Archive for September 2015
1 September 2015
Aspire Housing workers striking to defend pay and conditions
Aspire Housing maintenance workers are striking for the fifth time
1 September 2015
Indesit strikers determined to press on for acceptable deal
"Fat cats 22%, workers 1.5%!" said a striker's placard on the picket line at Indesit's Old Trafford depot
1 September 2015
Corbyn: Closest Labour contender to Usdaw's policies
A letter by Yorkshire Socialist Party member Iain Dalton that was published in the Financial Times on Monday 31st August
1 September 2015
Bioscientists' strike forces management's climbdown
The threat of 24-hour strike action by 50 biomedical scientists has forced a climbdown by Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust
2 September 2015
Made-up benefit sanction quotes: Tory lies no surprise to us
Tory work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith has been caught out totally making up quotes. Imaginary people subject to welfare sanctions - punishment by cutting benefits - say it actually helped them.
2 September 2015
Thailand plagued by military junta and downturn
The horrific bombing in Thailand's capital Bangkok on 17 August killed 20 people and seriously injured 125. Meanwhile, workers are crushed between the country's dictatorial government and the global economic crisis.
2 September 2015
Zimmerwald Conference 1915: lessons for the socialist movement
100 years ago, during the carnage of World War One, a small number of socialist delegates assembled at an anti-war conference in Zimmerwald, Switzerland.
2 September 2015
Corbyn campaign: surges, purges and preparation
'Corbynmania' saw no let up throughout August. Thousands thronged to hear the left-wing candidate for Labour leader across the land. Meanwhile, the party's Blairite bureaucracy is trying to purge new supporters and skew the election.
2 September 2015
China crisis: What will this mean for the world economy?
The contraction of the Chinese stock exchange has sparked justified fears that the world economy could be in for a repetition at a certain stage of a crisis with similar effects to the 2007/2008 catastrophe
2 September 2015
2,380 dead after Tory attacks on disabled: The full horror of Iain Duncan Smith's bullying of the sick and disabled off benefits is now clear. We say: scrap 'work capability assessments' and reverse welfare cuts!
2 September 2015
Bin crash tragedy shows pressure on sick to work
There is enormous pressures on disabled and ill people to remain at work. Those who don't work face benefit cuts.
2 September 2015
Two million bailiff calls as councils brutalise poor
In the past year, councils in England and Wales have sent bailiffs in to collect debts over two million times.
2 September 2015
Greed: bosses hike rail fares three times faster than wages
Rail fares have risen three times faster than wages over the last five years. Meanwhile, profiteering rail companies continue to neglect public safety, threatening to axe more essential guards and station staff.
2 September 2015
The rich have it easy, the rest of us struggle. Super-rich bosses can now literally swim in the sky.
2 September 2015
Lincolnshire: save our schools!
Around 300 angry people attended a meeting in Mablethorpe, Lincolnshire recently, opposing proposals to close the town's main school.
2 September 2015
Nottinghamshire: don't close our mental health unit
Broomhill Mental Health rehabilitation is a vital bridge between acute wards and community living.
2 September 2015
Anger as promised women's museum becomes Ripper museum
On 4-5 August, protests were held in Whitechapel, east London, where a Jack the Ripper 'museum' is being opened. Dozens of activists and local residents protested with placards commemorating Jack the Ripper's victims and also the women that made history in the area.
2 September 2015
Anne Ullah Khan, a very dear friend and comrade, has died.
2 September 2015
Young and angry? Whether you are studying, working or unemployed in Britain today, you come up against the Tories' agenda.
2 September 2015
Students attacked from all sides
The UK's £75 billion deficit and £1.6 trillion debt were not caused by the disadvantaged, the poor, students or the working class, so why should we pay for a crisis we didn't create?
2 September 2015
London tube workers force bosses to move
Tube unions RMT, TSSA and Unite suspended the 24-hour strike action which was planned to start on the evenings of 25 and 27 August but they have made it clear to London Underground (LU) the dispute remains ongoing.
2 September 2015
'Pay the rate' construction protests continue on Teesside
Protests have continued at the Wilton complex in Teesside over pay. SITA Sembcorp has laid off workers and replaced them with contractors who employ workers paid less than trade union agreed rates.
2 September 2015
Royal Mail union rep sacked - reinstate John now!
John Vasey, a CWU (postal workers' union) workplace rep at Royal Mail Delivery Office in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, was sacked on 21 August on a charge connected with non-delivery of election material.
2 September 2015
Nuclear Secrets: a dangerous dead end
TV review: Geoff Jones reviews the BBC4 TV programme Britain's Nuclear Secrets - Inside Sellafield (on BBC iPlayer until 10 September).
2 September 2015
Rejected by Labour bureaucrats
When Mansfield resident Roy Bainton sent £3 and applied to register as a Labour supporter, a Labour Party official turned him down. The official explained why prospective party members could be rejected.
2 September 2015
Join the NSSN lobby of TUC Congress
Kill the bill!: Rob Williams explains why all trade unionists should come to the NSSN lobby of TUC Congress to build the pressure for mass action to defeat the Tories' planned anti-union laws.
4 September 2015
7½ out of 8 victory for council workers
The council wanted to force nearly 300 workers onto new contracts
4 September 2015
EDF - Conning its customers, conning its workers
Unite members have taken strike action in an increasingly bitter dispute
8 September 2015
Hundreds of Cardiff bus drivers converged on the city centre in an impressive show of strength
8 September 2015
Lobby the trade union leaders this Sunday!
The vicious anti-union bill is designed to shackle the unions
8 September 2015
Solidarity with refugees - Defend the right to asylum
The contrast between the callous cruelty of Cameron and the support for refugees shown by ordinary people could not be starker
9 September 2015
Huge support for Corbyn: now build austerity fightback
The result of the Labour leadership election has not been announced. But one thing is clear, the wave of support for Jeremy Corbyn marks a pivotal change in British politics.
9 September 2015
Workers racked by 19% rise in zero-hour contracts
Many workers don't know how much work they will get from each week to the next.
9 September 2015
How students can fight debt and cuts
The Con-Dems trebled tuition fees, tried to privatise student debt and scrapped EMA grants.
9 September 2015
Heartless Tories chop funds for life-extending cancer drugs
NHS England has stopped supplying at least 17 life-extending medications from its 'Cancer Drugs Fund' to save money, writes Alison Hill, cancer survivor.
9 September 2015
Short stories on workers' struggles around the world. Malaysia protests, Northern Ireland government crisis, India general strike.
9 September 2015
Children suffer as the cuts deepen
Are schoolchildren getting more badly behaved? If so, why?
9 September 2015
Bromyard Community Hospital victory
The in-patient unit at Bromyard Community Hospital, which was set to close, has been saved after the Wye Valley NHS Trust board backed down due to pressure from staff and the local community.
9 September 2015
Why I joined the Socialist Party
A Kent social worker is attracted to the Socialist Party's fighting stance after betrayal by Labour.
9 September 2015
Buses fightback works in Sheffield
Campaigning by Socialist Party members and TUSC has helped a rethink on some of the cuts proposed by the Sheffield Bus Partnership.
9 September 2015
Nominate a fighting socialist for Unison general secretary
Interview with Unison general secretary candidate Roger Bannister
9 September 2015
Short reports on some of the latest trade union struggles. Strikes at EDF, Blue Coat Academy and Camden parking wardens.
9 September 2015
Most important TUC Congress for decades
The Trade Union Congress meets in Brighton from 13-16 September in the most important Congress since 1984.
9 September 2015
In a victory for the campaign led by Unite, restaurant chain Pizza Express has announced that it is to drop the 8% admin fee it takes from staff tips.
9 September 2015
Fight against blacklisting in Liverpool
The construction of the new Royal Liverpool hospital is being undertaken by the blacklist using company Carillion. Activists protested against union victimisation.
9 September 2015
A potentially traumatic health crisis recently showed Socialist Party and trade union activist Paul Couchman that the NHS is still functioning well at weekends, thanks to NHS staff, not to Tory cuts.
9 September 2015
New film writes out major characters - people who led the Stonewall riots, and subsequent movement for LGBT liberation and equality, but are less palatable to whitewashed Hollywood.
9 September 2015
Tories allow bosses to keep exploiting workers at below the minimum wage
The Tories have announced new measures to supposedly combat companies paying below the new £7.20 minimum wage. But in reality the measures are paltry.
9 September 2015
Short dispatches on the different worlds of capitalists and workers. Rebekah Brooks returns to top job as poor people are encouraged to wrongly plead guilty. Refugee crisis, train station loo charges, British Airways pay cut scandal.
9 September 2015
125,000 renters abused by idle parasite landlords
According to housing charity Shelter, over 125,000 renters suffered harassment, threats or assault by a landlord in the last year. And these are just one charity's figures.
9 September 2015
The gains of the revolution of Che Guevara and Fidel Castro are under threat.
10 September 2015
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition conference 2015
Saturday 26 September, at Student Central, Malet Street, London
11 September 2015
Sports Direct's 'workhouse conditions'
On the day of Sports Direct's AGM, Unite the Union protested outside the company's HQ
12 September 2015
* Popularity of anti-austerity ideas confirmed
* Now the battle to create an anti-austerity party begins
This is a historic moment. Nothing will be the same again. For decades Westminster politics has meant nothing but right-wing, pro-big business politics.
14 September 2015
Teesside: Pay the Rate protest
Friday protests of construction workers have been restarted at the Energy from Waste plant at Wilton
15 September 2015
NSSN rally calls for mass action to 'Kill the Bill!'
There was standing room only as hundreds of trade union activists attended the National Shop Stewards Network rally and lobby of the TUC in Brighton on 13 September
15 September 2015
Refugee Lives Matter - large turnout for demo
Thousands upon thousands of people thronged through central London on Saturday
15 September 2015
Unison probation workers' strike
Probation workers in Unison took three hours of strike action on 14 September in an ongoing dispute over pay
15 September 2015
RMT motion on anti-union laws carried at TUC
A key motion from transport union RMT setting out a strategy for fighting the Tory Trade Union Bill has been overwhelmingly carried at the TUC congress
16 September 2015
'Socialism is popular' confirms Lord Ashcroft
Electability is a funny old thing. Jeremy Corbyn is not supposed to have any, yet now he is leader of the Labour Party, writes Dave Murray.
16 September 2015
Students join campaign for affordable housing!
As students, we've all felt it. That grim punch to the gut that comes with the first of every month. I'm talking about rent.
16 September 2015
Twelve hours in the life of a carer
I am an adult carer, having fostered three boys at home. Two of them are dependent for all their needs on me and my husband John.
16 September 2015
"You can relax. There's no trick questions - this isn't an Atos work capability assessment." The Daily Mirror justly placed this shrewd aside in the top three gags at this year's Edinburgh Fringe
16 September 2015
Theatre review: 'An angry call for revolt'
Effie is a working class girl in an area of Cardiff hit hard by cuts. No work, no hope, shops boarded up, library and swimming pool closed, streets littered with dog shit.
16 September 2015
Congratulations to @Corbyn4Leader 60% of 1st preference votes, new leader of the Labour Party! Build a working class Labour out of New Labour
16 September 2015
Parliament protest against the anti-union bill
On 14 September trade unionists and activists came together to protest against the second reading of the Tories' anti-trade union bill, writes Paul Callanan.
16 September 2015
Support Teesside construction workers: Pay the rate!
It's 5:15am and traffic is already starting to back up due to an ongoing protest by construction workers at the massive Wilton chemical plant on Teesside
16 September 2015
Probation strike: Probation workers in Unison took three hours of strike action on 14 September in an ongoing dispute over pay
16 September 2015
Refugee crisis: Imperialist countries bear major responsibility
It is the ruling classes of the imperialist countries who bear the major responsibility for the current situation, writes Robert Bechert, Committee for a Workers' International (CWI).
16 September 2015
The next issue of the Socialist will analyse the results of the 20 September general election in Greece
16 September 2015
Northern Ireland Executive crisis
The devolved government administration in Northern Ireland is in danger of total collapse. A crisis erupted in the aftermath of the killing of ex-IRA member Kevin McGuigan in Belfast on 13 August
16 September 2015
Queen celebrates longest reign - let's make it the last!
Not a month goes by without enduring the fawning tones of the British establishment and its media supporters spewing out gushing sentimentalities about the royal family. There's no escape, writes Tracy Edwards.
16 September 2015
Ministry of Justice : Stop this privatisation scandal!
Michael Gove, Tory hatchet man and Minister for 'Justice', last seen terrorising the education system, is now at the centre of the looming privatisation of court fine collection, writes Tessa Warrington.
16 September 2015
Housing Association One Housing Group (OHG) is feeling the pressure of the organised residents' Save Our Island Homes Campaign on four estates in the Isle of Dogs, east London, writes Amalia.
16 September 2015
The Financial Times (12 September) included a supplement called: 'How to spend it - special men's style edition'
16 September 2015
'Collectathon': Sell the Socialist; and donate!
The Socialist Party, along with our weekly newspaper, the Socialist, has been present at almost all of the 100 rallies (and overflow meetings too) that Jeremy Corbyn spoke to in the run-up to his landslide victory, writes Ian Pattison
16 September 2015
Arriving on campus this year? Student debt, super-expensive housing and the prospect of graduating to low-paid and insecure work will be on the minds of many
16 September 2015
Corbyn's victory: A new era for the 99%
The pro-austerity consensus has been smashed with Jeremy Corbyn's election as Labour's leader with 59.5% of the vote. The hopes have been raised of millions who want to see a society for the 99% not the 1%.
18 September 2015
Corbyn victory: A political earthquake
Jeremy Corbyn's victory is a political earthquake that transforms the situation in Britain and poses stark questions for how a new mass socialist force can be built. Peter Taaffe writes for the October issue of Socialism Today.
23 September 2015
Nominate Roger Bannister for Unison general secretary
We can't accept Labour councillors cutting jobs and services, says Roger
23 September 2015
Liverpool's Labour mayor took pay for job he no longer did
Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson continued to receive thousands from a local school - for two years longer than he worked there.
23 September 2015
Rob Williams, chair of the National Shop Stewards Network, got a mention in parliament recently.
23 September 2015
EU referendum: what attitude should socialists take?
The EU is, in essence, an agreement between the different national capitalist classes of Europe, with the aim of creating a large arena for big business across Europe to conduct their hunt for profits with as few barriers as possible.
23 September 2015
Fight for a real living wage for all!
The seemingly never ending vicious cuts have been hitting us so hard that for many of us survival is a struggle, writes £10 an hour minimum wage now.
23 September 2015
Corbyn under fire: To ensure the anti-austerity politics that have won Corbyn such support are not imprisoned within a few individuals in the leadership of the Labour Party, his supporters must get organised in every town and city of the country
23 September 2015
Refugees brutalised by thug governments
European states have closed their borders to prevent desperate people from entering
23 September 2015
Socialism back on the agenda in Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton and Black Country Socialist Party held its first public rally in many years on 17 September after 12 months of building in the area.
23 September 2015
Around 60 people attended a TUSC rally in Chatham, hot on the heels of Jeremy Corbyn's victory.
23 September 2015
Tower Hamlets housing campaign lobbies council
Residents from the Isle of Dogs lobbied Tower Hamlets Council on 16 September asking for support for their campaign against redevelopment plans by One Housing Group.
23 September 2015
Good response to Nottingham Socialist Students
Nottingham Socialist Students had a good response at the first freshers fair of the year.
23 September 2015
London protesters demand affordable housing
Chants of "Repopulate, the Carpenters Estate" reverberated around Stratford on 19 September as around three hundred demonstrators marched to mark one year since Focus E15 campaigners occupied four flats on the Carpenters Estate.
23 September 2015
TV review: This is England '90
Rudi Abdallah, Waltham Forest Socialist Party, reviews the first episode of This is England '90.
23 September 2015
Traffic wardens strike for better pay
Traffic wardens employed by private service provider NSL in Camden are to hold a seven-day pay strike starting 23 September.
23 September 2015
Short reports on some of the latest trade union struggles. 'Kill the Bill' meetings, environment research council strikes, Open University job threats and victimised postal union rep John Vasey.
23 September 2015
Short stories on workers' struggles around the world. Political policing in Ireland, strike against Finland's government, election campaign in Hong Kong.
23 September 2015
Organise the student fightback!
March against the Tories 4 October. Join the national student demo 4 November. Fight for student strikes.
23 September 2015
Prying Conservatives demand yet more powers to invade our privacy
Alarmingly, Tory ministers are preparing to increase their surveillance powers. A new bill would grant near-total access to our private online and electronic communications.
23 September 2015
Allegedly, Prime Minister David Cameron fibbed about political sugar daddy Lord Ashcroft's filching 'non-dom' tax status. So says the peer himself. Time to kick out all these corrupt establishment politicians.
23 September 2015
Short dispatches on the different worlds of workers and the rich. 'Pig Gate', death caused by 'fit to work' assessment, hero cabin crew pay cut.
23 September 2015
1985: police murder sparks Brixton riot
30 years ago, the police shot blameless mother Cherry Groce. We look back on the murder and ensuing riots.
23 September 2015
Australia: Turnbull deposes Abbot to become PM
Malcolm Turnbull became Australia's fourth prime minister in just over two years after deposing Tony Abbot as leader of the ruling right-wing Liberal Party, this month.
23 September 2015
TUC debates action to defeat anti-trade union bill
The potential difficulty for the Trade Union Congress in developing a serious strategy to defeat the anti-union bill could be seen by the leaders' reservations to call strikes against it.
23 September 2015
Greece: Widespread abstention in election
On 20 September, Syriza was returned to power in a snap general election. What does this mean for Greece's anti-austerity left?
28 September 2015
Notts NHS trust closing more mental health units
"Don't deny the evidence! Don't ignore the risks! Don't close Broomhill House", chanted protesters as people arrived for the Notts Healthcare Trust board meeting
28 September 2015
TUSC: Central in the battle for a working class anti-austerity voice
With serious and fraternal debate, the TUSC conference on 26th September firmly asserted that TUSC has a vital role to play in the new political situation opened up by Corbyn's win
28 September 2015
Tower block residents defend homes
Residents defended their homes as Waltham Forest council (via the ALMO Ascham Homes) attempted to enter the blocks to remove dividing doors - the first stage in their social cleansing project
29 September 2015
The Labour majority on Derbyshire County Council failed miserably in its first post-Corbyn test
29 September 2015
Campaign Kazakhstan protest: Kaz Minerals
On Monday 28 September a protest took place outside the London office of Kaz Minerals plc, demanding action to alleviate the suffering of their workers and the victimisation of activists
30 September 2015
Junior doctors fight government attacks
In a scandalous attack, the government is pushing through a brutal new contract
30 September 2015
For decades the pro-capitalist politicians that dominate parliament have told us that socialism is irrelevant and outmoded. Jeremy Corbyn's election as Labour leader has started to change that
30 September 2015
Anger and protest against fire service cuts in Leicestershire
A protest was organised by Leicestershire FBU at the county fire authority HQ in opposition to devastating cuts.
30 September 2015
Nominate Roger Bannister for Unison general secretary
Local government union Unison is facing huge challenges posed by a government hell-bent on imposing austerity. For this reason a strategy to defend local government is urgently needed.
30 September 2015
This pamphlet provides a context for the struggle for workers' rights against the attempts of the rich to curtail them.
30 September 2015
Short reports on some of the latest trade union struggles. Steel plant closure, bin pay freeze beaten, victimised postal union rep, printers' strike.
30 September 2015
Hungary's xenophobic right-wing government
The Hungarian government led by Viktor Orban has been the most vociferous of any EU state in blocking the northward flow of refugees.
30 September 2015
EU ministers squabble while refugees drown
As the horrors facing millions of refugees multiply, the splits between the EU leaders demonstrate their inability to solve the crisis
30 September 2015
USA: Socialists breaking 'political stagnation'
Socialist Alternative Seattle city councillor, Kshama Sawant, is seeking re-election on 3 November.
30 September 2015
Kazakhstan: workers solidarity action
On 28 September a protest took place outside the London office of Kaz Minerals plc, demanding action to alleviate the suffering of that company's workers and its victimisation of activists.
30 September 2015
Free school meals cut as poor children go hungry
Tories plan to starve working class kids by cutting universal free school meals for children under seven.
30 September 2015
Hypocritical attacks on tube control room strike
Workers are fighting for fairer pay and status in line with their duties.
30 September 2015
Pollution cheat Volkswagen kills thousands for profit
Volkswagen, the world's largest car maker, fraudulently fitted eleven million diesel engines with "defeat devices" to rig pollution tests, writes Richard Worth.
30 September 2015
It's one world for the super-rich, and another one for the rest of us. Suicide-causing Wonga debt rates versus bank bailouts; David Cameron accused of getting huntsman mate off charges.
30 September 2015
Lessons from the past: Liverpool City Council 1983-87
From 1983 to 1987 Liverpool was led by supporters of Militant (predecessor of the Socialist), who at the time were members of the Labour Party. When faced with cuts from central government, they refused to pass them on.
30 September 2015
Why you should join the socialists
A single person can't change society, no matter how high they climb or how hard they shout at the TV. To do it we've got to build an organisation that coordinates the efforts of lots of committed activists and arms them with socialist ideas.
30 September 2015
Give us the resources to defeat the Tories
We are appealing to all our readers and supporters to make a donation to the Socialist Party. We depend solely on the support of ordinary people - the Socialist Party has no rich backers.
30 September 2015
Subscribe to a paper by workers, for workers
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30 September 2015
Calling all anti-austerians, trade unionists, Corbynistas, socialists and members of the 99%!
30 September 2015
Gravy-train Labour MP claims expenses to rent house next door
Money-grubbing Labour MP Pat McFadden has claimed over £21,000 expenses - to rent a house next to one he owns! The shadow Europe minister has access to three homes.
30 September 2015
Gouging boss demands price hike for life-saving drug
Ordinary people were shocked and disgusted by a gouging capitalist's sudden 5,000% increase in the price of a life-saving drug last month, writes Michael Wrack, NHS healthcare assistant.
30 September 2015
How can we bring down the Tories?
On 4 October thousands will throng through the streets of Manchester to demonstrate against a vicious government of the rich. As the popularity of Jeremy Corbyn's Labour leadership campaign has shown, big numbers of people want an alternative to austerity.
19 Nov Socialism 2022
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