The Socialist 13 December 2002

Next Issue 10 Jan 2003

Blair's War on Public services

For A Socialist Alternative To War

IRAQ HAS produced a 12,000 page document to the UN denying that it has any weapons of mass destruction. Bush and Blair have said that this contradicts their own 'intelligence' reports, which they are however reluctant to share. Many are based on unreliable information from Iraqi defectors.

Firefighters Are Determined To Win

FIREFIGHTERS HAVE had mixed feelings about talks at ACAS. While many welcomed them, there is also scepticism about whether they will actually deliver. More ...

Firefighters demo, London, 7 December: FIREFIGHTERS' LEADER Andy Gilchrist was greeted with roars of support and a deafening chorus of klaxons and whistles when he spoke at the FBU rally on 7 December.

A dispute to save the fire service: Steve Holloway, an FBU member from East London spoke to Linda Taaffe about how the dispute is going:

Socialist solidarity: FIFTY FIREFIGHTERS lobbied the full council meeting in Coventry last week to urge support for a motion being moved by the Socialist Party Group.

On the 7 December demo: CHRIS NEWBY spoke to firefighters on the demonstration:

AS THOUSANDS of students marched through central London against fees, Tony Blair announced that he had ruled out the introduction of up-front top-up fees. 

VENEZUELA IS in political crisis as US-backed opponents of populist President Hugo Chavez continued a national strike to remove him. Three people were killed after a gunman fired on an opposition rally.

Partnerships Bill: FOR YEARS gay rights campaigners have been calling for lesbian and gay couples to be able to register their partnerships.

MSP MARGO McDonald's controversial Bill to create "Tolerance Zones" for prostitutes in Scotland has divided politicians, councils and women's organisations across Scotland.

THE EIGHTH World Congress of the Committee for a Workers' International (CWI - the socialist international organisation to which the Socialist Party is affiliated) took place in Belgium during the last week of November. Delegates from 25 countries came together for political discussion and analysis of the events taking place in the world today. JUDY BEISHON, CWI Executive Committee member, reports on the progress made since the last Congress in 1998.

Next issue: 10 January

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Fire, Education, NHS...

Blair's War on Public services

TONY BLAIR says that his government faces its "most testing time" yet. He knows he's on a collision course with the trade unions - and with most people in Britain - over his plans to dismantle public services.

Roger Shrives

Fire Brigades Union (FBU) members are already in the forefront of this class war. New Labour has denied a just pay rise for the firefighters but also threatened cuts both in the numbers of workers and in the services they run (see pages 2 and 5).

In the health service, trade unionists bitterly oppose plans for new 'foundation hospitals' accountable only to their shareholders, which will create a two-tier service within the NHS (see centre-page feature).

Opinion polls show record disillusionment with the Labour Party - 58% now think Labour are sleazier than the Tories. But there are deeper problems than sleaze.

New Labour are trying to run a capitalist economy which is showing symptoms of severe crisis. Profits (and investment) are beginning to fall and the employers want to make workers pay for it with lower wages and reduced services.

British capitalism now also has a record trade gap with declining exports and rising imports. There are likely to be fiercer battles than ever before. And Labour will be looking to back the bosses in each and every fight.

Even before this "testing time" the Labour Party is losing members. The likely bloody war on Iraq could be the last straw for many former Labour loyalists.

FBU members in their droves have been opting out of their political levy to Labour. Many other trade unionists ask why they're still paying for a party which kicks them in the teeth.

As New Labour backs the bosses' attempts to undo all the gains made by the working class over a century, the call for a new workers' party to fight for working-class people will get a bigger and bigger echo.

Such a party would unite all those unions and individuals who want to struggle against this crisis-ridden system and its terrible effects on people's lives.

The Socialist Party will be there fighting for a bold socialist programme to end the rule of the capitalist system which is the root cause of the problems which working-class people face.

• Pay the firefighters. 
• End low pay in the public sector.
• No to privatisation. 
• No cuts through 'modernisation'.

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The Sleazy Blairs

CHERIE BLAIR has had to admit that the Blairs hired a conman to help them buy two flats in Bristol, cut-price, for their son Euan who was studying at University.

It seems they used a tax-avoiding 'blind trust' set up in Blair's name as Prime Minister. What hypocrisy from Tony "tough on crime" Blair!

The Daily Mirror now reports that a survey showed 58% of people thought New Labour were even more sleazy than the Tories who were drowning in a sea of sleaze before they were defeated at the 1997 general election.

The press concentrated on Cherie's friendship with convicted conman Peter Foster and asking whether she intervened to stop him being sent back to Australia.

A better question would be: How come the Blairs could get their hands on £500,000 to set up Euan with two flats, one of which he can sell or rent out now and the other one after he leaves? How many firefighters would be able to do that even if they won their entire 40% claim?

But it's only the size of the opposition that has made Blair wary of bringing in up-front top-up fees for other students. New Labour are still keen on higher student fees in some form or other.

Blair can buy his son a decent education without him facing the pressure to work in his spare time in McDonalds. New Labour's slogan should be "education, education, education as long as your parents are rich".

In fact, the real conmen in this story are those in the government who bring in legislation re-introducing selection in education and widening the inequalities between the rich and the rest of us.

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For A Socialist Alternative To War

IRAQ HAS produced a 12,000 page document to the UN denying that it has any weapons of mass destruction. 

Bush and Blair have said that this contradicts their own 'intelligence' reports, which they are however reluctant to share. Many are based on unreliable information from Iraqi defectors.

Bush has said that the document will be "thoroughly examined" and that will "take some time". But hawks in the US administration, like Vice-President Cheney, are pushing for an immediate declaration that Iraq is in "material breach" of UN resolution 1441 and for the launching of a military attack on Iraq within weeks.

They are determined to bring about "regime change" in Iraq. A war would have nothing to do with weapons of mass destruction, fighting terrorism or bringing democracy or stability to Iraq; it would be about carving up the Iraqi oil fields and enforcing US power in the region and internationally.

Behind the military might of the US are the battalions of big business and in particular the oil corporations. This is understood by the thousands of people who have taken to the streets to oppose a war with Iraq - including 200,000 in Washington, 400,000 in London and one million in Florence.

While the process of weapons inspections is going on, the preparations for war are escalating. There has been a 300% increase in the bombs dropped in southern Iraq since March this year. In other words a 'pre-war' has already begun in order to destroy Iraq's defence systems in anticipation of a full-scale conflict.

However, there are many obstacles on the path to war. The UN Security Council members are divided, as is the US administration, about what to do next. Any attempt by the US, backed up by Blair, to bypass protracted UN inspections and declare war would unleash widespread opposition.

According to a recent survey, since 2000, "favourable" impressions of the US have declined in two-thirds of countries. In Jordan, Pakistan and Egypt's large majorities have negative views. The secretary of the Arab League was not exaggerating when he said that war could open the "gates of hell".

War is rooted in a system whose motive force is the pursuit of profit. The urgent task we now face is to extend and strengthen the anti-war movement.

At the same time, the building of a socialist alternative to the capitalist horrors of war, poverty and terror is an absolute necessity.

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Firefighters Are Determined To Win

FIREFIGHTERS HAVE had mixed feelings about talks at ACAS. While many welcomed them, there is also scepticism about whether they will actually deliver

If the government doesn't agree to fund a significant pay deal, without strings that attack jobs, working conditions and the quality of our fire service, firefighters remain determined to resume strike action for as long as it takes.

20,000 firefighters, their families and other trade unionists attended the national demonstration in London on 7 December. This was a sizeable display of support for the firefighters. But, if the eight-day strike had not been cancelled, there is no doubt that the demo could have been much bigger, with hundreds of thousands of working-class people demonstrating their solidarity.

Discussions at ACAS have temporarily taken the momentum out of the struggle. However, support for the firefighters is still high. Workers understand that an attack on the firefighters is an attack on the whole working class.

Blair is preparing to fight to the death to defend his pro-big business agenda for the public services. In such a decisive battle, solidarity is the key to victory.

Workers have mainly shown their support by tooting horns, visiting picket lines and donating money, which has been extremely important in maintaining the morale and resolve of the firefighters to continue their struggle.

This could potentially be channelled into much wider support, including strike action, if a resolute lead were given by the trade union movement. Such action could ensure that this dispute is won.

The firefighters' determination to struggle needs to be matched by the trade union leaders. While keeping up the pressure we should have no illusions that the TUC, with its advocacy of 'partnership' between bosses and workers, will have any intention of delivering solidarity action - despite its verbal support.

Those leaders on the left therefore should be preparing now to organise a conference of stewards and union reps to discuss how support for the firefighters can be translated into action to win.

Firefighters demo, London, 7 December

FIREFIGHTERS' LEADER Andy Gilchrist was greeted with roars of support and a deafening chorus of klaxons and whistles when he spoke at the FBU rally on 7 December.

Over 20,000, mainly firefighters and their families travelled to central London from all over England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in an impressive show of strength and solidarity.

It was one of the biggest displays of trade union banners for several years. Marching past some of the clubs, hotels and restaurants of the rich, it exposed the hysteria of politicians and the press over the firefighters' claim for a living wage of £30,000.

Even TUC general secretary John Monks had to point out that the price of a meal in many of those establishments was more than a firefighters' weekly wage.

There was a serious mood at the rally. In spite of the cold, most stayed to hear Andy Gilchrist. "I never thought we would see a Labour government demonising firefighters in this way" he said. "The press and the government say the FBU should stay out of politics but we've every right to with 10,000 jobs at stake."

Every mention of the government was met with boos and every call for more action, however mild, was cheered enthusiastically. But the furthest Andy Gilchrist would go on more strike action was to announce: "If the government has the reckless audacity to wreck a deal at ACAS then we'll be back on strike."

Pete Cooper, from Leyton in east London voiced the suspicion that some firefighters have of the ACAS talks: "ACAS have always been appeasers. They seem to go on the side of the government of the time and appease the situation. They won't necessarily do the best things for the firefighters.

"I don't know what's happening behind closed doors but all I can say is our area in Waltham Forest has a motion going through calling for a ballot for 48-hour strikes, if the situation doesn't improve."

As Bill Spiers from the Scottish TUC launched into song and Hyde Park emptied, many firefighters were left worrying how many more strikes would be called off while the ACAS talks drag on.

FBU members have proved their determination to fight for a living wage. That momentum must not be lost while New Labour get a longer breathing space from ACAS.

"I'm pleased that the talks are still going" a firefighter from Belfast told The Socialist: "But I'm up for the strike and ready for the strike. I was never so glad when the strike was postponed - coming up to Christmas and all that. But at the end of the day we're up for it. We'll have to go all the way, to make sacrifices to get anywhere."

A dispute to save the fire service

Steve Holloway, an FBU member from East London spoke to Linda Taaffe about how the dispute is going:

"I HOPE that these ACAS talks succeed. I think the union was right to go for talks now. Although I wholeheartedly agree that Labour is not real Labour - I have already got everyone at my station to stop the political levy.

"I think Andy Gilchrist's words have been highlighted by the mass media to divert this dispute from pay and conditions to a personality frenzy. Firefighters thought they were on strike for a reasonable wage but suddenly it has escalated into something more serious.

"It's a dispute to save the UK fire service. 40% makes a catchy sound bite for the tabloids but the real issue for us was always a living wage, £30K. The media have also tried to portray the action as greedy workers demanding outrageous pay. For us pay and protecting the fire service for the public go hand in hand.

"The government proposals about change are frightening. They represent such an attack we must oppose them. It would mean fewer firefighters working longer hours. The overtime ban protects firefighters' jobs, maintaining a greater level of service to the public.

"The same goes for joint working with retained firefighters. We would not be able to respond to fires so quickly. You only ever need a fire crew in an emergency, but when you make that call, you want them there in minutes. Full time crews would have to wait for a retained driver to respond to his pager and then to reach the station. This would be dangerous.

"16% would be an improvement on the present 4% but not if it is over three years.

"There are a lot of problems. When we get to know about the nuts and bolts - of the so called modernisations and not just the leaks in the media, I don't think the public or the FBU will be able to accept them."

Socialist solidarity

FIFTY FIREFIGHTERS lobbied the full council meeting in Coventry last week to urge support for a motion being moved by the Socialist Party Group.

Councillor Rob Windsor

The motion called for support for the FBU claim for £8.50 per hour for firefighters and opposed any cuts in jobs or cover as outlined in the Bain report. Socialist councillor Dave Nellist was applauded from the public gallery after presenting a petition in support of the firefighters' campaign.

Later Socialist councillor Karen McKay moved the motion giving thorough details of firefighters' struggle to make ends meet on the current wage and on the real cost of cuts in the service. The firefighters in the gallery were on their feet listening to every word.

Karen attacked the hypocrisy of the likes of Digby Jones of the CBI, awarding themselves big pay rises to act as apologists for the super-rich whilst predicting immediate economic collapse if the firefighters won.

Labour opposed us but most were strangely quiet. The right-wing Labour councillor heading up Coventry council's contingent on the fire authority read from a bland prepared statement urging us to withdraw our motion in favour of leaving things to ACAS.

The Tory was more supportive of the union, stating that the government should not seek to impose its will by "Smashing the FBU!".

Only the Socialist Group supported the motion. The firefighters who stormed out in disgust after the meeting and their workmates will definitely be questioning support for a Labour Party which could not even raise itself even to moderately support their cause in a local council meeting.

On the 7 December demo

CHRIS NEWBY spoke to firefighters on the demonstration:

"THE INTERIM Bain report was a slap in the face for us. All you can see is cuts. He's doesn't understand how the fire service works. Half the things we are doing already and the other half we're not doing because it's totally unworkable.

"Unless the government are prepared to compromise it doesn't matter what ACAS says - it's like with the employers it doesn't matter what they say - we might as well deal straight with them.

"I'm a bit disappointed that the strike was called off. It's at a time when we need to keep the pressure up and we seem to have let go a little bit. The strike on 16 December is still on - if nothing happens [in the talks] then it can't be called off.

"I don't feel I can contribute to the Labour Party. We got them elected and now they're doing this to us."

Stefan Tanfield, Harlow, Essex

"WE WELCOMED ACAS but I don't hold out much hope. The government are prepared for a fight. If they want a fight they can have it.

"I think now the attitude to the Labour Party is changing. FBU members want to disaffiliate. I think a new party formed by the trade unions would be welcomed."

Alan Blacklee, Cleveland

Fees Headache For New Labour

AS THOUSANDS of students marched through central London against fees, Tony Blair announced that he had ruled out the introduction of up-front top-up fees. 

This is a significant concession by Blair, who is one of the foremost proponents of top-up fees within the government.

This concession is a result of the huge anger that exists against the government's fees policy. The introduction of top-up fees would be a hugely unpopular step and would clearly be seen as putting an insurmountable barrier in the way of working-class and many middle-class students who wanted to go to university.

Many members of the government, as well as New Labour's rank and file, are opposed to top-up fees because they fear an implosion in support if they are introduced - especially among layers of middle-class people who voted Labour in the previous two elections.

This resulted in cabinet ministers publicly opposing top-up fees and MPs attacking 'elitism' in education.

However, although Blair may have ruled out up-front top-up fees, he had hinted that universities would still be free to charge different levels of fees. He has also made it clear that the shortfall in funding of higher education would not be met by increase public spending.

Instead, students will be expected to bear the cost. This is consistent with New Labour's agenda of the welfare state and public services being run in the interests of big business.

In all likelihood, Blair will now favour a system whereby students pay back higher tuition fees through a graduate tax. Reports suggest that Blair would like to introduce a system modelled on the Australian one. In Australia students take out loans to pay their fees, which are then paid back through the tax system after they graduate.

Some in the government and academia argue that graduate tax is a fairer means of making students pay for their education, because they pay after they have graduated and are in work. However, graduate tax is still a deterrent to many students who fear a lifetime of debt after they graduate.

A survey published last week found that 63% of young people who opted not to go to university did not want to build up debt. Women, working class and FE students were the least likely to go.

This is borne out by the experience in Australia, where students from affluent backgrounds are far more likely to secure places on courses where full fees are charged.

In reality the only fair funding system is one which is free to all. Only a free education system can guarantee everybody their right to an education.

The NUS leadership may claim that the ruling out of top-up fees vindicates their strategy (or lack of strategy) against them. In fact, if NUS had helped lead a movement of mass action and non-payment from when tuition fees were introduced in 1997, students may have been able to defeat all fees. Students would certainly be in a stronger position to stop any new attacks.

We must now guard against any move by the NUS NEC towards acceptance of a graduate tax if it is proposed. Many on the NEC are allied to New Labour including Mandy Telford, the President of NUS. Telford supports an extension to England and Wales of the Scottish system introduced in 1999. But this system is in reality little different to a graduate tax, with students still having to pay for their education after they finish university, leaving them thousands of pounds in debt.

Students must build a mass movement against all fees and graduate tax. We must also build a fighting alternative to the current leadership of NUS, that is not tied to a political party that attacks students.

Venezuela: The Great Oil Class War

VENEZUELA IS in political crisis as US-backed opponents of populist President Hugo Chavez continued a national strike to remove him. Three people were killed after a gunman fired on an opposition rally.

Dave Carr

Trying to resume the country's vital oil exports, Chavez ordered naval coastguards to surround oil tankers whose captains (defying their crews) dropped anchor in support of the strike. Troops are guarding state-owned oil installations at strike-hit ports. Chavez called on his supporters to "fight the great oil battle".

But this 'strike' (which probably includes elements of a lockout) isn't a clearly demarcated show of strength between the country's working class and the Presidency. The opposition is headed by the bosses' organisation Fedecámaras, most of the middle classes and their 'civic' organisations, sections of the military, and the labour bureaucracy in the leadership of the Venezuelan Confederation of Workers (CTV).

This bloc is also supported by the corrupt, rich 'oligarchy' which sees Chavez's constitutional and land reforms as the work of a 'crazed Marxist'. But Chavez is no socialist revolutionary. His reforms and therefore his popularity among the poor, depend upon oil revenues within a creaking capitalist economy.

Earlier this year, the opposition presented a huge petition to the National Electoral Council demanding a referendum to remove Chavez. However, the Supreme Court annulled the Council's decision to hold a poll, forcing the opposition to organise direct protest action.

While the opposition says 80% of the workforce heeded their strike call, the Labour minister reported that 80% of workers turned up for work on the first strike day and transport in the capital kept running.

However technicians, professionals and managers virtually shut down the oil export industry, crippling the country's vital source of foreign currency earnings.

The US State Department has called for "national elections as the only possible solution". Bush's government openly voices its dislike of Chavez and his 'non-aligned' role in the oil-exporting cartel, Opec.

Capitalist sabotage

The background to this bitterly fought class struggle is Venezuela's parlous economy. Like other south and central American countries, the downturn in the world economy and the collapse of stocks and shares on world financial markets has hit Venezuela.

Its economy shrank by a massive 10% between April and June this year mainly as a result of the ruling class and international financiers moving money out of the country.

Around $8 billion (equivalent to 8% of Venezuela's economy) was siphoned out of the country in 2002 alone. By some measures 85% of the country's 23.5 million population live on the bread line. Capitalism has failed and must be replaced.

April's failed coup gave a warning to the working class of the need to organise to prevent the forces of reaction succeeding.

Democratically elected committees of workers and the poor must be set up in the workplaces and neighbourhoods, with armed defence militias. Soldiers too should establish rank-and-file committees. There should be no trust in reactionary officers.

Above all, the workers and peasants must build their own independent and democratic movement and fight for a workers' government armed with a programme of socialist change.

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Partnerships Bill

End All Discriminatory Laws

FOR YEARS gay rights campaigners have been calling for lesbian and gay couples to be able to register their partnerships. 

Greg Randall

Same-sex couples don't have the right to automatic transfers of property on death. This affects pensions, inheritance, homes and most tenancies. Similar problems face unmarried heterosexual couples.

Same-sex couples can also be discriminated against by being denied hospital visits, not being consulted about surgery and even being excluded from funeral arrangements.

Recently the courts have created limited rights to inherit tenancies for same-sex partners and private members' bills in Parliament have tried to give partnership rights to opposite and same-sex unmarried couples.

As a result of these pressures the government says it will table laws to introduce a civil partnerships scheme for lesbian and gay couples after a consultation paper next year.

This is to be welcomed. But gay rights campaigners will ask first what rights will be offered. In Germany comparable laws excluded joint adoption rights for lesbian and gay couples (recently granted in the UK), imposed special fees and procedures on lesbian and gay couples and were not recognised abroad.

Unfortunately Labour wants to restrict the proposed partnerships bill to lesbian and gay couples. Unmarried heterosexual couples won't be able to register or receive partnership benefits. The government wants to avoid the cost to public service pension schemes of benefits for unmarried partners.

However, these have been introduced in the civil service and House of Commons. MPs who are lesbian, gay or have an unmarried opposite-sex partner enjoy rights Labour is trying to deny to ordinary people. Trade unionists, especially in the public sector, must demand the partnerships bill covers unmarried heterosexual couples as well as lesbian and gay relationships.

Labour also wants to limit its proposals to appease 'family values' interests in the Tory party. Gay rights campaigners condemn this cynical trade-off. A law offering rights to lesbian and gay couples but not to millions of unmarried heterosexual people is a gift to anti-gay bigots in the tabloid press and religious right. They will crow about 'normal' people becoming second-class citizens to gays.

Labour's limited gay rights programme since 1997 shows that concessions to the reactionary right only embolden the bigots and backfire both on the proposed reforms and lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender people.

The Socialist Party calls for partnerships rights to be extended to all unmarried couples, heterosexual or gay and for an end to all discriminatory laws. To achieve this a strong campaign is needed.

The reactionary opposition within the Tories and establishment to same-sex couples adopting and the sort of inflammatory prejudices voiced, shows that no right is handed down from on high without a struggle.

The Socialist Party Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) group will be meeting in the new year in London. We will discuss how socialists should campaign on these issues and how best to advance the fight for LGBT rights. Anyone interested is welcome to come. For more information ring Manny on 020 8988 8772 (days) or Lionel on 020 7403 1697 (evening/weekend).

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60 Years After Beveridge

Welfare reform - back to the future?

THE BEVERIDGE Report advocated full employment and the creation of a welfare state. It was 1942 and the second world war had raised workers' expectations of a better future. Thousands had died and those returning felt they deserved decent jobs and better living standards after their sacrifice.

The organised working class had long fought for better health provision and social security. Most people hated the 350-year-old 'Poor Law' and saw the idea that people should only receive relief from the state in the workhouse as barbaric.

Many of the ruling class also feared a return to the hungry 1930's which had provoked mass movements of the unemployed and a wave of revolutionary struggle across Europe. Capitalism also needed a fit new generation of workers to rebuild the economy, so a 'welfare state' suited their needs as well.

The welfare state was supposed to offer social protection to everyone as a right. It would offer a network of services to provide a foundation of support.

The Beveridge report was seen as the cornerstone of this plan. Beveridge wrote of attacking the five giants of 'Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness'. He said workers and employers should pay contributions in return for a 'comprehensive' system of social insurance.

This would be free at the point of use and cover people from cradle to grave. The main areas were:

• Provision of unemployment and sickness benefit, maternity benefit, widows' benefit and pension, retirement pension and other grants.
• A free National Health Service.
• A system of Children's Allowances.
• An Industrial Injuries Scheme.
• Training schemes for the unemployed.

Inadequate benefits

HOWEVER THIS scheme, intended to provide for people particularly during periods when they weren't in work, had serious deficiencies. It took no account of such needs as disability, divorce and long-term unemployment, where people were unable to contribute.

Benefits were inadequate and held at an unreasonably low level. They provided for subsistence levels only - enough to cover the costs of physical existence but not enough for a basic standard of living, let alone replacing income lost due to redundancy or sickness.

Seebohm Rowntree had previously worked out how much families needed for a minimally decent standard of living. But Beveridge recommended lower levels which bore no relationship to the cost of living.

In many European countries benefits are linked to what people previously earned. Britain is the exception. After all the alterations to the benefit system since the 1940s, they bear no relationship to minimum needs today. As several studies prove, benefits are not enough to live on.

Changes have led to more and more means-testing of benefits rather than providing for everyone as intended. The welfare state should have helped prevent poverty but there's one major contradiction.

You have to be poor already in order to receive help. As soon as someone's income increases they lose their benefits. This creates a poverty trap. The poor pay the highest marginal tax rates in Britain because of the combined effect of tax and benefit withdrawal.

Blair's distortions

TONY BLAIR'S speech was suggesting a further move away from 'universalism' - a system providing for everybody free at the point of use, which he calls "paternalistic". He said that the 1945 government had inherited a society where "70% were have-nots" and made it into one where "70% were haves."

This is a smokescreen. The shift away from 'cradle to grave' provision has come about because of capitalism's economic crisis. The bosses want to boost their own profits by paying less tax and they are creating an ideology to justify this.

Blair's 'reforms' in all services are meant to solve this problem. In higher education for instance, it means individual students paying tuition fees and/or a graduate tax and getting into debt through loans.

Blair claims that the welfare state is "associated with fraud, abuse, laziness, a dependency culture, social irresponsibility encouraged by a welfare dependency." This is not just insulting but a total distortion of the truth.

On social security, supposedly 2% of benefits claimed prove fraudulent. However this figure is based on the fact that large commercial organisations assume they will lose 1-2% through fraud. But Benefits Agencies, unlike department stores, don't lay money out on display and invite people to walk round with shopping trolleys!

Even if this figure is correct, this is a tiny amount compared to the sums taken by big business's tax evasion and fraud, which goes unchallenged by the government.

Blair's attitude harks back to the philosophy of the Poor Law, implying that it's a person's own fault if they are poor. Of course the reason for poverty is economic.

Big business constantly tries to increase profits. During recession in particular, companies protect themselves by putting workers on the dole and driving down wages. Long-term unemployment has mushroomed because of the destruction of manufacturing industry, not because of welfare.

Health divide

THE WELFARE state's crowning glory was the National Health Service. Since 1948 this reform has benefited the working class and poor. However massive inequalities remain in health care today.

A postcode lottery exists, where those who are less well off tend to have greater need and yet have less access to health care than the rich. If anything, the divide between rich and poor has got worse.

None of this is helped by New Labour's policies. The Private Finance Initiative (PFI) in particular, hands over hospital buildings and equipment to private companies who, in general, have no experience of providing health care.

Staff employed by these companies tend to have worse pay and conditions than those employed by the NHS. PFI often involves these companies borrowing money to pay for new buildings or refurbish old ones. The NHS then pays them back, with interest, over many years.

This is obviously more expensive than if the NHS did the job itself. Most projects cost well over what was originally estimated.

The next step on the road to the NHS's dismantling is the government's proposal of 'Foundation Hospitals'. These will operate in the private sector, free from government involvement. They will be able to raise money, buy and sell, hire and fire at will.

A major benefit of public services has been that they are, to an extent, accountable to the people they serve. These private companies however, are accountable only to their shareholders.

This move will make inequalities in health even worse. It will lead to a two-tier health service, no doubt being able to afford the best equipment and possibly the best staff. Of course, as with Railtrack, the taxpayer will pay when it all goes wrong.

This is certainly not what was intended when the NHS was set up. The privatisation of public services, shows how whole-heartedly New Labour has become the party of big business and turned its back on the working class. The picking apart of the welfare state to allow companies to make more profit has accelerated under this government.

Even our hard-won pensions will no longer be protected, and people will be expected to take out private insurance to cover their retirement.

End profiteering

DESPITE PROPAGANDA that welfare costs are out of control, the welfare state has always been extremely cheap. Compared with most of Europe, Britain spends very little. If anything private finance will increase costs and lead to a less effective service.

The push towards NHS privatisation benefits only big business. However after decades of under-funding, there clearly must be a radical improvement in how the health service, and the welfare state generally, is run.

The NHS needs to be better integrated (between hospitals, primary care, community care, social services, public health, occupational health, dentistry etc) with better co-operation between different sections to give people the best possible service.

This must be publicly funded. Trade unionists and communities must step up the campaign to eliminate profiteering from the NHS. We need a fully accessible service which provides for everyone equally, not the present postcode lottery.

The Socialist Party calls for the immediate reversal of PFI and PPP (Public Private Partnerships). The money is there for a decent welfare state now. But extra funding is undoubtedly required. Nationalising the pharmaceutical industry, which makes billions in profit from people's illness, could raise this.

At present several different companies make similar drugs to compete against each other for the same market. Nationalisation would help direct research at finding cures for diseases and developing treatments for less common illnesses which don't make companies a profit at present because they aren't a big enough market.

Recruiting and keeping staff would be far easier if pay and conditions were improved and people felt they were achieving something useful for society rather than constant crisis management.

Nationalising the pharmaceutical companies and private utilities would let us use their enormous profits to develop the NHS and welfare state, instead of lining the bosses' pockets.

All charges for health care should be completely abolished. Democratically elected, fully accountable, representatives of workers and welfare-state users should be actively involved in deciding how it's run.

We also stand for a decent living pension, increasing annually and linked to average earnings. Full employment could be achieved by reducing the working week without loss of pay. However, those unable to work should be given a decent level of benefit and offered the choice of training or jobs without compulsion.

Socialist solution

THE WEALTH and technology exist under capitalism to achieve these simple demands. But the bosses would not let many of these measures take place as they would cut across their profits.

As long as capitalism exists, our public services and welfare state will be under threat. Past governments have proven incapable of running the welfare state to provide for our basic needs. That's why the transformation of society along socialist lines is the only way forward.

Not just the NHS, but the banks and big manufacturing industry would be under democratic workers' control under socialism. This would allow society to tackle the root causes of ill-health - poverty, poor housing, pollution - and give people the opportunity to lead productive lives in the knowledge that society will care for them properly in return.

All of these things and more could be provided for under socialism. A system which plans what society needs and sets about producing it rather than putting profit before people, could even end the need for a welfare state in time.

Everyone would be able to help develop a better society. There would be no stigma attached to the idea of society 'providing for' people's needs, as co-operation rather than competition between people would be the norm.

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Tolerating prostitution?

MSP MARGO McDonald's controversial Bill to create "Tolerance Zones" for prostitutes in Scotland has divided politicians, councils and women's organisations across Scotland.

Sinead Daly

The Prostitution Tolerance (Scotland) Bill proposes that local authorities, in consultation with the police, health board and the local community, should designate zones where prostitutes could solicit safely at designated times.

The local authority would then have a duty of care to provide adequate lighting, CCTV and access to health and support workers.

However, if there were objections from the local community or business they could take it to the Scottish Executive which can overturn the decision of the local authority, although general opposition to tolerance zones would not be grounds for appeal.

Some women's organisations that oppose tolerance zones oppose it because they believe they legitimise prostitution and will turn prostitution into a 'normal' profession rather than it being seen as another form of violence and abuse of women by men.

On the other hand, women's organisations that work with prostitutes, such as Scottish Prostitutes Education Project (Scotpep) based in Edinburgh and Routes out of Prostitution based in Glasgow, are in favour of the Bill.

They believe it will ensure that prostitutes are safer, will have access to health services, needle exchange programmes and in particular reduce child prostitution.

Edinburgh has had agreed tolerance zones for 20 years following a huge rise in the number of HIV and AIDS cases in the city.

Compared to other cities such as Glasgow, heroin use and incidence of sexually transmitted disease is low, women's safety is much greater and child prostitution was virtually non-existent. Less than a third of prostitutes in Edinburgh are heroin addicts compared to 90% in Glasgow.

However this came to an end about eight months ago when the zones were ended. Since then there has been an increase in the number of child prostitutes.

The number of prostitutes murdered is also significantly less in Edinburgh where only one woman has been killed in the last decade compared to seven in Glasgow. In fact it was the number of murders in Glasgow that prompted the police to designate tolerance zones.

Global market

As a socialist and a woman who works with women fleeing abuse, many of whom have been forced into prostitution by abusive partners, I have to say that I am torn on this issue.

Marx pointed out over a hundred years ago that capitalism reduces everything down to commodities, and that includes women's bodies. The sex trade is now an integral part of the global market.

Indeed, it's no accident that the sex industry was the first to recover from the 1997/1998 economic crisis in South East Asia. In Western Europe each year half a million women are literally traded. Germany, one of the largest most developed capitalist economies, has more women working as prostitutes than teachers!

Today in Britain the sex industry generates an estimated £2 billion in profits each year. In London alone more than 80,000 men regularly pay for sex. The effects of globalisation and neo-liberal policies have hit women particularly hard.

Thousands of women have gone to extraordinary lengths to escape war, poverty and persecution. According to a home office report at least 700 women each year are smuggled into the UK to work, often unwittingly and unwillingly, in the off-street trade. In London's backstreet brothels six out of ten women are trafficked.

Of course this only tells part of the story. Violence is something that most prostitutes face. One Channel 4 documentary, Sex on the Streets, found that 73% of women interviewed were attacked in the previous 12 months, most of these attacks were unreported. Most of those interviewed felt the police were unsympathetic.

Of course this situation is compounded if you are an illegal immigrant. If you report any attacks to the police you run the risk of being deported.

The unreporting of violence is not surprising when you consider the comments made by a police officer to the Sunday Times after the murder of a prostitute in 1995: "They are shite, killed by shite: who gives a shite?"

The approach of most police forces and local authorities is to target the prostitutes themselves. This approach has clearly failed. In fact all it has done is move prostitutes to a different area, often extremely unsafe, so as not to be seen by the police. Even when police target the 'kerb crawlers' prostitutes have to move on so as they can make a living.

In the Netherlands prostitution has been legalised to a certain extent. It is now legal to operate a brothel as long as you comply with certain regulations. Rode Draad (Red Thread) a prostitutes' union set up in 1984 lobbied for years to get prostitution legalised so it would give them more protection.

They argue that the new laws will mean they can fight for proper pay and conditions, including sick pay, maternity leave and so on, as well as forcing their bosses to adhere to health and safety regulations.

Cosmetic changes

However, in some countries where prostitution has been legalised, prostitutes complain of long hours, poor pay, lack of choice over clients and bad working conditions.

A lot of prostitutes feel that the changes being proposed are merely cosmetic and won't make any difference to their lives. A spokesperson from the University of London's Child and Women's Abuse Unity commented: "Tolerating off-street venues just makes pimps into 'managers' and punters into 'customers', while the prostitutes find it more difficult to leave."

In fact it is far more dangerous for prostitutes to work on the streets than in brothels or saunas. Studies show that you are ten times more likely to face violence if you work on the streets.

The reality of working on the streets is horrific, women tell of being raped, severely beaten and being driven by strangers to locations they may not know or feel safe in, if they are attacked who do they tell?

The overwhelming majority of women working as prostitutes did not 'choose' to become prostitutes. Many were forced into it by partners, drug abuse and because of abject poverty. For most it is a life of hell.

We should support removing the existing legislation that criminalises prostitution and back measures that will ensure that prostitutes can work more safely, i.e. through well lit tolerance zones, safe off the street venues where support workers and health workers have regular contact.

In London, sex workers have begun to organise themselves into a trade union, the GMB. They have been going around to various venues trying to encourage women to join and have also been fighting for better, safer working conditions.

However, as long as we live in a class society which breeds on sexism and exploitation, women will continue to be forced into the 'sex industry'.

Only through the socialist transformation of society, where the vast resources which are currently controlled by a wealthy elite, are taken into public ownership will we see the true liberation of women.

Women would then have access to a proper job with a living wage, free education, childcare, decent housing and a well run health service.

Socialism would give men and women real control and choices in their lives. It would also lay the basis for equal relationships, free from the distortions of capitalist society, and for an end to the sexual and cultural oppression of women.

Building The Forces Of Socialism Internationally

THIS INITIAL article contains examples of the work being done in some of the CWI sections as reported in the session 'Building the CWI'.

Unfortunately, many inspiring examples have had to be omitted due to lack of space. (Future issues of The Socialist will carry reports of the congress's main political sessions).

Australia

THE MELBOURNE branch of the Socialist Party (SP) in Australia has gained 22 new members so far this year, most of them young. A majority of them joined following a party campaign in support of the rights of refugees incarcerated in the isolated Woomera Detention Centre.

SP comrades raised money from trade unions to finance a 16-hour, 1,200 kilometre journey to the camp, to join a 1,000-strong protest, taking with them tents, water and even toilets!

They then proved in practise how our method of organising - having full democratic discussion and debate and then acting efficiently on decisions made - was able to provide help for a number of refugees directly and highlight their plight in the media.

(Victoria state elections - see CWI website)

Ireland

SECTARIAN TENSION has increased amongst youth in Northern Ireland but a significant layer are rejecting sectarianism and are open to alternative ideas. Socialist Party members have assisted in building four branches of the organisation Socialist Youth in the North and most of the young people involved support the ideas of the CWI.

Socialist Party member Carmel Gates gained 38% of the vote in the recent election for General Secretary of the public sector union NIPSA, the largest union in Northern Ireland. The SP has party members on the executive committees of a number of trade unions, including NIPSA, the Fire Brigades Union and the CWU (communication workers).

In Southern Ireland, the re-election of Joe Higgins to parliament last May and the near-election of Clare Daly (with an 85% increase in vote compared with the previous general election) show the support that the Socialist Party is gaining.

CIS

(Commonwealth of Independent States - the former Soviet Union)

THE CWI is now organised in four countries: Russia, the Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Moldova, with an overall increase of 130% in membership since the last world congress.

In Russia, there are CWI members in nine cities. They have been active in many campaigns including; anti-globalisation work, on the environment, against government rent reforms and on trade union issues.

Comrades in the Ukraine are present in over 15 cities. In Kazakhstan, CWI members held a successful launch conference in May. As well as doing independent work, they are also participants in the Committee for a Workers' Party.

Germany

SEVEN NEW branches have been set up by Socialist Alternative (SAV) since the last world congress and political activity started in ten other new areas. Attendance at their annual Socialism weekend has doubled over the last two years and the number of papers sold each month has doubled over the course of this year.

Brazil

SOCIALISMO REVOLUCIONARIO (SR) have been very active in building the 'Movement for those excluded from Education' (MSE). MSE has organised debates, rallies and actions in a campaign to improve access to university by the poorest in society.

Following consistent work, including at the second World Social Forum in Porto Alegre at the start of this year, MSE is now widely recognised by many social organisations, the media and government and academic bodies.

At a recent 1,500-strong youth meeting in Sao Paulo state, organised by the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST), the call of MSE for university occupations at the start of 2003 was enthusiastically agreed.

SR has members in leading positions in the Sao Paulo state teachers'` union who were recently involved in leading an important strike in the Cotia area. They also have members and supporters working in the largest hospital in Sao Paulo.

In the recent Brazilian elections, SR stood a candidate, gaining 1,150 votes. 60 activists participated in the campaign, giving out 50,000 leaflets and selling 400 papers.

Israel

WITH THE Israeli economy in an unprecedented crisis and the continuing onslaught on Palestinians in the occupied territories, members of Maavak Socialisti in Israel face a particularly difficult challenge in building the forces of the CWI.

They are rising to this challenge by carrying out consistent party building work, with a membership figure and level of activity higher than ever before. They are regularly the largest, most youthful and dynamic political contingent on left demonstrations.

Party branches have been established in several of the most important Israeli cities and a successful founding conference was held in October.

Sri Lanka

SINCE THE last world congress, the United Socialist Party (USP) has been recognised as a party by the Sri Lankan electoral commission and has been able to build its influence through election work as well as through other campaigns.

It is the only party with a membership consisting of a real mix of Tamil and Sinhala workers and a paper that has articles in the two languages.

USA

IN SEPTEMBER and October Socialist Alternative (SA) organised a speaking tour of eight cities for Nigerian CWI member Segun Aderemi, which attracted 1,200 people. This tour, combined with campaigning against war on Iraq, enabled SA to sell a record number of copies of their paper Justice and to recruit many new members.

Belgium

LEFT SOCIALIST Party/Movement for a Socialist Alternative (LSP/MAS) has grown by 40% in the last 18 months.

A large part of the growth has come from the work party members have put into building the youth organisation International Resistance and in taking many of these new young people to the international anti-capitalist demonstrations in Gothenburg, Genoa, Brussels, Barcelona and Seville.

Party membership has recently increased in the French speaking areas, particularly following public meetings organised by LSP/MAS during the French Presidential elections. The party held its largest ever national conference in November, with 103 attending discussions over the course of a weekend.

South Africa

THE DEMOCRATIC Socialist Movement (DSM) held a re-foundation conference in Durban in October, with 45 delegates present. Working in four key provinces of the country, the members are mainly young and already have a formidable record of struggle in fighting against the exclusion of university students who cannot pay their tuition fees and of supporting workers unable to pay water and electricity charges following recent privatisations. DSM has had a four-fold increase in members since the last world congress.

Sweden

IN RECENT elections, Raattvisepartiet Socialisterna (RS) increased its number of councillors from two to five in the two most important cities in the north of the country. They recruited 42 new members during the election campaign and have recruited a further 17 since then.

RS is a leading force in protests against war on Iraq and took the initiative to set up a network against the war in Stockholm that involves 40 organisations. RS is involved in all major anti-racist campaigns and has a record as a fighting party for women's rights.

a fuller Congress report is available on the CWI website - www.worldsocialist-cwi.org

A NUMBER of documents, resolutions and amendments were discussed and voted on. These will be published as soon as possible. A new CWI Executive Committee was elected.

Comrades in Maavak Sozialisti in Israel, who have been working as a CWI group for a number of years, were recognised as a full section.

A group in Kashmir, in existence for two years, was recognised as a sympathising section.

 

World Congress sessions

Post September 11 - Can US Imperialism be Challenged?

World Economy and Globalisation

Latin America.

New Features of the Crisis in the Neo-Colonial World.

Europe.

Building the CWI.

Elections for CWI leadership bodies.

For report backs to Socialist Party members, contact your regional secretary or phone the National Office 020 8988 8768.