Staff and parents at Downhills Primary School have launched an impressive campaign to fight the Department of Educations attempt to force the community school into becoming an academy, writes Rachel Brooks

Simon Hardy reports on a successful meeting in South London for an anticapitalist alternative.

Tuesday saw the first real organising meeting in Manchester for the Unite the Resistance campaign, which recently held a several-hundred strong meeting in London to oppose the pensions sell-out. Around thirty activists from unions such as Unite, Unison, UCU and FBU gathered in the Friends Meeting House to discuss how to further the fight against […]

Several online sites, including Wikipedia and Marxist Internet Archive, have taken its english-language page offline in a protest against a proposed anti-piracy law being debated by the United States’ Congress.

Unite General Secretary Len McCluskey has launched a stinging attack on the Labour leader Ed Miliband claiming that he {Miliband] is “leading Labour to destruction”. McCluskey lambasts the Labour leader for “failing to support millions of low paid trade unionists” and thereby “disenfranchising the party’s [Labour] core support”. All this ire from a union leader […]

Ed Ball’s announcement, supported by Miliband, that a future Labour government would not reverse a single cut and would implement a pay freeze on public sector workers has caused outrage. Len McCluskey’s sharp critical response as a comment piece in the Guardian has quickly become headline news, and the Unite leader has been backed by […]

By Mark Booth AFTER A TURBULENT week of union executive meetings, 300 militants packed into Friends Meeting House for an emergency conference to fight the pensions sell out. It soon became clear to everyone at Unite the Resistance’s gathering that the PCS and NUT leaders would not be calling more strikes in the next few […]

Have you noticed that the Con-Dems’ have stopped insisting ‘we’re all this together’? A new report showing child poverty rates spiralling as cuts hit the poorest families hardest might help explain why. The report, published by the Campaign to End Child Poverty tells a tale of two cities in Leeds. Child poverty rates in the […]

David Cameron has stirred up a hornets nest of indignation in Scotland by announcing that he intends to force the Scottish people to answer his question in the referendum on independence and to hold it when he decides – i.e. soon. The criterion set out for the vote by Cameron would likely refuse to include […]

Below is the resolution, adopted a a meeting of trade unionists in Lambeth on 3 January, calling for escalation of the strikes over the pensions dispute.

PCS Left Unity, the leading faction in the civil service union, opened its doors to activists from all unions to debate the way forward, ahead of a pivotal week in the pensions dispute. But PCS leader Mark Serwotka and the influential Socialist Party promised further action but refused to name a date for the next […]

After nearly 20 years two murderers have been convicted of a racist killing. But, Haleema Jamal asks, why did justice take so long, and have things really changed?

After nearly 20 years two murderers have been convicted of a racist killing. But why did justice take so long, and have things really changed? From Revolution

An excellent article at the blog, Louis Proyect: the Unrepentant Marxist, looks at  the relationship between organised socialists and the new occupy movements. Writer and activist Pham Binh principally draws upon the experience in the US, where Occupy achieved a scale of mobilisation that has dwarfed many other countries, but the issues he discusses are […]

A nightmare before Christmas – Jeremy Dewar reports on the disgraceful attempt by the TUC and big union leaders to accept a deal on pensions that looks almost identical to the one decisively rejected by millions last month.

The leaders of some of the trade unions are threatening a sell out of the pensions dispute. Although 3 million struck on November 30th, and there is pressure from the rank and file, and the smaller left unions to call another day of action in the New Year, Dave Prentis of UNISON and Brendan Barber […]

The rapes reported at some Occupy# camps have barely been discussed by the movement. But they pose major questions around how the movement relates to the socially oppressed and vulnerable and also how it should organise. In this excellent contribution at New Left Project, Maeve Mckeown discusses the relationship between autonomy and the collective, security […]

Is David Cameron’s kid-glove treatment of the City remotely justified, when it neither pays its way nor lends effectively, asks Aditya Chakrabortty at Comment is Free. Read it here.

The fiscal union in Europe is potentially a turning point which would see years of austerity and poverty across Europe – it must be resisted and stopped. A statement by the League for the Fifth International

It’s no joke. The Labour leadership have got a smart, new fangled idea to boost their flagging recruitment figures at the festive season. A new leadership scheme encourages Labour Party members to ‘give the gift of membership’ to their friends and family this Christmas, writes Luke Cooper  Think about it for a moment. You are there on Christmas […]

THE MASS strike on N30 has the potential to change the political situation in Britain. It shows that if you want mass numbers then the unions are essential to filling the streets of every city and town with people who want to fight the government’s cuts. The real sense of unity and collective strength in the face […]

None of the problems from 2008 have gone away; in fact many have become worse, argues Richard Brenner. What are the European leaders planning next?

Two million strong strike shows unions have power to bring down the government – but, argues Jeremy Dewar, only if they escalate the action, broaden their aims and base themselves on action committees

ON THE evening of the public sector strike Jeremy Clarkson, presenter from BBCs Top Gear programme said he wanted to see all strikers shot in front of their families. The BBC received over 21,000 complaints from members of the public, no doubt many of whom had been on strike and were paying Clarkson’s wages through the […]

The growing chorus from world leaders demanding action against Iran threatens another war in the Middle East. Martin Suchanek examines what is behind the latest international manoeuvers and states the case against sanctions

The government’s policies are making things much worse, writes John Bowman, particularly for the most vulnerable

After the defeat of the Spanish Social Democrats – almost every country in western Europe is now ruled by a conservative government, writes Dave Stockton. In a time of capitalist crisis, why are the mainstream ‘centre left’ parties doing so badly?

We can’t let the courts or the bureaucrats stop our actions, argues Jeremy Dewar

Simon Hardy and Jeremy Dewar take a critical look at the broad left strategy

Not since 1989 has the demand for democracy been so loud across the world. But everywhere police and governments are trying to repress our movements. The big question is, are capitalism and democracy compatible? By Nat Silverstein, Joana Ramiro and Simon Hardy