In an election that could rock the labour movement, rank and file candidate Jerry Hicks writes for Workers Power There’s an election in Unite, Britain’s largest union with 1.5 million members. Nothing unusual in that. But it’s been called three years early and on the shortest possible timetable. The official reason for the change […]
Revolutionary communists start from the view that working class women are the central agency in the struggle against their own oppression, aided at every step by class-conscious working class men. As Lenin wrote: “We say that the emancipation of the workers must be effected by the workers themselves, and in exactly the same way the […]
This article was published shortly before the announcement of resignations after conference. Nevertheless the article addresses issues relevant for all comrades committed to building a genuine revolutionary party – whether they are in or out of the SWP. The crisis in the SWP will not be resolved by the Special Conference called for 10 March […]
Richard Wilkinson, coauthor of the book The Spirit Level gave a half hour slide presentation about the corrosive effects of inequality on society at the Leeds Anti-Cuts Convention in February 2013. The “spirit level” refers to the carpenter’s tool to measure incline, and the slide show indeed measured in exhaustive detail the correlation between […]
On 16 February Leeds had its second Anti-Cuts Convention, a successful event that serves as a modest demonstration of the need and possibility for uniting the anti-cuts movement. The meeting decided on action and campaigns, involved trade unions, political groups and campaigns ranging from Keep Our NHS Public to Hands Off Our Homes. The struggle […]
The great recession has tested working class parties to the limit. Almost every social democratic and labour party has repositioned itself in favour of cuts and austerity. For a new generation of fighters, the Occupy movement and last year’s student rebellion seem to offer a way to beat the system without parties. Dave Stockton looks […]
Jerry Hicks has got 136 nominations for his candidature in the Unite General Secretary election – an unprecedented number for a rank and file candidate. So there will be an election and 1.5 Unite members will have a choice. The success of the nominations campaign shows there is strong backing in Unite for a challenge […]
To choose the present moment to propose that the revolutionary left in Britain should unite its forces to build a new revolutionary socialist party will seem positively quixotic to most people. The Socialist Workers Party (SWP), by far the largest far left group, is in disarray, if not in meltdown. The Socialist Party (SP) continues […]
Ninety activists packed into the 16 February Second Leeds Anti-Cuts Convention, called by Leeds Against the Cuts. The gathering was a step forward for the movement, laying out some good campaign priorities and voting in support of a united, national anti-cuts convention and to call on the TUC to say “yes” to a general strike. […]
The BBC was hit by strike action yesterday as NUJ members across the country staged a 24-hour walkout in their campaign against compulsory redundancies. Radio and TV schedules were disrupted as many presenters, including Lauren Laverne and John Humphrys refused to cross picket lines. The day of action was kicked off by mass walkouts of […]
The Socialist Party of Ireland has announced its withdrawal from the United Left Alliance (ULA). The Workers and Unemployed Action Group (WUAG) departed last year and only the People before Profit Alliance/Socialist Workers Party, along with non aligned activists, remain in the depleted ranks of the ULA. The General Election 2011 had seen the recently […]
Admin and clerical workers at Mid Yorkshire NHS Trust recently staged five days of strike action against attempts to cut wages and jobs. With action expected to escalate, Mike Black sent in this report from Leeds. To start by backtracking a bit – Unite Leeds Teaching Hospitals Branch invited Dave, a Unison Steward from Mid Yorkshire to […]
The government’s latest changes to workers’ pensions will mean most people will be worst off. It is another attack on the welfare state and one designed to boost the coffers of the City of London, writes Keith Spencer
Here we republish an article from 1998 which sets out our own understanding of the role of democracy, leadership and accountability in revolutionary organisations. “The party is not an arena for the assertion of free individuality, but an instrument of the proletarian revolution”. Trotsky’s words from 1939 form the background against which Lenin himself approached […]
On Sat 2nd Feb 250 people marched through Halifax town centre demanding an end to the cuts. Local residents are facing the closure of a youth club and an NHS walk-in centre amongst other public services. Beginning at Halifax Town Hall, we marched through the streets chanting “banks get bailed out – we get sold out!” […]
Jeremy Dewar, Unison shop steward and elected member of Unite the Resistance steering committee, asks what effect the internal crisis of the Socialist Workers Party is having on its trade union work
We have covered the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) Central Committee’s mishandling of the dispute concerning a rape allegation. But what is it about the SWP’s culture and politics that has allowed this issue spark a wider internal rebellion? It clearly lacks any self-righting mechanism that could have corrected mistakes before they threatened to tear it […]
“France represents only humanitarian interests,” insists French president François Hollande. It is a solely a case of the war on terror, an attempt to stop al-Qaeda gaining another Afghanistan or Somalia – a collapsed state from which to mount operations into the “civilised” world of the imperialist powers. It might seem strange that after a […]
Read issue 369 here THE COALITION government is determined to start 2013 as it means to go on: by making workers, benefit claimants, pensioners and young people pay for the ongoing economic crisis. Austerity is now set to last till 2018 at least. A decade of pain. Not for themselves of course. This government has […]
Marcus Halaby and Jeremy Dewar take apart the bosses’ argument that keeping wages down helps preserve jobs. The pressure is mounting on union leaders in the public sector for a coordinated pay campaign. The National Union of Teachers is likely to call a strike in March, the University and College Union could join them and the Public […]
The vicious beating and gang-rape of a 23-year-old student in New Delhi, who died in hospital two weeks later, sparked outrage across India and the world, writes Joy Mcready The brutality and premeditation of the attack – six men conspired to snatch a woman in order to rape and kill her – spawned mass protests […]
Marcus Halaby analyses the great – and as yet uncompleted – Arab revolutions of 2011, debunking a number of myths and proving the relevance of Trotsky’s theory of permanent revolution today.
By Bernie McAdam, Sandwell NUT The National Union of Teachers (NUT) is gearing up for a national strike on Wednesday 13 March, possibly coinciding with a European TUC Day of Action against austerity. This is a direct response to Tory Education Secretary Michael Gove’s vicious attack on teachers’ pay. His plans will involve […]
The following is a shortened version of an online statement (see) The Socialist Workers Party (SWP) is presently undergoing its most serious crisis since the 1970s. This is entirely the direct result of the disloyal actions of its own leadership, the 12-person Central Committee (CC), before, during and after the annual conference held on 5 […]
The task of the day is to organise citizens’ defence committees to defend the Short Strand and Catholic communities, says Bernie McAdam. These could then become the basis of a political alternative to the government’s cuts programme and the continuing repression
This is the transcript of an interview conducted by Workers Power with Jerry Hicks. Credit where credit’s due, McCluskey’s speech, his Ralph Miliband lecture, was good – though he lifted most of it out of a speech I made back in 2009 – and he said I was exaggerating then – so he’s three years […]
By Rebecca On 16 January the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) NEC decided to ballot a quarter of a million civil and public servants for strike action over sustained government attacks. Increased pension contributions and four years of pay freezes and caps mean that civil servants will have seen their income cut by 16 per […]
2012 was a year to forget for the Tories. It was, in the main, a year to forget for student activists as well, writes K D Tait. The first year of £9,000 fees saw a 10 per cent drop in student numbers. September saw the government try to deport thousands of overseas students from London […]
The start of 2013 will mean even more cutting back for a lot of families as George Osborne announces further cuts to benefits and working tax credits. Sally Turner reports