By Sally Turner The Tories are planning to pass new laws to stop Travellers setting up sites to live on. This follows the violent eviction of Dale Farm, where an entire community was forced off their land by a militarised police operation. Britain’s Traveller community has been the victim of decades of racist attacks by Labour […]

Finally, Desmond de Silva’s report into the murder of Pat Finucane, the Belfast solicitor, has been released. The Report found that there were ‘shocking levels of state collusion’ in the murder. It told of the ‘wilful and abject failure by successive governments’ to run agents lawfully. It confirmed that Pat Finucane had been murdered by […]

Len McCluskey has called a snap election for the top job in Unite, even though he has over two years left to run in the post. This is outrageous and undemocratic, says Jeremy Dewar

The Socialist Workers Party, the largest revolutionary socialist organisation in Britain, and one of the largest in the world, is presently convulsed by the most serious crisis in its history. This crisis is entirely the result of the scandalously disloyal actions of its own leadership, the 12-person Central Committee, before, during and after the annual […]

A temporary ceasefire has brought some relief to the besieged and oppressed 1.7 million people crammed into the 140 square miles of the Gaza Strip, where one in five children suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and 58 per cent of young people aged between 20 and 24 are unemployed. David Stockton writes

Two TV programmes: one shown and one not, have plunged the BBC into crisis, with resignations of the director general, accusations of libel, poor editorial standards and staff morale plummeting even further. By Keith Spencer

An evening rally and demo called for solidarity with the 14 November European general strikes – but union leaders expose the gulf between the British movement and that of the mainland, says Jeremy Dewar

On November 21 the National Union of Students (NUS) will march in London under the slogan ‘Educate, Employ, Empower’. The protest is supported by the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts (NCAFC), Education Activists Network (EAN) and the UCU. Activists across the country are organising for the biggest possible turnout, but participation seems uneven and […]

Read the PDF version of our bulletin From Rebecca Allen and Jeremy Drinkall, candidates for the new steering committee to be elected on 17 November, on behalf of Workers Power Dear Brothers, Sisters and Comrades, We welcome the Unite the Resistance conference on 17 November as a chance to bring together the different struggles and […]

Gove’s reactionary policy for schools means… Education for exploitation, argues James Copley

Imperialism in the dock by Marcus Halaby

By Shahzad Arshad On 11 November, the Awami Workers’ Party was founded in Lahore. Initially, this party will organise some 15,000 working class activists, youth and students. This is still far from a mass party in a country of 172 million, but this includes many of the most politically advanced working class fighters, who can […]

By Jeremy Dewar On 25 October, Ford stunned workers at its Southampton transit van and Dagenham stamping plants, announcing 1,400 job cuts and the closure of both sites next year. Unions say job losses could be as high as 2,000. Closure would threaten a further 10,000 jobs in the supply chain. The US car giant […]

By Joy Macready Women council workers in Birmingham, including cooks, cleaners, caterers and care staff, have struck another blow against inequality. On 24 October a Supreme Court ruling upheld 174 city council workers’ rights to compensation over missed bonuses from 2004 to 2010. Male workers on the same grade received extra money that the women […]

It’s no longer a question of if we need a general strike, but how can we get one. As 2012 ends and a new year begins the economic, political and social crisis of capitalism continues and even deepens. Two and a half million people are spending their mid-winter break with little cheer: jobless, broke and […]

By Stu Bates On 15 April 1989, 96 Liverpool supporters attending the FA cup semi-final at Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough stadium never returned home. Now, 20 years on, a new independent report has exposed a massive police cover-up. The police and Sheffield Wednesday bosses were to blame for the disaster, not the fans. The stadium failed […]

By Joy Macready, at the Firenze 10+10 conference In November 2002 the first European Social Forum in Florence issued the call for worldwide anti-war demonstrations on February 15, 2003. To mark its tenth anniversary, 1,500 activists gathered there for an event titled Firenze 10+10. The title was meant to indicate the meeting would draw of […]

By Andy Yorke A debate has opened up in the labour movement since the vote at the Brighton TUC to consider the ‘practicalities of a general strike’. The debate has inevitably exposed differences on the left. Not everyone on the left supports a general strike, much less campaigns for it. The Alliance for Workers Liberty […]

As the Coalition government gears up for the second half of its term in office, it is clear that the British economy is far from the path of recovery. Despite some terrible betrayals over the past year, the labour movement is debating its next move and the possibility of a general strike. On the following […]

By Peter Main As we go to press, workers across southern Europe are gearing up for a coordinated, cross-border general strike. On 14 November there will be one-day general strikes in Portugal, Spain, Greece, Italy, France, Malta and Cyprus. And the list is not closed. Unions, youth organisations and social movements are mobilising in Belgium […]

By Peter Main Barack Obama has got his “four more years”. That there was any doubt, shows the contrast to four years ago. Rather than maintaining the momentum of his campaign against George W Bush, Obama disappointed his supporters on virtually every issue since. Guantanamo is still open, there are more troops in Afghanistan and […]

Last week, the Tory front bench looked its smug worst again as economic data seemed to support their narrative that austerity is working. But Jeremy Dewar looks beyond the headline figures to find a different story

All Together! All Together! Yes! Yes! Yes! November 14 is a date to put in every activist’s diary. On that day, there will be one-day general strikes by the big union federations in Portugal, Spain, Greece, Italy, France, Malta and Cyprus. And the list is not closed. Unions, youth organisations and social movements are mobilising […]

The 20 October demonstration in London and rally in Hyde Park were remarkable in that so many union leaders took up the call, passed by the TUC, to consider the practicality of a general strike. Dave Stockton reports Remarkable too is the fact that the mainstream media – the BBC and the “quality press” alike – […]

Mineworkers are striking for a living wage in the face of repression from the ANC government, writes Keith Spencer

By Peter Main The call for a rank and file movement is not a proposal for a new organisation. Like the “anti-war movement” or the “shop stewards’ movement” of the 1960s, a rank-and-file movement would mobilise thousands, probably tens of thousands of people already involved in any number of campaigns and organisations in their own […]

After TUC agrees to consider a general strike, step up the pressure for real action, argues Dave Stockton

By Marcus Halaby London’s sparks have targeted rogue construction outfit BFK for some special treatment – flying pickets, direct action and brand contamination. The capital’s high-profile Crossrail project received some unwelcome publicity when building workers, students and supporters blocked traffic near Tottenham Court Road for an hour. But matters got worse for the blacklisting and […]

By Rebecca Anderson The government has tried to impose a 1 per cent pay cap on public sector workers after two years of pay freezes. If they are successful, then many public sector workers will lose more than 10 per cent of their pay in real terms over a four year period. Teaching unions NUT […]

WHEN THE 2010 general election produced no outright winner, uncertainty gripped the markets: would a weak government push austerity hard enough? But within weeks the champagne was flowing once more in City pubs and Tory shires, with Chancellor George Osborne’s announcement of huge cuts. Andy Yorke writes The Tory and Lib Dem Coalition are using this capitalist […]