Archive for June 2010
1 June 2010
End the siege of Gaza: National demonstration Saturday 5 June
End the siege of Gaza: National demonstration Saturday 5 June
Assemble Downing Street 1.30
March to the Israeli Embassy
Called by Stop the War, CND, BMI and Viva Palestina against the attack on the Gaza aid flotilla and the siege of Gaza
1 June 2010
Peace activists murdered by reactionary Israeli army
Build a mass movement to break the sanctions on Gaza! Leaflet issued in Lebanon
2 June 2010
Interview with sacked Telegen workers
"We want our wages": 300 workers at Telegen, a call-centre in Brighton, were made redundant with no notice on Friday 21 May...
2 June 2010
Youth Fight for Jobs: More trade unions add their support
Both the UCU lecturers' union and Unite, Britain's biggest trade union, unanimously agreed to back the Youth Fight for Jobs (YFJ) campaign at their annual conferences, writes Ben Robinson, YFJ national chair.
2 June 2010
Minority representation in Scotland for Westminster coalition of cuts
The formation of the so-called "liberal - conservative" coalition will open up a period of instability and class conflict not seen in Britain for decades, writes Philip Stott.
2 June 2010
Coventry - time for mass action
THE PEOPLE of Coventry saw this week what the Con-Dem coalition government's 'new politics' looks like, with the announcement of around 1,000 job losses in the city, writes Peter Chase.
2 June 2010
Will the councils fight the cuts?
Socialist Party member Nancy Taaffe, who was the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition candidate in last month's general election in Walthamstow, had this letter published in the local press after Labour won back control of Waltham Forest council...
2 June 2010
University and Colleges Union: Congress votes to fight
Union (UCU) annual congress have voted overwhelmingly to ballot for industrial action to save jobs, with action expected to take place in the last week of September 2010, writes Edmund Schluessel, Cardiff University UCU, personal capacity.
2 June 2010
The University and College Union's first Young Members' Conference was held on 15 May. Around 30 delegates attended, from both further and higher education institutions and those practising in industrial...
2 June 2010
Lady Scotland, former attorney general, was fined £5,000 earlier this year for failing to keep proper records of her employment of a housekeeper...
2 June 2010
Make sure you book a place at this important meeting for all trade unionists - now with an international rally...
2 June 2010
Cardiff says 'no' to the racist EDL
Anti-racist campaigners from all over Cardiff are mobilising on 5 June against the English/Welsh Defence League (E/WDL), writes A Cardiff Socialist Party member and member of, Youth Fight For Jobs.
2 June 2010
Jamaican armed forces surround and storm poor neighbourhood
TIVOLI GARDENS in Kingston, Jamaica's first public housing estate, resembled a war zone after armed police, backed by the army, fought their way into the neighbourhood to arrest alleged drug boss Christopher "Dudus" Coke and to suppress the "Shower Posse" - his loyal armed supporters who had er, writes Dave Carr.
2 June 2010
Workers' suicides: The human cost of an iPad
TWELVE WORKERS have committed suicide so far this year at the factory that makes Apple iPads. Four others survived, gravely injured, and 20 were stopped from killing themselves by the company. All the...
2 June 2010
PCS conference Defend the public sector
The Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) conference on 19-21 May was the first trade union conference since the election of the new Tory/Liberal coalition, writes John McInally, national vice-president PCS personal capacity.
2 June 2010
Peter Taaffe looks at the struggles to come under the not-so new politics of the Con-Dems...
2 June 2010
Gateshead tenants demand decent homes
A housing protest on the Seven Stars estate in Wrekenton, Gateshead, photo Elaine Brunskill
For years the residents of the Seven Stars Estate in Wrekenton, Gateshead, have been promised by councillors and housing management that their homes would be updated by 2010 with new kitchens, bathrooms, fires and combi-boilers, alongside having houses re-painted and rewired, writes Elaine Brunskill, Newcastle Socialist Party.
2 June 2010
Socialists campaign for Pride not profit in Birmingham
On Saturday 29 May, Socialist Party activists from across the West Midlands region campaigned at Birmingham's annual LGBT Pride event, writes Jennifer O'Sullivan, Birmingham Socialist Party.
2 June 2010
Socialist Party Scotland to be launched
The Scottish section of the Committee for a Workers' International - the International Socialists - is changing its name to Socialist Party Scotland...
2 June 2010
CHIEF TREASURY secretary David Laws, described as "a genius" by colleagues, inflicted £6.2 billion of cuts in public spending which will hit millions of people...
2 June 2010
Millionaire cabinet plans cuts in benefits
The exposure of millionaire treasury minister David Laws as an expenses cheat is steeped in even deeper hypocrisy than is at first apparent, a London benefits adviser writes.
2 June 2010
Fighting council cuts: Planning for united strikes in Kirklees
LOCAL GOVERNMENT jobs and services are under attack. Local councils will have £2 billion less in grants from central government after the first £6 billion Con-Dem government cutbacks. The threat is angering...
2 June 2010
Joe Higgins MEP challenges US Ambassador on IDF killings
Israel/Palestine: "An act of piracy in international waters": www.socialistworld.net, website of the committee for a workers' international, CWI 01/06/2010...
2 June 2010
British Airways strike: Full support for the cabin crew
British Airways cabin crew on strike at Heathrow airport, photo Paul Mattsson
"The mood is good on the picket lines"
As the first week of the British Airways (BA) cabin crew strike drew to a close, I spoke to Penny White, a retired cabin crew member who now works for Bassa, the trade union branch within Unite representing the cabin crew, writes Edmund Schluessel, Socialist Party Cardiff East.
2 June 2010
Margaret Thatcher: Why workers cannot forget
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, as she will always be remembered, photo Alan Hardman
The new Tory-Lib Dem coalition government claims to be heralding in a 'new politics'. But a large layer of workers throughout Britain have recoiled in horror at the prospect of a Tory-dominated government.
Robin Clapp, south west Socialist Party secretary, assesses Thatcher's legacy.
2 June 2010
No to privatised academies: Defend public education
THE NEW government has put the whole future of comprehensive state education under threat, writes Martin Powell-Davies, NUT executive (personal capacity).
2 June 2010
Oil spill is 'worst environmental disaster' to hit US
Extent of surface oil slick on May 24 2010, photo NASA
THE OIL spill in the Gulf of Mexico following the fatal explosion on the BP leased Deepwater Horizon oil rig has exceeded the Exxon Valdez catastrophe of 1989, when eleven million gallons of crude oil devastated the pristine Alaskan coastline...
4 June 2010
Kazakhstan: Mass prison hunger strike against brutal regime
OSCE Chair presides over torture of prisoners - Protests needed urgently!: From www.socialistworld.net, website of the committee for a workers' international, CWI, 03/06/2010...
9 June 2010
Come to the NSSN conference unite the fightback!
Clara Osagiede, RMT Cleaners Grade Secretary for London Underground cleaners, tells NSSN conference 2009 of the cleaners' struggle for a living wage, photo Socialist Party
The National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) conference on 26 June promises to be the most important conference in the NSSN's relatively short existence.
Saturday 26 June, 11am, South Camden Community School, Charrington St, London NW1
9 June 2010
Socialist Students at Peter Symonds Sixth Form College, Winchester, have been busy over the past few months since starting up our group, writes Nich Brook-Hart.
9 June 2010
Socialist Students national meeting: Preparing for a student fightback
Socialist Student activists came from universities and colleges around the country on 6 June to discuss plans for next year, writes Ian Pattison, Newcastle Socialist Students.
9 June 2010
Lobby Iain Duncan Smith at his surgery
Call Suzanne on 07716610893 for details, writes No cuts in jobs and benefits.
9 June 2010
Socialist Party youth meeting: ready to build a fightback
Around 40 people attended an excellent Socialist Party national youth meeting on Saturday 5 June. Sarah Sachs-Eldridge from the Socialist Party executive committee introduced the first discussion concerning...
9 June 2010
Determined BA cabin crew ready to reballot
Industrial action by BA cabin crew is in the final block of five days. BA chief Willie Walsh may have imagined back in November there would be a quick sprint to victory for management. In reality this...
9 June 2010
Marches show opposition to Israeli state terror
Demonstration against the murder by Israeli commandos of civilian aid volunteers on aboard a ship attempting to bring aid to Gaza , photo Jules Mattsson
THE BRUTAL murder by Israeli commandos of nine civilian aid volunteers aboard a ship attempting to bring humanitarian relief to besieged Palestinians in the Gaza strip was met with furious opposition internationally, writes Sean Figg.
9 June 2010
Will the Lib Dems survive coalition?
THE LIB Dem decision to enter into the government coalition alongside the Tories casts questions about the future for that party and its support base, writes Jim Thomson.
9 June 2010
EDL thugs sent packing from Cardiff
THE RACIST and hooligan English Defence League's (EDL) "Double Demo" turned out to be a double failure last Saturday, 5 June...
9 June 2010
Bradford murders and prostitution
Comment: THE MURDER of three women in Bradford once again draws attention to the plight of women who take up prostitution, writes Jane James.
9 June 2010
Oil spill shows hazards of the profit system
IT IS still difficult to assess the scale of the disaster that followed the explosion on the BP oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico on 22 April, which killed eleven workers, writes Pete Dickenson.
9 June 2010
Bhopal - little justice 25 years on
THE DEEPWATER Horizon disaster provoked condemnation from Barack Obama who accused it of "nickel and diming" Louisiana residents while paying out billions of dollars to BP shareholders, writes Ken Douglas.
9 June 2010
Unite conference - union at the crossroads
The recent conference of Unite in Manchester had the opportunity to establish the framework for a fight against the coalition government, writes Kevin Parslow.
9 June 2010
CWU ballots BT workers for strike over pay
The CWU is set to ballot its members in BT for industrial action over pay for the first time since 1987, writes Clive Walder, CWU Birmingham, Black Country and Worcester Branch, personal capacity.
9 June 2010
Wales TUC - rank and file delegates support socialist fightback
By tradition, the annual conference of the Wales TUC takes place over three days. In 2008 and 2009, the right wing leadership tabled proposals to switch from an annual event to one taking place every two...
9 June 2010
General strike: A GENERAL strike involving 2.5 million public sector workers hit Spain on 8 June. The trade unions involved in the mass walkout are opposed to the Zapatero government imposing a 5% cut in salaries, starting...
9 June 2010
EDL protest stopped in Swansea
The English / Welsh Defence League (EDL) were again met with a challenge by anti-fascists in Swansea today, writes Swansea Socialist Party members.
9 June 2010
Soccer World Cup 2010: South Africa, the ugly backdrop to the beautiful game
NOTHING SYMBOLISES more graphically the ugliness that forms the backdrop to the beautiful game than all the scandals, corruption and greed surrounding the 2010 World Cup, writes Sheri and Weizmann Hamilton, Democratic Socialist Movement, South Africa.
9 June 2010
Youth Fight for Jobs open steering committee
On the back of recent important steps forward nationally, including securing support from Bectu, Unite and UCU, representatives of Youth Fight for Jobs (YFJ) groups came from across the country to discuss how to take the campaign forward, writes Tom Bower.
9 June 2010
Cameron and Clegg's public spending cuts. Cartton by Suz, photo Suz
'There is no alternative to pain'. This is the deafening drumbeat of the capitalist politicians and media. David Cameron claims he has no choice but to take "tough" decisions and to carry out cuts. But the Socialist Party does not accept there is no alternative to public sector cuts. Hannah Sell, Socialist Party deputy general secretary, explains.
9 June 2010
Future of cuts a nightmare for youth
From school direct to the dole, photo Alan Hardman
In a recent speech Iain Duncan Smith, the new employment minister, talked about how "aspiration is in danger of becoming the preserve of the wealthy..."
9 June 2010
Why public sector cuts are not inevitable
Editorial: The Tories claim that massive cuts are necessary because of New Labour's excessive public spending on services and welfare. This is a giant con trick, which every capitalist party - including New Labour - is colluding in. Nothing could be further from the truth...
10 June 2010
Press release from Youth Fight for Jobs on David Willetts' attack on students
In a way, David Willetts is correct when he says describing student debt as just debt is not enough (universities minister hints that students will face higher fees 10/6/2010 )...
11 June 2010
Saturday 6 & Sunday 7 November. Socialism 2009 was a great event. Book for this year's event now!
16 June 2010
TUSC plans for future elections
TUSC Launch rally, London March 2010, photo Alison Hill
"THE Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is not the answer for everything that we need to do as a movement to resist the austerity measures that will come from this Tory-Liberal government", said the RMT transport workers' union general secretary, Bob Crow, to a post-election meeting of TUSC candidates last week...
16 June 2010
Millionaire ministers savage public services
No to privatisation of services
Bloodbath Budget 22 June: Deeper cuts, faster cuts, tougher cuts. This is what Tory chancellor George Osborne promises in his 'austerity' budget, saying public debt is "worse than we thought"...
16 June 2010
Minister for Work and Pensions lobbied by his unemployed constituents Friday 16 June
Youth unemployment continues to creep up: The latest figures show the recession is far from over for young people, with 16-24 unemployment up 11,000 this month...
16 June 2010
Spain: Millions of public sector workers strike over brutal cuts
ON 8 June, almost two million public sector workers went on strike in opposition to Spain's PSOE government's austerity programme, which, among other brutal attacks on public spending, social welfare and pensions, involves a 5% across the board pay cut for public sector workers, writes Danny Byrne.
16 June 2010
Portugal: Mobilisation against austerity reaches new level
WORKING CLASS people in Portugal are facing an unprecedented assault against wages, welfare provision and public services, writes Cédric Gérôme.
16 June 2010
Unison local government conference: Delegates face huge struggles
The Unison local government conference on 13 and 14 June has been dominated by delegates reporting on the cuts already being made by councils across the country, writes Jane James.
16 June 2010
BP's value plunges as oil spill worsens
Birds killed as a result of oil from the Exxon Valdez spill, photo Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council.
AN ESTIMATED 40,000 barrels (1.7 million gallons) of oil a day may have been gushing out from the BP leased Deepwater Horizon oil rig since it blew up and sank in the Gulf of Mexico on 20 April - a doubling of earlier estimates...
16 June 2010
Willetts approves tuition fees hike
ON 9 June the new universities minister, David Willetts, gave his clearest indication yet of his government's intention to raise tuition fees, writes Claire Laker-Mansfield.
16 June 2010
Bloody Sunday report appears 38 years late
THE SAVILLE Report into the shooting dead of 14 unarmed protesters and bystanders by members of the British parachute regiment at a civil rights demo in Derry, Northern Ireland, on 30 January 1972, has finally been published...
16 June 2010
IDS's 'anti-poverty drive' attacks the poorest!
THE NEW government work and pensions secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, plans the biggest attack on the rights of the most vulnerable people in society in a generation, writes Paul Callanan.
16 June 2010
Wales Unison: Socialist Party member elected
Mark Evans, Socialist Party member and assistant branch secretary of Carmarthen County Unison branch, was recently elected onto Unison's Local Government Service Group Executive from Wales, writes A Wales Unison member.
16 June 2010
Southampton library staff strike to save jobs
Unison members working in Southampton libraries have voted by 80% in favour of strike action against Tory council plans to close libraries and replace trained librarians with volunteers...
16 June 2010
Northern Rock throws workers on the dole
Northern Rock workers are stunned to hear that the bank is now planning another round of job cuts. Last week workers were hit by a redundancy bombshell of 650 job losses out of 4,500 staff. This works...
16 June 2010
Tower Hamlets: Jobs, homes and services - not the racist EDL!
Youth Fight for Jobs, photo Sarah Mayo
A victory has been scored in East London as the racist and hooligan English Defence League (EDL) has called off its plan to "hit" Tower Hamlets on Sunday 20 June, writes Paula Mitchell and Naomi Byron.
16 June 2010
NHS Scotland - ConDemned to terminal decay
Two days after the coalition of Liberals and Tories came to power, health authorities across Scotland announced budget cuts of up to 5,000 jobs in the next two years, writes Alan Manley, Unison Scottish Health committee, personal capacity.
16 June 2010
Socialist Party Scotland launched at packed and inspiring meeting
There were no vacant seats left at the launch meeting of the Socialist Party Scotland in Glasgow on 10 June, writes Philip Stott.
16 June 2010
High speed trains and high priced fares
New rail lines: Proposals for a second high speed line (HS2) between London, Manchester and Leeds were announced earlier this year by the outgoing Labour government, at a cost of £30 billion, writes Mark Pickersgill.
16 June 2010
Plugging the media: WHILE BP struggles to stem the flow of oil escaping into the Gulf of Mexico it has been more successful in restricting news media coverage of the unfolding catastrophe - assisted by various US government agencies...
16 June 2010
Why we don't back the Queen's pay claim
RECENTLY I was invited to speak as a Socialist Party representative on a BBC programme The Big Questions, a debate show being filmed in Bristol, writes Tom Baldwin.
16 June 2010
The Big House, in Edwinstowe, North Nottinghamshire, provides short-term respite care for families of autistic young people with behaviour and learning difficulties, writes Karen Seymour.
16 June 2010
Join the socialists at London Pride on 3 July: Contact [email protected] or phone 020 8988 8772 for details, writes Socialist Party Summer Camp.
16 June 2010
Opposing 'Dickensian' academy schools in Waltham Forest
Almost 40 people attended the Waltham Forest Socialist Party public meeting to discuss stopping schools in the London borough from becoming academies run by unelected and unaccountable businesses and consortiums
16 June 2010
16 June 2010
Labour leadership contest dominated by right wing
Editorial: One issue will overwhelm all others in the coming years - the struggle against cuts in public services. In the first instance this struggle will involve demonstrations, strikes and community campaigns. However, the issue of political representation for workers and young people struggling against the cuts must also be an important aspect of the campaign...
16 June 2010
Greece: A test bed for 'austerity' and resistance
Feature On a visit to Greece at the start of June, Peter Taaffe, Socialist Party general secretary, attended a meeting of the central committee of Xekinima, the Greek section of the Committee for a Workers' International (CWI)...
16 June 2010
Comprehensive education under attack
Protest against academies in East London, photo Alison Hill
Tory Education Secretary, Michael Gove, is rushing an Academies Bill through parliament. Around 600 secondary and 2,000 primary schools found 'outstanding' by Ofsted are being invited to fast track to academy status. Gove hopes that eventually all schools will become academies. This spells disaster for comprehensive education.
16 June 2010
Rob Williams withTony Woodley, photo Mike Gard
Prepare for the battles ahead: The fourth annual conference of the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) takes place in London on Saturday 26 June, writes Rob Williams (pictured left), Unite convenor, Linamar Swansea, personal capacity.
17 June 2010
Socialist Party fighting cuts on BBC news item
Last night BBC news ran a good feature on anti-cuts campaigning in Nottingham, which features a Nottingham Socialist Party public meeting, writes You can go directly to the feature which starts at 16.56 minutes, by clicking on this link.
17 June 2010
Demonstrate Against Likely Closure of Refugee and Migrant Justice - Defend Legal Aid
Firefighters protest
Refugee and Migrant Justice (RMJ), the largest provider of specialist legal advice for asylum seekers and other vulnerable migrants in England and Wales, went into administration on June 16 2010...
17 June 2010
Over 1,000 workers, students, pensioners and young people attended Socialism 2009. At the 2009 Rally for Socialism, those in attendance heard from leading trade unionists such as Bob Crow, general secretary...
18 June 2010
18 June 2010
Registration opens at 12.30pm on Saturday 6 November at the University of London Union building (ULU), Malet Street, London WC1...
18 June 2010
Bloody Sunday: Innocent protesters murdered by the British Army
Bloody Sunday Saville Inquiry: Posted 17/6/10 on the website of the Committee for a Workers' International at http://www.socialistworld.net/doc/4355...
21 June 2010
Socialist Party member Martin Powell-Davies on Jeremy Vine show
Socialist Party member Martin Powell-Davies, a member of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) NEC (in a personal capacity) was the first caller on BBC two's Jeremy Vine show today, discussing campaigning against the cuts in the forthcoming budget, which threatens education and all our local services...
22 June 2010
Unison general secretary election - good result for Roger Bannister
Stop press:
The Unison general secretary election result brought a good result for Socialist Party member Roger Bannister:
Dave Prentis 145,351 (67.2%)
Roger Bannister 42,651 (19.7%)
Paul Holmes 28,114 (13%)
22 June 2010
Budget offers no relief for youth
Ben Robinson, Youth Fight for Jobs Chair, said "This government have abolished the Future Jobs Fund with no replacement...
23 June 2010
Unison election: Over 42,000 votes for socialist candidate
ONCE AGAIN, Socialist Party member Roger Bannister has won a very respectable vote in the Unison general secretary election...
23 June 2010
Unison leadership: Lack of anti-cuts strategy
Unison's national delegate conference met in Bournemouth on 15-18 June. Against the background of the attacks of the Con-Dem government on public services and public sector workers, this was the most...
23 June 2010
Refugee and Migrant Justice: Save this vital service!
Refugee and Migrant Justice (RMJ) has 11 offices nationally providing legal advice and representation to those seeking asylum in the UK, writes Eric Segal, Unite rep, RMJ.
23 June 2010
Coventry rally against public sector cuts
Unite in the West Midlands held a 'Community and Youth Rally' in Coventry on 19 June. Originally organised to support youth workers in Coventry whose pay, terms and conditions had been attacked by the...
23 June 2010
Youth speak for jobs at UCU union rally
I was invited to address the UCU union's day of action rally in Nottingham on Sunday on behalf of Youth Fight for Jobs, writes Jethro Waldron.
23 June 2010
Birmingham: Growing anger against cuts
On 19 June Socialist Party activists held a successful stall in the Acocks Green area of Birmingham, which saw the growing anger of working people who are being told to pay the price for a crisis they did not create, writes Tom Bower, Birmingham Socialist Party.
23 June 2010
On Saturday 19 June around 150 residents and community campaigners marched through Beeston, south Leeds, in opposition to council plans to close South Leeds Pool and Leisure Centre, writes Ian Pattison, Leeds Socialist Party.
23 June 2010
A NEW bloody milestone has been reached in the Afghan war with news that the death of a British soldier last week was the 300th to be killed since the US-led invasion and occupation of the country began in 2001...
23 June 2010
AT LEAST 5,000 people marched in Tower Hamlets last Sunday (20 June) to keep the racist and hooligan English Defence League (EDL) out of the London borough, writes Naomi Byron.
23 June 2010
JUST HOURS after agreeing a $20 billion compensation deal with US President Obama over the oil spill, oil giant BP again had to apologise, this time for BP chairman Svanberg's claim that the $240 billion multinational cares about "the small people", writes Hugh Caffrey.
23 June 2010
Ethnic conflict explodes in Kyrgyzstan
BARELY TWO months have passed since the April revolutionary events in Kyrgyzstan led to the overthrow of president Kurmanbek Bakiyev and the emergence of a 'provisional government' led by Roza Otunbayeva, writes Rob Jones, Moscow.
23 June 2010
Protesting at Iain's Dickensian Society
ON FRIDAY 18 June, Youth Fight for Jobs held a demonstration outside the MP surgery of Iain Duncan Smith (IDS), former Conservative party leader and current Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, writes Stephen Turnbull.
23 June 2010
Donate to aid Greek socialists
WE ARE appealing to all members and supporters of the Socialist Party and readers of The Socialist for a donation to aid the work of our sister party, Xekinima, the Greek section of the Committee for a Workers' International, writes Ken Douglas, Socialist Party treasurer.
23 June 2010
Drivers' victory: DHL Supply Chain lorry drivers working from the giant Howden's Kitchens depot in Runcorn, Cheshire have won their dispute against 10 redundancies, writes Andy Ford, Warrington Trades Council.
23 June 2010
The role of the NSSN in the battle to defend public sector jobs and services
Bob Crow addresses NSSN conference 2007, pic: D Carr
National Shop Stewards Network: The CBI is calling on the government to introduce even more anti trade union laws. The bosses' union is demanding that in a strike ballot, 40% of all those in a workplace who are entitled to vote should have voted 'yes' for the vote to be carried. So this means that all those who don't bother voting are deemed to have voted 'no' to strike action.
23 June 2010
Budget cuts hitting the poorest hardest
Editorial: The new government hasn't stopped cutting during its first seven weeks in power. First came £6.2 billion of cuts, followed by more, suddenly-announced cuts of £12.5 billion just a few days before the...
23 June 2010
Fightback to stop the cuts - public meetings
Listing of some Socialist Party anti-cuts meetings
23 June 2010
How deep is Britain's media crisis?
Feature The Independent and Independent on Sunday were sold in March to Russian billionaire Alexander Lebedev for just £1, a tycoon who similarly bought London's Evening Standard for the same price in 2009...
23 June 2010
Budget Day: workers' responses
Glenn Kelly, photo Alison Hill
'We will fight the bloodbath budget': AS A council workers' representative I sat awaiting our fate from part one of the Con-Dem government's bloodbath budget. Now it's time for us to send them a message, writes Glenn Kelly, Bromley UNISON.
23 June 2010
Stop attacks on services for vulnerable in Nuneaton
We have repeatedly heard the government say that although the forthcoming cuts will be 'savage', the most vulnerable in society will be protected, writes Tom Sidwell, Nuneaton Socialist Party.
23 June 2010
Fighting cuts in Nottingham: Save WAP day centre
This year's Times Rich List revealed that the combined wealth of the richest 1,000 people rose by £77.3 billion, writes Ruairí Creaney, Nottingham Socialist Party.
23 June 2010
PCS union rejects 'inevitable' cuts
The Tory/Liberal coalition plans to make working people pay for the crisis created by their friends in the banking industry and big business, by launching an unprecedented assault on the public sector. This will be resolutely opposed by the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS), writes John McInally, national vice-president PCS, personal capacity.
23 June 2010
Bloody Sunday: Innocent protesters murdered by the British army in 1972
Bloody Sunday Mural in Derry, Northern Ireland, photo by Jérôme Sautret
THE PUBLICATION of the Bloody Sunday inquiry report, known as the Saville inquiry, has brought to light, once again, the brutal lengths the British capitalist state is prepared to go in defence of its interests, writes Gary Mulcahy, Socialist Party, Belfast.
23 June 2010
Young people: fight for your future!
Youth Fight For Jobs
The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show that unemployment has risen by 23,000 since April. On average there are five benefit claimants for every one job vacancy throughout the UK. This is the grim reality of how ordinary people are being affected by the crisis, writes Mark Nicholson.
23 June 2010
Stop budget attacks with mass action
No to pay and benefit cuts: The Tory/Lib Dem budget included a rise in VAT to 20%, a pay freeze for most public sector workers and the cutting and erosion of a number of key benefits - including housing benefit.
These vicious measures will hit millions of workers and the poorest people in society very hard, and there is much more to come, writes Judy Beishon.
24 June 2010
Global warming - do you want the good news or the bad news?
"The majority of the British public is still not convinced that climate change is caused by humans" the Guardian reports (22 June 2010)...
24 June 2010
Socialist Party's Hannah Sell on Jeremy Vine show today
Hannah Sell, the Socialist Party's deputy general secretary was to debate which social class is most affected by the latest budget on the BBC's Jeremy Vine show...
27 June 2010
Interview with Cindy Sheehan - Capitalism, Obama, and the Need for a New Party
Cindy Sheehan came to prominence in 2005 when she set up a protest camp outside of President Bush's ranch, waiting to ask him simply why he had to send her son to die in Iraq.
Sheehan's statements identify capitalism as the root cause of the world's problems and democratic socialism as the alternative, writes Ramy Khalil, Socialist Alternative (CWI USA)
From www.socialistworld.net, 27/06/2010
28 June 2010
From stimulus to austerity at dizzying speed
Youth Fight for Jobs marched against the G20 last year
What we think: The G20 meeting in Toronto of the leaders of the main capitalist governments of the world demonstrated a complete incapacity to solve the huge problems that confront us, particularly those hardest hit - the poor and the working class - by the economic crisis...
30 June 2010
Challenging the global warming sceptics
Arctic Sea Ice Volume chart from PIOMAS
"The majority of the British public is still not convinced that climate change is caused by humans", the Guardian reported on 22 June, writes Pete Mason.
30 June 2010
United for Education day of action 21 June
Protesting UCU staff at Manchester university, photo Dave Beale
On 21 June, United for Education, a joint campaign of various education workers' unions, held a day of action. This was in response to the fact that over £1 billion is being cut from the higher education budget over the next three years, thousands of jobs have already gone and many more are still at risk.
30 June 2010
Western strategy on Afghanistan in tatters
Youth Fight for jobs demonstrate against war, terror and racism
ANOTHER GRISLY milestone has been reached in Afghanistan: over 300 British soldiers have now died, since the war began in 2001. The average age of those killed is 22.
No such records are kept of civilian deaths in Afghanistan. It is estimated that thousands of Afghan civilians have been directly killed due to military action, including use of air strikes by the US forces, writes Niall Mulholland.
30 June 2010
Only one choice... Fight back!
Government's swingeing cuts: Millionaire Tory leaders George Osborne and David Cameron are going to write to every public sector worker in the country to ask where the billions of pounds of public spending cuts should be made, writes Nancy Taaffe, Library worker.
30 June 2010
France, Italy: Workers struggle against savage austerity cuts
Build for a Europe-wide 24-hour general strike on 29 September: WHILE THE Greek working class has engaged in its sixth general strike this year, the French and Italian labour movements have now also stepped into the battle against capitalist cuts in a decisive way, as Cédric Gérôme reports...
30 June 2010
Opposing the slash and burn budget
Brighton: Up to 200 socialists and trade unionists from a range of city workplaces united to vent their anger at the Con-Dem budget on Tuesday 22 June at a Brighton, Hove and District trades union council organised demonstration outside Hove town hall...
30 June 2010
Academies: Fight the Tories' offensive on state education
Cardiff parents beat education cuts in 2006
GOVERNMENT EDUCATION minister Michael Gove is determined to push through the Tory agenda of putting 'rocket-boosters' under the academies programme, writes Martin Powell-Davies, NUT national executive.
30 June 2010
AT THE height of the 1981 recession Tory cabinet minister Norman Tebbit infamously demanded that the unemployed 'get on their bikes' and move to areas where, supposedly, there were jobs...
30 June 2010
Frontline health services attacked: CHANCELLOR GEORGE Osborne claims that his budget cuts mean "everyone will pay something but the people at the bottom of the income scale will pay proportionately less than those at the top."...
30 June 2010
Australia: Gillard replaces Rudd but Labour's right wing policies remain
KEVIN RUDD was dramatically ousted as prime minister last week. After a period of sinking popularity and public discontent, Rudd became the first Labour prime minister ousted before completing a first...
30 June 2010
Tube workers ballot for action
Rail union RMT members on London Underground will be receiving ballot papers in the next few days and will be asked to vote 'yes' for strike action to defend jobs, writes Reg Johnstone, RMT.
30 June 2010
Thousands of jobcentre workers threatened with dole
Jobcentre workers are reeling this week. Having been told how valuable they have been in getting the country out of recession, this week they were told that 4,000 of them are to be sacked within the next...
30 June 2010
Oil plans: WITH BP's oil spill disaster continuing to pollute the Gulf of Mexico, executives of the big five oil companies - BP, ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Shell - recently appeared in front of a US Congressional hearing to defend their oil spill response plans...
30 June 2010
Students say no to rip-off graduation ceremony
While Socialist Students at Huddersfield University set up a protest against graduation ceremony charges on a busy open day on 17 June, we were informed by the president of the student union that the vice chancellor and his deputy wanted to speak to us, writes Chris Parkin and Nicola Blanchfield.
30 June 2010
One place where the Con-Dem axe looks set to fall is on the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) scheme, writes Rae Lewis Ayling.
30 June 2010
Trotsky admirer copies his idol
"ONE, TWO, three, four, five, we deserve to unionise!' sing the red pom-pommed cheerleaders outside the warehouse...
30 June 2010
From stimulus to austerity at dizzying speed
What we think: The G20 meeting in Toronto of the leaders of the main capitalist governments of the world demonstrated a complete incapacity to solve the huge problems that confront us, particularly those hardest-hit - the poor and the working class - by the economic crisis...
30 June 2010
Unison general secretary election: Prentis vote falls despite Con-Dem attacks
As reported in last week's Socialist, Unison general secretary Dave Prentis was re-elected to his position in the recent ballot, but with fewer votes than when he last stood in 2005, a Unison member writes.
30 June 2010
British Airways: The BA dispute is still continuing but Unite has postponed the latest strike ballot for members to consider an offer from BA...
19 Nov Socialism 2022
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