Extract from Workers Power US conference document www.workerspower.net Beginning in late September with only a few dozen activists in New York City (NYC), the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement changed the mood dramatically. Tens of thousands demonstrated, marched, protested, and occupied public and private spaces against the bank bailouts, joblessness and worsening poverty for millions […]
The future of Syria is being fought out town by town as the resistance grows against Assad’s regime. Marcus Halaby looks at how imperialist governments are doing all they can to conservatise and control the Syrian revolution.
The magnificent Egyptian revolution is in danger of defeat, warns Dave Stockton
Joy Macready reports on the cuts to disability welfare and the growing resistance “THE PAST 12 months have seen a string of cuts that have hit disabled people the hardest, from benefits changes to local authorities slashing social care budgets and axing concessionary bus passes.” This comment by Jaspal Dhani, CEO of the UK Disabled People’s […]
The British Freedom Party and the English Defence League has announced a merger reports Dan Edwards THE FASCIST English Defence League (EDL) has joined forces with the British Freedom Party (BFP), a party headed by ex-UKIP member Paul Weston and mainly comprised of former BNP members who have jumped from Nick Griffin’s sinking ship. This is […]
Zombies are big business, with more games and films coming out every year cashing in on the idea of the walking dead. Will Walsh looks at why our society is so zombified
Joy Macready reviews The Riots at Tricycle Theatre on between 17 November – 10 December
It is that time of the year again, writes Simon Hardy. But what is the real meaning of Christmas under a capitalist system? Every year Christmas seems to start earlier. No sooner are the Halloween costumes taken down from the displays than the fake plastic trees, chocolate calendars and snow-in-a-can decorations come out. Whilst […]
WITH BRITAIN predicted to go back into recession next year, and with a new credit crunch and the collapse of the Eurozone looming, what’s the answer to a capitalist system in crisis? The TUC is calling for alternative policies – on 25 October general secretary Brendan Barber called for fairer taxes, closing tax loopholes, investing […]
Around 15,000 marched in Birmingham yesterday. Huge contingents of teachers, civil servants, careworkers, nurses and local government workers from across the West Midlands defied Birmingham City Council’s plan to stop the march from taking place. The Tory/Lib Dem coalition tried to impose charges of up to £10,000 on the TUC. The organisers refused to pay […]
November 30 in Leeds saw a solid strike, with the city covered in picketlines, and a massive demonstration and rally of 10,000 or more, the biggest trade union demo in decades in the city. Workers Power members staffed their picketlines or, for those not on strike, organised solidarity visits, while REvolution youth toured picketlines with […]
It seemed that everywhere you turned in Manchester city centre there was a picket line somewhere – and the strikes were strong too. Even very large workplaces recorded few staff or service users crossing the picket lines. But it was no ghost town! Every other person walking down every other street seemed to be holding […]
Workers Power leaflet for the picket lines and protests on N30 • No concessions on pensions • Link up all the struggle against all the cuts • With the officials where possible, without them where necessary • Forward to a general strike to bring down the Tories
Biggest strike since 1926 • Government on the defensive • Serious public support for strikes
• All out on 30 November • Joint strike committees in every town • Workers and students unite – forward to a general strike
This is the motion which was submitted to the Unite the Resistance conference, but not taken, on 19 November 2011
Up to 1000 trade unionists gathered in London on Saturday to discuss the public sector pensions strike on 30 November. But despite hearing some inspiring speeches and gaining a sense of the momentum mounting in workplaces across the country, workers left without a plan to turn the day of action into a movement for a […]
Luke Cooper on Gramsci’s Marxism (followed by discussion and summing up below)
November is a crucial month in the fightback against the cuts. Demonstrations and protests by students and electricians will hit the headlines; there will be a large conference, Unite the Resistance, with hundreds of rank and file trade unionists; and everything will be building up for mass strikes on 30 November. And let’s not forget […]
DIRECTORS OF the FTSE 100 – the top 100 British companies – saw their incomes rise by an average of 49 per cent last year, while for the rest of us the average pay rise was less than 2 per cent. Someone’s doing well out of the recession – but it’s not you! The directors have […]
CHANCELLOR GEORGE Osborne famously claimed that, “We’re all in this together.” But when it comes to wealth and living standards, this simply is not true. Price rises are outstripping wages and benefits week by week, month by month. The official index for inflation (CPI) rose to 5.2 per cent a year last month. But even […]
THE UN’S INTERNATIONAL Labour Organisation has produced a report stating that “social upheavals” are on the cards due to growing cuts, unemployment and inequality. Meanwhile Andreas Whittam Smith, writing in The Independent, has declared that countries like Britain are now “ripe for revolution”. The ILO cited a study showing that in 45 out of 119 countries […]
The government, backed up by howls of anger by those on the right, are threatening to strengthen the anti union laws, warns Jeremy Dewar TORY GRANDEE Francis Maude claims Unison’s 78% YES vote “shows there is extremely limited support for the kind of strike action their union leaders want,” basing his argument on the 29% […]
Is the struggle over pensions limited to an economic issue, or is it a political fight, asks Jeremy Dewar
No matter what they try, nothing seems to work… The world leaders have gathered at the G20, and European leaders are having regular summits, but the economy is just getting worse. Peter Main explains why
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou gives way to a coalition government as the EU leaders attempt to force through more cuts and austerity. But the Greek people are fighting back, writes Martin Suchanek
Since the fall of Mubarak, workers have taken their chance to launch strikes and protests over both political issues and working conditions. There have been strikes of telecoms workers against the management board and demanding the releaase of fellow co-workers, a strike at Egypt’s Misr Cement over wages as well as lawyers locked in a […]
The Egyptian army’s attack on unarmed Coptic demonstrators has not occurred in a vacuum. It takes place in the run-up to parliamentary elections, due to begin on 28 November and end on 10 January; following large protests against the trial of civilians by military courts; and in the midst of controversy around a new “constitutional […]
Violence against Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority, about one-twentieth of its population, is not a new phenomenon. Hosni Mubarak’s regime, and Anwar Sadat’s before it, frequently allowed or enabled “popular” expressions of hostility towards the Copts as a safety-valve for social discontent.
The electricians have a only weeks left until their industry agreement is ripped up, how can the campaign escalate to beat the bosses back? The electricians’ dispute has shown what a well organised rank and file movement can pull off today. From an initial conference in August to weekly protests and now a ballot of […]