International Executive Committee AT 3am on the morning of 30 November, Jiand Baloch, a sociology student at Multan University was abducted by security services together with his father Abdul Qayyum Baloch and his ten year old brother, Hasnain Baloch. They are the latest additions to a long list of forced “disappearances” across Pakistan but, in […]

By Tobi Hansen Part I: War and Revolution The Role of the USPD The USPD was a centrist organisation that oscillated between reform and revolution, between radical struggle and adaptation to the SPD and, through it, counterrevolution. While the leadership of the SPD wanted by all means to strangle the socialist revolution at birth and […]

By Chris Close “WE WILL not be led quietly to annihilation by the elites and government… it is not only our right, but our moral duty to bypass the government’s inaction and flagrant dereliction of duty, and to rebel to defend life itself.” So reads the opening proclamation of Extinction Rebellion, the new environmental movement launched […]

By Tobi Hansen Part 1: War and Revolution The German bourgeoisie has always had an amibivalent attitude to the November Revolution of 1918. While it certainly showed that the war, the dominance of the military high command and the monarchy had to be ended, at the same time, it was a revolution that stopped halfway. […]

  Theresa May faces the complete shipwreck of her Brexit negotiations and the 585 page draft Withdrawal Agreement she brought back from Brussels. Two cabinet ministers, including her second Brexit secretary, Dominic Raab, and two junior ministers, have resigned from her government and more could follow. She needs 320 votes but only has 315 after […]

A motion for use in promoting solidarity with the people of Brazil following the election of far-right president Jair Bolsonaro

Statement – 29 October 2018 JAIR BOLSONARO’s victory in the presidential election poses a deadly threat to Brazil’s working class and progressive movements. His supporters have already unleashed a wave of terror against Black, indigenous, LGBT and social rights activists. US President Donald Trump congratulated Bolsonaro, claiming the two would form “great partnerships”. But claims […]

A motion to support the launch of Labour Against Racism and Fascism

By Jeremy Dewar When we heard about an unofficial strike at the Ivy House pub in our ward, Nunhead & Queens Road Labour Party invited the strikers to address our next branch meeting, where we unanimously passed a solidarity motion. Here is a transcript of what they told us. The Ivy House in Nunhead, South […]

By Rob Schofield LAST week, the creaking, clunking engine that is the Conservative Party spluttered into Birmingham, an electoral vehicle that is out of fuel, lacking any roadmap, and whose exhausted driver is on the verge of being thrown out of the emergency exit by its petulant, baying passengers. The country watched wearily as this […]

By KD Tait LABOUR’S ANNUAL conference was widely judged a success. Even the normally hostile media were forced to admit that it confirmed Jeremy Corbyn as a credible Opposition leader who had finally succeeded in stamping his authority on the party. The much trailed possibility of open divisions, perhaps even a split to form a […]

By Simon Hannah  JOHN McDonnell’s announcement at the 2018 Labour Party conference that companies with over 250 workers would have to give over 10 percent of their shares to their staff has been praised by some on the left and even got positive support in an opinion poll by Yougov. The proposal will see companies […]

THE starting point for any socialist looking to determine their stance on Brexit is to ascertain whether it is in the interests of the working class. All other considerations – electoral impact, the finality or otherwise of any given referendum outcome, the attitude to Brexit of the big capitalists or Chukka Umunna – are all […]

By Andy Yorke THE rejection of proposals to democratise the selection of MPs and the nomination of candidates for the Leadership at Labour’s Liverpool conference threw a spotlight on the role of the unions in deciding party policy. Many first time delegates were shocked, and many more were infuriated, when, despite overwhelming support from the […]

By Jeremy Dewar IT is fitting to mark Black History Month this year by focusing on a battle fought largely inside the Labour Party between 1983 and 1993 for two reasons. First, Black History Month was initiated by groups of mainly black Caribbean and Asian members of the Labour Party, who fought to make the […]

On 5 October 1968, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) savagely beat a peaceful civil rights march off the streets of Derry. This police riot was flashed over television screens throughout Ireland and Britain that very evening. Among the defenceless marchers was Westminster MP Gerry Fitt, with blood streaming down his face after being truncheoned. Some 96 people needed hospital treatment.

ANOTHER poll published yesterday by YouGov reveals that the overwhelming majority of Labour members (86%) support a referendum once negotiations are complete. This has prompted the predictable objection: “It’s a rigged/inaccurate poll” We know that pollsters got it wrong in 2017 and massively underestimated Jeremy Corbyn’s support, but YouGov were one of the only pollsters […]

By KD Tait THIS YEAR’S conference is the fourth under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership but much of the legacy of the Blair and Brown years is still with us. Above all, this means that conference will  play no real role in finalising policy on the most important issues facing the party; Brexit, economic policy of a Labour […]

By Jeremy Dewar IT IS ironic perhaps that the Democracy Review, which is to be voted on at conference, will not be published until probably a day before the event. With a whole year to complete the business and plan deadlines, it lacks a certain prerequisite of democracy, transparency, in delaying till the last minute. […]

By Rebecca Anderson WE SHOULDN’T speak ill of the dead. That’s what Deputy Labour Leader Tom Watson must have been thinking when he eulogised Frank Field’s passing as a “serious loss” to the Labour Party. However, the sentiment that all life is sacred is not one Field shared, so in his memory let’s dispense with […]

By Dave Stockton THIS SUMMER no one could ignore the remorseless campaign smearing Labour under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership as “institutionally antisemitic”. They will also be aware of the vigorous rebuttals mounted in the press, in the party branches, and online by the comrades from Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL). JVL has performed an invaluable service […]

By Jeremy Dewar SHADOW Home Secretary Diane Abbott was in the words of the hymn ‘a kindly light amid the encircling gloom’ of the Brexit referendum; more so than any Labour front bencher, with the exception of Jeremy Corbyn, Abbott stood up for immigrants and the invaluable contribution they make to our society. As a […]

Recently, during a discussion about the recent poll showing majority support for a referendum on the final Brexit deal among members of the three biggest trade unions, I was met with a familiar but infuriating argument. “Don’t you understand the huge growth the far right will gain from a Labour-led new referendum?” we were asked. […]

A RECENT survey found a third of young women in mixed secondary schools have experienced sexual harassment. A majority complained about the use of misogynistic language and 24 per cent reported unwanted sexual contact. Whilst these results can hardly be surprising given the rife sexism in our society, they should serve as a wake-up call […]

By Dave Stockton The Alliance for Workers’ Liberty group, AWL, is well known on the left for its assertion that the state of Israel embodies “the right to self-determination of the Jewish people”, has a “right to defend itself”, and that those on the left who reject this are antisemites, albeit “left antisemites”. Antisemitism is, […]

By Bernie McAdam LABOUR’S Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell, has issued a call for a new Anti Nazi League “to resist racism and the growth of the far right”. This is in response to recent far right demonstrations in support of the jailed fascist Tommy Robinson organised by the Democratic Football Lads Alliance, DFLA, and also […]

THE online culture wars became inflamed again recently in an episode triggered by — of all things — microwave rice. After celebrity chef Jamie Oliver released his new “Punchy Jerk Rice” Dawn Butler, Labour MP and daughter of Jamaican immigrants, took to Twitter to admonish him. She wrote: “#jamieoliver @jamieoliver #jerk I’m just wondering do you know what #Jamaican#jerk […]

By KD Tait THE Labour Party NEC’s decision to adopt all 11 unofficial examples attached to the IHRA definition of antisemitism represents a serious retreat from solidarity with the Palestinians and a victory for anti-socialist forces inside and outside the party who are determined to prevent the election of a leftwing Labour government. In capitulating […]

By KD Tait HUNDREDS of Labour Party members attended a rally called by Jewish Voice for Labour and others outside the party’s headquarters, to call on the NEC to oppose adopting the full IHRA definition of antisemitism, including all the examples, which would ban members from opposing the racist character of the Zionist settler state. Demonstrators […]

By Jeremy Dewar ON JULY 14, amidst the political chaos of the Tory cabinet’s splits over Brexit and Donald Trump’s visit, a “Free Tommy Robinson” rally packed Whitehall with 6-10,000 assorted far rightists, fascists and the members of football firms, who form the base of the Democratic Football Lads Alliance (DFLA). They were joined outside […]