Archive for November 2021
3 November 2021
Tory chancellor Rishi Sunak slashed a tax on banks' profits by 60% in his autumn budget statement, shortly after removing the £20-a-week Universal Credit top up and announcing that National Insurance contributions will rise by 1.25 points.
3 November 2021
Fight for a £15-an-hour minimum wage and an end to youth rates
The government has announced that from April 2022, the 'National Living Wage' will increase from £8.91 to £9.50 an hour. As a low-paid worker, this is welcome news but not enough.
3 November 2021
Water companies put profits before protecting our environment
In July, Southern Water was fined a record £90 million for dumping billions of litres of raw sewage into the sea
3 November 2021
Tories threaten arts students: we are prepared to fight back!
It is not surprising that our government would pass a motion for vast, brutal cuts to the arts and humanities courses in higher education, but it is deeply harmful and enraging nonetheless.
3 November 2021
Shell and BP have a carbon footprint five times bigger than that of Britain. Together they produce 1.7 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases every year. Together they have paid zero corporation tax on oil
3 November 2021
Tory plans won't fix social care
As huge numbers of exhausted staff quit the social care sector, "a tsunami of unmet need" is faced this winter
3 November 2021
Tory Universal Credit crumbs no solution to cost of living crisis
The £20-a-week cut to Universal Credit has left 4.4 million households around £1,000 a year worse off.
3 November 2021
Pay freeze lifted for civil servants - prepare now for the struggle for a decent rise
Prices have risen by at least 27% since 2010, according to the lower estimate of inflation, the Consumer Price Index
3 November 2021
Scunthorpe scaffs strike into fifth week
Now into their fifth week of all-out strike, the Actavo scaffolders at British Steel Scunthorpe remain solid and determined in their fight for the national industry (NAECI) rate for the job.
3 November 2021
Socialist change to end climate change
Capitalism is destroying the planet: It's been three years since the UN suggested 2030 as the cut-off date to prevent climate catastrophe. Since then - who can say we are on the path away from ecological disaster?
3 November 2021
Unite leaflets supermarkets to build support for Weetabix fire and rehire strike
Around the country from 29-31 October, Unite regions and branches leafleted shoppers at supermarkets to boycott Weetabix, Alpen and Ready Brek products and get involved in the campaign to put pressure on supermarkets to contact Weetabix bosses to withdraw the company's fire-and-rehire attempt.
3 November 2021
The entire shop floor workforce at power plant engineers Doosan Babcock in Tipton in the Black Country took two days strike action after the insult of below-inflation pay deals were added to by the injury of wage arrears.
3 November 2021
Protests against Sudan coup reach Britain
On 30 October, thousands of Sudanese people living in Britain, and their supporters, took to the streets to protest against the military coup. Read more about what's happening in Sudan on page 15.
3 November 2021
Fund the fight for a socialist world
If you only read the establishment papers, doomsday is upon us. According to them, there is no alternative to the misery coming for ordinary people.
3 November 2021
Sheffield students tirelessly campaigning for socialist change
I am a 2nd year student, and an avid socialist. Since term began in Sheffield, the Socialist Party and Socialist Students have been working tirelessly to campaign for the change we want to see.
3 November 2021
Hackney children's centres: Campaigners see through council deception
Responding to the closure of Fernbank and Hillside children's centres in east London, Hackney Labour mayor Philip Glanville claimed: "If we did not have to do this we wouldn't".
3 November 2021
East London gentrification plans exposed
All kinds of old buildings get knocked down, tower blocks are thrown up, property developers rub their hands, and the juggernaut of private profit locks out thousands of poor households from decent truly affordable homes, while burdening others in mountainous mortgage debts or sky-high rents.
3 November 2021
Sexism, safety and the profit system
After over a year of nights in, 'social bubbles' and rainy outdoor seating, it's no wonder the decision to bring back nightclubs and bars has been so popular, especially among the younger generation
3 November 2021
Sudan - mass protests and general strike against coup
The Sudanese military regime is facing massive resistance. Across the country, millions have protested and gone on strike, most recently a two-day general strike that stopped the country.
3 November 2021
Chile: International solidarity campaign to free political prisoners
On 27 October, a hunger strike began of the mothers of political prisoners who were imprisoned as a result of the popular revolt which began on 18 October 2019.
3 November 2021
Vaccine inequality - the ugly face of capitalism
While a majority of adults in the advanced capitalist countries of Europe and North America have been fully vaccinated against the Covid-19 virus, in low-income countries of the 'global south' only 1.4% of people had received one dose as of September 2021
3 November 2021
COP26 begins - workers strike for pay
COP26 in Glasgow has begun with a show of working-class power.
3 November 2021
Hunger strike in Calais for refugee rights
Three humanitarian activists started a hunger strike on 11 October in the hope of capturing the attention of the French state to highlight the conditions of those displaced people in Calais hoping to reach the UK
3 November 2021
Fight for a real wage rise for all
Tories 'era of optimism' means real-terms living standards cut: Some wages may be rising on paper, but in real terms they are falling. Analysing the budget hype, the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) reveals the truth: "High inflation, rising taxes and poor growth...
3 November 2021
Fight for socialism to end climate destruction
COP26: Zero trust in capitalist class: COP26 - the global climate summit taking place in Glasgow from 1 November - will probably agree on something. Promises to hit a 'net zero' carbon emissions target by 2050 for example.
3 November 2021
Why I joined the Socialist Party
To explain why I joined the Socialist Party, I need to go back to 2008 and the global financial crisis
3 November 2021
Local government cuts set to continue
Sunak's promises are set to be wiped out by increased costs for councils
3 November 2021
Sudan - mass protests and general strike against coup
The Sudanese military regime is facing massive resistance. Across the country, millions have protested and gone on strike, most recently a two-day general strike that stopped the country.
3 November 2021
Strategy needed to bring members together to take national action
NEU members have had the opportunity to vote for a DGS
3 November 2021
Oaks Park school strike spurred on by head's lies
The first strike day after half-term had a picket line of over 30
10 November 2021
Council workers ballot on pay offer that's really a cut
My union branch undertook a survey after 12 months of lockdown. It found that two-thirds of staff were working more than the set 36 hours a week. More than half had experienced stress symptoms, and almost
10 November 2021
With inflation predicted to rise to 4.3 per cent or higher, and after a decade of Tory austerity, teachers need a significant pay rise now
10 November 2021
Tories under fire over sleaze and rising prices: A public sector strike on pay is brewing. And is it any wonder?
10 November 2021
Socialist planning to meet housing need
Over a million households sit on council housing waiting lists, and that's only those who are allowed to join the queue
10 November 2021
75 years after the first new town
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the New Towns Act implemented by the post-war Labour government, when on the 11 November 1946, Stevenage was designated Britain's First New Town.
10 November 2021
Tories under pressure in bid to remove pension triple lock
In the recent budget the Tory government chose to cut taxes on champagne and on banks rather than keeping the triple lock on state pensions
10 November 2021
Support for all-out scaffs strike spreads
News of the all-out strike by 60 scaffolders employed by contractor Actavo at British Steel in Scunthorpe is spreading, with Danish scaffs sending solidarity
10 November 2021
Weetabix workers escalate action in crunch dispute
Workers at two Weetabix factories launched four-day strikes from 8 November in a dispute over pay and conditions.
10 November 2021
Portugal's government falls: Left must adopt a new course
Portugal is facing a snap general election, two years early, after the ruling minority Socialist Party (PSP - an establishment party) government headed by António Costa failed to get its budget passed through parliament.
10 November 2021
John Barnes on class and capitalism. What's missing?
Book review: The Uncomfortable Truth About Racism: 'The Uncomfortable Truth About Racism', by former footballer John Barnes, makes some valuable points
10 November 2021
Capitalism's COP26 failure: socialist planning vital
A set of headline pledges and agreements have been made between many of the world's capitalist nations
10 November 2021
Thousands march in Glasgow and elsewhere to save the planet
Glasgow saw some of the largest political mobilisations since before Covid
10 November 2021
Why I'm coming to Socialism 2021
"When I attended Socialism for the first time last year, I was a stressed-out student ..."
10 November 2021
Harsh Tory regime for benefit claimants and workers
The Tory government is driving a harsh regime; both for those on benefits and for our PCS trade union members delivering these vital public services.
10 November 2021
RMT AGM: Delegates focus on the looming battles
The highlight of the 2021 RMT annual general meeting (AGM) was being able to accept a pay offer from Abellio ScotRail that bust open the government's pay freeze for 2021.
10 November 2021
University workers vote for action in two disputes
University staff have voted in favour of industrial action in two disputes, paving the way for strike action in the coming months if management does not agree to improvements to pensions, pay and conditions
10 November 2021
Sheffield bin workers strike: "End rubbish pay!"
"End rubbish pay!" was the chant outside Lumley Street depot as around 150 Sheffield bin workers, members of the GMB union, began strike action on 8 November for an above-inflation pay rise.
10 November 2021
Sleaze and pay a toxic mix for Tories
"Is anybody in charge at No.10?" This was the headline in the normally Conservative-supporting Daily Mail as Tory MP Owen Paterson resigned after Boris Johnson's latest U-turn.
The somersaults and U-turns show that, despite his populism, Johnson's government, like all Tory governments, puts the bosses' profits before the interests of workers.
11 November 2021
CWU conference debates the union's political strategy
One of the debates was over the union's relationship with Labour
16 November 2021
Why I'm coming to Socialism 2021
Best event to bring us together to fight for socialism!
16 November 2021
Born out of greed: 25 years of Rugby Super League
Like football today, the formation of the Rugby Super League was driven by commercialisation
17 November 2021
Leeds solidarity protest says stop Sudan coup
Chanting "down, down, Al-Burhan", over 100 people from Leeds' Sudanese community rallied on 13 November in support of the mass protests taking place on the same day in Sudan
17 November 2021
Why I joined the Socialist Party
Starmer dismissing BLM made me quit Labour: In July last year, I was laid on my sofa doing my daily doomscroll when I stumbled on a video of Keir Starmer dismissing Black Lives Matter
17 November 2021
St Mungo's report fails to address bullying and victimisation of workers
A new 'independent' report - compiled by a long-term associate of the CEO - has failed to address workers' concerns in homelessness charity St Mungo's
17 November 2021
University bosses' pay piles up while workers are forced to strike
Ten university vice-chancellors earn over £400,000 a year. As a second year university student paying £9,250 a year, I would like to think the money is being put to good use giving me the best possible
17 November 2021
As a Yorkshire cricket fan I was appalled that Yorkshire County Cricket (YCC) felt there was no action necessary against the staff and players that its own report found had subjected Azeem Rafiq to racist abuse.
17 November 2021
Ten years on - where has Podemos's radicalism gone?
Pablo Iglesias - one of the founders of the Podemos party in the Spanish state and its most prominent representative - announced his resignation from politics earlier this year, the tenth anniversary of the movement of the Indignados (the 'outraged') which gave birth to the new party
17 November 2021
Belarus refugees - caught between a rock and a hard place
The political sparring between the regimes in Belarus and Russia on the one side and Poland, the EU, USA and Nato on the other, is squaring up for a bruising fist fight.
17 November 2021
NHS workers must take action now to save our NHS
For many years the Tories have chipped away at the NHS, breaking off chunks to sell and pushing this vital public service to its breaking point
17 November 2021
Outsourced Barts health workers in strike ballot for a pay rise
Nearly 600 health workers employed at Bart's health trust, including Royal London, Whipps Cross and St
17 November 2021
Health and care staff shortages worsened by Tory vaccine sacking threat
To add fuel to the fire of the staffing crisis in social care, the government's punitive 'no jab, no job policy' has now come into effect in England.
17 November 2021
London MPs' second home swindle while workers and students struggle
Fourteen London MPs are renting out their homes in London in order to claim rent on their parliamentary expenses
17 November 2021
Resisting evictions in east London
Already twice we had stopped Waltham Forest resident Nadia Zaman from being evicted (see 'Fighting for a home for Nadia and homes for all' at socialistparty.org.uk)
17 November 2021
Sunak's climate finance agenda typifies capitalism's COP26 failure
Having reportedly banned young climate change activists from attending his talk at COP26, Chancellor Rishi Sunak - the UK's richest MP - went on to capture the headlines with his speech on a 'Finance Alliance for Net Zero'.
17 November 2021
Striking Scunthorpe steel scaffs up the ante
Visiting the Scunthorpe scaffolders' picket line, who are fighting for agreed trade union rates of pay, on 15 November it was immediately obvious that the strikers have upped the ante against their contractor Actavo at British Steel
17 November 2021
Leeds cab drivers protest against taxi rank move
Over 50 taxi drivers protested in Leeds on 10 November, against proposals by Network Rail and West Yorkshire combined authority to relocate the hackney carriage taxi rank to a space beneath the station
17 November 2021
Fresh strikes on East Midlands Railway
RMT has announced a new 24-hour strike from midnight on 4 December on East Midlands Railway.
17 November 2021
An appeal to trade union members to stand as anti-cuts candidates
Working-class people need our own political voice, as part of our toolbox to help us stand up to attacks from the Tories and bosses
17 November 2021
Clarks workers fight 'fire-and-rehire' pay cut
Around 500 people gathered on the picket line of the Clarks distribution centre in Street, Somerset to show their support for the workers on an indefinite strike over the despicable 'fire-and-rehire' tactic being used by LionRock Capital, a situation that could see workers who have worked for Clar
17 November 2021
Striking couriers in the IWGB union drove on their mopeds and bicycles through the streets of Hackney to the council offices on 10 November
17 November 2021
China: Bureaucracy grapples with new crises
In October the IMF slightly downgraded its predictions for global economic growth, citing the continued pandemic and slow progress in vaccinating the world as major factors
17 November 2021
Massively increase funding; Kick out the profiteers;
15% pay rise now!
The NHS Confederation, a body which brings together senior managers in the health service, has said the NHS is "at tipping point". But these bureaucrats are out of touch: the collapse has already begun.
17 November 2021
Youth fight for well-paid green jobs and socialist change
The COP26 final agreement does not take the measures needed
17 November 2021
DVLA ballot turnout falls short of threshold
PCS members at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) have voted by 79% to continue their campaign of industrial action over Covid safety, but unfortunately the turnout was 39.6%, short of the 50% threshold required under the anti-union laws
17 November 2021
Tory sleaze scandal continues, an ex-workers' MP responds
Parliament has been in turmoil surrounding Tory MP Owen Paterson's rule-breaking lobbying
17 November 2021
One Birmingham family - two adults with three children - one with ADHD who needs their own bedroom, are trying to survive in one-bedroom flat
24 November 2021
Midwives march against unsafe staffing and for adequate funding
I attended Sheffield's March for Midwives protest on 21 November in solidarity with my sister, a midwife at Barnsley Hospital, and her colleagues
24 November 2021
Tories responsible for NHS staff shortages
Health secretary Sajid Javid has announced that vaccinations will be made mandatory for health service workers in England by the spring.
24 November 2021
Tories hammer nail in pensions triple lock coffin
The Office for National Statistics announced that inflation increased to a ten-year high of 4.2% only 36 hours after MPs voted to ditch the triple lock on pensions
24 November 2021
Poorer pensioners fleeced by social care cap
What a shabby and cynical trick Tory ministers pulled on working-class pensioners while everyone's attention was on the sleaze scandals
24 November 2021
HS2 eastern route cancelled: Fight for a workers' plan for public transport
In an announcement that surprised no-one on 18 November, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced that the eastern route of HS2 from Birmingham to Leeds would be cancelled
24 November 2021
Working class strangled by price rises and pay cuts
Few can ignore the eye-watering cost of living crisis. When even the likes of the Daily Mail are highlighting the effects of the 10-year-high inflation figures, it underlines how bad it is!
24 November 2021
Cricket's history of racism and elitism
The revelations of racism at one of the country's premier county cricket clubs were shocking and damning, and resonated beyond the confines of cricket
24 November 2021
Panasonic workers strike against pay freeze
About 100 workers at Panasonic's factory in Cardiff took their second day of strike action on 22 November for a decent pay rise
24 November 2021
Sage care home workers' pay victory
Sage care home workers in Golders Green, north London have won an 11% pay rise to at least £11.05 an hour following strike action
24 November 2021
Chartism: The world's first working-class movement
In the first of an occasional series on the history of working-class struggle in Britain, Scott Jones looks at the world's first working-class mass movement, the Chartists.
24 November 2021
The struggle for accessible workplaces and an inclusive society
The pandemic has shown the possibility for flexible work and greater independence for workers. By allowing workers to carry out their roles from home, all kinds of accessibility barriers can be removed,
24 November 2021
USA: Right-wing vigilante Rittenhouse acquitted - capitalist courts will not defend the working class!
24 November 2021
Sudan: "Hamdok has sold the revolution!"
"Hamdok has sold the revolution," chanted protesters in Sudan's capital, Khartoum, after a deal was announced between military leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Abdalla Hamdok, the ousted civilian leader of the country's 'transitional government'
24 November 2021
West Sussex: Payouts for council bosses, cuts for us
In 2019-20, the former chief executive of the Tory council in West Sussex received a £265,000 exit package. Financial statements for 2020-21 reveal three more large payouts.
24 November 2021
Newham: Durning Hall - another shameful act of Labour gentrification
On 16 November, a Newham Council committee unanimously approved the demolition of the iconic Durning Hall community centre in Forest Gate, east London - another shameful act of gentrification by the 100% Labour-controlled council
24 November 2021
Slough: Adult service cuts will leave vulnerable homeless
Organised by GMB union, 50 people protested on 16 November against the closure of adult services in Slough
24 November 2021
Northampton: Phoney consultation to mask cuts
On 27 October, West Northamptonshire Council held a "spatial options consultation", a convoluted way for the local council to describe the housing crisis
24 November 2021
Obituary: Ted Austin (1940-2021) - working-class socialist stalwart
Socialist Party members are saddened to hear about the loss of Ted Austin, aged 81, who died on 11 November, following a short illness
24 November 2021
Just some of the events where the Socialist newspaper was sold in the past week...
24 November 2021
What did you think of Socialism 2021?
An inspiring and optimistic weekend. So great to be with so many Socialist Party members, especially in person. Great to see so many young members there too.
24 November 2021
Socialism 2021: A steely determination to change society
Last year, Socialism2020 was 'virtual'. This year, around 400 met in person, with a similar number joining online.
24 November 2021
End sexism and violence against women
25 November is International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
24 November 2021
RMT to strike in night-tube dispute
The action is over the imposition of "impossible and unreasonable demands on staff"
24 November 2021
Historic victory of India's farmers
On 19 November, India's PM Narendra Modi announced the repeal of the three farm bills
24 November 2021
Workers' action can defeat weak and divided Tories
The 'levelling up' fantasy is being exposed as a farce, and fearful Tory MPs are in revolt. Now is the time, when the Tories are so weak, divided and floundering, for workers to get organised, and for the trade union leaders to go on the offensive
24 November 2021
Support uni workers' walk-out on pay and pensions
on 1 December, UCU members at 54 universities will strike for three days
24 November 2021
Tesco warehouse workers ballot for strike action
The shop and distribution workers' union Usdaw is carrying out strike ballots at nine Tesco depots over pay
19 Nov Socialism 2022
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