March will see an intensification of the political storms which have been brewing since January. With the Tories fighting like rats in a sack over Europe, it’s time for Labour to challenge the racist agenda of the immigration debate, expose the Tory lies and champion the value of working class unity across borders.
The May elections will intensify scrutiny of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Party. Welcome by-election gains have not been enough to quell dissenting figures obsessed with poll ratings. Although Jeremy’s straight talking approach is a refreshing change from the that will go down well among voters, much more needs to be done to set out what Labour’s alternative is – and how ordinary voters will be at the centre of it. A Labour-initiated campaign against Tory cuts to local government would be a good place to start.
The news that former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis is advising the Labour Party “in some capacity” will provoke mixed reactions. Best known for his role in Syriza’s confrontation with the Troika in 2015, his latest project, the radical Democracy in Europe Movement 25 (DiEM25), will be anathema to many Labour MPs and MEPs on both sides of the referendum debate. Whatever people think of Varoufakis, we should welcome debate about policy and engage as many members as possible in democratic decision-making.
March 8 is International Women’s Day. With its origins in the revolutionary German workers’ movement, its significance for the entire world grows year by year. While women bear the brunt of austerity in Britain, there is a burgeoning working class women’s movement against wage-exploitation, sexual violence and family oppression in the semi-colonial world. The slogan of the world working class movement remains: no socialism without women’s liberation; no women’s liberation without socialism.