TEACHING ASSISTANTS employed by Durham County Council have voted overwhelmingly for strike action against the imposition of new contracts that would see some workers lose up to 23 per cent – or £6,000 a year. The Labour led Council in Durham voted in May to dismiss all of the 2,700 teaching assistants employed by the […]
PREPARATIONS FOR Momentum’s national conference hit a snag after the Steering Committee cancelled the National Committee for the seventh month running and asserted that the conference would take place through an online ballot of all members, rather than with delegates. Following protests from branches and regional committees, the Steering Committee has agreed to convene the […]
THE ABANDONMENT of over 1,000 children in tin containers at the squalid Calais “Jungle” refugee camp is the culmination of 13 years of inhuman and criminal efforts by the French and British governments to escape responsibility for the refugee crisis. After the French government used riot police and bulldozers to clear up to 10,000 refugees, […]
By KD Tait FOUR of Momentum’s regional committees have passed motions censuring the National Steering Committee for its decision to postpone the overdue November National Committee and unilaterally refuse to have a democratic delegate conference, replacing it instead with a pseudo-democratic digital system where people can participate without engaging in debates or common activity. These […]
By KD Tait A recent Open Letter (Speak Out on Syria) correctly calls on Jeremy Corbyn to “say clearly and unequivocally that the actions of Assad and Russia in Syria are barbaric war crimes and that [he] will seek to end them and hold their perpetrators to account”. We agree with this, and believe that […]
To commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street, we are republishing this article from fifthinternational.org Sir Oswald Mosley, MP, split from Labour to form the New Party in March 1931, together with a group of left MPs. By October 1932 Mosley had transformed the party into the British Union of Fascists. Paul […]
Jeremy Corbyn’s overwhelming victory now presents the possibility of consolidating Labour as a left wing socialist party – a task that means there is no room for compromise with the right wing. Our victory will be celebrated as a great achievement of hundreds of thousands of members and supporters who have campaigned successfully to stop […]
THE FIRST of the reactionary consequences of Brexit is the major boost it has given to racist attacks on people perceived to be migrants. The effect was immediate. In the first four days following the 24 June announcement, True Vision, a police-funded website, reported a 57 per cent increase in reported hate incidents month on […]
IN THE wake of the terrorist atrocities of 13 November 2015, which left 130 dead, Socialist government ministers and local mayors in various cities and regions have launched a series of measures targeting Muslims and the immigrant population. The barbarous attack in Nice on 14 July has renewed the sense of fear and the tolerance of […]
OWEN SMITH is the candidate chosen by Labour’s rebel right wing MPs to stand against Jeremy Corbyn in the leadership election. Many party activists asked, “Owen who?”, so low was his profile when his bid was announced in July. His choice sums up just how cynical and bankrupt the right wing of the party are. Their […]
REPORTS ARE rife that rebel Labour MPs will offer Jeremy Corbyn a “truce” if is he re-elected. In return for ceasing their open sabotage in the Commons and the media they will demand the dilution of Corbyn’s programme and the blocking of any restoration of the membership’s democratic rights. They will demand a stop to […]
OVER THE summer France has once more debated the issue of Islamic dress after mayors in more than 30 seaside towns introduced a ban on burkinis-the full body (but not face) covering swimwear. Here in Britain, banning the burka or the burkini has hardly been a topic of discussion outside the fringes of the right. UKIP […]
By Bernie McAdam JOHN MCDONNELL speaking at a fringe meeting at the Trade Union Congress in Brighton said of the coup launched in June against Jeremy Corbyn that “This is about the Establishment saying to you: how dare you elect a socialist as the leader of the Labour Party.” and adding “And it isn’t just […]
WITH OVER half a million members in every community and trade union in the country, Labour has the potential to become a focus for organising the defence of public services – and setting out a comprehensive alternative based on redistribution of wealth and democratic control of the economy. But the party’s current structures are clearly unfit […]
THIS YEAR’S restrictions on Labour’s internal democratic life are without precedent since the 1980s. At a time when hundreds of thousands are joining the party, avenues for participation in political discussion and decision making have been almost entirely sealed off. Campaigning for the local and mayoral elections followed by the EU referendum saw regular meetings suspended. […]
BY LAUNCHING their coup following the Brexit vote, the PLP totally deflected the Labour Party from its prime duty of mobilising the population against the new Tory government that has only a wafer-thin majority. The anti-Corbyn campaign has now lasted a full three months, allowing Theresa May an uninterrupted honeymoon, as the media targeted Corbyn, in […]
By KD Tait Reports that rebel Labour MPs are preparing ‘truce’ plans if Jeremy Corbyn is re-elected are designed to dilute Corbyn’s programme and prevent the membership asserting their democratic rights. The vehicle for implementing this continued sabotage is the parliamentary party and their allies in the party’s apparatus. The immediate task after the election […]
Did you vote for Tom Watson for Deputy Leader last year? If so, chances are you had no idea he is an outright enemy of everything Jeremy Corbyn stands for. You’ll have noticed it by now. Since the 25 June Parliamentary Labour Party coup, Watson has emerged as a key figure in the Labour right’s […]
The election campaign for Labour Party leader is in full swing, with huge rallies for Jeremy Corbyn. Liverpool is leading with up to 10,000 turning out and with large meetings in Hull and Leeds. This is the response of members and supporters to the attempt by MPs to oust him. Some 172 MPs voted no […]
By Jeremy Dewar Paul Mason, former broadcaster with the BBC and Channel 4, has published an article on the Medium.com blog. As usual with Mason, it is well written and, insofar as it sides firmly with Jeremy Corbyn in the current Labour leadership election battle, provides a number of welcome arguments for party members and supporters. […]
By Dave Stockton In spite of a barrage of dirty tricks, blackmail and anti-democratic measures, Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign for Labour leader is going from strength to strength. The election campaign is effectively taking place in a state of emergency inside the party. CLPs have been banned from meeting to carry out their business, and many […]
Jeremy Dewar replies to Owen Jones’ article, ‘Questions all Jeremy Corbyn supporters need to answer’ Just over a year ago in Euston, Jeremy Corbyn addressed a mass rally, two overspill rooms and, from the top of an FBU fire engine, a street audience. Owen Jones was one of the supporting speakers. Then he opened his […]
By KD Tait Jeremy Corbyn is on the ballot for the Labour leadership election. First the plotters tried to bully him into resigning. Then they tried to keep him off the ballot so they could crown a stooge of the Parliamentary Labour Party. Outraged by the back-stabbing of the MPs and the bias of the […]
By KD Tait The attempted coup launched by Labour’s parliamentary rebels has failed to oust Jeremy Corbyn – but it has provoked a renewed membership surge. Figures confirmed by the New Statesman show 200,000 people have joined the party in the last two weeks, taking total membership to 600,000. Labour is now the biggest it […]
A motion of confidence in Jeremy Corbyn's leadership during the PLP coup
IN THE LAST weeks of the Referendum campaign the Brexit campaigners, led by Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson, decided to play their ace – the widespread fears about immigration. With the mass readership of the right-wing Tory tabloids going into overdrive, administering their daily of horror stories about migrants, no one should have been surprised it had […]
By Richard Brenner The narrow majority in the British referendum for leaving the European Union is a severe setback for the progressive, socialist and labour movements in Britain and across Europe. First and foremost, this is a blow to the political awareness and class consciousness of millions of British workers, especially in the former industrial […]
THE COUP has failed. Jeremy Corbyn has resisted a vicious attempt to morally blackmail him into resigning and opening the way to a right-wing counter-revolution in the Labour Party – a return to austerity-lite and anti-immigration policies. The Labour rebels will now have to challenge Corbyn and hundreds of thousands of members in a leadership contest, […]
By KD Tait THE COUP has stalled. Jeremy Corbyn has resisted a vicious attempt to morally blackmail him into resigning and open the way to a right-wing counter-revolution in the Labour Party – a return to austerity-lite and anti-immigration policies. The Labour rebels will now have to challenge Corbyn and hundreds of thousands of members […]
A motion mobilising support for Jeremy Corbyn's re-election