The Socialist

The Socialist 25 June 2008

Summer of action needed!

Prices up, Wages down...Summer of action needed!

Workers' battles win results: Tankers drivers' success upsets bosses

Council workers striking back

Editorial: Summer of discontent?

PCS union sends letter of solidarity to Unison


Unison conference 2008: Fighting to reclaim the union for its members

Unison Service Group Executives - socialists elected

National Shop Stewards Network Conference

Fighting, democratic unions not witch hunts


Thousands show their hatred for racism

Student unions can be pushed into action


Review: False 'gods' of a failing system


Zimbabwe: Mugabe's militias crush his political opponents

Afghanistan - paying the price of western occupation

Summit fails to halt runaway oil prices

Britain: No.1 arms dealer


Cut throat competition threatens NHS

"With polyclinics you're just a number"

Stop this sell-off!


'Old' Labour - born out of workers' struggles


Brighton bus drivers match inflation

Teachers fight academy plans in Bolton

Union news in brief

Usdaw election

 

the socialist - paper of the Socialist Party

In this week's issue:

The Socialist 25 June 2008, issue 539

Prices up, Wages down...Summer of action needed!

Shell oil tanker drivers

Shell oil tanker drivers' strike was successful, photo Bob Severn

The cost of bread and meat up 9% in twelve months! Milk, cheese and eggs up by almost 20% and heating oil leaping by a staggering 84%! Jump in your car and head for the pumps and it's the same story, as petrol hits 112p a litre, writes Robin Clapp.

Workers' battles win results: Tankers drivers' success upsets bosses

Council workers striking back

Editorial: Summer of discontent?

Birmingham Council workers on strike, April 24, photo S. O Neill

Birmingham Council workers on strike, April 24, photo S. O Neill

Following the pay rise victory of Shell tanker drivers, Unison council workers have voted for strike action over pay; starting with two days in July. This vote will be widely welcomed by workers throughout the public sector...

PCS union sends letter of solidarity to Unison

Unison Conference 2008

Unison conference 2008: Fighting to reclaim the union for its members

Unison conference 2008 anti-witchhunt protest, photo Paul Mattsson

Unison conference 2008 anti-witchhunt protest, photo Paul Mattsson

BY THE end of this year's Unison conference of public sector workers, the Socialist Party was seen as the most prominent party, as a result of its campaign against the union leaders' witch hunt of four Socialist Party members and for promoting discussion on why Unison should break its political link with Labour, writes Jane James.

Unison Service Group Executives - socialists elected

National Shop Stewards Network Conference

Fighting, democratic unions not witch hunts

Socialist Party campaigns

Thousands show their hatred for racism

Love Music Hate Racism demonstration 2008, ISR contingent, photo Paul Mattsson

Love Music Hate Racism demonstration 2008, ISR contingent, photo Paul Mattsson

On Saturday 21 June several thousand people marched against the far-right, racist British National Party (BNP) on the Love Music Hate Racism demonstration, writes Kat Jayawant and Sarah Sachs-Eldridge.

Student unions can be pushed into action

Socialist Party Marxist analysis

Review: False 'gods' of a failing system

Feature: According to the ancient Greeks: "Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad." Peter Taaffe reviews 'The Gods That Failed: How Blind Faith in Markets Has Cost Us Our Future', drawing out the value and limitations of a devastating critique of 'modern' capitalism.

International socialist news and analysis

Zimbabwe: Mugabe's militias crush his political opponents

WITH ONLY days remaining before Zimbabwe's re-run presidential election, Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition candidate of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), has announced he is pulling out of the contest, citing the use of widespread violence against his supporters by Zanu-PF militias allied to the incumbent president, Robert Mugabe. Dave Carr writes.

Afghanistan - paying the price of western occupation

Summit fails to halt runaway oil prices

Britain: No.1 arms dealer

Socialist Party NHS campaign

Cut throat competition threatens NHS

I WAS sorry to read in The Socialist 537 that Peter Taaffe has a pain in his big toe. His difficulty in getting to see his GP is all too common. Government imposed targets mean frustrating phone calls to book appointments, writes Jon Dale.

"With polyclinics you're just a number"

Stop this sell-off!

Origins of the Labour Party

'Old' Labour - born out of workers' struggles

To most people today, the phrase 'Labour politician' brings to mind a sleek well-paid career politician. But that was not the way the Labour Party started out. For at least the first half of its life the Labour Party was built and maintained by dedicated...

Socialist Party workplace news

Brighton bus drivers match inflation

BUS DRIVERS working for Brighton & Hove Bus Company have won an important deal in their pay dispute with the Go Ahead-owned business. T&G Unite members have accepted an improved pay offer from management by 410 votes to 73, writes Peter Knight.

Teachers fight academy plans in Bolton

Union news in brief

Usdaw election