Archive for November 2008
4 November 2008
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Bush - the angel of death, cartoon by Alan Hardman |
4 November 2008
If Obama wins - Looking beyond the hope bubble
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US president Barack Obama supporter, photo Paul Mattsson |
4 November 2008
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PCS workers on strike, photo Paul Mattsson |
This is the next stage of the campaign by civil service union PCS members to defend their jobs, their standard of living and the vital services that they provide, writes Marion Lloyd, PCS national executive, personal capacity
5 November 2008
Obama wins, neo-cons routed in US presidential elections
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US president Barack Obama supporters, photo Paul Mattsson |
5 November 2008
Sri Lanka: Acting out oppression
OVER 20 amateur actors caught the attention of those out in East Ham, east London, on Sunday 2 November...
5 November 2008
FORMER PRIME Minister Tony Blair has 'earned' £12 million since he left office eighteen months ago, writes Roger Shrives.
5 November 2008
Victory over Tory school closure plan
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Part of the Mirfield protest in Kirklees against a school closure forced a u-turn, photo J Grunsell |
5 November 2008
Austria: Socialist players suspended from football club for anti-fascist activities
ON 27 October, CWI* members, Margarita D-ller, Lucia D-ller and Irene Müller were suspended from Hellas Kagran, the football club they played for in Vienna whose president is Martin Graf, a prominent far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) MP, writes Laura Rafetseder, Sozialistische Linkspartei (SLP - CWI in Austria).
5 November 2008
Ford protest: National and local leaders of the trade unions in Ford have called a lobby of Southampton council on 26 November...
5 November 2008
Canary Wharf: Low paid workers welcome socialist campaigners
In the build up to Socialism 2008 we have leafleted workplaces, colleges, shopping centres and stations all over London, writes Paula Mitchell, London Socialist Party secretary.
5 November 2008
1918 revolution: When German workers entered the stage of history
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German revolutionary socialist Karl Liebknecht addresses a mass workers' demonstration |
PETER TAAFFE, in the first of two articles written for The Socialist, comments on the momentous events of 1918 in Germany.
5 November 2008
Liverpool City Council: Housing maintenance workers fight for jobs
Since being privatised in 2000, Liverpool's housing maintenance workforce has been transferred to three different employers and has been reduced from 800 to just 300, writes Dave Walsh, TGWU/Unite branch secretary and Liverpool city council worker, personal capacity.
5 November 2008
Fighting for a socialist solution to the crisis in the car industry
In the recession in the 'real' economy, the car industry is one of the first to be hit. Ford workers at Southampton have taken their first action against plans to close the plant there, whilst Ford at...
5 November 2008
On 31 October, workers at Appledore shipyard in North Devon took part in the first of six days of strike action, which will continue every Friday and Monday after that up until 17 November, writes Jim Lowe, North Devon Socialist Party.
5 November 2008
Striking for trade union rights
UCU members at Nottingham Trent University were on strike on 21 October against the de-recognition of the union by the university management, writes Steve Score.
5 November 2008
Turkish dockers fight workplace 'massacres'
GREENWICH UNISON branch was recently visited by an international guest. Cem Dinc is the president of "Limter-Is", the harbour, shipyard, ship construction and repair workers' union of Turkey, writes Onay Kasab, Greenwich Unison.
5 November 2008
New Labour retreats on promises to students
When Gordon Brown took over as prime minister in July 2007 his promises to help students were met with a fanfare, writes Matt Dobson, Socialist Students national organiser.
5 November 2008
Republic of Ireland: Student fightback
Following large regional demonstrations around the country, including 6,000 students on the streets of Cork, up to 15,000 Dublin students took to the streets on Wednesday 22 October, writes Laura Fitzgerald, Socialist Party, Ireland South.
5 November 2008
Year 9 SATs abolished: Now get rid of the rest!
I did my SATs last year. It's definitely true that SATs put more pressure on kids that are going to have pressure in the years to come with their GCSEs, writes Niall Haley, Walthamstow.
5 November 2008
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Lone parents need decent wages and benefits, photo by Paul Mattsson |
6 November 2008
Political Awakening Propels Obama to Victory
On Tuesday, voters delivered a decisive, historic defeat to the Republican agenda of corporate greed, corruption, and war. While the total voter turnout remains unclear, experts are estimating up to 64% of eligible voters cast ballots, the highest in at least 40 years, potentially the highest in a century. Ty Moore and Tony Wilsdon, Socialist Alternative (CWI USA)
11 November 2008
Videos of Socialism 2008 Sunday discussion forum
Dave Nellist, Mark Steel, Kevin Ovenden, Hannah Sell, address the question of the need for a new workers party
11 November 2008
The working class needs its own mass party
The closing rally of Socialism 2008, hosted by the Campaign for a New Workers' Party (CNWP), was on the theme of the fight for a working class political voice, writes Dave Carr.
11 November 2008
A whole generation has grown up during a boom in Britain but are now faced with the crisis in the world economy and its consequences...
11 November 2008
Secretary of the Committee for a Workers' International (CWI) Tony Saunois, introduced the session on Latin America with a vivid account of the struggles of the working class and poor...
11 November 2008
To open the discussion on the environment, Pete Dickenson highlighted the latest evidence showing a rapidly worsening global warming situation, which indicates some of its effects are now irreversible, writes David Petrie.
11 November 2008
Socialism 2008 - an inspiring weekend
Capitalism is a system of crisis, a blind system based on the creation of obscene profits for a tiny minority on the backs of the graft of the majority, writes Greg Maughan.
12 November 2008
Why Labour won the Glenrothes by-election
THE GLENROTHES by-election on 6 November produced a shock result - Labour won! After a series of by-election defeats for Gordon Brown's deeply unpopular government, including Crewe and Nantwich and Glasgow...
12 November 2008
A political awakening propels Obama to victory
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US president Barack Obama supporters, photo Paul Mattsson |
12 November 2008
Iraq, Afghanistan... End the occupations!
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Anti-war protest outside Republican convention, organised by Youth Against War and Racism, a Socialist Alternative initiative, photo USA Youth Against Racism |
12 November 2008
Socialism 2008 - an inspiring weekend
Capitalism is a system of crisis, a blind system based on the creation of obscene profits for a tiny minority on the backs of the graft of the majority, writes Greg Maughan.
12 November 2008
AROUND FOUR and a half million pensioners in Britain are forced to stay in just one heated room to save on fuel costs, a new report reveals, writes Roger Shrives.
12 November 2008
'Students in the Red' day of action
The National Union of Students (NUS) called a day of action on student debt on 12 November. Members of Socialist Students welcomed this action, the first called by NUS on student finance for two years,...
12 November 2008
East Anglia region demands free education
On Wednesday 5 November around 100 students marched through Cambridge town centre as part of the East Anglia regional 'Students in the Red' day of action, writes Edd Mustill, Cambridge University Socialist Students.
12 November 2008
Rewarding failure: Sir Ian Blair, the former head of the Metropolitan Police, is to get a pay-off worth £1 million...
12 November 2008
NUT leadership fails to call strike
In April, the morale of trade unionists across England and Wales was lifted when tens of thousands of teachers took strike action to oppose the years of below-inflation pay awards being imposed on them by New Labour, writes Martin Powell-Davies, convenor, Socialist Party Teachers.
12 November 2008
Scotland: Victory for the Vale of Leven Four
The SNP-led West Dunbartonshire council has dropped an investigation into four teachers from Vale of Leven Academy who refused to cross a picket line during recent industrial action by local government workers in pursuit of a decent wage settlement, writes a West Dunbartonshire council worker.
12 November 2008
A day at the chalk face: When the alarm goes off at 6.15 I get up and am instantly depressed by the knowledge that tonight there is a parents' evening. This means I won't return home till ten in the evening, a Huddersfield teacher and member of the National Union of Teachers writes.
12 November 2008
PCS union: Strike threat wins talks
THE NATIONAL strike by civil service union PCS over pay has been suspended as the employer, at the eleventh hour, offered meaningful talks aimed at resolving our long-running dispute, writes John McInally, national vice-president PCS.
12 November 2008
Prescott: the class system and me
TV review: On 27 October, BBC 2 viewers watched a programme fronted by former deputy prime minister John Prescott, purporting to explain the class system in contemporary Britain...
12 November 2008
Economy in recession: "Buy one car, get one free", was the desperate offer of a Colchester car sales broker. Nationally, car sales have fallen to a level not seen since 1966. And now falling consumer spending and the credit...
18 November 2008
Videos of the debate between the Socialist Party and the SWP
Debate about where the Socialist Party and the SWP disagree on policy and tactics but also on what basis it would be possible to collaborate in the future.
19 November 2008
Gender inequality worsening Women working full time will be paid £369,000 less over their working life than their male counterparts according to government figures...
19 November 2008
Programme of action to fight unemployment is needed
Editorial When Tony McNulty, New Labour's minister for (un)employment was asked by the TUC if the government would consider increasing unemployment benefit because of the number of workers now losing their jobs, he said no - because it would stop people looking for jobs if it is set too high...
19 November 2008
JCB: Pay cuts haven't saved our jobs!
A further 400 redundancies have been announced at JCB. This brings the total jobs lost since August this year to over 1,000 at its UK factories, a JCB worker writes.
19 November 2008
World food crisis: A systemic failure of capitalism
The world could be facing a repeat of this year's food crisis, as the impact of recession unfolds. This month, despite what has been described as "harvest bumper crops", the UN Food and Agriculture...
19 November 2008
U-turn over post office card account
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Successsful campaign stops closure of post office in Stroud, photo by Chris Moore |
19 November 2008
POST OFFICE campaigners in Stroud, Gloucestershire were celebrating the reopening of Uplands post office, despite the best efforts of the government and Post Office Ltd to close it, writes Chris Moore, Gloucestershire Save Our Post Offices.
19 November 2008
Coventry fights post office closure
THE SOCIALIST Party and its councillors in Coventry have collected 5,000 signatures against the closure of Hertford Street Crown post office and the transfer of its business, by a national privatisation deal, to WH Smith...
19 November 2008
Lewisham housing: Arguments against privatisation win
LAST WEEK saw another victory by Lewisham tenants in the battle against privatisation of council homes, writes Clive Heemskerk.
19 November 2008
Democratic republic of Congo: Civil war erupts once again
RENEWED FIGHTING has broken out around the city of Goma in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) between armed forces led by the rebel general Laurent Nkunda and those of the Congolese president Joseph Kabila, deepening the region's humanitarian crisis...
19 November 2008
G20 conference: Summit for nothing
LAST WEEKEND, the world's political leaders gathered at the G20 summit in Washington - hosted by the soon to depart US president George Bush - in a bid to rescue the world economy from financial instability and deepening recession, writes Dave Carr.
19 November 2008
Drop the witch-hunt in Unison fight to Defend trade union democracy
The Socialist has reported extensively on the witch-hunt in Unison. In June 2007, the Unison bureaucracy launched a disciplinary investigation into five union officers. They were attacked for daring to...
19 November 2008
USA: Challenging the two parties of big business
LAST WEEK, The Socialist carried an analysis of the US presidential election and the political awakening among the American working class which propelled Barack Obama into the White House and routed the Republicans...
19 November 2008
First ever all-Germany school students' strike
One hundred thousand school students went on strike on Wednesday 12 November. This was the first ever national school students' strike in Germany. The largest was in Braunschweig (Brunswick) with 10,500...
19 November 2008
Eyewitness report: Italian students occupy
"Noi la crisi non la paghiamo" (We won't pay for your crisis) chanted hundreds of thousands of Italian students attending a mass demonstration in Rome on Friday 14 November against €1.5 billion cuts in the education sector, writes Sarah Wrack, Sussex Socialist Students.
19 November 2008
Student democracy under attack
The National Union of Students (NUS) extraordinary conference in Wolverhampton on 12 November voted through a raft of attacks on union democracy contained in the NUS governance review, writes Matt Dobson, Socialist Students national organiser.
19 November 2008
Privatisation = FE college students suffer
Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) is a means-tested weekly payment of £10, £20 or £30 to further education college students...
19 November 2008
Social workers say: investment needed
Interviews: In the aftermath of the horrific death of 'Baby P' the media has been casting around for people on whom to pile the blame...
19 November 2008
Every year 30,000 women lose their job as a result of becoming pregnant. Employers often give other reasons. The Socialist spoke to a south London worker, sacked as soon as she announced her pregnancy...
19 November 2008
Scotland: Unison local government: Close vote on pay
In a turnout of nearly 50%, Unison members in Scotland have voted by 51% to 49% to accept the latest offer from the local government employers, despite the recommendation to reject from the negotiators, writes Ronnie Stevenson, Unison convenor, Social Work Services, Glasgow, personal capacity.
19 November 2008
On 15 December, 500 workers marched to defend jobs at Dover Harbour Board (DHB), ahead of a 48-hour strike starting on 18 November, writes Jacqui Berry.
19 November 2008
Unite/Amicus general secretary election
The nomination period for the general secretary election in the Amicus section of Unite has opened. This was necessary following a challenge made by sacked and victimised Rolls-Royce convenor Jerry Hicks...
19 November 2008
Appledore: The well-supported strike at Appledore shipyard is currently suspended pending negotiations currently taking place between the unions and Babcock Marine...
19 November 2008
'We're not taking these job cuts'
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Super-rich bailed out by public purse while the rest of us are sinking, photo Suz squashdonkey.co.uk |
23 November 2008
House of Lords hears case on right to demonstrate
Lois Austin -v- commissioner of police of the metropolis: An important test case concerning the limitation of the police's power to control demonstrators will be heard by the House of Lords from 24th-26th November 2008...
23 November 2008
Former Liverpool councillor debates economic crisis at Merseyside meeting
Thurs Nov 27, Casa Club, Hope St. Liverpool, 7.30pm
25 November 2008
Alistair Darling's pre Budget Report: Pain now, pay later
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Alistair Darling - learning about capitalism? cartoon by Suz |
25 November 2008
Darling's prescription... It's spend, spend, spend on the banks... but cuts, cuts, cuts for the NHS
WHILE THE government is bailing out failed banks to the tune of £500 billion, the Treasury is cutting back spending on NHS services by over £1 billion, writes Dave Carr.
25 November 2008
Top-up payments for private health care another step towards two-tier National Health
THE GOVERNMENT recently decided to let patients in England 'top-up' their NHS care with payments for private treatments not available on the NHS, writes Jackie Grunsell, Save Huddersfield NHS councillor.
25 November 2008
Socialist 'deal' for the environment needed
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Climate change demonstration, photo by Paul Mattsson |
An urgent programme to tackle climate change is clearly desperately needed, writes Pete Dickenson.
25 November 2008
Rover's ex-workers wage cut scandal
AT A time when workers in Britain are bracing themselves for more bad news, a recent report indicates the true impact of previous large-scale redundancies in the West Midlands, writes Ted Smith, Birmingham Socialist Party.
26 November 2008
Defend the Four meeting pledges to fight witch-hunt
Democracy not bureaucracy - No witch-hunt in Unison". This was the title and theme of a meeting called by Hackney trades council in support of Hackney Unison chair Brian Debus, one of the "famous four"...
26 November 2008
China's food contamination crisis deepens
FISH, PORK, and chicken contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine, along with milk and eggs. China's food contamination crisis deepens by the day, writes Vincent Kolo, chinaworker.info.
26 November 2008
Campaign Against Climate Change march
Campaign Against Climate Change march
Saturday 6 December
Assemble 12 noon
Grosvenor Square, London
26 November 2008
Socialist 'deal' for environment needed
BARACK OBAMA put the environment at the centre of his US presidential election programme by pledging to bring in a 'Green New Deal' that could tackle the threat of climate change while generating many new jobs to combat the growing economic recession, writes Pete Dickenson.
26 November 2008
BNP membership list: A weak divided party exposed
Despite the huge amounts of media coverage the British National Party has received over the years, the publication of their list of members, ex-members and others makes it clear that the BNP is a relatively small party, writes Naomi Byron, Youth Against Racism in Europe.
26 November 2008
New Labour hypocrisy on racism
Hazel Blears, New Labour Secretary of State for Communities, said over the weekend that "where the BNP wins votes, it is often the result of local political failure...
26 November 2008
Over 70 people crammed into the Urban Bar in Whitechapel on Saturday night as Youth Against Racism in Europe (YRE) held another successful gig in London...
26 November 2008
Campaigning to save post offices
AFTER THE announcement in June that 22 post offices would close in Leeds, three in the Beeston area alone, as part of the government's closure programme Beeston Communities Against Post Office Closures (CAPOC) campaign launched into action, writes Manny Dominguez.
26 November 2008
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Protesting outside parliament in October 2008, photo Paul Mattsson |
26 November 2008
What is the relationship between art, revolution, capitalism and class struggle? This year was the first time there was a commission on 'art and revolution' at the annual summer school of the Committee...
26 November 2008
Somalia piracy - a consequence of western powers' intervention
THE HIJACKING of the supertanker Sirius Star, carrying 2 million barrels of oil, has dramatically highlighted the problem of piracy along the Somali coast, writes Neil Cafferky.
26 November 2008
France: Education strikes on the agenda
MORE THAN 250,000 teachers and youth demonstrated in France on 20 November. At the same time half of all teachers were on strike. It was the first national strike day in all the sectors of national education...
26 November 2008
Activists discuss how to reclaim Unison
On 22 November, over 100 angry Unison activists gathered in Birmingham to discuss how to re-claim their union, a Unison member writes.
26 November 2008
Manchester: No redundancies at IMI!
At IMI Scott (IMI) in South Manchester, a factory specialising in the manufacture of electrical wiring, four of the twenty five shop floor workers have been made redundant due to a lack of orders, Wythenshawe and Sale Socialist Party members write.
26 November 2008
Unison leadership takeover Newham branch
Earlier this month, members of Unison's Newham local government branch were informed that the national executive (NEC) of the union had told the regional full-time staff to take over the running of their branch...
26 November 2008
Strike saves jobs at Fiddlers Ferry
Two days of solid 'unofficial' strike action won back 65 jobs for electricians on the Fiddlers' Ferry power station site, Merseyside, writes Hugh Caffrey.
26 November 2008
National Shop Stewards Network: Organise to save jobs
With dark clouds gathering over the car industry the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) has not just stood by, writes Linda Taaffe, NSSN national secretary.
26 November 2008
Rover's ex-workers wage cut scandal
AT A time when workers in Britain are bracing themselves for more bad news, a recent report indicates the true impact of previous large-scale redundancies in the West Midlands, writes Ted Smith, Birmingham Socialist Party.
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