Solidarity 119, 11 October 2007

Labour left unfocused

Party should be “committed to socialist policies” now lacks any means by which it might be carried through. The only practical suggestion was that, given the dramatic loss in Labour Party membership, it was now much easier for the left to take over moribund constituency parties (and presumably the smaller they get, the better, as it then becomes even easier). John McDonnell argued very strongly that Brown’s victory without a fight by the unions was a turning point. Rather than proposing anything practical to reverse it, however, he seemed to say the game was up and “the old strategy was over...

No to little Englandism

As the banker James Pierpoint Morgan said, everybody has two reasons for things they do: the good reason, and the real reason. A new pamphlet, The Big EU Con Trick, from a “Trade Unionists Against the EU Constitution” (TUAEUC) gives several good reasons “why trade unionists should demand a referendum on the EU’s Renamed Constitution”. The new “Reform Treaty” contains many of the proposals that were in the draft EU constitution a few years ago. That constitution was rejected in referendums in France and the Netherlands (in 2005). Tony Blair had promised a referendum on it (which didn’t happen...

The Labour Party: born of struggle

Down to the 1880s there was no “labour movement” [in Britain] in the continental sense at all. There were strong trade unions (of skilled workers), and these unions were politically-minded — but the only parties were the two ruling-class ones, the Tories and the Liberals. The trade unions expressed themselves politically by serving as the arms and legs of one or other of these parties — usually the Liberals, though in an area such as Lancashire and Cheshire where the employers were strongly liberal the trade unions might retort to this by supporting the Tories! The political prospect of the...

Poland before the elections

The political situation in Poland before the parliamentary elections (scheduled for 21 October), is dominated by competition between two parties of the right. These are Law and Justice (PiS) (now in power) and Civic Platform (PO). Both represent right populist politics, but of different kinds. PO is a neoliberal party with a neo-Thatcherite view of the social world and PiS has a more traditional type of populism, in which the political, intellectual and economic elites are criticised for serving their own interests without taking into account the problems of ordinary people. The politicians...

Stop repression in Burma!

As thousands of monks and others protesters remain under arrest and subject to torture in Burma, campaigners in 30 cities around the world staged a series of rallies last weekend against the bloody crackdown. In London, around 10,000 people joined the demonstration on 6 October, with the TUC, Unison, NUJ and other unions backing the protest. Campaigners and unions have focused their demands on getting multinational firms to stop propping up the military regime and withdraw from Burma. For the last 45 years Burma has been ruled by a military dictatorship with a savage reputation for brutality...

Local government - vote YES

850,000 members of UNISON in Local Government will be receiving ballot papers over the next few weeks to vote on strike action over pay. Having already rejected an improved offer of 2.45% the union is calling for a yes vote for action to win an award in line with inflation. If successful a strike across local government would blow a hole in the public sector pay “freeze”— four years of pay restraint, only offering 2%. Any award less than inflation, currently 3.8%, is in reality a pay cut. And a general increase in prices for even the basics like transport, energy bills, childcare affects the...

Local solidarity committees get moving

In Leeds, a local public sector unity committee was set up in June. It drew over 100 to a launch rally on 12 July, with speakers from Unison Local Government and Health, NUT, CWU, PCS and UCU. Luton’s solidarity committee was set up at a meeting of over 40 on 12 September, initiated by PCS and CWU activists and with representation from Unison, TSSA, NUT, and UCU. It is setting up a local hardship fund and will be organising delegations to the CWU picket lines. Email lutonunionsunite@btinternet.com. In South West London, Battersea and Wandsworth Trades Council, together with CWU activists from...

A victory for democracy: Stop the War defies police ban

Several thousand people, including many hundreds of London students, marched from Trafalgar Square to Parliament on 8 October as part of a Stop the War Coalition protest timed to coincide with Gordon Brown’s Commons statement on Iraq — in defiance of the police’s refusal to grant permission for the demonstration. Workers’ Liberty was there, as usual, combining our opposition to the big powers’ military adventures with support for workers’ and other democratic movements in countries like Iraq and Iran. This protest had a special significance. The police had tried to ban it. Instead of using the...

Why we should oppose expansion of nuclear power

Nuclear power is dangerous, expensive and unnecessary to cut global greenhouse gas emissions. It is bound up with nuclear weapons. We should oppose the expansion of nuclear power in today’s conditions of capitalist globalisation. In particular we should oppose the British government’s promotion of a new generation of nuclear reactors. According to a recent report by the Oxford Research Group (ORG), there are currently 429 nuclear reactors in operation in the world today in 30 states. It says another 25 reactors are under construction and a further 76 have been planned, mainly by China, Japan...

Workers News Roundup

Iranian sugar workers strike Workers at an Iranian state-owned company went on strike at the beginning of October over several months’ of unpaid wages. Workers from the Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Plantation and Industry Company gathered in front of the Governor’s Office in Shush city, in Khuzestan province in southern Iran and vowed to stay on strike until their demands were met. The workers have been on strike 16 times over the past two years. But for two years they got nowhere with the management or any government officials. Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane is the only sugar cane factory in Iran and was...

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