By Peter Main As we go to press, workers across southern Europe are gearing up for a coordinated, cross-border general strike. On 14 November there will be one-day general strikes in Portugal, Spain, Greece, Italy, France, Malta and Cyprus. And the list is not closed. Unions, youth organisations and social movements are mobilising in Belgium […]
By Peter Main Barack Obama has got his “four more years”. That there was any doubt, shows the contrast to four years ago. Rather than maintaining the momentum of his campaign against George W Bush, Obama disappointed his supporters on virtually every issue since. Guantanamo is still open, there are more troops in Afghanistan and […]
Last week, the Tory front bench looked its smug worst again as economic data seemed to support their narrative that austerity is working. But Jeremy Dewar looks beyond the headline figures to find a different story
All Together! All Together! Yes! Yes! Yes! November 14 is a date to put in every activist’s diary. On that day, there will be one-day general strikes by the big union federations in Portugal, Spain, Greece, Italy, France, Malta and Cyprus. And the list is not closed. Unions, youth organisations and social movements are mobilising […]
The 20 October demonstration in London and rally in Hyde Park were remarkable in that so many union leaders took up the call, passed by the TUC, to consider the practicality of a general strike. Dave Stockton reports Remarkable too is the fact that the mainstream media – the BBC and the “quality press” alike – […]
Mineworkers are striking for a living wage in the face of repression from the ANC government, writes Keith Spencer
Jeremy Dewar recounts how the anti-union laws shackled the unions and calls for defiance
By Peter Main The call for a rank and file movement is not a proposal for a new organisation. Like the “anti-war movement” or the “shop stewards’ movement” of the 1960s, a rank-and-file movement would mobilise thousands, probably tens of thousands of people already involved in any number of campaigns and organisations in their own […]
After TUC agrees to consider a general strike, step up the pressure for real action, argues Dave Stockton
By Marcus Halaby London’s sparks have targeted rogue construction outfit BFK for some special treatment – flying pickets, direct action and brand contamination. The capital’s high-profile Crossrail project received some unwelcome publicity when building workers, students and supporters blocked traffic near Tottenham Court Road for an hour. But matters got worse for the blacklisting and […]
By Rebecca Anderson The government has tried to impose a 1 per cent pay cap on public sector workers after two years of pay freezes. If they are successful, then many public sector workers will lose more than 10 per cent of their pay in real terms over a four year period. Teaching unions NUT […]
WHEN THE 2010 general election produced no outright winner, uncertainty gripped the markets: would a weak government push austerity hard enough? But within weeks the champagne was flowing once more in City pubs and Tory shires, with Chancellor George Osborne’s announcement of huge cuts. Andy Yorke writes The Tory and Lib Dem Coalition are using this capitalist […]
Rebecca Anderson picks apart the bizarre logic of Britain’s competing anti-cuts campaigns If we are to stop the cuts, beat privatisation and banish austerity we need to be united and organised. We need a mass movement that can call huge demonstrations, put pressure on the union leaders and bring solidarity to every struggle. As it stands, most of the […]
‘Time to tackle the dumbing down’ is the new slogan of the Tory education ‘reforms’ which aim to make school serve the needs of the market, not the students. At their heart these counter-reforms aim to segregate students by class, limiting working class students to basic literacy and numeracy skills or, at best, technical, vocational […]
When the Tories cobbled together the Con-Dem Coalition in May 2010, they were clear about how they were going to tackle the economic downturn – by making the working class pay for the capitalist crisis. With the Lib Dems limping lamely behind them, the Tories set their plan to rip society apart and rebuild it in […]
The continent is still deep in recession. Coordinated by Germany, France and the European Commission and Central Bank, savage austerity is being imposed on its weaker economies. KD Tait looks at resistance in Portugal and Greece and opposition in France to the new Fiscal Treaty. The southern states of the European Union – Portugal, Italy and […]
Marcus Halaby reports on the endgame in Afghanistan In late August the number of American troops killed in the war in Afghanistan reached a total of 2,000. This includes those killed in Pakistan and other countries where US forces are involved. Of particular concern to the US-led occupation forces has been the sharp rise in […]
The 1926 General Strike is rich in lessons for today. Dave Stockton looks at how the ruling class prepared for it while the unions leaders did not. In the mid-1920s the Miners Federation of Great Britain (MFGB) had almost a million members, and was the militant core of the working class movement. Coal was still […]
It seems like only yesterday that America faced the question of whether Barack Obama would be the country’s first black president. In the months running up to the November 2008 election, his campaign unleashed a seemingly inexhaustible enthusiasm from millions desperate for “hope” and “change”. Four years on, those hopes have been dashed. For many, […]
The Trades Union Congress has agreed to consider the practicality of a general strike in response to the government’s austerity programme. Their first step should be to ask their 6 million members what they think. Are they willing to take action in defence of jobs, wages, pensions, health and education? The entire left should be […]
London’s sparks have targeted rogue construction outfit BFK for some special treatment – flying pickets, direct action and brand contamination. The capital’s high-profile Crossrail project has received some unwelcome publicity when building workers, students and supporters blocked traffic near Tottenham Court Road for an hour. But matters got worse for the blacklisting and corner-cutting consortium a […]
This year’s Labour Party conference saw what has become an annual ritual: the Labour leader and his shadow chancellor trying to steal the Tories clothes and “standing up to the unions”. Bernie McAdam looks at what happened in Manchester. This year Labour’s message was plain enough. Workers should wait quietly and patiently for another two […]
This autumn the epicentre of struggle against savage austerity has moved from Greece to Spain. KD Tait examines the potential for halting the attacks and the strategy needed to do this.
Joy Macready reports on the growing backlash against a women’s right to choose In September, a woman was jailed for terminating her pregnancy in its final stage. Sarah Catt took a drug that she purchased on the Internet to cause an abortion in 2009, and now faces eight years in prison for it. To give […]
Protesters picketed the BFK (Bam-Ferrovial-Kiers) Leeds Arena construction site this morning, demanding the reinstatement of workers sacked for trade union activities. The company, subcontracted by Crossrail, has been fiercely resisting the efforts of union Unite to win collective bargaining rights for those working on the project. A health and safety rep was suspended last month […]
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By K Tait Hundreds of masked, black-clad police advancing, firing rubber bullets into the backs of fleeing protesters. In a side street, young people confronting vans of riot police behind a blazing barricade. These were the streets of Madrid as Spain’s government announced a further £8billion of cuts to education, health and welfare spending in […]
By Rebecca Anderson
By Jeremy Dewar
Leeds Workers Power report