We print extracts from her leaflet
26 February 2020
Leicester: We can't take any more cuts, any more misery, and we are fighting back
In one of the poorest cities in the country, the cuts will disproportionately affect those on low incomes, particularly women and the disabled - as stated in the council's own budget report!
26 February 2020
PCS union relaunches pay campaign
A meeting of the PCS union national executive committee on 19 February agreed to relaunch the union's national pay campaign.
26 February 2020
Average wages recover to pre-crisis levels - but we're still over a decade behind
Average wage levels in the UK have, for the first time, recovered to the level they were at before the financial crisis.
26 February 2020
Bezos gives $10bn for climate - nationalise the rest!
A $10 billion 'Bezos Earth Fund' is the biggest 'giveaway' yet by owner of Amazon and world's richest man Jeff Bezos.
26 February 2020
A jury in New York City found Harvey Weinstein guilty of rape and sexual assault on 24 February. More trials are ahead for the multimillionaire film producer.
26 February 2020
Council cuts could cost Labour another general election
150 people tuned out in Birmingham to hear Rebecca Long-Bailey's pitch for the Labour leadership.
26 February 2020
The anti-academy strikes in east London are growing. St Bede's in Redbridge is joining St Michael's and St Bon's already on strike.
26 February 2020
Solidarity with striking university staff
It is time for students to coordinate action with striking staff, as our struggles against casualisation, the commodification of education, and attacks on trade unions are a struggle against the same enemy - the Tories, the bosses and their system.
26 February 2020
Northern Ireland's strike wave
Northern Ireland's government was suspended between 2017 and 2020 after the sectarian parties refused to reach a power-sharing agreement following the 'cash for ash' scandal. Now a strike wave has forced them and the bosses to give ground.
26 February 2020
Germany: Right-wing terror attacks - fight racism, fight capitalism!
The murder of nine people in two shisha bars in the German town of Hanau by a fascist gunman is the third fatal right-wing terrorist attack in the country in just nine months. But as Sasha Staničić (Sol - CWI, Germany - national spokesperson) explains, the laments of establishment politicians over such attacks will not eradicate the far-right threat.
26 February 2020
Congress 2020 appeal: Donate to help us renew vital resources
We are asking all our members to donate to the Congress 2020 appeal. Delegates and visitors from across England and Wales and internationally will be coming together on 29 February and 1 March for the Socialist Party congress.
26 February 2020
150-200 angry council workers met outside Stoke Town Hall on 19 February to protest against cuts that will leave some workers £5,000 a year worse off.
26 February 2020
We gathered outside Peabody Head Office on the evening of 19 February to make the point that cuts to the community and neighbourhood services cost lives, and are counter-productive.
26 February 2020
Thieving cuts to incomes and services mean workers are dying younger and suffering sickness for longer. Austerity is killing us.
Meanwhile, since the world financial crash, the wealth of the super-rich has expanded like a monstrous tumour.
26 February 2020
This is the BBC: fight the cuts - and the capitalist media
The BBC plans to scrap over 500 news jobs.Targets include reductions at Newsnight and 5 Live, but cutbacks will hit the whole division.
19 Nov Socialism 2022
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