Solidarity 306, 4 December 2013

Independence-lite or class-struggle heavy?

Back in July of this year, a senior aide to SNP First Minister Alex Salmond briefed the media that Salmond “would not object to the term ‘independence-lite’ as a description of what was on offer at next year’s referendum.” The publication of the SNP government’s White Paper “Scotland’s Future — Your Guide to an Independent Scotland” on 26 November confirmed that. The Queen will remain Head of State. Scotland will remain a member of the European Union. Scotland will remain a member of Nato. And the pound sterling will remain the currency. All the BBC’s output will still be screened in Scotland...

Greek protests against ecological destruction

A caravan of protest against the development of a new gold mine on the mountain of Skouries, on the Halkidiki peninsula in north-east Greece (near Thessaloniki), made its way to Athens on 25 November. At a time of relative lull in other battles (participation was low in the general strike at the beginning of November), this movement has mobilised thousands of people on the street (not restricted to the “usual suspects”). On 9 November, a demonstration in Thessaloniki drew 10,000 people. There were small children on bikes with t-shirts reading “SOS Halkidiki”. Students holding banners and...

Biodegrading sects

Thirty-three years ago Tariq Ali quit the International Marxist Group (IMG), then the second-highest-profile group of the revolutionary socialist left in Britain. He had never been a rank-and-file activist. He had been a well-known leader in the IMG ever since he joined it in 1968. He called for the withdrawal of the Russian troops which had invaded Afghanistan in December 1979, while most of his comrades thought that their definition of the USSR as a “degenerated workers’ state” (which Ali shared) ruled out that call. He was right on that; but he didn’t stay to argue. He quit. He has been...

Why socialists should have nothing to do with Russia Today

Thom Hartmann is a prominent left-wing radio broadcaster from the USA. I first came across him when he interviewed me at a conference in Washington and was promptly told by everyone just how prominent he is. He describes himself as a “democratic socialist” and his nationally-syndicated radio show has an estimated 2.75 million listeners. George Galloway needs no introduction to a left-wing audience in the UK. What Hartmann and Galloway have in common is that they host shows on Russia Today (RT), a global satellite television channel that performs the same function for Vladimir Putin as Press TV...

Religious glue for right-wing politics

In Solidarity recently we have discussed how political Islam can be both a “sigh of the oppressed” and a reactionary, right-wing movement. The Christian right in the USA shows the same paradox more extravagantly. Thomas Frank, in his study of the rise of the right in Kansas, found that in Olathe, a poor Kansas City suburb which is a bastion of the right, “each of the conservatives I spent time with was either a blue-collar worker or married to one” He talked with one of the leaders of the right, Kay O’Connor, a working-class woman. She supports tax cuts for the rich. “Progressive taxation is...

How outsourced workers at the University of London lost their fear

Outsourced cleaning, catering, and security workers at the University of London have been fighting for sick pay, holiday, and pension equality with directly-employed staff through the “Tres Cosas” (“Three Things”) campaign since they won the London Living Wage in 2012. On 27 and 28 November, they struck to win those demands, as well as to stop job cuts at the Garden Halls, and to win recognition of their union, the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB). Workers mounted pickets at the university’s flagship Senate House building from 6am on both strike days, and succeeded in turning...

Walmart workers' "Black Friday" strikes

Strikes and protests were held at 1,500 Walmart stores across America on “Black Friday” (the Friday after Thanksgiving), 29 November. The actions were part of a long-running campaign by unions, workers’ centres, and labour-movement coalitions against low pay, union busting, and exploitation at Walmart stores. The number of stores which saw protests more than trebled from the 2012 Black Friday day of action, although some estimates suggest the number of Walmart employees involved (rather than workers and activists from other workplaces and areas) did not increase. Many attribute this to the...

Amazon's UK "slave camp"

Workers employed in the warehouses of online retail giant Amazon are paid poverty wages, work 50-hour weeks, and walk up to 11 miles during the course of a shift in which they are expected collect one order every 33 seconds. A number of undercover reports have exposed hyper-exploitative conditions in the warehouses, which employ an extra 15,000 staff to deal with the Christmas rush. One worker told the BBC that conditions in the warehouses were comparable to “a slave camp”. Workers’ productivity rates are monitored, and they face disciplinary sanctions if their work levels drop too low...

Zero-hours contracts "keep wages down"

Research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, a human resources consultancy firm, attempts to put a positive spin on the proliferation of zero-hours contacts. The report concludes that employers mainly use zero-hours contracts for flexibility, and claims that most workers are satisfied with this arrangement as it provides flexibility for them as well. It suggests that, on the whole, if there is an issue surrounding zero-hours contracts, it is to do with the way they are managed, rather than the type of contract itself. Why would workers report being “satisfied” with zero...

Prioritise clarity over rhetorical flourish

In the discussion arising from Sean Matgamna’s introduction to Workers’ Liberty 3/1: Marxism and Religion, there are perhaps two issues that need a little more debate. The first is the extent to which Islamism is a “modern” movement or the revival of a centuries-old movement. The former is often put as an explanation of Islamism as straightforwardly the product of modern Western imperialism, which is simplistic and inaccurate. But it is important not to counter one simplistic view with its mirror-image. Islamism has many modern features, and while it has centuries-old roots and a life of its...

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