Archive for April 2021
6 April 2021
Right-wing Labour and Tory commissioners out!
Socialist Party members helped build for a protest called by Liverpool Trades Council.
7 April 2021
Report condones vigil police violence - democratic community control a necessity
On 13 March, Socialist Party members were among the thousands who participated in a respectful but determined act of mass defiance following the ban on the vigil for Sarah Everard
7 April 2021
Low-paid workers shouldn't pay for Covid crisis
On 1 April the minimum wage was increased from £8.71 to £8.91 an hour for those aged 23 and over. For low-paid workers this was welcome news. However, for myself and fellow furloughed workers this wasn't
7 April 2021
Pimlico Academy protests: "Run by racists for profit"
Anger has been growing in schools for a long time. Decades of underfunding, increasing class sizes and growing pressure around exam results have created schools which feel more like exam factories then
7 April 2021
Academy schools have become business ventures
The process of selecting a secondary school for your child can be an agonising one for many parents. In 2005 I viewed about a dozen and chose Pimlico. The headteacher seemed a nice guy and the leadership
7 April 2021
Marley Tiles workers strike against bullying bosses
"The highest-paid bullies in the world", was the view of a striker at Marley Tiles near Reading taking part in a 24-hour strike on 31 March.
7 April 2021
New British Gas deadline and strike dates
British Gas engineers will continue their strike on 14 April, the new deadline set for signing new contracts being forced on workers using 'fire and rehire'.
7 April 2021
GMB members at Bristol Water took strike action on 6 April for fair pay.
7 April 2021
Send your news, views and criticism, in not more than 150 words, to [email protected] - or if you're not online, PO Box 1398, Enfield EN1 9GT
7 April 2021
Childcare in crisis: A socialist solution
Over the last year, Covid-19 has magnified the vast deep-rooted inequalities in the capitalist system. One problem which has been felt most acutely by working women is that of childcare.
7 April 2021
GMB general secretary election: A fighting, socialist leadership needed
The GMB general trade union has begun the election process for a new general secretary. It is a year since the toxic environment around previous general secretary Tim Roach was exposed, and it is no accident
7 April 2021
Fighting Fund: An amazing £39,948 raised
Congratulations to all Socialist Party members and supporters who helped us smash through the Fighting Fund target for this quarter - reaching a fantastic £39,948, 160% of the target.
7 April 2021
1981 Brixton riots: Racism and poverty - the anger explodes
April 2021 marks the 40th anniversary of the riots in Brixton, south London, against police racism, unemployment and poverty.
7 April 2021
Brazil: Bolsonaro regime plunges into a deeper crisis
Ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic, Brazil's far-right government has been plunged into a deeper, far-reaching political crisis
7 April 2021
Former Labour parliamentary candidate to stand for TUSC
James Osben, Labour's parliamentary candidate for Newton Abbot in the 2017 and 2019 general elections, has resigned from Labour and is standing as a Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) candidate on 6 May
7 April 2021
Sparks protest in Cardiff
7 April 2021
Vote socialist on 6 May
100,000 nurses could quit the NHS. Yet the government offers only an insulting 1% pay deal. The health unions, supported by the wider trade union movement, must call a national demonstration - to prepare for strike action if necessary.
7 April 2021
Racism exists! Unite to fight all inequality
The Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities concluded that claims of institutional racism are "not borne out"
7 April 2021
Elect a socialist leadership to fight for national action and a united campaign
This year's elections for the executive of the biggest education union, the NEU, come at an important time for educators.
7 April 2021
Defiance continues against anti-protest bill
Reports from Newcastle, Sheffield, London, Cheltenham, Northampton and York
7 April 2021
Sexism in education: It shouldn't be like this!
The posts on the website 'Everyone's Invited' are shocking and heartbreaking.
7 April 2021
The system is broken... youth unite and fight back
Covid-19 has brought a sense of crisis especially for young people.
7 April 2021
London: #BuhariMustGo protests are back
'Hypocrisy' was probably the most used word on the recent #BuhariMustGo protests in London.
7 April 2021
Councillors have a choice - don't vote for cuts
330 TUSC candidates are standing in the 6 May elections
14 April 2021
How to deal with the tax-dodging mega-rich? Nationalise!
Global media company Forbes recently published its 'World's Billionaires List'. When compared with Unicef's prediction that 140 million children will fall below the poverty line as a result of the
14 April 2021
Amazon workers in Bessemer, Alabama, lost an attempt to unionise their workplace. This disappointing ballot result is understandable given the vicious anti-union campaign waged by Amazon chiefs, and the
14 April 2021
Tory hypocrisy over housing benefit cut
Tory MPs have claimed £3 million in housing rent payments at the same time as voting to effectively cut housing benefit for low-income households in the private rental sector.
14 April 2021
US cops shoot dead another black man
Incredibly, in the middle of the trial of white cop Derek Chauvin, accused of murdering unarmed black man George Floyd, a Minnesota white cop shot dead 20-year-old black motorist Duante Wright, who had been stopped for a traffic violation.
14 April 2021
St Mungo's maintenance workers on indefinite strike
Maintenance workers in the troubled homelessness charity St Mungo's have voted for indefinite strike action
14 April 2021
Thousands of London bus workers strike across multiple companies
4,000 London bus drivers have voted overwhelmingly for strike action over remote sign-on policy. 96% of Unite members at Metroline West and 97% at Metroline Travel voted for industrial action on routes
14 April 2021
Rally for sacked RMT rep Declan
Southampton's lockdown easing on 12 April was met with a loud and vibrant protest in solidarity with sacked RMT bus safety rep Declan Clune
14 April 2021
East London cleaners fight outsourcing and redundancies
Cleaners at the University of East London downed tools against two-tier conditions on Tuesday 13 April
14 April 2021
Bristol Water workers walk out
GMB members organised a lively first picket line outside the headquarters of Bristol Water on 6 April.
14 April 2021
SPS Technologies workers end strike after management backs down
Unite members at SPS Technologies in Leicester have ended their strike action against the attempt by management to attack their terms and conditions using 'fire and rehire' tactics.
14 April 2021
Send your news, views and criticism, in not more than 150 words, to [email protected] - or if you're not online, PO Box 1398, Enfield EN1 9GT
14 April 2021
Why you should join the Socialist Party
If you're reading this, chances are you see yourself as a socialist. Maybe you bought the paper you're currently holding after meeting Socialist Party members out campaigning for this May's local elections.
14 April 2021
Cardiff: Hundreds protest to free Siyanda
300 people attended a demonstration in Cardiff city centre on 10 April in support of Siyanda Mngaza, organised by Young Socialists Wales
14 April 2021
150 people, of all ages, protested against the Tories' anti-protest law (see back page). Lots of people signed the Kill the Bill petitions on our Socialist Party campaign stall. People were talking to
14 April 2021
Fighting fund target smashed. Can we do it again?
Socialist Party members and supporters have done brilliant work in making sure we smashed through our fighting fund target for the last quarter.
14 April 2021
TUSC: Launching a working-class electoral alternative in London
On Friday 9 April, over 70 attended the online campaign launch rally organised by the London Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), gearing up for the London elections on 6 May.
14 April 2021
London housing crisis: vote TUSC to fight back
Misery. That's what renting in London means for millions. But with elections coming up, Londoners can push back against profiteering developers and politicians - by voting TUSC.
14 April 2021
Tensions escalate in Northern Ireland
Images of young people rioting in Belfast and elsewhere, countered by police using water cannon, conjured up scenes from the period of the 'Troubles'
14 April 2021
The government has postponed the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill until later in the year. But there is still an ongoing movement to completely kill this authoritarian legislation.
14 April 2021
Support the Broad Left Network for a democratic, fighting union leadership
The ballot for PCS president and NEC opens on 22 April
14 April 2021
Students in action: Protest on 21 April
Students have gone through a radically changed learning environment, at great cost
14 April 2021
'Covid passports' discriminatory and questionable - fight for workplace safety
The government hasn't yet clarified how 'passports' would work, but the dangers are apparent.
14 April 2021
Socialist Party and Young Socialist members showed solidarity with striking Deliveroo riders.
14 April 2021
NHS pay: reject Tories' miserly 1% 'offer' - Fight for full 15% rise
The 1% increase is effectively a pay cut.
14 April 2021
1920s-30s Britain: A working-class movement fighting unemployment and capitalism
Lessons from history: "Realising only by the abolition of this hideous capitalist system can the horror of unemployment be removed from our midst, I here and now take upon myself a binding oath, to never cease from active strife against this system until capitalism is abolished and our country and its resources truly be
14 April 2021
Thurrock council workers striking against pay cuts, photo Dave Murray
Thurrock council workers striking against pay cuts, photo by Dave Murray
14 April 2021
Every voter in Wales has the opportunity to vote for TUSC
The Wales TUSC election campaign got off to a cracking start
14 April 2021
Covid inquiry? Workers must decide
Put Tories and capitalism in the dock: Boris Johnson has presided over a coronavirus catastrophe that has left over 127,000 people dead
21 April 2021
Greensill scandal, Corruption ... Build a socialist alternative
From 'cash for questions', to 'honours' for business people, and now the Greensill scandal - the rotten character of capitalist politics is revealed again and again
21 April 2021
Climate change - Johnson spouts 'greenwash 2.0'
Boris Johnson grabbed the headlines with his announcement of a legally binding commitment to a 78% reduction in carbon dioxide gas emissions on 1990 levels by 2035 - some 15 years earlier than previously planned.
21 April 2021
USA: cop killings and the anti-racist movement
As the Socialist goes to the printers, the verdict by jurors in the trial of white cop Derek Chauvin, accused of murdering unarmed black man George Floyd, is expected
21 April 2021
Long Covid: Fight for jobs, benefits and services
Illness and disability lasting more than three months after Covid affects almost 700,000 people in Britain
21 April 2021
Covid and precarious workers - union organisation vital
The Trades Union Congress confederation has produced hard facts showing what the Socialist has long argued: namely, that workers on zero-hour contracts and in other precarious jobs are twice as likely to have died from Covid-19 compared to other, more secure, occupations.
21 April 2021
Spycops inquiry - end political policing: The Undercover Policing Inquiry is set to resume between 21 April and 14 May. It is set to further expose police spying on left-wing political activists. This second round of hearings will cover the activity
21 April 2021
Fight back against British Gas bosses' 'fire and rehire' offensive
On their 43rd day of strike action on 14 April, hundreds of GMB members in British Gas were facing the sack after refusing to agree the imposition of new contracts
21 April 2021
Retail workers desperately need a fighting and democratic union
Usdaw conference 2021: Although the right wing in Usdaw has made gains in recent union elections, the results do not represent any enthusiasm for them, as shown by the fact that the right wing's preferred candidate for president, Jane Jones, received over 2,000 fewer votes than Socialist Party member and incumbent Amy Mu
21 April 2021
PCS leadership ballot underway
The ballot for PCS president and national executive committee opens on 22 April and runs to 13 May. PCS is the union for government workers in the civil service and public and private sectors.
21 April 2021
CWU BT ballot - time for action now!
The Communication Workers Union (CWU) has announced the intention to hold a ballot for industrial action, the aim being to use a massive 'yes' vote as leverage to defend jobs and worksites across all BT Groups
21 April 2021
Ballots to defend reps on Woolwich Ferry
Unite members working for Transport for London (TfL) at the Woolwich Ferry site in London began a ballot for strike action on 16 May.
21 April 2021
Thurrock bin workers solid in strike against pay cuts
Thurrock refuse workers' action against drastic cuts in pay completed its first week in fine form. Workers are taking daily strike action from 9am, returning refuse vehicles to the depot and joining the
21 April 2021
Don't trust the Labour right's empty promises
Vote TUSC for a strategy and programme to defeat Covid austerity: What would you put on your election leaflet if you were a candidate for the Tories or Starmer's Labour
21 April 2021
Keep Liverpool council's One Stop Shops open
In the 1980s, when the Labour council in Liverpool was led by supporters of the Militant newspaper, forerunner of the Socialist, one of the reforms that was implemented was the opening of eight 'One Stop Shops' across the city
21 April 2021
Liverpool hustings - only TUSC has a strategy to take on the Tories
Liverpool mayoral candidate Roger Bannister for the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) took part in the first online hustings of the election campaign on Tuesday 13 April.
21 April 2021
We had a very productive day of action in our Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition election campaign in Carlisle
21 April 2021
Socialist Party members - part of a left challenge for Unison's leadership
Unison union elections: Despite the recent election of 'Keir Starmer-friendly' Christina McAnea as the Unison General Secretary in January, the elections for the national executive council (NEC) could see the union executive swing to the left
21 April 2021
Protests continue against proposed anti-protest laws
Southampton: Guildhall Square in Southampton rang out to chants of "Kill the Bill" for the second time this month
21 April 2021
With public campaigning back in full swing - now is the time to raise fighting fund
With the gradual easing of the Covid restrictions, more and more Socialist Party branches are able to hold campaign stalls and are getting a good response
21 April 2021
Left candidate, Pedro Castillo - surprise of Peruvian elections
The second round of the presidential elections in Peru, which takes place on 6 June, will see left candidate Pedro Castillo contest right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori.
21 April 2021
Superpowers' tensions continue to ratchet up
A further deterioration in relations between the US administration, and its allies, with Putin's regime in Russia has ratcheted-up tensions between the two blocs.
21 April 2021
6 May elections: In the run-up to the 6 May elections we have an opportunity to build the fight against austerity and the damage it has done to our lives.
21 April 2021
Housing activists storm multi-million pound rental firm's offices
A lively day of action on housing swept through East London
21 April 2021
No trust in billionaire owners - kick them out and reclaim the game
The withdrawals from the Super League are celebrated
21 April 2021
Bus workers protest Go-Ahead's 'fire and rehire'
The Go-Ahead group runs bus services in Manchester and is currently using 'fire and rehire' to cut drivers' pay and conditions. Go-Ahead is also a big operator in Transport for London (TfL).
21 April 2021
Essex: Why I'm standing for TUSC
The Tories in Essex County Council want to cut £46 million from public services. There's nothing left to cut!
21 April 2021
Socialist Party northern region meeting
On Wednesday 14 April, the Socialist Party northern region held a public meeting to discuss the need for socialists in our local councils
21 April 2021
Capitalism discriminates against us - Disabled people fighting for our rights
"My experience has been a humiliating financial nightmare ...I first tried to claim disability benefits in the 1990s..."
28 April 2021
Private sector is stealing the NHS
The private health sector is busy gobbling up NHS money and greedily seeking more. The privatisation of the NHS is gathering pace even though the private sector has failed to deliver on test and trace
28 April 2021
No trust in billionaire football owners - kick them out and reclaim the game
Super League defeated: Socialist Party members Lenny Shail, who is a Chelsea fan and was at the Stamford Bridge protest, and Leeds fan Ian Pattison said:
28 April 2021
Only 2% of landlords who illegally evict tenants are prosecuted, according to Generation Rent, the private renters' campaign organisation.
28 April 2021
PCS ballots members in Jobcentres over safety
It is evident that the government is driving ahead to reopen Jobcentres to the public with reckless haste
28 April 2021
Goodlord strikers fight fire and rehire as part of day of action
Unite the Union held a mass picket outside the tenant referencing company Goodlord on 26 April as part of a day of action against 'fire and rehire.'
28 April 2021
Thurrock bin strike in third week
The Thurrock bin workers' strike has entered its third week even more solidly than the first. Spirits are high and the workforce is determined to win. The issue is the proposal to do away with anti-social
28 April 2021
Vote TUSC to oppose sleazy capitalism
Tory ministers say they 'can't believe' that Johnson said 'let the bodies pile high in their thousands'. But his catastrophic approach to the pandemic makes it totally believable.
28 April 2021
Send your news, views and criticism, in not more than 150 words, to [email protected] - or if you're not online, PO Box 1398, Enfield EN1 9GT
28 April 2021
India's health system in meltdown under Modi's misrule
Covid pandemic: An unmitigated public health disaster is gripping India. The daily number of people infected with Covid-19 has exceeded 350,000 for a week - the highest of any country since the pandemic began. Health
28 April 2021
South West regional conference shows that socialist ideas can grow
Socialist Party members from 29 towns, cities and even villages gathered over Zoom for the Socialist Party South West region conference on 18 April.
28 April 2021
To get Socialist ideas out there, we need to have the funds
Congratulations to members of the South West region of the Socialist Party who have already smashed through their fighting fund target thanks to over £2,000 already paid in from the £3,500 pledged at their regional conference
28 April 2021
How partition of Ireland derailed a revolutionary struggle for national and social liberation
The recent street disturbances in Northern Ireland, albeit on a far smaller scale compared to the decades of the 'Troubles', showed that the 'power sharing' arrangements of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement have failed to bring about a resolution of the 'Irish national question' or end the sectar
28 April 2021
Usdaw's virtual annual conference - a mockery of union democracy
The last year has been a challenging one for retail workers - some sectors have faced furlough and shop closures in the non-essential sector.
28 April 2021
Irish police aid strike-breaking at Debenhams store in Dublin
In the early hours of 23 April, Gardaí (Irish police) at the behest of big business, KPMG/Debenhams, forcibly removed former Debenhams retail workers and their supporters, including Militant Left (CWI Ireland) members, from a loading bay in Parnell Street, central Dublin.
28 April 2021
Devonport tugboat crews strike against rota changes
On 26 April, tugboat crews organised in Unite took a second day of strike action against Serco.
28 April 2021
St Mungo's maintenance workers in London are on indefinite strike against victimisation and bullying
28 April 2021
Unite general secretary election nomination stage
Make sure there is a fighting left challenge on the ballot paper!
28 April 2021
39 'postmasters' cleared - now clear the rest
The judgment still leaves over 860 with false convictions.
28 April 2021
Poverty increasing. Welfare state in crisis. Do we need a new Beveridge Report?
Many of the gains introduced by the post-war Labour government are long gone.
28 April 2021
Protesting works - Unite to defend the right to protest
The past fortnight has shown the power of protest. Football supporters gathered in their thousands to defeat plans for a money-grabbing European Super League.
28 April 2021
International Workers' Day - struggle, solidarity, socialism
May Day is an annual celebration of workers' struggle against capitalism.
28 April 2021
Pre-election and post-election meetings
Socialist Party and TUSC public meetings for the May 2021 elections.
28 April 2021
Action marks the way for a national student movement for free education
Socialist Students were out in force on 21 April
28 April 2021
What councils can do to protect the environment
Protecting the environment will be a key issue in the various election campaigns.
29 April 2021
Socialists and elections - a response to the SWP
An article by Philip Stott on the website of Socialist Party Scotland, on the TUSC challenge in the Scottish parliamentary elections on 6th May and the positions of the SWP and others on the left.
30 April 2021
Socialist Party members campaigning for TUSC (Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition) election candidates in Liverpool, 24.4.21, photo by Mark Best
Socialist Party members campaigning for TUSC (Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition) election candidates in Liverpool, 24.4.21
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