Bolshy

A look at what class society is and who can change it - by Mike A slightly better known authority than myself once stated that: "The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle." Today that struggle is between the class of exploiters - the bourgeoisie - and the class of the exploited - the proletariat. The proletariat have no choice but to sell their labour power to the bourgeoisie, who control the means of production. As such they are often named the working class. The working class has every incentive to revolt to overthrow the system they find themselves in...

by Alan "What has the labour movement got to do with students? What have a load of old Trade Unionists out for a peceful walk on MayDay got to teach young anti-capitalists about radicalism and direct action?" To many people on this year's May Day demo these questions don't even need answering. Last year, almost all the media coverage focused on the "anarchist travelling circus" - the direct action activists who, we were told, were busying themselves plotting to smash up every shop in central London, behead Winston Churchill's statue with Samuri Swords and eat babies served with humous and...

Saddam Hussein — the hated dictator of Iraq, and a man responsible for wars, torture and repression on a vast scale — is missing, perhaps dead. His regime is crumbling, bashed to bits by the military might of the US. Groups of fighters loyal to the Iraqi regime continue to snipe at US and British forces, but the country is being over-run by the coalition's troops. And as it became clear that Saddam's power was ending, many of the people of Baghdad came onto the streets to celebrate the death of the regime. Huge, monstrous statues of Saddam were pulled down by Iraqis and US troops. And people...

There's a group of us who've got suspended and others who've been told not to do political activity at school, so we're working together to protest these attacks on our freedom of speech. Wanna join us? Get in touch. We've got sample letters to send to people and other material you can have too, but your ideas are also wanted. Email Bolshy at bolshy_03@hotmail.com or ring Dan on 07761 580 517. Our hit list of Head-teachers for this edition starts with... ....Jean Lebrecht, Headteacher, Hornsey School for Girls, Inderwick Rd., London, N8 9JF Jean's been banning all protests and political...

“Marxism found its highest historical expression in Bolshevism. Under the banner of Bolshevism the first victory of the proletariat was achieved and the first workers’ state established.” so said Leon Trotsky in 1937, speaking about the revolution that took place in in Russia in October 1917. The degeneration of the Russian Revolution, by the end of the 1920s, into a repressive regime, presided over the Joseph Stalin, is seen by many as a sure sign that it was not a real revolution, but perhaps a coup d’etat. Or if it were a real revolution, then all revolutions are doomed to failure. Much of...

Workers in Matamoros Garments in Puebla, Mexico, are paid poverty wages for making expensive products for transnational sportswear giants like Puma. Workers took strike action in January to raise pay rates from (illegally low) $3.90 per day. The workers also objected to forced overtime, abuse from managers, disgusting food in the cafeteria and denial of union rights. Puma, the German-owned giant, a major contractor at the factory, heard about the dispute and panicked at a mounting wave of international support for the workers. They can cancelled their orders, fearing accusations of using...

Jim reports - The Nation Union of Students (NUS) national 4-day conference took place last week in sunny Blackpool. The conference had delegates from FE colleges, sixth-form colleges, and universities around the UK - about 1000 in total - who got together to decide NUS policy for the year. Bolshy supporters involved with the Campaign for Free Education (CFE) were amongst those standing on the 'Education not War' platform that proposed and got passed a 'No to War, No to Saddam' motion and a motion for NUS to campaign for non-means tested grants for all. CFE candidates won 4 out of the 5...

It’s hard to overstate precisely how viciously oppressive Saddam Hussein’s Ba’ath party regime is, and it seems hard to believe that anybody could reasonably support it. Yet whenever I try and argue with friends that we shouldn’t go to war with Iraq I am confronted by a barrage of accusations implying I don’t quite understand Saddam’s evil. This couldn’t be further from the truth – I’m a socialist, and I fully understand that if I were to live in Iraq the chances are that I’d be dead by now. The fact is though that a lot of people still believe that opposition to the war must mean support for...

Young activists involved in the anti-war movement may have come across a group called ‘Revo.’ This is the youth wing of another group called ‘Workers’ Power.’ The main focus of Revo’s campaigning recently has been to call for a ‘Victory to Iraq.’ We thought it was time someone got in touch with them… Type this up on your computer and send it to info@worldrevolution.org.uk. If you don’t have a comp, get a mate with one to do it…Revo need to know you’re behind them! Dear Revo, I'm glad to hear you're eventually putting your 'Victory to Iraq' slogan into action. This sounds exciting - I'd like to...

The School Students Activists' Forum, held in London on Sunday 16th March, attracted around 150 school and FE students. Most of these were from London, although activists from cities such as Nottingham, Manchester and Birmingham also attended. The event was fairly positive, because of the success of the walkouts of the past week and the prospect of more to come. The obvious increase in the levels of dissidence, militancy and radicalisation amongst students is also very encouraging. Students taking action against this war have repeatedly emphasised their frustration at being excluded from...