After TUC motion agrees to ‘consider’ general strike, step up the pressure for real action   By a sizeable majority, TUC delegates have voted for a motion moved by the Prison Officers Association (POA) which says:   “Congress accepts that the trade union movement must continue leading from the front against this uncaring government with […]

As we go to press news is breaking of 400 dead bodies, mainly civilians, being found in Darayya. It could turn out to be the most deadly massacre yet in Syria’s bloody confrontation. Marcus Halaby writes

While the world’s media has been concentrating on the trial of Gu Kailai for the murder of her “business” partner Neil Heywood, a crackdown of a different sort has been underway in the southern province of Guangdong. Peter Main writes

South African state prosecutors tried to charge 270 miners with the murder of 34 of their fellow workers. To do this it used a piece of Apartheid law called “common purpose”, which was designed to prosecute enemies of the white supremacist state, who were often ANC members. Keith Spencer writes

If you made a rogue’s gallery of the opponents and critics of the Syrian revolution on the Arab and international left, you would come up with a range of positions and emphases. Marcus Halaby writes

The American Zionist scholar Daniel Pipes recently wrote an article in The Washington Times, with the title “Stay out of Syria: Intervention is a trap”. Arguing that “Bashar al-Assad’s wretched presence” in power may “do more good than harm”, he added that Assad’s “non-ideological and relatively secular” regime is at least staving off “anarchy, Islamist […]

Forty years ago, four London dockers were arrested and held in north London’s Pentonville Prison. The next morning a fifth was arrested outside while protesting at their arrest. Yet within five days the Pentonville Five were freed by a wave of unofficial action and the threat of a general strike. Dave Stockton looks at the […]

In an extract from Workers Power’s forthcoming programme, Beyond The Crisis – Beyond Capitalism, Richard Brenner sets out our key measures against the capitalist crisis through putting the working class in control of society

WHEN IT IS 38 degrees in the sun, not much stirs in the centre of Athens. But on 24 August 10,000 mainly young, male migrant workers from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan took to the streets after months of escalating attacks by racists and fascists.

By KD Tait THE ACTS OF resistance taken by thousands of young people during the student movement of winter 2010-11 shook the government and sparked months of mass opposition to cuts. Democratic general assemblies uniting students with workers and young people, militant demonstrations using self-defence against police violence, and nationally coordinated waves of direct action including boycotts, […]

IF YOU ARE a new student reading this there’s a good chance you’ve started a course that will see you graduate with around £50,000 worth of debt. Two years after hundreds of thousands took to the streets against the tripling of tuition fees, the student movement is on life-support; its campus anti-cuts groups diminished, its national […]

YOUNG PEOPLE in Tory Britain are caught between a rock and a hard place. Youth unemployment stands at over 20 per cent – over one million people. For young black men, the rate is a scandalous 50 per cent, revealing that racism is still experienced by the younger generation. KD Tait writes

JUST WEEKS after London was touted as a multicultural paradise during the Olympics, international students at London Metropolitan University have been told to find a new university place or face deportation. KD Tait writes Around 2,600 non-EU students have had their education thrown into jeopardy by the decision of the UK Border Agency (UKBA) to strip […]

“Every time – we beat ‘em then walk away. Let’s get some blacklisted guys and shop stewards in and hit ‘em!” said Kevin, an electrician, or “spark”, from the floor of the Unite Construction Rank and File conference. Suddenly everyone was alert; hands shot up to speak on this key issue: how to make the […]

Union leaders are planning neither to change their strategy nor to lead an effective fight to stop the Tory-Lib Dem cuts at this month’s Trades Union Congress. Rebecca Anderson writes

Julian Assange has been granted political asylum by Ecuador, in a move which has divided opinion amongst those who support the work of the Wikileaks website. Is the move a justified act of self-defence or is it simply a ruse to evade answering the rape charges levelled against him by two Swedish women? Dave Stockton […]

Three members of the Russian radical feminist band Pussy Riot have been sentenced to two years in prison after being found guilty of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred”. The verdict is grossly out of proportion to the collective’s “crime” of singing a rowdy anti-Putin song in a Moscow cathedral two weeks before his re-election as […]

The family, friends and supporters of Sean Rigg, a black musician from Brixton, have finally heard some of the facts surrounding his death at the hands of police officers in August 2008. Jeremy Dewar writes

The workfare system sees multi-millionaire companies such as Tesco, McDonald’s and Asda exploiting workers by forcing them to take part in “work experience” in order to receive their meagre Job Seekers Allowance. Sally Turner writes These companies are raking it in – McDonald’s UK saw an 11 per cent rise in profits in the last three […]

Disabled People Against Cuts organised a week of protests in the run-up to the Paralympic Games to highlight attacks on people with disabilities. In particular, they are targeting the disgusting role of Atos, a major sponsor of the Paralympics as well as the government’s main weapon against those claiming Disability Living Allowance (DLA). Rebecca Anderson writes

Spain is the new Greece, the latest country to fall victim to the bond markets and Eurozone bailout conditions. With its banks weighed down by €184 billion in toxic debts and in a double-dip recession since last Autumn, in June Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy had to go cap in hand to Eurozone finance ministers for […]

Editorial of Workers Power 366 – September 2012

Halfway through its term the Tory-Lib Dem coalition has failed – even by its own standards.

  Statement of the League for the Fifth International 20 August 2012 The League for the Fifth International condemns the brutal massacre – reminiscent of the Apartheid era – of 34 striking miners at the Marikana platinum mine, Rustenburg, South Africa. We condemn the actions of the British-based Lonmin owners for refusing to negotiate an […]

As the rival imperialist powers manoeuvre to gain an advantage from the mass uprising against Bashar al-Assad’s dictatorship, Marcus Halaby examines the regime’s strategy and tactics as it struggles, if not for outright victory, then at least to cling on to some vestiges of its power. One of the historic claims to legitimacy of Ba’athism, […]

Unite Construction Rank and File – the “sparks” – held their conference in London last Saturday, almost one year to the day since their launch. Jeremy Dewar was there for the Grass Roots Left “Every time – we beat ‘em then walk away. Let’s get some blacklisted guys and shop stewards in and hit ‘em!” said Kevin, […]

Rebecca Anderson asks why the left has covered up the latest sellout by so-called ‘left’ trade union PCS On 26 June, members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) were due to strike over the cuts and privatisation. They face the threat of 8,500 job cuts, 5,300 of them to UK Border Agency (UKBA) […]

Racism rife, jobs and services in shreds, justice denied – Jeremy Dewar reports

By Andy Yorke GMB and UNITE officials called off the third Remploy strike scheduled for Monday 6 August, breaking the momentum of the struggle. The action was pulled at the last minute after a national meeting of the Remploy national consortium, involving GMB and Unite officials, in favour of a “new strategy which will have […]

By Paul Silson In another slap in the face for disabled people, Atos Origin has secured a £400 million contract to run the controversial “Work Capability Assessments” – despite being at the centre of a popular backlash over it’s methods. The scheme – whose sole purpose is to reclassify the sick and disabled as fit for work, […]