Solidarity 358, 25 March 2015

The case for Citizens' Income

The run-in to the General Election in May prompted me to look more closely at the politics of Left Unity and the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition, both of whom are standing candidates in the election. Neither of them mentions the Citizen’s Income (CI) also referred to as Basic Income (BI). Prompted by this discovery I then looked at the websites of the Socialist Workers’ Party, the Morning Star, Workers’ Liberty and the Socialist Party. The result was the same. CI does not appear to be on the agenda, even as an item for discussion, of any of the main left groupings in the UK although...

Not defeatist, realistic

Andy Forse ( Solidarity 357) accuses me of “defeatism” in his reply to my criticism of his article “Why I’m not voting Green” ( Solidarity 356). Personally, I would prefer Gramsci’s oft-quoted “Optimism of the will, pessimism of the intelligence”. It is difficult to see how the trade union movement can revive in this country – even if all the call centres, online ordering warehouses, fast food outlets and such-like could be organised. The facts are that the “big battalions” of labour have gone: when I was a member of the NUM, it had 220,000 members and even if a revival in the mining industry...

Europe's far right gather in Russia

“The fascists are not in Ukraine, they’re meeting here!”, “Nazis licking Putin’s ass, OMG!” and “We don’t need foreign fascists here, we’ve nowhere to put our own!” read protestors’ placards outside the St. Petersburg Holiday Inn on 22 March. The hotel was hosting the “International Russian Conservative Forum”, organised by the “Russian National Cultural Centre, The People’s Home”, a flag of convenience for members of the Russian “Motherland” party (Russian-nationalist, far-right and pro-Putin). Organisations which sent official delegations to the conference included Golden Dawn (Greece)...

Israel: the Putin model

In a sense, not much changed in the Israeli elections of 2015, despite media reports of a “landslide” victory for incumbent Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. The country is still almost equally divided between Left and Right. The parties of the Zionist Left (Labour and Meretz) have seen their combined vote steadily increase over the last three elections, from just 16 Knesset seats (out of 120) to 21, and now to 29. The voting strength of the Arab parties is larger than ever, with a single united bloc now holding 13 seats, a record result. The main parties of the Right (Likud, Jewish Home and...

Why did Tory think he could speak for Muslims?

Afzal Amin, the Tory party candidate for Dudley North, has this week resigned after it was exposed that he had plotted with the English Defence League to stage a “fake” march which he could then claim the credit for getting called off. The Mail on Sunday reported that Amin discussed with the EDL a plan to call a march against a planned mosque in the constituency, a march that would then be called off. Amin was recorded saying he would take credit for persuading the EDL to call off the march. He also said he would be the EDL’s “unshakeable ally” in parliament. Amjid Raza, spokesman for the...

Surge of student occupations

Student activism on campuses across London has recently surged, with occupations springing up at the London School of Economics and the Central Saint Martin’s campus of the University of the Arts. Students at LSE took over the Vera Anstey Suite over the continuing marketisation of our education system, and at the time of going to press (24 March), have been there for over a week. They have produced a list of demands calling for free education, workers’rights, genuine university democracy, divestment and a focus on liberation. Over 400 people rallied round the occupation, with protesters...

Q&A on the general election

In almost every constituency, Workers’ Liberty favours a Labour vote in the general and council elections in 2015. But the Labour Party is committed to maintaining austerity, just like the Tories. Why vote Labour? It’s not true that there’s no difference. While Labour’s current policy would leave the framework of neo-liberal austerity intact, the Labour Party has been forced to shift on issues like the NHS, zero-hours contracts, the Bedroom Tax, and even public ownership of the railways. On all of those issues, its policy is far less radical than socialists would like, but it is not “just like...

End poverty! Tax the rich!

Just in time for the General Election, Britain’s employment rate reached a record-high, with 73% of working age people in work. The bosses’ government gloated over the news. But these figures belie the fact that 5.2 million people in work also live in poverty, they are 60% of all poor and the numbers of people living in poverty have doubled since 1983. Not so great news then. The reality of poverty in Britain has been forensically studied by Stewart Lansley and Joanna Mack over thirty years, and the facts and stories of hardship are put together in their book, Breadline Britain, the rise of...

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