Solidarity 199, 30 March 2011

There were hundreds of placards on the TUC anti-cuts demonstration with the words “General strike” — produced by the SWP and, in a new development, the Socialist Party. Workers’ Liberty has criticised the SWP’s use of this slogan because it does not "follow the logic of the class struggle": it is not the right demand to take the movement forward from where it currently is. If the TUC did “call a general strike”, it would almost certainly flop. But the SWP don’t believe this is a serious possibility either. Opportunist as ever, they brandish “general strike” to sound left-wing and attract...

Sean Matgamna examines the prospects of the Arab Revolution, and compares it to certain events in recent history. The Arab revolution, the inspiring mass popular movement for freedom and democracy, sweeping across the Middle East might be compared to the “Springtime of the Peoples”, in 1848, when mass popular revolution spread from France to Germany, then to other countries, such as Hungary and Italy. Most of them were quickly defeated. Today the nearest modern equivalent — so far — is the collapse of East European and Russian Stalinism, in 1989-91. A tremendous mass movement demanding and...

Document is a BBC Radio 4 series that attempts to shed light on murkier aspects of history, that have either been forgotten or covered up. Using recently discovered documents, previous series have brought to light many interesting historical documents. These have included such nuggets as the plan by Tom Wintringham and other socialists associated with the newly formed Home Guard to turn their weapons on any quisling type government that attempted to come to a Vichy type arrangement with Nazi Germany. Last Monday’s episode (21 March) covered the British government’s attempt to overthrow the new...

Alexander Rodchenko, having achieved international acclaim as an avant-garde painter, sculptor and graphic designer, took up the cause of photography in 1924 with novel and thrilling results. His trademark shot was taken from high above or “bottom-up”, the lens tilted to create an angular, jarring effect. Whether focusing on the anonymous individual, the Soviet masses at work, or at play, or radical new forms of architecture, Rodchenko was able to reflect back his images in bold, memorable and often unusual, geometric perspectives. In a post-Tsarist society in which over 70% of the population...

Comrade, We are sympathetic to the direct action taken against banks, Fortnum & Mason, the Ritz Hotel and other locations throughout central London on Saturday 26 March. We will not join in with moralistic condemnations of your “violence”, nor will we go along with attempts to “disown” you or pretend you are not part of our movement. Indeed, some Workers’ Liberty members were involved in the direct actions which took place on Saturday. We will not join in with attempts in the media and elsewhere to create a division between respectable, non-violent direct-action activists and “bad”...

The TUC-called demonstration was the biggest show of working-class strength in the recent history of the labour movement. In itself, it is not enough. But it is a beginning. The important thing about Labour Party leader Ed Miliband’s presence on the Trade Union Congress platform was not the mealy-mouthed and inadequate character of the speech he delivered there, but the fact that he was there at all. It is many a long day since something like that has happened. Blair wouldn’t have been there, and neither would Gordon Brown. The situation the working class faces now is stark and simple. British...

“Without democracy there can be no socialism and without a socialist society, there can be no real and complete democracy.” This simple idea is central to Marxism and inseparable from the work of revolutionary socialists. But it is by no means uncontroversial. The most basic facet of a socialist society is that ownership and control of the means of production — workplaces, machines, tools and processes — will be taken out of the hands of a small group of people and be taken over by the whole of society. But if collective “ownership” is unaccountable and the control undemocratic, then by any...

It was fascinating to observe the British media try to deal with the scale and breadth of the TUC March for the Alternative on 26 March. For the first time I can remember there was a good deal of reasonably fair and accurate reporting. Two papers who had openly supported the demonstration, the Mirror and Observer/Guardian , set aside at least four pages of their Sunday editions to pictures and comments. The more dramatic photos of smashed windows and hooded anarchists were there but prominence was given to interviews with marchers and scenes which confirmed the all-inclusive make-up and the...

The size of demonstration showed why we are right to say the anti-cuts movement needs to be trade union based. If CoR or RtW had called the demo it wouldn’t have been anywhere near as big and probaby with worse politics — with the pro-Qaddafi people and George Galloway speaking and maybe a Liberal just for balance... Elaine, Merseyside The section of the demo I spent most time with — the (teachers) NUT — was characterised not by “visceral” anger, as you could have expected, but by a “celebratory” mood. Yes, people are pissed-off with the government but there is as yet no “hook” to engage this...

The family of dancehall-reggae pioneer Smiley Culture are demanding a full and open inquiry into the circumstances surrounding his death. After the police raided his home in connection to a drugs bust, Smiley Culture allegedly stabbed himself in the heart with a kitchen knife. Since the end of his music career, Smiley Culture (aka David Emmanuel) had become involved in the African diamond industry and had links to some unsavoury forces in countries such as Azerbaijan. But the police’s story of his death is bizarre, claiming that Emmanuel asked to make a cup of tea before the police took him...