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From The Socialist newspaper, 26 February 2020
Rebecca Long-Bailey rally for Labour leadership in Birmingham
Council cuts could cost Labour another general election
Rebecca Long-Bailey - would you stand firm against the capitalist class? photo Paul Mattsson (Click to enlarge)
Clive Walder, Birmingham South West Socialist Party
150 people tuned out in Birmingham to hear Rebecca Long-Bailey's pitch for the Labour leadership. The decline in Momentum's influence and the partial demobilisation of Labour members is reflected in the fact that Jeremy Corbyn spoke to an audience of 800 in the same venue in 2015.
A Birmingham Labour councillor, reflecting public despair at the relentless cuts in council budgets, asked what she would do to help Labour councillors who didn't want to vote for cuts. All she said was that she would enable councillors to show people how good things could be under a Labour government, while they are cutting services beyond the bone!
There was no mention of no-cuts budgets or using borrowing powers and reserves to protect services. She was also taken to task by a Labour member for signing up to the International Holocaust Remembrance Association's definition of antisemitism.
Rebecca made many good points that Socialist Party members would agree with. Building 100,000 council houses a year, providing secure, well-paid employment, ending the race to the bottom and blaming the near collapse of public services on underfunding not immigration.
She talked about aspirations for improved conditions of life, but this wasn't linked to the need for socialist policies or the need to change society. The word 'socialist' was only mentioned once.
Rebecca Long-Bailey is a long way from the socialist leader that workers need. The battle for a worker's party needs to continue.
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Finance appeal
The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.
The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.
The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.
- The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
- When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.
Inevitably, during the crisis we have not been able to sell the Socialist and raise funds in the ways we normally would.
We therefore urgently appeal to all our viewers to donate to our Fighting Fund.
In The Socialist 26 February 2020:
News
Average wages recover to pre-crisis levels - but we're still over a decade behind
Bezos gives $10bn for climate - nationalise the rest!
What we think
Immigration: For a system that meets the needs of the majority, not a rich elite
Universities strike
Solidarity with striking university staff
University workers' strike over pay, pensions and workload escalates
Council cuts
Coventry: A socialist councillor who will vote against cuts
Number of women killed by current or ex-partner rises
Leicester: We can't take any more cuts, any more misery, and we are fighting back
Students and workers out together on Budget Day, 11 March
Council cuts could cost Labour another general election
Workplace news
Packed meeting of workplace militants, strikers, socialists and trade union leaders
All out to win Royal Mail strike reballot
PCS union relaunches pay campaign
Workers call on Interserve bosses to recognise union
International news
Germany: Right-wing terror attacks - fight racism, fight capitalism!
Northern Ireland's strike wave
The BBC
This is the BBC: fight the cuts - and the capitalist media
Campaigns
Congress 2020 appeal: Donate to help us renew vital resources
Readers' opinion
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