The Socialist 24 January 2003

NO WAR

HUNDREDS OF thousands of people around the world took to the streets on Saturday 18 January.

From Washington to Tokyo, from Damascus to Bradford, the scale of the protests against Bush and Blair's 'War for Oil' is increasing as the troop build-up accelerates. Cllr Dave Nellist, member national steering committee, Stop The War Coalition

Worldwide Protests Say: 'No War'

HUNDREDS OF thousands of people around the world took to the streets on Saturday 18 January. From Washington to Tokyo, from Damascus to Bradford, the scale of the protests against Bush and Blair's 'War for Oil' is increasing as the troop build-up accelerates.

Cllr Dave Nellist, member national steering committee, Stop The War Coalition

As the 27 January deadline approaches for the first weapons inspectors' report to be presented to the UN, the hundreds of site inspections in Iraq have finally produced - 12 empty rocket shells! Whether further 'evidence' is found or not is largely irrelevant. This war is not about weapons of mass destruction - except perhaps American arms manufacturers' desire to test new ones. It's about American capitalism's determination to demonstrate its overwhelming military superiority to countries thinking of diverting from the 'American Way' - and in particular ensuring American multinationals control of the vast reserves of oil in the Middle East.

Tony Blair has now committed one quarter of the British Army to Bush's war - over 34,000 UK troops are to be sent to the Middle East. They will join over 150,000 US troops so far deployed or called up by Bush.

But the momentum towards war can be derailed - millions will demonstrate on 15 February, on every continent on the globe, giving the lie to Colin Powell's boast that "the will of the people" is to be enforced against Iraq.

The Socialist says:

Build for the mass demonstration in London on 15 February as part of the international day of protest against war with Iraq.
Build anti-war groups in every school, college, university, workplace and community.
Develop sustained and organised mass civil disobedience - walkouts, protests, blockades and industrial action.
Campaign for an alternative to global conflict and war - for a socialist world!

No War on Iraq

National anti-war demonstration

called by Stop The War Coalition

Saturday 15 February,

Assemble Embankment, London - 12 noon.

(Tubes: Embankment, Temple, Charing X)

For more details phone Ken Smith, Socialist Party representative on the Stop The War Committee. Tel: 020 8988-8778.

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Defend the right to strike

Support The Firefighters

THE FIREFIGHTERS' dispute is the most important industrial struggle since the great miners' strike of 1984-85.

Jim McFarlane, Dundee

The Blair government's insistence that the Bain report is non-negotiable means the dispute could become a lengthy one. At mass meetings across the country the anger and determination of ordinary firefighters has shone through.

Jim Malone, FBU Branch Secretary at a fire station in Dundee commented that members are now "more militant than at any time since the dispute started".

He reported that his members are saying that: "We have bent over backwards to reach a negotiated settlement and every time we have, we've been stabbed in the back and the front".

The mood of firefighters has hardened as a result of the government's attitude. Many firefighters are now insisting there will be no leaving the picket line to assist the Green Goddesses.

The FBU leadership must ensure that effective strike action is maintained until the government back down.

Government ministers and MPs didn't ask anybody when they increased their pay and pensions by 40%.

The TUC recorded that despite a fall of 30% in share values last year, top directors increased their take-home pay by 9.7% and more than doubled their salaries between 1994 and 2001 from £200,000 to £416,000.

And it's been the FBU that has made the demands for modernisation in training and equipment with the government and employers dragging their heels.

FBU reps are clear that the 2% reduction per year of firefighters proposed in the Bain report would mean nearly 5,000 jobs lost. This could only be done through compulsory redundancies.

If the government carry through any of their threats, including taking out an injunction against the FBU forbidding them to strike, the whole trade union movement must be mobilised.

There is a need for much wider solidarity action than has been shown up to now. The FBU leadership must stand firm and demand solidarity action from other groups of workers, even if this means defying the anti-union laws. They should call on the TUC to organise a one-day general strike in defence of democratic trade union rights.

This dispute is not now just about fair pay for the fire service it is now a battle for the future of public services and for basic trade union rights.

Firefighters can win but that needs the support and solidarity of the wider working class, especially workers in the public sector.

Support the firefighters
Oppose cuts in jobs and services
Defend the right to strike
For a one-day general strike

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Global Resistance To War

THE ANTI-WAR movement is building momentum across the globe. Hundreds of thousands took to the streets last weekend to protest against war with Iraq.

Most significantly, over 300,000 demonstrated in Bush's own backyard. Demonstrations also took place in Tokyo, Germany, Syria, Pakistan, Egypt, Belgium, Ireland - to name just a few.

Local protests in Cardiff (see next page), Bradford and Liverpool were an anticipation of the hundreds of thousands that are likely to march in London on the 15 February international day of resistance to war in Iraq.

Members of the Committee for a Workers' International (CWI), the international socialist organisation which the Socialist Party is affiliated to, have been actively involved in the worldwide anti-war protests (see reports below) and will be campaigning over the next few weeks to turn 15 February into a mass mobilisation against war for oil.

Massive Protest In Bush's Backyard

ON 18 January, the growing anti-war movement in the US took another important step forward. A crowd of over 200,000 marched on the Naval Yard in Washington DC.

Tom Crean, Socialist Alternative New York

The protest was very diverse with large numbers of high school and college students but also many veterans of the 60s antiwar movement and many people who had never been to a demonstration before in their lives.

Meanwhile, another 50,000 people rallied in San Francisco, and thousands more demonstrated in Portland, Oregon and other cities across the US. The anger against the Bush administration's relentless drive towards war against Iraq was palpable in Washington DC.

Increasing numbers of people clearly see the war preparations as having little or nothing to do with weapons of mass destruction and everything to do with control of the oil supplies of the Middle East.

Opposition to the war is also being fuelled by domestic factors; almost 200,000 jobs were lost across the US in November and December alone.

Large sections of the population are deeply uneasy when they see estimates of war costs running into the hundreds of billions. And it will not be the rich who will have to fight and possibly die on the streets of Baghdad but working class and minority youth.

It is very significant that a number of trade unions and labour councils have taken a strong stand against the war. Recently, 100 delegates representing over two million organised workers formed US Labor Against the War at a meeting in Chicago.

Unfortunately, organised la-bour was not particularly visible in DC. More prominent were various religious and pacifist groupings.

Among the keynote speakers were Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton who invoked the memory of Martin Luther King without mentioning King's increasing opposition to capitalism at the time of his assassination.

Not a word was heard from the platform against the Democratic Party who, despite their occasional differences with the Republicans, are every bit as tied to big business and have prosecuted most of America's imperialist wars in the past.

The ideas of Socialist Alternative, which calls for the building of a new political party to represent the interests of working people and all the oppressed in America, were well received.

Over 450 copies of our paper Justice were sold. The next major antiwar protest in the US will be in New York City on 15 February and this could potentially be even bigger than last Saturday's DC demo.

It will also be part of a coordinated international day of protest against the war which aims to mobilise 10 million worldwide.

Socialist Alternative In New Zealand

THOUSANDS OF people marched against Bush's war plans on Saturday 18 February in Christchurch and in Dunedin, New Zealand. The protests were held as part of an international day of action against the threat of a war with Iraq and followed a demonstration just two days earlier outside the US embassy in Wellington.

Johan Sand and Tim Bowron, Socialist Alternative, Dunedin

In Dunedin, members of the newly formed CWI group, Socialist Alternative, were heavily involved in planning and organising for the 'J18' day of action, distributing hundreds of leaflets and collecting hundreds of signatures for a petition demanding that the Labour-led government cease all military and political support for the US-led 'war on terrorism'.

Noticeably absent however were the trade union leaders who, despite a New Zealand Council of Trade Unions resolution opposing a war with Iraq, did absolutely nothing to mobilise for the event. This meant that most of the speakers at the rally were from members of the local establishment such as the Mayor and the Dean of the Anglican Cathedral.

In contrast, Socialist Alternative member Tim Bowron, speaking from the platform, emphasised that: "...a new war with Iraq, if it comes, will represent not just the work of one crazed individual - George W. Bush - but rather the logical outcome of a system that puts the needs of the wealthy few before the lives of millions of ordinary people...

"As long as this system remains in place we will never be rid of war, poverty and oppression...we must begin to build a socialist alternative."

Toronto Says "No" To Bush

OVER 10,000 people assembled in Toronto braving sub-freezing temperatures to protest against the war on Iraq.

Robert Messing, Socialist Alternative Toronto

Protesters included trade unionists from the Canadian Auto Workers, the UNITE textiles union, the steelworkers, teachers and other unions, various church, Muslim and Jewish groups, war veterans and pensioners, high school and university students and the Left. Another rally is planned for February to build on this excellent event.

Anti-War Message Gets Through In Melbourne

MEMBERS AND supporters of the Socialist Party (Australian section of the CWI) joined with the Victorian Peace Network to hold a protest outside the Army Recruiting Office, Melbourne on 17 January.

Socialist Party members, Melbourne

The protest was to present the results from balloting Victorians in 16 suburbs (two cities) over the past weeks. 87% voted against the war plans of Bush!

After running a stall outside the office to great support, four representatives went inside the Army Office with the media in tow. When 'Chubb' security personnel refused to accept our ballot results, one of the protesters tipped the ballot bag contents over the head of a particularly uncooperative security guard!

We were told that the Melbourne Times will carry a photo and article on the protest, which will greatly help bring our anti-war campaign to a wide audience.

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Students:

Fight New Labour's Top-Up Fees

EVEN EDUCATION secretary Charles Clarke admits that graduates face individual debts of up to £21,000 if the government brings in top-up fees. Students already face crippling debt after £1,000-a-year (now £1,100) tuition fees were introduced in 1997. Many poorer students have been put off from applying.

Dave Score, Sheffield University

Government plans, due to be published this week, are expected to include fees of up to £4,000, with richer, elite universities able to charge more. This will double student debt and lead to a two-tier system. Those who can afford it can study at more prestigious universities, others won't have the choice.

Huge anger by students and the public made the government back down over plans for top-up fees to be paid up-front. However, plans would still mean students paying thousands of pounds for each year of study, with only an inadequate maintenance grant for a tiny minority of students to alleviate the situation.

The government have a target to get 50% of young people to university, yet high fees and debt will put off students from applying. Supposedly, only universities that look to be trying to widen access can charge higher fees. I think a bill of £10,000 or more for a degree, would be the biggest barrier to getting working-class people to university.

Top universities say they need more money from students to "compete" against institutions in the US and elsewhere, but why should we want to emulate a system where top universities charge tens of thousands of dollars a year tuition, yet poorer students and colleges struggle?

The government wants a two-tier, "market-based" higher education system where newer, poorer universities will be forced to become teaching-only institutions, in effect going back to the days of the old polytechnics. Struggling universities face closure of campuses and subject areas.

Cabinet members have embarrassed Blair by rowing over how students should be charged - Gordon Brown favouring a graduate tax. Blair has stepped in, favouring top-up fees. Both these options would result in students being charged more for their studies.

The only way to stop massive student debt, and to increase the numbers of students, would be to abolish fees and provide a living grant for all.

The NUS needs to use the anger at top-up fees and fight for a situation where the size of students' wallets is no longer the big issue in applying to university.

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Left Labour MSP speaks on...

The War And The Labour Party

JOHN MCALLION, one of the few outspoken and principled socialist MSPs (members of Scottish Parliament) left in the Labour Party, has voted against the leadership on many issues from war preparations on Iraq to opposition to privatisation. Increasingly isolated within the Labour Party John McAllion spoke to the International Socialist (The Socialist's sister paper in Scotland).

IS: You voted for an amendment, moved by Tommy Sheridan of the Scottish Socialist Party, in the Scottish parliament opposing war with Iraq under all circumstances and called for civil disobedience against the build up to war. Why?

JMc: It was the only genuinely anti-war amendment. The SNP and Liberal-Democrat amendments would have given the sanction to the United Nations Security Council to go to war. The Security Council is dominated by the five big powers and is itself dominated by the interests of the biggest power - the US.

I think they will get the second resolution through the UN for those reasons. I could not have supported an amendment effectively supporting a war with the UN's backing. I think if the General Assembly of the UN, rather than just the Security Council, got to take a vote then we would have far fewer wars.

IS: Some people in the Labour Party say they'd support a war if the UN backed it.

JMc: I don't think it's a position you can defend because the UN in the past has authorised unjust wars. The Security Council... is an institution that has caused more havoc and damage on the third world than any other since the second world war.

We heard a number of passionate anti-war speeches from Labour MSPs. But they then went on to vote for the Labour Party's motion which gave Tony Blair the green light to pursue a war policy.

What do you think is the potential for the anti-war movement?

I've been surprised by the size of the anti-war movement because in the media the anti-war case is not heard that often. The overwhelming majority of politicians, spokespersons and commentators tend to support a pro-war line.

It's quite staggering to see so many people rallying against the war. And that's without the involvement of any of the four big parties.

In Scotland none of the main parties have organised anything, it's really all come from the grassroots.

It's touched a nerve with the public who are beginning to understand that the drive to war and the inevitable suffering that would take place is about control of Iraq's oil.

I also think that the hesitation of Bush and the pro-war clique is due to the scale of the anti-war movement which has put them on the back foot.

Why is there a different approach to say North Korea by the US than to Iraq?

Bush knows that North Korea can fight back whereas Iraq can't. Iraq has been weakened enormously since first the Gulf War and then the sanctions that have been imposed ever since. The disparity between the weapons held in the West compared to those in Iraq for example is enormous.

Even in the last Gulf War the overwhelming firepower of the US guaranteed victory. The weapons inspectors will come up with something that will guarantee the war goes ahead.

How difficult is it for a socialist in the Labour Party now?

The situation in the Labour Party is a result of the party's reaction to Thatcher. Initially the Labour Party but now the SNP have become more "professional" and more tied to big business. For years in the US with the Republicans and the Democrats we have seen both main parties being pro-capitalist parties. Now we see the same here as well.

All the main parties are capitalist-orientated. People in the street don't see any difference.

What about Blair's attitude to the firefighters dispute?

The attacks on the firefighters have been a disgrace. The government have been absolutely hard-line refusing any type of compromise. And this is after the local councils agreed a deal of 16% back in the summer.

The government are actively seeking to keep public sector wages low, low interest rates and low inflation. In other words acting on behalf of big business. In the long-term that's undermining the Labour Party in the eyes of workers. They will say that's not what I expected.

How do you think a new political voice for workers will be built?

I don't know. I'm not sure the SSP is necessarily that voice. There are some people talking about a new independent Labour Party. But the link with the trade unions will always be the key.

If they switched then you could see the basis of a new party. I'm not talking about the tops of the unions, they are very supportive of New Labour. It's the grassroots that are important.

I think the FBU will disaffiliate from Labour at their next conference. They almost did at the last one and it was Andy Gilchrist that saved them. Now he is public Enemy No 1 for the government.

I won't leave the Labour Party voluntarily. I'll need to be removed. But I won't back down. I have a lot of loyalty to some activists in the Labour Party in Dundee, although in truth there aren't many left now. The party has very few trade unionists and virtually no young people, except those who come from the universities and they're only interested in a career.

It will be a drawn-out process that could take some time. You might well see independent candidates of the left winning elections under the PR system for the Scottish parliament and working together as a group in the parliament along with the SSP and others.

Out of that you could see a party develop. It would need to allow people to have their voice heard. Having a whip or a line all members had to put forward would not work in such a party.

Subscribe to International Socialist, 5 issues £3.50, 12 issues £6.50. Make cheques payable to International Socialist and send to: CWI, PO Box 6773, Dundee DD1 1YL.

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AS THE Socialist went to press, reports of the solid support for the firefighters' action were coming in from Socialist Party members all over the country. These are some extracts.

Solid Support For Fire Strike

MATTHEW RICHARDSON from Lincoln reports how, led by a fire tender and carrying a coffin to symbolise the demise of the fire service, 200 firefighters and supporters marched through the centre of Lincoln.

Speakers from UNISON and TGWU pledged their solidarity with the FBU. And Lincoln FBU brigade secretary Barry Foster said: "We will not accept station cuts to fund any pay rise. Employers are preparing a second rate, understaffed, demoralised service. We will not let it happen."

NEIL MACPHERSON, brigade secretary of Mid and West Wales FBU, spoke to Ken Smith: "The main issue is still pay, along with the implications of the Bain report on job losses, stations closures and changes in working practises. All of which will have a devastating effect on the protection offered to the public.

"Public support is holding up well, despite the biased reporting. People know we're not being selfish, like the Tories and government ministers claim.

"But we're in this situation, coinciding with the government preparing war against Iraq. We don't want to see any troops or the people in Iraq killed, and we think it is wrong that the government are trying to morally blackmail us into working.

"Whether we are in work or not will not save soldiers and civilian lives. That's why the FBU is also opposing this war that no one wants.

"I don't think the strikes before Christmas should have been suspended and things could have been brought to a head. This branch had a meeting last night (20 January), which passed a resolution supporting an all-out strike.

"Personally I think we should escalate the action. The attitude of the members is hardening every day.

"I think the strike can be won, we are determined to win. Other unions should come out publicly and support us and organise supportive action. Tell the union leaders 'sod the anti-union laws, we've got to do something to defend the FBU'.

"The FBU could look at organising a conference to raise the issue of practical solidarity action. It's not just an attack on the FBU but the whole public sector and at the very least, we should be mounting a joint struggle with other public-sector unions to take on the government.

"I've handed out 1,500 forms to every member of this brigade on the political donations to Labour. I think this will be repeated up and down the country. I think this year's FBU conference will see the union split from the Labour Party."

ANDY MOFFATT, FBU divisional secretary and a firefighter at Morriston, Mid and West Wales brigade, said: "The most crucial issue now coming out of the struggle is the lack of service we will be able to provide. The government seems to want to use the dispute to cut 4,500 jobs, 150 stations and make up the shortfall in the Ambulance Service.

"Bain, modernisation and pay are interlinked. When we first had the pay formula, we were on two-thirds of MPs' pay now we're on less than half. This pay claim is just to bring us back to where we should be.

"The government are deliberately trying to draw us into talks, get strikes cancelled and then at the last minute pull the carpet out from underneath us. We've had enough. They should come up with a good offer or we escalate the strike.

"There is now a lot of support for all-out action amongst the members. To hold public support we have to explain that the lack of emergency cover in an all-out strike is what it will be like if the government get away with the cuts. It will be the government's responsibility.

"We should be calling on all the other unions to stop funding the Labour government. That's the best way to get to this government. I doubt very much if there will be many firefighters or their families who will be supporting Labour at the next election.

"I think we've had great support from other unions but we need to see that delivering solidarity action also."

CHRIS BROAD, FBU Neath branch chairman, said the strike was at a critical stage where pay, conditions and defending union rights were all key issues. He said: "The government have upped the ante now with the threat of 4,500 job cuts. We're now fighting for fair pay and to stop the fire service being decimated.

"I think firefighters now realise this is a fight to the death and we're not prepared to lose it. We are more determined than ever.

"I think we have to go for all-out action and we can hold public support. People realise that it is the government that have dragged this dispute on now for nine months.

"I think solidarity action from other unions is now essential and we need firefighters to go into other workplaces, rather than just the leaders of the unions discussing how the strike should go. Where it has been done we've received a great deal of support.

"Any threat to outlaw our strike action must be opposed. But I think Labour is not confident of doing it. I think there's no chance of the FBU funding the Labour Party again in the foreseeable future."

"Modernisation"

STEVENAGE FIREFIGHTERS summed up their feelings by putting up a notice saying: "Fire station closed for modernisation".

Red Watch From WHITECHAPEL, east London commented: "We're all in touch with the local unions. All UNISON branches have adopted a fire station. One said "Personally I think the Labour Party has done nothing but bad for us. Both sides have been ready to reach agreement and the government have knocked the settlement on the head.

"Tony Blair will never get in again. But whatever government you have they've all got the same agenda. Everyone at this station has stopped the political levy."

A firefighter at nearby Shoreditch said he would never buy the Sun again because of the coverage, particularly the front-page attack on Andy Gilchrist.

Bill Mullins spoke to Simon at Euston fire station in central London: "We should stick to the plan of strikes and not cancel them. We went more than half way to meeting the government but they just knocked us back.

"If they get an injunction then we can't just go back to work with nothing. I agree that we should defy it but I don't know what the union will say. We might have to stay out anyway.

"It's a good idea to call for support from other unions, like the tube workers did."

Support Group Discusses Threat To The Right To Strike

AT A meeting of Lewisham Firefighters Support Group on 16 January, Gary Thorogood, FBU group representative, warned of the growing threat that the government could declare their strikes illegal.

Martin Powell-Davies

As Gary said, "they want to crucify us for daring to ask for a pay rise. If they outlaw our action, we need every trade unionist to come behind us".

Gary explained firefighters' anger at an "offer" that threatened thousands of job cuts, station closures, worse pensions and disciplinary codes, reduced fire cover at nights - and all for 4%!

As Ross Neal, chair London region FBU stated, "they've come back with everything they wanted to force through for the last 15 years."

But it was also clear that firefighters were seriously debating how to respond to any attempts to ban strikes, including the possibility of defying any injunction.

The government are out to break the FBU and send a warning to all public sector workers not to take on New Labour. But FBU members should have confidence they can win. As Ross Neal concluded, "If they've got to attack us this hard it's because they're frightened. The government have a lot to lose as well."

Fighting The Kangaroo Court

BIRMINGHAM FIREFIGHTER Steve Godward and his family. Steve was appealing against his dismissal for allegedly sabotaging equipment. The appeal was adjourned on 16 January, where the FBU organised a national lobby.

Commenting on the farcical nature of the accusations and fire authority's procedure, Phil Goalby, West Midlands FBU chair, said: "We feel Steve has been victimised for his success as a trade unionist on behalf of the FBU. The accusations made against him were scurrilous. And support has come from as far as Northern Ireland and Wales."

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A full summary of the documents and resolutions debated by delegates will be produced in booklet form this year. Meanwhile, in the following article, ROBIN CLAPP summarises the discussion on Globalisation and the World Economy.

A System In Crisis

FOR MOST of the 1990s the capitalists believed that in globalisation and the neo-liberal economic model, they had discovered a new elixir of life for their system. Exaggerated claims were made that new technologies had created a 'productivity miracle', while Wall Street's pet economists wrote profoundly about the 'new paradigm', (the vacuous name given to the then fashionable idea that capitalism had learned, at last, to overcome most of its contradictions).

Today much of that boastfulness has evaporated. The world economy has entered a new period. Japan, the world's second capitalist economy has been stagnant for ten years. The US and European economies are dangling on the edge of recession or experiencing very slow growth. A double-dip recession remains very possible.

Crisis ridden

SINCE 2000, falling stock markets, deflationary pressures in Japan, Germany and the US, economic meltdown in Argentina and unprecedented levels of state, commercial and consumer debt have created a chastened mood among more serious capitalist thinkers. War against Iraq will deepen instability in the Middle East and beyond.

The world economy faces a lengthy period of stagnation. Globalisation has not provided a way out for capitalism, but has instead created the conditions for an even deeper worldwide crisis.

None of the main features present in the world economy today would be unfamiliar to Karl Marx. He long ago explained how capitalism is incapable of developing the productive forces in a consistent manner or of increasing living standards for the vast majority of the world's population.

Neo-liberal policies (welfare cuts, privatisation, deregulated labour markets, ending controls on capital movements, etc) have massively widened this gulf, with the per capita income ratio of rich to poor countries now standing at a staggering 74:1.

Worsening levels of poverty, wars and acts of terrorism have created unprecedented global instability. Millions recoil against the cruelties of capitalism and this has led to the development of a mass anti-globalisation movement which over recent years has begun to take on an increasingly anti-capitalist complexion.

The collapse of the post-war economic model in the 1970s gave rise to new trends in the world economy. Empirically, the US capitalist class sought to mould the new conditions to their interests.

Globalisation became the term used to commonly describe the trend towards the accelerated integration of the world economy. New technology made it possible to integrate world financial markets more closely. New production techniques based on micro-electronics made it possible for multinational corporations to relocate production across the globe.

The 1990s also saw the deepening and expanding of capitalist countries into regional trading blocs. Capitalists join multinational clubs like the European Union (EU) and North American Free Trade Agreement because they feel they will benefit by doing so.

When benefits become outweighed by disadvantages then institutions can come under pressure or even unwind. The EU Convergence and Stability Pact with its 'one size fits all' approach to public spending and interest rates is currently out of kilter with the needs of the German and French capitalists particularly.

The 1990s boom in the US now stands exposed as a gigantic bubble. Hidden from view by the dazzling performance of Wall Street was the hollowing out of the US manufacturing sector. While share prices rose from 1995 to 2000 by 200%, corporate profits - as measured by government statisticians rather than dodgy auditors - rose by just 40%.

Billions of dollars were wasted chasing the illusory dotcom boom, while the telecomms crash is ten times bigger and may well qualify as the largest speculative bubble in history. Decisions were made on the basis of shareholder pressure and value, while colossal mergers totaling $1 trillion took place in 1999 alone. The boom produced the world's largest bankruptcy (Enron) and the world's greatest accounting fraud (Worldcom).

Casualties

WITH SHARE prices falling relentlessly since 2000, millions of small investors have been battered and the succession of massive corporate bankruptcies and criminal scandals have exposed and tarnished the notion of Anglo-Saxon, neo-liberal market perfection.

The pain is not over yet. The housing bubble in the US is still growing and the dollar remains overvalued. America has been a debtor nation since 1988. Meanwhile total public and private debt is now three times greater than GDP (national income). This is double the figure for the post-war years.

The boom was financed by borrowing against the high value of the dollar. In the straitened economic circumstances that prevail today, with world trade actually falling by 1% in 2001, it is not likely that the rest of the world can keep lending to the US at the former rate.

The badly damaged Japanese economy owns 28% of all dollars in circulation. If Tokyo is forced into reclaiming its funds, the consequent sharp fall could trigger an accelerated flight of capital from the US, making the current trade and current payments deficit completely unsustainable. The result would be the most painful adjustment since the Great Crash of 1929.

The Chairman of the US Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan, exudes complacency when he claims the worst is over and the world economy will recover in 2003. But behind the soundbites is the admission that business investment and profits are still falling.

Limitations

CAPITALISM HAS a fundamental tendency towards concentration and monopolisation. By the mid-1990s, just 400 multinational corporations owned two-thirds of the world's fixed company assets and controlled 70% of world trade.

However, these corporations do not form the core of an emerging 'transnational capitalist class.' The nation state still prevails as the root of the competing capitalist classes.

In the changed conditions that now exist, the old economic certainties have been shaken. Rivalries between capitalist powers can become more acute and sharpened expressions of national interest will be increasingly threatened.

Partial controls on credit and capital movement, import controls, even nationalisations can be enacted by governments facing a combination of popular unrest and economic crisis. Neo-Keynsian public expenditure policies will be undertaken, as in Japan, to defend 'national interest' and market share. National states, including the US can be forced to rein in the activities of the multinationals.

Globalisation, though an objective factor in the development of capitalism, is not a smooth or uninterrupted process.

Economic activity never takes place in a political vacuum. The role of the working class can push governments into temporarily sacrificing neo-liberal economic orthodoxy as a preferable alternative to revolutionary upheaval.

But we have to be clear. Against the idea of a solution within the confines of capitalist nation states, we need to fight for a socialist planned economy on a world scale.

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ISR - Protest Against BP

Lord Browne, chief executive of British Petroleum (BP), stated at the end of October 2002;

"We have to let it be known that the thing we would like to make sure, if Iraq changes regime is that there is a level playing field for the selection of oil companies to go in there..."

In other words, BP intends to profit out of it! If war goes ahead, thousands of people will lose their lives - this is what making profits means for ordinary people.

BP appears to be Tony Blair's favourite oil company. His close links with BP bosses indicate Blair's highest priority is keeping his big business friends happy.

Lord Browne is close to the prime minister. A grateful Mr Blair added a peerage to the oilman's knighthood after he helped end the fuel protests of summer 2000.

Anji Hunter, Blair's former special assistant on a wage of £120,000 is now Browne's director of communications on £200,000. Nick Butler, strategic policy advisor for BP is a former Labour candidate.

These are just some of the many reasons why BP has been dubbed 'Blair's Petroleum.'

International Socialist Resistance (ISR) is campaigning for protests across the country on Saturday 8 February against BP. ISR is an international anti-capitalist youth organisation.

Our main campaign is 'Youth Against the War', against war on Iraq. We have called this day of action to highlight BP's and other oil companies' interests in war in Iraq.

If you would like to join a local protest, organise your own, want to support the day of action etc, please get in touch on the contact details below for more info.

Tell us if you are planning your own protest.

INTERNATIONAL SOCIALIST Resistance (ISR) is an international anti-capitalist youth organisation with groups in many different countries.

Initiated by the Socialist Party, ISR is a democratic, broad organisation fighting for a socialist alternative to capitalism.

For more details write to: ISR, PO Box 858, London, E11 1YG. Tel: 020 8558 7947.

Email: againstcapitalism@hotmail.com
Website: www.anticapitalism.org.uk

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Cyprus: Mass Protest Rocks Ruling Class

Dave Carr

Under the plan, which must be agreed by the end of February, the island would be governed under a Swiss-style federal system, with a weak central government, headed by a rotating presidency to represent Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot communities.

However, the plan also involves the repatriation of the 40,000 Turkish troops stationed in the North, something the Turkish state is opposed to.

The demonstrators rounded on Rauf Denktash, the ageing authoritarian president of the 'Republic of North Cyprus'. (Only Turkey recognises this entity.) Denktash accuses the protesters of stabbing him in the back. He says that there isn't enough trust between the two communities to live together again in the proposed new state.

Denktash has spent a lifetime waging a separatist struggle including the use of terrorist violence (see below). He is relying on the reactionary Turkish military to ensure division and keep him in power.

However, Turkey's new political leader Recep Erdogan is keen to join the European Union (EU) in order to salvage Turkey's faltering capitalist economy. He sees a settlement of the Cypriot national question as easing Turkish entry into the EU.

The North's dependency on the collapsing Turkish economy is spelling disaster. Hence many of the 50,000 demonstrators sported EU flags. The workers of the impoverished and isolated north look with envy at the Greek Cypriot south that has secured EU entry.

The prospect of better employment prospects and EU economic subventions to re-establish the tourist industry is driving them to seek a negotiated settlement.

Already some 2,000 Turkish Cypriots have applied for Greek Cypriot passports. People with educational and professional qualifications are leaving in increasing numbers.

UN failure

Aside from the economic issues there are political and social questions that bringing Turkish Cypriots into conflict with their nationalist leaders. Many resent the "Turkification" of the North through immigration from Turkey, the changing of place names and the building of Mosques in a very secular community.

The failure of the workers' organisations in the past, (in particular AKEL, the mass communist party) to champion workers' unity and socialism in the struggle for self-determination (see below) enabled nationalists to divide the working class, with terrible consequences.

The United Nations, dominated by the imperialist powers, has a lamentable record on successfully resolving national conflicts; as the divided states of the former Yugoslavian republics show.

Nor has the UN provided economic reconstruction - witness the UN's failure in East Timor or Afghanistan.

Capitalism is a system of exploitation for profit, not a charitable institution. Therefore, a lasting solution to the national question will be illusive. Indeed, a similar political arrangement to the UN's plan today in Cyprus broke down in sectarian violence in the early 1960s.

A programme of jobs, decent wages, education and health care, etc can only be realised through a struggle against both the Greek and Turkish capitalist class.

And implicit in such a struggle is the building of a new, mass workers' party to unite the island's working class and end a generation of division. Such a movement would open the prospect of a democratic, socialist federation of Cyprus.

A divided island

ON 20 July 1974 the Turkish state launched a military invasion which partitioned the island of Cyprus. The invasion was prompted by a coup on 15 July 1974 by the National Guard, led by Greek Junta officers who wanted to incorporate Cyprus into Greece - a movement known as 'Enosis'.

In the 1950s EOKA, a fascist-terrorist group, attacked British targets (the island was a British colony from 1925-1960), Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots it considered traitors to the cause of Enosis. TMT, a rival armed Turkish Cypriot fascist organisation closely linked to the Turkish state, was formed and led by Rauf Denktash, now President of the so-called Turkish Republic of North Cyprus.

After Cyprus became a republic in 1960 there was a ruthless and bloody tit-for-tat campaign by EOKA and TMT. The United Nations was incapable of halting these atrocities.

The president of Cyprus, Archbishop Makarios, grew increasingly at loggerheads with the military junta in Greece that had seized power in 1967 in the "Colonels' coup". He wanted to purge the National Guard of Junta supporters but the officers staged a coup precipitating the Turkish invasion. (The invasion order was made by social-democrat prime minister Bulent Ecevit - who was trounced in last year's Turkish elections.)

The Communist Party (AKEL) which had secured 42% of the vote in recent elections, instead of promoting a policy of working class unity and preparing the working class to resist the impending coup, simply tail-ended the weak liberal capitalist Makarios.

Thousands of Cypriots were killed and half the island's population made refugees. The failure of the Junta's adventure in Cyprus meant the end of the road for the Colonels' seven-year rule in Greece, which ignominiously collapsed.

Since 1974 the dividing line between the island's two communities - the Green Line - has been patrolled by UN 'peacekeepers'. In the north political freedoms have been suppressed. Left-wing journalists have been assassinated and those who speak out risk persecution.

In recent years there has been trade union action by teachers and a general strike by workers. Members of the CWI have helped organise a peace festival between 4,000 Greek and Turkish Cypriots staged in 'no-man's land'.

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German Workers Fight New Attacks

Wolfram Klein, Stuttgart

These were the first wage negotiations in the public sector since the old public service union merged with other service unions to form "ver.di" (United Services).

The leadership was under massive pressure because of their past promises and the fact that there had been no wage increase since September 2000.

But with their demand of only "3% plus x" the leadership ignored the union membership's calls for a higher settlement and encouraged the Social Democrat-led public employers to demand a "zero round" - no wage increase without cuts in bonuses, 'flexibility' and job losses etc.

The enormous gap between the workers' mood and the bosses' offer forced the trade union leaders to have a short initial negotiation period accompanied by a massive wave of strikes. Workers in hospitals, offices, public transport and many others went on warning strike for a few hours, sometimes for a whole shift.

But on 19 December the union called for outside mediation. On the night of 6 January the mediators proposed a two-stage wage increase and the union leaders agreed. This clearly broke the leaders' promise to negotiate a wage increase comparable to the private sector in 2002.

But the public-sector bosses opposed even this and Social Democrat leaders continued to threaten the union with lockouts if any strike action took place. A new round of negotiations started, which ended in an agreement that was even below the mediators' 'compromise'

The new contract covers a period of 27 months. The employers get concessions in return for what is a low wage increase including workers giving up one day's paid holiday. Furthermore the union leaders agreed to discuss the future of the national wage agreement itself, possibly opening the way to regional or sectional deals.

The trade union leaders held the meeting to vote on the deal in a luxury hotel to protect them from the mood of the rank and file, 18% of the union's national negotiating committee did not support the deal. Many rank and file union members are disappointed, but opposition is growing.

The Stuttgart district of ver.di for example criticised the result publicly, promised to continue the struggle against job losses, privatisation etc and demanded a discussion among the membership.

They took up the initiative to organise a big anti-war demonstration too.

The task of left-wingers in the union now is to lead the fight against the coming attacks by the public employers and the government - which has just opened a discussion on repealing a measure they themselves introduced four years ago which would mean watering down workers' protection against sackings - and to work for a transformation of the union into a fighting organisation.

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