By Marc Lasalle The Parti de gauche (PdG), founded by Jean-Luc Mélenchon in 2008, aims to unite all the forces to the left of the social-democratic Socialist Party. This article looks at the reasons for its rapid growth as well as the current crisis in the Front de gauche (FdG), and considers the claim that […]
By KD Tait Six years into the recession women, young people and part-time workers have suffered the biggest drop in living standards since records began in the Victorian era. The sharp rise in inequality is the result of a deliberate policy aimed at restoring profitability for the bosses by destroying the social gains of the […]
By Peter Main Are China and Japan locked into a course towards war? A review of the dynamics and motives suggests they are not, yet. The scenario is eerily familiar. Two imperialist powers, one continental and dynamic, the other an island power now past its peak, confront each other in a series of diplomatic […]
By KD Tait In recent elections in 2013, the Frente de Izquierda y de los Trabajadores (Left and Workers’ Front, FIT), a coalition of Trotskyist groups, won more than a million votes, or 5.12 per cent. Christian Castillo, a member of the Partido de los Trabajadores Socialista (PTS), who was elected as a representative of […]
The January-February issue of our monthly paper. Read as PDF
By Jeremy Dewar RMT members on the London Underground have voted by 77 per cent to strike against nearly 1,000 job cuts and the proposed closure of all 268 ticket offices by 2015. This is a serious attack on all tube workers and users. Not only could it leave travellers stranded and unable to […]
By Bernie McAdam Hard on the heels of the Tories’ new Immigration Bill with its tougher anti-immigrant stance comes a new wave of hysteria surrounding the so called “Romanian invasion”. On 1 January, Romanians and Bulgarians gained the same working rights as other EU citizens, thus making them eligible to migrate to Britain. Guess what? […]
By KD Tait The Mark Duggan inquest verdict of “lawful killing” shows courts will never bring Met killers to justice. Only united working class action alongside black community self defence can halt the killings and end police impunity A jury has delivered a majority verdict of “lawful killing” in the inquest into the death of Mark […]
DOWNLOAD THE LEAFLET By a CWU Rep CWU members are being balloted on the new “Agenda for Growth” agreement (21 Jan to 4 Feb), with the union’s postal executive recommending we accept it. But postal workers should vote no, the new deal leaves us worse off and weakens the union. Workers deserve a pay […]
By Joy Macready Hundreds took to the streets in major Indian cities and other countries on 15 December for a ‘Global Day of Rage’ against the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Section 377, a law that criminalises gay sex. Protests took place in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Pune, Mysore, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Chennai, as […]
By a CWU Rep 1. PAY (Section 5) The 9.06 per cent pay rise over three years, backdated to April, is only half a per cent more than was offered by Royal Mail as far back as July. Like the original offer it can still be reopened if inflation changes, so it’s not set in […]
By Tobias Hansen, Sunday December 15 2013 On December 9, Thailand’s Prime Minister dissolved parliament and gave notice of new elections. In recent weeks there have been renewed confrontations which are described in the media as a conflict between “Red Shirts” and “Yellow Shirts”. Unlike the “Arab Spring”, this is not a mobilisation […]
By a CWU DO rep It’s been widely known, since the 4 November national briefing of local officials and full-time reps, that outdoor delivery was the big sticking point in negotiations. Not surprisingly since this is the most difficult to automate, and competition is hotting up with rival TNT rolling out its city centre delivery […]
The Rail Maritime and Transport union is currently balloting its members on the tube in response to London Underground’s decision to cut nearly 1,000 jobs and close all 268-ticket offices by 2015, writes Jeremy Dewar. This is a serious attack on all tube workers and users. Not only would it potentially leave travellers stranded […]
credit: @ailiahrizvi Thousands of students defied the protest ban and demonstrated on the Bloomsbury campus of University of London, before marching to the Royal Courts of Justice to show solidarity with Mark Duggan’s family, writes KD Tait. The police were completely absent – ordered off the streets by their commanders, panicked into retreat by […]
By a CWU postal rep, December 12 2013 The CWU postal executive has recommended that members accept the agreement reached after weeks of talks by union negotiators led by Dave Ward, Deputy General Secretary Postal. Yet despite the headline-grabbing pay and conditions offer, at its heart is a blueprint for company-unionism and class collaboration. […]
By KD Tait, 11 December 2013 The French government has sent 1,600 troops to the Central African Republic to disarm rebel militias under a United Nations plan to “restore order” to a country destabilised by decades of exploitation at the hands of French imperialism. More than 450 people, mainly Christian civilians, have been killed […]
By KD Tait Students at Sussex university will walk out tomorrow* in support of five students suspended for taking part in recent protests against privatisation. The students have been unilaterally suspended from their courses and banned from going onto campus. A petition calling for their reinstatement has gathered over 8,000 signatures in less than week. […]
By KD Tait University bosses have launched a crackdown against a wave of student occupations. The suppression of the right to protest signals the start of the final offensive in the struggle to complete the marketization of Higher Education. Injunctions have been used to ban all protests at several universities. Where students rejected the rulings […]
By Jeremy Dewar Thanks to the actions of former CIA employee and intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, it is now widely known that Britain and the US are actively monitoring and listening to millions of our private emails, phone and Skype conversations every day. George Orwell, author of 1984, couldn’t have dreamt of the scale […]
Press release from Caribbean Labour Solidarity 2nd December 2013 7pm On Monday 2nd December a small but lively group picketed the Embassy of the Dominican Republic in London to protest at the decision of the high court of the Dominican Republic to strip citizenship from over 200,000 of its citizens of Haitian decent. The ruling […]
Tell CWU leaders, no dodgy deals or further delay by a CWU postal rep Only weeks after the Royal Mail privatisation, news is already leaking out about falling service standards, increased management bullying and doubled profits – all predicted by anti-privatisation campaigners and the postal union, CWU. The reality of privatisation couldn’t be clearer. It […]
In this article Joy Macready examines the relatively unknown history of the Bolshevik’s ground-breaking policies for the liberation of women, which were subsequently reversed in the 1930s under Stalin. The 1917 Bolshevik government advanced a revolutionary programme for women’s rights, struggling to break with the backwardness and prejudice of Russia. The Bolsheviks argued […]
By a CWU postal rep The privatisation of Royal Mail last month was not the victory for “popular capitalism” the Coalition government has crowed about. On the contrary, it was a defeat for the users and deliverers of a popular public service. But even by their own terms, it only succeeded because the government […]
By Rebecca Anderson The Tories’ controversial new Immigration Bill passed through its second reading by 303 votes to 18 on 22 October, despite speculation that Labour might oppose it. The Bill’s main proposals are to: • Make temporary residents like students pay for NHS treatment. • Reduce the number of grounds for appeal against […]
By Bernie McAdam Teachers from both main unions have overwhelmingly supported a series of regional strikes against Education Secretary Michael Gove’s attacks on pay, pensions and workload. This action was meant to be a forerunner to a national strike before Christmas. But now the NUT leadership has decided to call off further action for […]
In the first part of a two part article, Marcus Halaby examines the regional and international context of the Arab Revolutions, the role played by the crisis of leadership, and the need for working class political independence in the form of a revolutionary workers’ party, making the case for the strategy of permanent revolution. […]
By Marc Lassalle This autumn, “Socialist” President François Hollande and Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault have been facing an upturn in the class struggle. Until recently, they have been successful – thanks to the trade unions, and the student union UNEF, in defusing, or at least applying the brakes to, any workers’ and social struggles. This […]
Postal workers in Seacroft delivery office in Leeds staged a canteen sit-in this Saturday after a driver was wrongly suspended for an accident. They were joined by the workers from the York Road delivery office sited in the same building in a show of solidarity.Royal Mail managers at first refused to reverse their decision but […]
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