Archive for January 2013
1 January 2013
2013: Prepare for a mighty battle against deeper cuts
The coming year, like 2012, will be one of intense working class struggles, writes Peter Taaffe
2 January 2013
Fares hike: Nationalise the railways says Bob Crow
As people prepare for the first day back to work, rail campaigners are today (Wednesday) warning that commuters face yet another year of inflation-busting fare increases and service cuts
2 January 2013
W Yorkshire - Campaigners gain some results against fire cuts
On Friday 21st December West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority met to pass £7 million worth of annual cuts to its budget including the closure of six fire stations and the loss of over 200 firefighter posts...
2 January 2013
'The Eight Consultations of Christmas' in Southampton
In true panto style Southampton city council recently embarked on a touring production of eight 'consultation' meetings
3 January 2013
Hong Kong; 130,000 march on New Years Day
An estimated 130,000 joined protest marches on 1 January against Hong Kong's leader Leung Chun-ying, also known as "CY".
3 January 2013
Unite the Union general secretary election
Socialist Party statement: Unite general secretary Len McCluskey has decided to bring forward the next election for general secretary by almost three years, after wide consultation on the left
4 January 2013
RMT response to Transport Committee report
"Whilst this report reinforces once again that our railways are nothing more than a multi-billion pound rip off lining the pockets of a bunch of spivs and speculators it ducks the real issue, and that's the cast-iron case for public ownership
4 January 2013
Hull council acts against blacklisting
Hull City Council has voted unanimously to remove blacklisting firms from all council contracts at the latest full council meeting
4 January 2013
Fired up by Fire in the Blood - a story of big business cruelty and neglect
Paul Heron reviews the film 'Fire in the Blood', directed by Dylan Mohan Gray.
4 January 2013
"McCullin" - released on 1 January - is a 90 minute documentary film about one of the world's greatest living photographers, writes Dave Beale
7 January 2013
Two TUSC candidates standing against cuts on the Wirral
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition candidates are contesting two byelections this month on the Wirral, Merseyside
8 January 2013
Runcorn construction workers walk out
Construction workers at the Runcorn thermal power station site have walked out in protest over health and safety issues. A worker on the site explained:...
9 January 2013
The Tories plan that the National Health Service will have to pay over 100 private firms to treat patients in a major expansion of privatisation...
9 January 2013
Socialist Party women's meeting
On 5-6 January 40 people attended a Socialist Party national women's meeting in London. Every region was represented, writes Sarah Wrack.
9 January 2013
Childcare costs: Mothers with full time jobs and one young child spend a third of their salary on childcare - meaning they have to work for four months a year just to break even...
9 January 2013
Birmingham Labour's 'grotesque chaos'
Birmingham city's ruling Labour Party has quickly raised the white flag to the Con-Dem government. The council organised public meetings to present its case for massive, highly damaging cuts, writes Ted, Birmingham Socialist Party.
9 January 2013
The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition is standing in three byelections on 17 January...
9 January 2013
Sheffield Sure Start: 250 people protested in December outside Sheffield town hall against the Labour council's planned slashing of Sure Start children's centres and nurseries, writes Sharron Milsom.
9 January 2013
2012 Fighting Fund target smashed
Socialist Party members smashed through the fighting fund target, raising a fantastic £28,497 - 116% - in the three months leading up to Christmas. In the whole of 2012 our members raised £109,228!, writes Ken Douglas, Socialist Party national treasurer.
9 January 2013
Making it easier to sack workers
In another attack on union-won gains of the past, the government has announced that, from April 2013, it is to slash the redundancy consultation period from 90 to 45 days, writes Dave Gorton, Unite LE/372 branch.
9 January 2013
Standing firm in Mid Yorks hospitals pay cuts battle
Admin and clerical Unison and Unite members at Mid Yorkshire Hospitals Trust have been fighting back against 'downbanding' ie pay cuts, writes Alistair Tice.
9 January 2013
On 8 January Parliament voted to limit increases in benefits to 1% rather than by the rate of inflation as they had previously been
9 January 2013
The unprecedented anger in Delhi and across India against the gang rape of the medical student is an expression of the seething discontent that has been building against the system for a long time
9 January 2013
South Africa: Founding of Workers and Socialist Party
An event that has the potential to change the political landscape of South Africa was marked in the founding of a new political party.
9 January 2013
Who's neglecting society, Mr Lamb?
Happy New Year to NHS staff, patients and campaigners everywhere! Sadly, greetings cannot be extended to health minister Norman Lamb
9 January 2013
In less than four weeks, over 150 drivers at a Sainsbury's depot have chosen to cancel their membership with Usdaw and transfer to Unite
9 January 2013
Prepare for strike action to save our hospitals
A quarter of a million residents of Lewisham in south London are waiting to hear if they will still have a local hospital, writes a London nurse.
9 January 2013
Rail, maritime and transport union RMT announced today that it has continued to increase its membership in the past twelve months in the teeth of the most savage attacks on jobs and working conditions for a generation...
10 January 2013
Tory Minister fails to wake up in time to defend his own policy
Tory minister Matthew Hancock was due to debate on ITV with Youth Fight for Jobs supporter, Ian Pattison
10 January 2013
Seven more public sector prisons to close
The decision announced today (10th January) to close seven more public sector prisons is irresponsible when the prison population remains high and overcrowding is widespread, the Public and Commercial Services union says in a press release...
10 January 2013
Hundreds of jobs at risk at Rotherham hospital
Trade unionists and socialists presented a 3,000 signature petition to Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust
10 January 2013
Sussex County hospital cleaning and catering: The brutal reality of privatisation
Before being elected, Cameron promised that the Tories would "protect the NHS". If it wasn't clear this was a blatant lie then, it is now
14 January 2013
Sheffield fight back, or we'll have nothing left!
Sheffield Labour council has unveiled what the local paper called the "Deepest Council Cuts Ever".
14 January 2013
Joint union protest as Barking and Dagenham Labour council forces through cuts
Union members protested outside Barking and Dagenham Civic Centre when the council passed £18 million in cuts
14 January 2013
World capitalism and, along with it, diseased British capitalism have entered its worst period of crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s...
14 January 2013
The Socialist Party in England and Wales, and the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) are the two largest organisations on the 'Marxist left' in Britain...
14 January 2013
The SWP today finds its ideological roots in post-1945 British Trotskyism, which split into three main trends...
14 January 2013
Collapse of Stalinism and the 1990s
If they were to answer that North Vietnam was more 'progressive', then how to explain their position at the time of the collapse of the Berlin Wall, when the liquidation of the planned economy in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union was, for them, not a great negative historical turning point...
14 January 2013
Anti-capitalist movement and the programme
The SWP's increasingly opportunist turn in this century has been accompanied by an exaggeration of the importance and the scale of practically every social movement that has taken place in the last decade...
14 January 2013
An examination of their role in a number of key industrial battles in the past number of years shows how flawed is their method, both in winning support for their point of view but also the lack of understanding in the relationship between ad hoc unofficial union organisations from below...
14 January 2013
Once again, many thanks to Kevin Parslow who has researched and typed this material ready for publication...
14 January 2013
Attitude to the Labour Party and the Left
To many who experienced the past sectarian behaviour of the SWP combined with abstract propaganda - 'One solution, revolution!' - the seeming metamorphosis to a 'broad' approach in this decade was a revelation...
14 January 2013
Fighting Racism and Fascism & Student Work
The issues of racism and fascism, and how to combat them and the far-right British National Party (BNP) - which has, in its leadership, fascist elements - has recently assumed greater importance in Britain...
14 January 2013
The United Front today & the Left in Germany
Despite the constant intoning of support for the 'united front' tactic, the Socialist Workers Party has misapplied this idea and burnt its fingers...
14 January 2013
The clash between the central leadership of the IST - notably the Socialist Workers Party - and their one-time American 'section' the International Socialist Organisation (ISO) also highlighted the deficiencies in their intervention in mass movements...
14 January 2013
We have sought to demonstrate in this analysis of the past and present policies of the Socialist Workers Party, that unless they change they will be found wanting in the new period we are entering, both in Britain and internationally...
14 January 2013
A critique of the Socialist Workers Party:
The Socialist Party in England and Wales, and the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) are the two largest organisations on the 'Marxist left' in Britain. Therefore, in a period when the left in general has been weakened - as a, consequence of the collapse of the Berlin Wall, the ideological offensive that flowed from this, combined with the neo-liberal fuelled boom - there are many who argue 'why can't you forget your differences and combine to unite yourselves and the left in a real alternative?'
Socialism and Left Unity, by Peter Taaffe, attempts to answer this question.
14 January 2013
Swindon: 1,100 Honda job losses
Workers at the Honda car plant in Swindon were shocked when the company announced 800 job losses on the 10 January...
15 January 2013
PCS fighting the austerity agenda - 'Action gets results'
The coalition government's austerity programme is being increasingly exposed as a disaster for all but the business and banking elite, writes John McInally, PCS vice president
15 January 2013
15 January 2013
Agency Action Day: 16th January
On Wednesday 16th January events will take place at call centres around the country to highlight the exploitation of agency workers thanks to a loophole in the law which is costing workers more than £500 a month in lost wages at some sites
15 January 2013
Northern Ireland: Turmoil over flag dispute continues
Turmoil over the issue of the flying of the union flag has now continued for six weeks
16 January 2013
Indian embassy protest: raging against rape
Rage, disbelief and above all a deep sense of solidarity were on display at a protest outside the Indian embassy on 7 January, writes Claire Laker-Mansfield.
16 January 2013
Prison closures = more privatisation
On 10 January the closure of seven public sector prisons was announced. Bullwood Hall, Camp Hill, Canterbury, Gloucester, Kingston, Shepton Mallet and Shrewsbury are due to close by 31 March...
16 January 2013
No to NHS attacks: NHS workers are being threatened with the break-up of the national pay and conditions agreement, Agenda for Change...
16 January 2013
Teachers: fight for strike action is on
Education minister Michael Gove has declared that he is on a 'war footing' to drive through his attack on teachers' pay. We mustn't let him succeed...
16 January 2013
Northern Ireland: Flag issue turmoil illustrates failure of the 'peace process'
Trade unions must offer a clear cross-community, anti-sectarian class alternative: Turmoil over the issue of the flying of the union flag has now continued across Northern Ireland for six weeks, writes Ciaran Mulholland , CWI Northern Ireland.
16 January 2013
Beware: latest pensions changes
The coalition government has confirmed its intention to introduce a new flat rate state pension from 2017, writes Paul Gerrard.
16 January 2013
For-profit schools: Up to now, academy chains have not been allowed to declare a profit directly out of the school budget, writes Martin Powell-Davies.
16 January 2013
A day in the life... Young, low-paid, bullied and angry
If I'm opening the pub, I start at 9am. A managerial staff member should arrive at 8am to let us in but usually me and another kitchen worker wait for ten minutes, writes Hannah Parker.
16 January 2013
Tory minister lies about 'lategate'...
... and offers no solution to youth joblessness: Well-rested Tory Business Minister, Matthew Hancock, who overslept and missed a TV debate with Youth Fight for Jobs supporter, Ian Pattison, has lied about how late he actually was...
16 January 2013
Capitalism - Forever blowing bubbles
Peter Taaffe reviews the "Bubbles and bankruptcy: Financial crises in Britain since 1700", a free exhibition at the British Museum, Room 69a, until 5 May..
16 January 2013
Reject the wedge between generations
'The old are money-grabbers who want something for nothing and fuss when they don't get it.' ... 'The young won't do a fair day's work and laze around causing trouble.'
16 January 2013
Renationalise the railways now!
On 19 January 1993, John Major's Tory government passed the British Coal and British Rail (Transfer Proposals) Act which led to the splitting up and privatisation of British Rail...
16 January 2013
We need an alternative to blind-alley capitalism... socialism!
It is little over a month since Chancellor George Osborne delivered his autumn budget statement, prefacing that vicious onslaught on the poorest with a claim that "the British economy is healing"
16 January 2013
The chief executive of the Health Federation has declared that the public must accept the closure of units
16 January 2013
Victory at Runcorn Thermal Power Station
Construction workers at Runcorn Power Station won major concessions after several days of unofficial action over inadequate 'welfare facilities'
16 January 2013
Brixton Hill: Opposing Labour's 'cuts cooperative'
It may be freezing in Brixton Hill ward but our fighting message has been warmly received, says TUSC candidate Steve Nally
21 January 2013
How to end child poverty in Plymouth
In Plymouth the Labour administration has launched a consultation on ending child poverty. Members of Plymouth Socialist Party branch have been frustrated to see that the only solutions offered within...
21 January 2013
Stop Sheffield children's centre closures
Despite the cold and snow, around 500 protesters marched and demonstrated against Sheffield council's plans to shut half the children's centres in the city...
21 January 2013
The Fire Brigades Union has condemned proposals by the mayor of London to close 12 fire stations, remove 18 fire engines and slash firefighters' jobs
21 January 2013
Rejecting a "graph of doom" in Harrogate
Tory-led North Yorkshire county council has embarked on a series of "consultations" with the public over the impact of spending cuts
21 January 2013
Stop attacking benefit claimants, says Cardiff demo
Nearly a hundred people braved the cold on Saturday 12 January in Cardiff to protest against attempts to scapegoat benefit claimants
21 January 2013
London teachers call for strike action against Performance Related Pay
Nearly 300 NUT reps from across London made it clear they want their union executive to vote for strike action
21 January 2013
'You won't see an investment banker with a hose'
Victory: After 1,000 firefighters protested outside a meeting of the London Fire Authority, the Authority voted 9:8 against closing fire stations and cutting jobs. But the mayor vowed to continue 'consulting' over the cuts
22 January 2013
Vadim Kuramshin's court appeal - early February
Well-known human rights lawyer in Kazakhstan, Vadim Kuramshin, has had his court appeal postponed until early February
23 January 2013
What's in our food?: Tesco showed us just how much every penny counts to them when horsemeat was found in its beef burgers, as well as in those of other supermarkets including Iceland, Aldi and Lidl, writes Dave Ingham.
23 January 2013
Metro strike: Transport union RMT has announced that cleaners working for Churchill on the Tyne and Wear Metro will strike again for 24 hours, starting on 23 January...
23 January 2013
London copter crash 'accident waiting to happen'
"An accident waiting to happen," was how one of my tower block neighbours summed up the Vauxhall helicopter crash, writes Steve Nally, Brixton Hilll Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition candidate.
23 January 2013
USA - Workers start to demand change
In November 2012 Kshama Sawant, a member of Socialist Alternative, the Socialist Party's counterpart in the USA, stood in Seattle in the election for a seat in the Washington state house.
23 January 2013
Manchester: fightback needed in city of extreme poverty
More than half of Greater Manchester's population - 1.6 million - could soon be struggling below the poverty line, according to the Greater Manchester Poverty Commission, with 600,000 people already living in "extreme poverty"
23 January 2013
Cardiff: Nearly 100 people braved the cold and rain last Saturday in Cardiff to protest against attempts to scapegoat benefit claimants for the economic crisis...
23 January 2013
Building an anti-cuts voice in council elections
New Labour-led Lambeth council called the Brixton Hill byelection for 17 January, minimising scrutiny of their cuts programme with a short election campaign period.
23 January 2013
Book review: Planning for the Planet
How socialism could save the environment. The cover bears a striking image of a polar bear marooned on an iceberg: summing up the devastation of global warming, writes Paul Moorhouse.
23 January 2013
Leicester: Build a united campaign for community resources
Over a year ago an Islamic charity, As-Salaam, tried to buy a disused scout hut on Thurnby Lodge estate in Leicester, intending to use it as a prayer room and community resource, for Muslims and non-Muslims
23 January 2013
Southampton: Give youth a future!
Opposition is growing to the destruction of youth services in Southampton. If the cuts go ahead the council will provide nothing
23 January 2013
East London school rejects 'academisation'
Parents, governors and teachers have all proclaimed a definite "No" to converting their school, Thomas Gamuel Primary in Walthamstow, East London, to an academy, writes Linda Taaffe
23 January 2013
Bristol mayor says 'out with the new, in with the cuts'
When Bristol businessman and former Liberal Democrat George Ferguson reinvented himself as an 'independent' and won the mayoral election in November, he claimed his success signified: "a new way of doing things"
23 January 2013
Les Miserables is a first class film. The momentum never stops and there are some fantastic performances by Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean, Anne Hathaway as Fantine and Russell Crowe as Javert, writes Derek McMillan.
23 January 2013
The four-day hostage crisis at the In Amenas gas facility in south east Algeria and its bloody outcome have sent shockwaves internationally
23 January 2013
Dave Nellist letter in the Independent responds to Owen Jones
Whilst I understand his impatience, Owen Jones ("British politics urgently needs a new force", 21 January) is far too dismissive about attempts to build an electoral alternative to the main three parties' overlapping agenda of austerity
23 January 2013
Bolton hospital - fighting mass redundancies
Bolton Hospital announced the redundancy of around 500 staff in November, along with a proposal to dismiss and re-engage nursing staff on longer shifts
23 January 2013
Changes to ESA: more attacks on disabled people
On 28 January changes to the Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) come into force that will see hundreds of thousands of sick and disabled people at risk of losing vital benefits, writes Matt Gordon, Bristol Socialist Party.
23 January 2013
Ystrad Mynach: Give us our A&E!
A man was told that nobody at Ystrad Mynach hospital was qualified to give treatment to his child
23 January 2013
Fight for every job: The PCS union has scored an important victory in the fight against cuts. 43 of its members working in the Department for Work and Pensions were threatened with compulsory redundancy
23 January 2013
The Con-Dems' 'bedroom tax' is not just an attack on the unemployed but also on workers who are forced - through low pay and high private rents - to rely on housing benefit
24 January 2013
Shrewsbury 24: What is the government hiding?
The government has refused to publish documents relating to the Shrewsbury 24 case
25 January 2013
Southampton councillors ... Don't vote for cuts!
Socialists propose the setting of a No Cuts budget to protect all jobs and services
25 January 2013
25 January 2013
Twelfth day of strike action by Tyne and Wear metro cleaners
Churchill cleaners are still battling against poverty pay
26 January 2013
Labour meltdown in Stoke-on-Trent continues; and Unison withholds funding
"I cannot, nor will not support an administration that seeks to target the very people they claim to represent" said a resigning Labour councillor
28 January 2013
Courts Fines workers to strike on Thursday
PCS union MoJ group members working in criminal enforcement - court fines collection and administration - will walk out from 2pm to 4pm on Thursday, 31 January, in protest against plans to privatise their work
29 January 2013
Following high profile cases such as those of Julian Assange and Dominique Strauss Khan, there has been much debate recently about rape and sexual assault...
29 January 2013
30 January 2013
Brighton's Greens vote for cuts in workers' allowances
Brighton and Hove council's policy and resources committee, on 24 January, proposed a review of allowances received by staff. These allowances frequently make up large parts of workers' wages
30 January 2013
Wales conference - confidence in socialist ideas
Around 60 people attended this year's Socialist Party Wales conference, marking another step forward for our organisation, writes Ross Saunders.
30 January 2013
Server appeal: Members provide a huge boost to our resources
The Socialist Party would like to thank all those who made donations towards the purchase of a new computer server for our headquarters. The campaign has raised a magnificent £11,794, writes Ken Douglas, national treasurer.
30 January 2013
Socialist Party National Congress 2013
A draft document on British Perspectives, agreed at the last national committee and to be debated at the forthcoming national congress, will be available for branches to discuss this week...
30 January 2013
Members of the PCS union working in the Department for Education (DfE) are balloting for strike action, and action short of a strike, in opposition to plans to close six out of 12 offices and slash 1,000 jobs (25% of the workforce), writes Robbie Faulds , PCS education group president, personal capacity.
30 January 2013
Justice walkout: Members of the PCS civil service union working in the Ministry of Justice are walking out on 31 January...
30 January 2013
Tory Chancellor Gideon Osborne still tells us austerity is working, but the government managed to take economic growth below 0% not once, not twice but now into a 'triple dip', writes Dave Griffiths, West Midlands Socialist Party.
30 January 2013
According to a report by the PCS civil service union, £120 billion of tax goes unpaid every year. This money, mostly avoided and evaded by the super-rich, could virtually wipe out the deficit, writes Tom Baldwin, South West Socialist Party.
30 January 2013
Starvation speculation: Goldman Sachs (GS) made up to £250 million pounds from speculating on food prices including wheat, maize and soy. The bankers are accused of contributing to a growing global food crisis...
30 January 2013
Heatherwood hospital campaign shows determination
Eighteen months ago a group of activists met to discuss how best to resist plans by NHS bosses to close our local hospital...
30 January 2013
East Midlands: Campaign forces retreat on ambulance station closure
"You can't win", I was told by one onlooker as we marched through Hinckley protesting against the possible closure of our ambulance station...
30 January 2013
Life as an NHS worker: bullying and stress
A recent survey of staff in the Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust found a high level of dissatisfaction among mental health staff working for the Trust...
30 January 2013
Aaron Swartz: a fight to free information
The suicide of Aaron Swartz, aged 26, exposes the hypocrisy of the US justice system and highlights attacks on freedom of information, writes Adam Hemsley.
30 January 2013
Resistance is growing to the onslaught on healthcare. 25,000 people marched in Lewisham against the threat of losing the A&E, other services or the hospital itself. Unison members at Mid Yorkshire NHS Trust are taking nspiring strike action
30 January 2013
Jumping through hoops for a job
Youth Fight for Jobs has a new initiative aimed at the under-employed. The campaign is asking: Are you sick of your boss?
30 January 2013
Hull councillors ready to vote No
Three Hull city Labour councillors have told the local press they will vote against cuts in jobs and services
30 January 2013
Cameron takes a gamble by threatening EU referendum
With the economy again sinking and likewise the Tories' hopes of returning to power in 2015, Prime Minister David Cameron has turned to the issue of Europe to try to take votes from UKIP and improve Tory fortunes
30 January 2013
Privatisation: Bleeding the NHS dry
Private health company Harmoni regularly ran out-of-hours clinics in London without doctors or nurses last year; it was originally set up as a GP cooperative and was the sort of organisation the Tories, Lib Dems and Labour all claim to support.
30 January 2013
Greencore workers take 24-hour strike action
500 Unite members who work at the food company Greencore in Hull have taken strike action to demand a living wage
31 January 2013
London mayor pressing ahead with fire service cuts
Boris Johnson has yesterday formally overruled the London fire authority and is pressing ahead with fire service cuts
19 Feb Manchester Socialist Party: British Perspectives & our tasks
19 Feb Bristol North Socialist Party: Socialism - Utopian & Scientific
20 Feb Hackney & Islington Socialist Party: The 1978-79 Winter of Discontent
21 Feb Caerphilly Socialist Party: How councils can fight the cuts
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